We are only about two weeks away from the release of Final Fantasy XIV's newest expansion, Dawntrail. Here, I want to focus on some of the quality of life changes that will be coming to the game after Dawntrail is released, and that will be available to everyone, not just those who play the new expansion.

Now that Media-Tour is over, where invited guests could test the game and ask questions about the upcoming release, we now have a lot of information about new and expected quality of life updates.

Let me remind you that all the information we will provide comes from third-party sources. These are just some of the quality of life updates that people have seen in demo builds or have been given information about in interviews. Let’s look forward to what these updates will be implemented after release!

Media-Tour

I want to start with Japanese Famitsu magazine.

Hide Player Setting

The magazine discovered a new setting that allows you to hide the player when approaching a quest NPC. We learned about hiding the player’s name before, but this new feature will allow you to clearly see NPC and its animations.

This feature was also one feature demonstrated in Letter From the Produce LIVE. It basically has three settings “Off”, “Small Circle” and “Big Circle” when you interact with the relevant NPC.

Dungeon Shortcuts

Frosty aka “World Race Guy” or “Mogtalk Dude”, after being defeated in the boss fight in the new dungeon, discovered that the shortcut at the beginning of the dungeon actually took him back to the boss arena.

Usually these shortcuts only take you to the previous arena and you have to walk all the way back to the next boss. This change will greatly speed up the progress of dungeons.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether this change is only for the media tour and whether this change will also be implemented in later dungeons. But I personally would welcome it.

Glasses Slot

In addition, many players wondered whether for the new slot for glasses, we can use it for various accessories. We got the answer when looking at the developer interviews and they also demonstrated it in PLL.

The new slot will be specifically for glasses and will only be applicable to glasses that currently exist as fashion accessories, and more will be added. Glasses from accessories will be reassigned as Eyewear, and they will become part of the gear set. Each pair of glasses will have 12 predefined color options. Don’t forget to stock up on enough FFXIV Gil if you want to have all the new eyewear looks.

Chat Bubbles

During the interview, the developer also revealed that chat bubbles are indeed in some kind of testing phase, but this does not mean that they will be part of the initial Dawntrail release. But for all those who want to see chat bubbles pop up with player characters, you may not have to wait too long.

I could cover more updates here, such as the new attack alert notification in the middle of the screen that people have noticed. But it does contain a lot of spoilers, so I won’t talk about more here.

Related: FFXIV: New Expansion Dawntrail Will Give You The Best Summer Vacation!

Letter From The Produce LIVE

Next, I will discuss some of the nice new information and quality of life features we got from the recent Letter From the Produce LIVE, which I will quickly summarize for you here.

Bicolor Gemstones

Starting with Bicolor Gemstones, the maximum amount will be increased from 1000 to 1500. Incidentally, participants in the media tour noticed that FATEs in the new area do award more Gemstones than in previous expansions.

Emote List

It is worth mentioning that if you have to perform an emote during a certain mission, that emote will now also show up in the mission list. Just like with items, you can simply click on that emote to perform it. No more typing or searching through the emote list.

New 2-Dye System

We did get a nice demo of the new 2-Dye System as well. New gear released with Dawntrail and a few previous gear will now have 2 dye slots. You can now save your favorite color combination as a set and it will also remember the last color set you used. This way, you can quickly color multiple pieces without having to choose the same 2 colors every time.

Some older gear will also get 2-Dye update. However, it will take about Patch 7.4 for all older gear to also be included in the system. We just have to be patient.

Fantasia

Fantasia also has a small update. After using Fantasia, you will change your appearance at will within 60 minutes of in-game time. So if you are not happy with your appearance in-game, you can change it at will within those 60 minutes.

At this point, we don’t know exactly when the 60-minute countdown will start. It could be when using Fantasia, or it could be after you make your first change. I hope it’s the latter, as I know quite a few people who have used Fantasia without realizing it, and their characters are in a state where they can change at will, so all that Fantasia will be wasted. I hope the upcoming patch notes will give us the answer to this question.

Companion App Update

Finally, the companion app for phones will also be getting an update, where they will add customization options and wallpapers. But the more important update is that Hunting, Mining, Botany and Fishing Retainer Ventures can now be allocated through the app, though this will require in-app currency.

We don’t know exactly how many and if in-game adventures will also be used, but there will surely be more details in the next patch notes.

Patch Release Date & Update Size

This brings me back to our schedule. The release date of the patch notes is not marked here, but it will most likely be within the week of 48-hour maintenance and Early Access. You should be able to download the game update halfway through the 48-hour maintenance. Maybe earlier, as this update will be quite large.

During PLL, the developers mentioned that Windows update will be around 55 GB in size. In total, including Dawntrail, FFXIV will take up over 90 GB of your drive space.

We didn’t get the update sizes for all other platforms, but on PS5 the total space required is around 75 GB and on PS4 around 80 GB. Sadly, Xbox users will have to download the entire game again, which will be closer to 100 GB in total.

There’s no word on the size of Mac version, but it’s likely to be in the same area. Once again, I’m sure all the details will also be available in the patch notes.

That’s all we know about the quality of life update for FFXIV Dawntrail expansion so far. Have a great day, see you next time, and take care!