I’ve made no real secret of the fact that I don’t particularly like FFXIV GIL live letters. Leaving aside the usual issues I have with video content providing less information than raw text, I’d argue they have the added non-benefit of being broadcast in a language I don’t speak, meaning that the period between the letter and the official translation is filled with an endless parade of debates about the “accurate” translations and what Yoshida really meant when he said “Bards were a mistake.
Still, another one did happen, and as we’re in the between-patch lull it’s high time to start speculating and picking through the details we know about. Ironically, what we know about also handily overlaps with two features that I mentioned a couple of weeks ago with regards to features we hadn’t heard about, because the world is funny like that. So let’s start there, because I enjoy irony as much as the next person.
Oh, someday this game will have more ranks! And marriage! Just you wait! We don’t know the details about what’s coming in patch 3.3, but we do know a few things about it. It involves the whole “having a platoon of your own NPCs” feature that was discussed back before the launch of Heavensward, new items are going on sale for the Grand Companies, and – perhaps most importantly – we’re finally going to be able to hit the next rank in company organization. This is a big deal, as we’ve been waiting for that promotion since… oh, the first implementation of Grand Companies back during 1.0. It’s been a while.
In other words, it seems as if 3.3 is already setting itself up nicely as the patch of the Grand Companies. And why would the companies be mobilizing? Because it’s almost stunning that they haven’t already done so.
While the player characters and the Scions have been faffing about for two patches with Ishgard’s political turmoil, the fact of the matter is that Garlemald is sitting in Azys Lla more or less unopposed. We’ve denied the Legatus a couple of prizes, but the Garleans still have run of an entire quadrant, and there seems to be little to no indication that they’re not doing quite well for themselves there.
It helps that the Legatus in question is Regula van Hydrus, whom I’ve quite liked so far. He has a very different attitude compared to Nael van Darnus or Gaius van Baelsar, and unlike far too many simple antagonists he’s more than willing to cut his losses and admit when a particular effort will not work out. The result is that his forces are in control of a large portion of Azys Lla, and he’s smart enough to recognize that as a major win rather than banking everything on desperate maneuvers.visit homepage