During Final Fantasy XIV FanFest 2022 in Korea, director and producer Naoki Yoshida and battle content director Masaki Nakagawa held a Q&A session. There were several questions that led to them giving insight on past battle mechanics and design philosophies that may inform future content. But a significant piece of new information came out of it — a new Deep Dungeon is planned for the post-Endwalker 6.x patch cycle.
Both frequent translator @aitaikimochi on Twitter and the FFXIV Reddit translation team on Discord confirmed the statement on the upcoming Deep Dungeon. When asked about any about any new content around Deep Dungeons in the future, Yoshida-san said, “We receive a tremendous amount of player voices from all around the world asking for a new Deep Dungeon, therefore we are indeed working on a new Deep Dungeon which we plan to release around somewhere Patch 6.x, so please look forward to it.” (The quote is a translation by r/FFXIV mod and translator iluna minori.)
Yoshi-P said during the Korean FFXIV FanFes that they heard many people around the world wanted more deep dungeons, and he said they will bring back a new deep dungeon series starting in the 6.X patches. #FFXIV pic.twitter.com/WKyHuWFrqS
— ☆オードリーAudrey☆ (@aitaikimochi) February 12, 2022
Deep Dungeons are instances in FFXIV that feature some roguelike elements and unique gameplay mechanics. Players clear a series of floors full of enemies and occasional bosses, and manage variables like status effects, additional abilities and actions, and unique loot as they progress from floor to floor. These instances are also frequented by players looking to level up alternate Jobs fast due to the amount of EXP awarded.
Currently, there are two Deep Dungeons: Palace of the Dead (introduced in A Realm Reborn) and Heaven-on-High (introduced in Stormblood). The upcoming Deep Dungeon would keep cadence with one releasing for every two expansions.
The Q&A session from FanFest in Korea also included some interesting tidbits about design elements and the future of FFXIV. For example, Yoshida-san gave two reasons for why there have not been updates to the Squadron system. The first reason being that the team was focused on refining the Trust system for Endwalker. The second reason is closely tied to future updates and new content that he is not able to discuss on this time.
Nagakawa-san went into the how and why of certain raid mechanics and the more eccentric elements of raids we’ve seen in the past. He also answered a question about adapting content ideas from Bozja and Zadnor, saying that he likes the Critical Engagement system from those instances and would consider doing something similar in other parts of the game. Yoshida-san explained why he opposes the idea of giving player control of weather conditions in gpose as well.
You can find multiple questions from the Korean FanFest Q&A session the translated in detail on the r/FFXIV Discord channel. More information about the game’s future is coming soon; the next FFXIV Live Letter is scheduled for February 18. It is said to be about the next 10 years of FFXIV and will include an Endwalker Q&A session as well.
