Final Fantasy XIV Patch 5.3 Contents Detailed

Square Enix held a new Letter from the Producer presentation for MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, where director and producer Naoki Yoshida revealed the contents of the game’s newest major update. The 5.3 update is titled Reflections in Crystal, though a release date has not been announced.

As usual for major patches, patch 5.3 will include new main scenario quests continuing the story from the Shadowbringers expansion. The new main story content will include a new The Heroes’ Gauntlet dungeon, which players can complete with other players or with NPCs using the Trust system. It will also add a new eight-player Trial, the name of which was not revealed.

The update will also add in some major changes to an earlier part of the main story. It will clean up a lot of the content in A Realm Reborn and the 2.x patch series, giving players a more streamlined experience into the Heavensward expansion content, but will also require players to complete The Crystal Tower Alliance Raid series first introduced in patch 2.1. The updated A Realm Reborn content will be added to Final Fantasy XIV’s New Game+ mode, as well as certain other quests. In addition, the zones from A Realm Reborn will at last let players fly within them. Flying in these zones will be available to those who have completed the main story quest “The Ultima Weapon”.

For other content, the update will include the second part of the YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse Alliance Raid, which is titled “The Puppets’ Bunker”. There will also be updates to the Save the Queen questline where players can further upgrade their weapon rewards from the previous part of the questline as they explore a new area and participate in new large-scale battle content. A new The Sorrow of Werlyt quest will also provide some new side-story content that ends with a special battle.

Further additions for crafters and gathering classes include the third phase of the Ishgard Restoration, which restores Skybuilder Rankings and offers new items to craft as well as new achievements for the top contributors. Meanwhile, there will be a new crafting-focused Beast Tribe questline offered by the dwarves. There will also be new custom deliveries, an update to the Skysteel Tools questline, and more.

Finally, patch 5.3 will add Unreal Trials. These are ramped up versions of Primal Trials from previous expansions for level 80 players. There will be one of these available at any one time and the Primal will change with each major patch, with the 5.3 Unreal Trial set to be Shiva. Each week, players who beat the Unreal Trials will get to complete the new Faux Hollows mini-game and receive tokens that can be exchanged for prizes.