There's a bizarre legacy to the final few encounters of Final Fantasy XIV's original main story, which has left the trial Camp Westwind, and the dungeons Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium an uneasy fit with the MMORPG's modern content. As previously announced, the devs are revamping those encounters for patch 6.1, and in the most recent Live Letter, they've explained exactly what form that content will take.
Cape Westwind will no longer be an eight-player trial – instead, it's going to be a solo quest battle. If you want to see it again, you're going to need to check it out in New Game Plus. Castrum Meridianum is dropping from an eight-player dungeon to a more traditional four-player dungeon.
Praetorium gets an even bigger change, though, as it's now three separate encounters. The start of the dungeon through the Gaius battle will now be a four-player dungeon. The Ultima Weapon battle will now be a four-player trial called The Porta Decumana. And the Lahabrea fight will now be a solo quest battle.
Despite these changes, the devs say (translated via the FFXIV Discord) that Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium will both still be available through the MSQ roulette, separate from the normal dungeon roulettes. The devs considered dropping the option, but the dungeons are still longer than their normal counterparts, so they still need to provide additional rewards – which will be a bit smaller than they are now, however.
6.1 will also see all the main story content playable solo, thanks to NPC support with the trust system, now renamed the ‘duty support’ system for story encounters. Castrum Meridianum, Praetorium, and Porta Decumana will now all be playable either with other players or solo with NPCs.
Check out our Live Letter 69 summary for a big breakdown of what else was announced during the broadcast.
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