Final Fantasy 14 director doesn't have any plans to change 'the structure' of Dawntrail's patches, but its Bozja-like field exploration zone 'will be larger in scale than the content we've had in the past'

The reception to the post-Endwalker patch cycle in Final Fantasy 14 has been decidedly tepid. Aside from a mixed reaction to the main story, the community has been split in opinion over new additions like Island Sanctuary and Variant Dungeons, with complaints around a lack of midcore content and meaningful rewards permeating discussion. I offered my own feelings on where things were at last year, and fellow Eorzea dweller Harvey Randall dove into the state of Final Fantasy 14 earlier this year.

It's drummed up thoughts around whether the current post-expansion patch structure—which has largely remained the same across the last decade—needs to change. Some are pretty down with the comfort of knowing what's coming and when, while I've seen murmurings over the last couple of years from folk who want to see the team breaking the mould a little.

Personally, I'm not too sure what camp I fall into. While I am a creature of habit and enjoy knowing exactly when I can lose myself in the next batch of Savage raids or spend far too long fawning over the Alliance Raid armour, I've found myself repeatedly dropping off the game since patch 6.2. I was curious to know director and producer Naoki Yoshida's thoughts on how patches are structured, and whether he intends to shake things up.

Thankfully, I had a chance to sit down and chat with him during the Dawntrail media tour last month, so I was able to put the question forward to him. The short answer? The team has no intention of making any drastic changes any time soon, but don't be disheartened just yet. «With regards to feedback that players might grow tired of this cadence, this was something that we factored in when we were planning the fundamental basis right back at the time of A Realm Reborn,» Yoshida tells me.

Ultimately, according to Yoshida, the benefits of having a set schedule for each expansion's major content outweigh the risks. He also claims that it not only benefits the players—so they know what's coming and