Final Fantasy 14 has been praised by many fans for making one of the greatest gaming comebacks of all time. As such, it should come as no surprise that the fan-favorite MMO still has a booming community of modders who seek to further enhance the experience in amazing ways.
There have been many such additions to the popular game, and some of them fans absolutely need to download. Whether players are seeking to improve their performance in raids, enhance the game's already gorgeous graphics, or simply add a bit of quality-of-life to their adventures throughout Eorzea, these mods are all but essential.
10 Hrothgar and Viera Hats
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In this quality-of-life mod, created by RoxlLuikhart (available here), one of the most oft-requested features is added to the game: The ability for the popular Hrothgar and Viera races to be able to wear hats. While the developers are slowly and retroactively making hats available for these races, the playerbase jumped forward and decided to run with the ball. The results are seamless, proudly showcasing the care that went into this mod's creation.
No longer do players' Warrior of Light need to let the bright sun disorientate them in a desert, or resign themselves to getting their hair wet on a rainy day. A necessity that adventurers should download before the next login.
9 HD Vanilla Refined
With so many new players joining the game every day, it’s absolutely imperative that the first characters they meet capture their attention just as fully as those in the game's many great expansions do.
That’s where HD Vanilla Refined comes in, created by Phoenix Mods (uploaded by dricent74656). It works by enhancing the visuals of the base NPCs, characters, and world from the start of players' journeys through Eorzea, without causing undue pressure on the system that's running the game. Blurred images become clear, and all of those textures players spend hours staring at are upgraded to 1k.
8 Hair Defined
Outside of a few stylistic choices, most characters in Final Fantasy 14 are sporting luscious locks. Some of the most sought-after unlocks are for new hairstyles in-game, so this mod naturally comes into play. Hair Defined takes those existing hairstyles, beards and more, adding more than 1000 textures and upscaling and enhancing the graphics from the ground up. It really makes the Warrior of Light's chosen look pop!
All races are included, and some even have their fuzzy ears enhanced. This mod is available from creator Saika Darkmoon, aka KylieDigital.
7 Face Defined
Skincare is seemingly just as important as haircare when saving the world, and that’s where Face Defined comes in. All races, genders, and clans benefit from this mod, which adds textures and upscales makeup and all facial features. This is especially helpful if players enjoy taking screenshots of close-ups during their Main Story Quest cut-scenes, as it truly smooths out the edges and bumps of the base models (which can be a little on the bland side at times).
To make Eorzea a more beautiful place all-around, mod creators Sofie and Kylie (uploaded by SofieHiyatsuki) have made the Face Defined mod available for players to download.
6 NPC Defined
Much like the others in the Defined series, this mod also steps in to overhaul and give an overall improvement to textures. This time, however, the focus is on NPCs and companions (Endwalker in particular offers some fascinating ones). From A Realm Reborn all the way to Endwalker, the characters players grow to love, hate, and mourn will all look their absolute best along the way.
Whether it's a player's first glance at the world of Final Fantasy 14 or they are making their newest alt, the NPCs will all appear vibrant and fresh. NPC Defined is available for download from creator Hiyatsuki mods (SofieHiyatsuki).
5 Material UI
If players are looking to freshen up their UI, then they need look no further than the Material UI mod, created by SKOTLEX. Material UI will not only freshen up the combat screen with its revitalized job icons (for both disciples of war and magic along with disciples of the land and hand, as crafting and gathering are essential roles too), but it also features a revamped inventory screen. Job gauges, duty icons, and more are included. This mod is sure to make players' daily ventures into Eorzea much easier to manage and far more orderly.
With built-in treasure map markers, its unique dark theme, and easy-to-read labeling, players will have a hard time going back to the vanilla UI.
4 Gunbreaker Sound Effects Mod
The Gunbreaker Sound Effects mod is an absolute must if the Warrior of Light is traveling as a gunblade-wielding tank through dungeons, raids, or trials. This mod restores most of the original sound effects to the Gunbreaker job, as they were presented at the launch of the Shadowbringers expansion (way back in patch 5.0). In the process, it restores a lot of that clanging sheen to each blow the class delivers.
The result is a set of raw, brutal-sounding attacks that help restore the edge to this iconic weapon. The mod is available from its creator Jeido, and Gunbreaker players (the game features some formidable firearms too) definitely won't want to miss out on it.
3 Advanced Combat Tracker
Often simply known as ACT, this is the mod players want if they plan to get into endgame raiding. This mod tracks all data in boss fights, from DPS and healing to damage taken and uptime. It aids in mastering a job’s particular rotation, and acts as a benchmark for how well players are performing in combat compared to others who also play the same job.
While it can be controversial (some players have used its data to compete against others rather than simply focusing on their own self-improvement), it's a fantastic and informative tool. The Advanced Combat Tracker, and its FFXIV_ACT_Plugin created by ravahn, are available for anyone who wants to take their game to the next level.
2 Final Fantasy 14 QuickLauncher
The handy FFXIVQuickLauncher, created by modder goatcorps/Goat Systems Interactive, is a separate launcher at its base level, but there's much more to it than that. The plugins and tools this mod offers can completely reshape how fans play the game. Put simply, it offers a timer that notifies players when servers have come back up after a patch, which can be great when people just want to get back into the game after a major update.
Inside the game, however, there is an entire UI of player-made plugins that can range from helpful (such as aiding with combo rotations, timing slide-casts, and market board pricing), to silly features, such as changing all the chat-speech into pirate talk, or making every character appear as a lalafell on the screen. A plethora of useful and whimsical features are readily available with the click of a button.
1 GShade
When it comes down to it, many players will agree that they simply want their game to look as good as it can. While the world of Final Fantasy 14 is already quite lovely, the mod GShade seeks to take that a step further by offering graphics enhancers in the form of reshading to the game.
It comes with many presets to choose from, and it’s all a matter of finding one that fits each user's own playstyle and preferences. They can be used simply for screenshots, or kept on at all times to make gameplay pop and shine. The shading and color enhancements make the game seem brand new all over again. The reshader is maintained by Marot Satil and the rest of the brilliant staff of GPOSERS.