'Final Fantasy XIV' 4.5 Patch Notes: Update Brings New Blue Mage Job, Quests and More

A new Final Fantasy XIV 4.5 patch has dropped. Find out everything "A Requiem For Heroes" update brings, including the new Blue Mage job.

A massive new Final Fantasy XIV 4.5 update dropped Monday morning. Dubbed "A Requiem For Heroes," the update brings a ton of new content, including a variety of new quests, additional housing furnishings and customizations, new games added to the Manderville Golden Saucer and much more. One change of particular interest adds a new blue mage job to the Battle System. This is the first limited job the game has seen thus far. The update also adds the final chapters of the For Lords saga and Return to Ivalice.

Due to the sizable amount of changes that come with this update, we've put together a quick overview of some of the most notable changes patch 4.5 brings. For complete details on the update you can see the full set of patch notes here.

Final Fantasy XIV "A Requiem for Heroes" Update Details: What's New in Patch 4.5?

Playable Content Updates and Additions

• New "Main Scenario" Quests Added - Five new main scenario quests have been added for players who have the Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood DLC. These quests require a Disciple of War or Magic level of 70.
• Chronicles of a New Era Quests Added - These quests are also accessible to players with the Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood DLC. The quests include the final chapters of The Four Lords and Return to Ivalice and require a Disciple of War or Magic level of 70.
• New Side Story Quests Added - There are three new side story quests for players with the Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood DLC. They are as follows:
  • A Lone Wolf No More
  • Between a Rock and the Hard Place (Custom Delivery)
  • He Ain't Piggy, He's My Brother (Custom Delivery)
• New 'Blue Mage' Job Quests Added - There are eight new job quest for players with the Final Fantasy XIV Realm Reborn DLC. These quests are related to the new Blue Mage job and require a Discipline of Magic or War level of 50. These quests are scheduled to release a week after the 4.5 patch.
• New Rewards for Main Scenario Quests- For players with the Final Fantasy XIV Realm Reborn DLC, these main scenario quests will add the 300 Grand Company Seals to their rewards:
  • Woods Will Be Done
  • Till Sea Swallows All
  • For Coin and Country

Housing Updates and Additions

• Furnishings for FFXIV Furnishing Design Contest have been added.
• New Furnishings have been added
• Limit for interactive furnishings that can be displayed has been removed - As of Patch 4.5, all such items will be displayed regardless of how many are placed.
• Furnishing positioning precision improved - prevents items from moving out of place when re-entering an estate.
• Lalafell and Roegadyn mannequins added
• New Estate Tags added
• New Orchestrion rolls added
• Return and Teleport now available inside an Inn room - This change also applies to Eternity Rings and Aetheryte Pendulums.
• New Aquarium fishes and tank trimmings added.
• New Seed Flower Pots added - Lily of the Valley Pips can be purchased from the following NPCs
  • Mist (X:11.0 Y:11.4) – Material Supplier
  • The Lavender Beds (X:11.9 Y:8.3) – Material Supplier
  • The Goblet (X:10.9 Y:8.9) – Material Supplier
  • Shirogane (X:10.5 Y:12.1) - Material Supplier
  • Apartments - Apartment Merchant
  • New Gridania (X:11.0 Y:11.2) - Tanie

The Manderville Gold Saucer Updates and Additions (Requires Realm Reborn DLC)

• Doman Mahjong Added - Players can now indulge in a new four players Mahjong game in the Manderville Gold Saucer. The game involves gathering tiles and racing to complete a winning hand. Players can compete against other players or NPCs.
  • Requirements - Players with any class or job level of 15 or above may participate. Players must complete the "It Could Happen to You" quest to unlock.
  • How To Play - For a complete list of rules to the game and how to play with Friends or NPCs, see the official 4.5 Patch Notes, here.
• Triple Triad Changes
  • New cards added
  • New NPC opponents
  • Certain cards which could only be obtained from dungeons can now be earned by defeating NPC opponents.
• The GATE "Air Force One" Added - this is a new shooter ride where players board the Air Force and attempt to shoot as many targets as possible while riding along a preset course.
• Adjustments Made to GATEs- the new schedule for GATEs are as follows:
  • Every hour, on the hour (Earth Time)
  • Cliffhanger
  • Air Force One
  • Leap of Faith
• Hourly, 20 minutes past the hour (Earth Time)
  • Any Way the Wind Blows
  • Air Force One
  • Leap of Faith
• Hourly, 40 minutes past the hour (Earth Time)
  • Any Way the Wind Blows
  • Skinchange We Can Believe In
  • Leap of Faith
• Rewards for GATEs increased - GATEs "Cliffhanger" and "Skinchange We Can Believe In" rewards have been increased.
• Manderville Lounge Name Change - The Lounge at X:7.2 Y:7.7 is now called the Manderville Tables
• Wondrous Tails Additions and Adjustments
• The rewards available for exchange using Khloe's gold certificate of commendation and Khloe's silver certificate of commendation have been changed.
• Wondrous Tails objectives now include all areas of Omega: Alphascape.
• New Prizes for Purchasing MGP
• New Challenge Log Objectives Added
• New Emotes and Hairstyles added.

