After a fevered wait, 5.1 dropped this morning for Final Fantasy XIV, with Square Enix bringing the servers down for a planned six hours to bring Hydaelyn up to speed with large swaths of updated systems. The patch named Vows of Virtue, Deeds of Cruelty is the first large patch after the newest expansion was added, Shadowbringers, and aimed to streamline many of the activities found across Hydaelyn, along with the inclusion of a new 24-person raid prominently featuring NieR: Automata styles of protagonist along with familiar enemies from the series.
While the more combat-oriented parts of the patch consists of bringing the Blue Mage class up to snuff with an increase in quests and class-specific actions, and new maps to explore and ravage, a large vested interest was found in how Final Fantasy XIV would streamline their crafting and gathering system.
The Lodestone was also updated alongside #FFXIV Patch 5.1! 👀
Check out the updated UI guide, job action guides, game manual, and new blog features! 👌 https://t.co/5uXBF8IrTR pic.twitter.com/P501otvYpU
— FINAL FANTASY XIV (@FF_XIV_EN) October 29, 2019
Previously, players would need to input once every four seconds at a material gathering site (albeit a tree, metal node, or shrubbery harvest); the newly added ‘Quick Gathering’ allows a character to select the material sought from the material gathering site, and it automatically progresses much as the previously available ‘Quick Synthesize’ crafting command would.
Worth noting that this makes large amounts of resource gathering for trade on the markets easier, although not tremendously so.
Over the next week, resource prices are expected to fluctuate on a downward trend, with less experienced market-watchers more than likely participating in a race to the bottom as players try to figure the worth of resources on the newest patch. I would expect the market to flex downward slightly, with a maximum drop of 15% price on resources across the board when this stabilizes.
Catching resources with a discrepancy of over 40% standard server price would be an easy purchase, to be held until the market stabilizes.
With resource gathering being updated, so too was crafting, although it has frustrated crafters. Many actions that crafters have learned to rely upon for success have been outright removed from the game, or occasionally merged with a surviving action. As a whole, crafting must be learned by players once again to maximize their impact with high-cost end game materials. Reclaim has been entirely removed, as has Steady Hand, Rumination, and Advanced Touch.
We can presume to see a small hiccup in crafted items on the market, with a probable slight climb within the next two weeks. The percentage will vary wildly as crafters become familiar with the newest system. If you’ve been looking to sell completed items, it would be wise to hold them until the paradigm shift stabilizes.
