Final Fantasy XIV fans have likely noticed the sweeping changes that were made to PvP modes with Patch 6.11a on May 24.
Many players have been complaining about these changes, saying they made the mode unbalanced, especially due to the heavy buffs that the Black Mage received.
FFXIV producer and director addressed this issue earlier today, apologizing for the misjudgment and revealing the balance changes will be partially reverted in the next patch, which is scheduled for June 7.
“We have received a great deal of feedback regarding these changes, and in hindsight, I believe we went too far with our adjustments. For this, I apologize,” he said. “However, I believe such feedback is indicative of PvP’s unprecedented popularity.”
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Patch 6.11a brought buffs to underrepresented jobs in PvP, namely the Gunbreaker, Bard, Machinist, Dancer, and Summoner. But the Black Mage received the most improvements with a reduction of cast times and numerous potency increases.
The Black Mage wasn’t easy to play in Crystalline Conflict due to its long cast times. But the balance changes brought with Patch 6.11a might have given it too much power, allowing it to dominate the mode.
According to the developers, the job was the least popular in PvP. For this reason, a section of the changes will be reverted in the next patch. It’s unclear at this time whether some of the changes will remain in the game and if they’ll only focus on the Black Mage or also the other jobs that were adjusted.
Naoki Yoshida thanked players for their interest in the new PvP mode and detailed how balance changes were decided in Square Enix. He said job win rates and usage rates are the main criteria on which the balance changes are based on.
He also revealed balance changes will be introduced to Frontline, another PvP mode, in Patch 6.18. The jobs will have different stats in both game modes to adapt better to their distinct metas, and the developer will work on keeping it balanced in other patches in the future.
