Final Fantasy 14 is gearing up for the launch of its fourth expansion pack, Endwalker, in just a couple of weeks. With a mass value downscaling taking place with the Endwalker update, Final Fantasy 14 saw fit to let players know what systems would be affected, and what to prepare for.
The value downscaling itself is the reduction of numerical values in systems across FF14, from hit points to experience points. Final Fantasy 14 previously announced this would be happening in Endwalker, but has recently gone into full detail about everything that will be affected during its 67th Live Letter from the Producer.
Almost every facet of the game will be touched by Final Fantasy 14’s downscaling. Hit point totals, damage dealt, gear item levels, and statistical bonuses will all be reduced accordingly. In addition, the amount of progress needed to craft items and the experience rewarded by completing objectives or slaying monsters is being lowered. Because of this, it also announced that any partial progress towards levelling any of Final Fantasy 14's jobs, retainers, or Trust NPCs will be reset to 0 for their current level whent Endwalker releases.
Final Fantasy 14 isn’t the first MMORPG to implement a value downscale. World of Warcraft, for example, has done so twice; once during the Warlords of Draenor expansion and again in Shadowlands, with the latter also halving characters’ maximum levels from 120 to 60. These “stat squishes” have kept the numbers from getting ludicrous in the 17-year-old game, and will do the same as Final Fantasy 14 nears its 10 year anniversary.
Because of the trust between Final Fantasy 14's players and developers, reception was positive. The reasoning for the downscaling is sound; without the stat squish, number calculations could cause bugs. Boss hit point totals were nearing half a billion, and it was getting impossible to calculate enemy threat and aggro. Flying text from attacks that deal hundreds of thousands of damage get to be too long to easily read while battling. The value downscaling makes things more manageable for both players and Final Fantasy 14’s development team, and takes some weight off of the game’s systems.
Some other players will be sad to see their big damage numbers shrink, of course, but Final Fantasy 14 has assured its fans the goal was to keep the same damage-to-HP ratio, so characters’ overall strength would not be reduced. FF14 has also assured players the downscaling should not overly affect players trying to solo lower-level content, but would provide a special solo buff in instances where it believes it has been. While the loss of experience points for incomplete levels across player jobs, retainers, and Trust NPCs is unfortunate, Final Fantasy 14 players still have a couple of weeks to finish up their half-filled level bars and minimize the experience they will lose.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5. The Endwalker expansion launches on December 7.
Source: Square Enix