Final Fantasy 14 is a couple of weeks into the launch of Endwalker, its fourth expansion pack. Square Enix recently rolled out its first small update, which added some new content, buffed the polygon count of the infamous Endwalker crystal grapes, and increased the experience points earned from new dungeons and hunt marks.
When players first began Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker, many noticed the experience gains from the new dungeons seemed a bit low. Additionally, hunt marks–daily bounties for slaying specific creatures that award experience and currency–seemed to give twice as much EXP as those from Shadowbringers, versus the much larger growth between previous expansions’ hunts.
In the first two weeks of Endwalker’s run, a single run of a level-appropriate Endwalker dungeon gave about 1/3rd of a level. Now, it gives over half a level. Likewise, hunt experience has been increased from between 120k-140k experience to over 200k for each mark, meaning players can get about 3 million experience from defeating the 15 creatures a day, up from around 2 million.
The increase in experience gains are almost certainly a byproduct of Final Fantasy 14 adjusting numbers after the value downscaling in Endwalker. The “Stat Squish” saw numbers from across the game, from damage to health to experience and stats, reduced. The metrics of such a change can have ramifications in unexpected places across the game, and the lower-than-usual experience gains was likely one of those places.
Needless to say, Final Fantasy 14 players are happy to see the EXP boost. While leveling via dungeons is one of many ways to gain experience points in the game, increasing those gains makes it a more attractive option. Before, spamming world events in Bozja–a Shadowbringers zone used to level and craft relic weapons–was the most efficient way to level, though not the most fun or inspired. Now, players seeking variety in their leveling experiences can run a few dungeons and not feel they are leveling inefficiently.
Some players are concerned the experience boost might make leveling a bit too easy, however. The experience gains are closer to those from the Shadowbringers expansion, but some feel they actually exceed those amounts. Additionally, the new increase in dungeon experience means a player’s job will rapidly outlevel their Trust avatars–NPCs who can run dungeons for solo content–meaning it will take multiple jobs to increase all 7 avatars to maximum level in Final Fantasy 14. Nevertheless, few players plan on looking the gift horse in the mouth, as more efficient leveling options means less incentive to burn out doing the same content over and over again simply because it is the fastest option.
Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5.
Source: Final Fantasy 14