With the advent of patch 2.3 closing in this upcoming Tuesday, Square Enix has decided to release a hefty chunk of patch notes early. Though keep in-mind that these notes are simply preliminary and are in no way the full set of notes that are to be released on Monday during the 24 hour maintenance.

However, the notes revealed a few additions not previously mentioned in the interview with the producer, nor in the trailer that was recently released.

The first new addition, labeled Winebaud’s Riddles, harkens back to the old days when players would be tasked with talking to NPCs and using their knowledge of the world around them to complete quests; rather than simply looking for the yellow dot on their mini-map to tell them where to go.

The next new bit of content is going by the name of “Hidden Maps”. These maps are said to be awarded rarely within treasure chests, and will be a way to gain “even greater rewards”. As far as what these rewards are going to be, that unfortunately is still a mystery.

Along with these two new pieces of content, class and job changes were also outlined with the most notable being the Black Mage changes. Previously it was said that Black Mages had not been doing enough damage. In order to bring them up to the damage output of the other jobs, four of their attacks will receive a damage increase. Warriors, Paladins, White Mages, and Summoners all also received small changes.

And the best change of all, “Players can now display their target’s remaining HP as a percentage on the target bar and focus target bar.” This is probably every raider’s dream come true as no longer are the days where one will have to guess what percent the boss’s health is at.

My Opinion:

I’m super excited for all the changes and additions. I’m even more excited now because Square was all like, “Let’s release some patch notes early and see what happens.” What happened was that I instantly bought another three months worth of subscription time, so their little ploy clearly work on me at least. If you’ve left the game, or haven’t tried it out yet, patch 2.3 will be the perfect opportunity to come back to the great world of Eorzea.

Mike Morrissette is one of MONG’s Editors. He also has an unhealthy obsession with The Green Lantern and anything involving Nutella. You can follow him on twitter, or friend him on PSN at HaughtyPride