Battle System Changes and Additions

• New Blue Mage Job- The patch notes lay out a lot of information about the new Blue Mage job, scheduled to become available a week after the 4.5 patch. The Blue Mage job harnesses the power of blue magic, allowing players to mimic the abilities of wild beasts. The job requires discipline or War Magic Level of 50 and players must first complete "The Ultimate Weapon" main scenario quest to access. Here are a few details of the new Blue Mage Limited Job that set it apart from other jobs:
  • Blue mage functions independently of other classes and jobs, starting at level 1 with a maximum level of 50.
  • When playing as a blue mage, it is possible to participate in duties with other players in preformed or undersized parties. However, the following duties will remain inaccessible:
    • Duty Roulettes
    • The Forbidden Land, Eureka (It is not possible to change to blue mage after entering the instance.)
    • The Diadem (It is not possible to change to blue mage after entering the instance)
    • Squadron Missions
    • Deep Dungeons
    • PvP, including duels (It is possible to enter the Wolves' Den as a blue mage.)
    • Stone, Sky, Sea
    • Hall of the Novice
  • Blue mages gain greater experience from battling enemies in the open world than other jobs do.(No bonuses are granted to experience gained from FATE or guildleve enemies.)
  • Blue mage cannot be used to progress through the main scenario.
  • Retainers cannot be assigned the blue mage job.
  • Additional details about the Blue Mage job, such as learning spells, active actions, duties can be found here.

• Actions have been adjusted - nearly 30 adjustments have been made to actions. You can find details of those here .
• Enemy Placement changes - enemy placement has changed in the following areas:
  • Western Thanalan
  • Southern Thanalan
  • Northern Thanalan
  • Middle La Noscea
  • Mor Dhona
• New Dungeon added to Ghimlyt Dark
• New "Wreath of Snakes" Trials added
• The weekly reward limit for Omega: Alphascape has been removed.
• The number of Alphascape Crystalloids required to exchange for Military-grade Tomestones has been reduced from 7 to 4
• The alliance raid dungeon the Orbonne Monastery has been added
• The drop rate for the Lunar Kamuy Fife in the Minstrel's Ballad: Tsukuyomi's Pain has been increased.
• The drop rate for the Euphonious Kamuy Fife in Hells' Kier (Extreme) has been increased.
• Players can now add party members during the Great Hunt (Extreme).
• The minions obtained from the following raid dungeons will now always appear in boss room treasure chests.
• Additions and adjustments have been made to the Forbidden Land, Eureka:
  • The option for prioritizing players seeking parties has been adjusted.
  • New subcommands for changing the magia board aspect have been added.
    • Set magia board aspect to offensive.
    • Set magia board aspect to defensive.
  • Text commands for spinning the Magia Board have been added.
• The following adjustments have been made to Eureka Pagos:
  • The number of enemies that must be defeated to spawn a notorious monster has been decreased.
  • The number of Pagos Crystals received for defeating notorious monsters has been increased.
  • The elemental level required to access the Geothermal Studies aetheryte has been reduced from 30 to 23.
  • The elemental level required to access the Gravitational Studies aetheryte has been reduced from 32 to 25.
• The following adjustments have been made to Eureka Pyros:
  • The number of enemies that must be defeated to spawn a notorious monster has been decreased.
  • The number of Pyros Crystals received for defeating notorious monsters has been increased.
  • Logos Actions have been adjusted ( see details here )
• The recast timer of abilities will now be reset when entering dungeons, trials, and raids.
• Conditions for penalization when abandoning duties have been adjusted.
• The following additions and adjustments have been made to the Raid Finder:
  • The Wreath of Snakes (Extreme) has been added.
  • Hells' Kier (Extreme) has been moved to the Duty Finder.
• The duties listed within Duty Roulette: Expert have been changed
• The "Wreath of Snakes" duty has been added to Duty Roulette
• The following duties have been added to Duty Roulette: Mentor:
  • The Ghimlyt Dark
  • The Wreath of Snakes
  • The Orbonne Monastery
• The required average item level to register for Duty Roulette: Mentor has been increased from 355 to 365.
• More items can be exchanged with Billebaut in Rhalgr's Reach (X:13.0 Y:11.7) and Satsuya in Kugane (X:10.4 Y:10.2) for peerless Clan mark logs.
• Scaevan Twine and Scaevan Shellac, used to strengthen Allagan tomestones of genesis equipment to item level 400, can now be obtained from Eschina in Rhalgr's Reach (X:13.8 Y:11.8) in exchange for items.
• The number of Allagan tomestones received from certain duties has been adjusted.

PvP Updates and Changes

PvP Actions adjusted

• Paladin
  • Rage of Halone - Combo bonus changed from "Reduces target's attack potency and healing magic potency by 10%" to "Reduces target's damage dealt and healing potency by 10%" and now affects healing from non-magical abilities.
• Warrior
  • Defiance - Effect changed from "Increases maximum HP and own HP recovery via healing magic by 20%, while reducing damage dealt by 20%." to "Reduces both damage taken and damage dealt by 20%.
  • Inner Beast - Damage reduction lowered from 20% to 10%.
• Dark Knight
  • Power Slash - Combo bonus changed from "Reduces target's HP recovered by healing magic by 15%" to "Reduces target's HP recovered by healing actions by 15%" and now affects healing from non-magical abilities.
• Dragoon
  • Skewer - Additional effect changed from "Reduces target's attack potency and healing magic potency by 10%" to "Reduces target's damage dealt and healing potency by 10%" and now affects healing from non-magical abilities.
• Ninja
  • Katon - Potency has been increased from 1,250 to 1,500.
  • Hyoton - Potency has been increased from 750 to 1,000.
  • Raiton - Potency has been increased from 1,750 to 2,000.
• Summoner
  • Miasma III - Additional effect has been changed from "Reduces target's HP recovered by healing magic by 10%" to "Reduces target's HP recovered by healing actions by 10%" and now affects healing from non-magical abilities.
• Scholar
  • Chain Stratagem - Reduction to damage taken changed from 5% to 10%.
  • Embrace - Healing potency increased from 1,000 to 1,500.
• Astrologian
  • Lord of Crowns - Additional effect changed from "Reduces target's HP recovered by healing magic by 10%" to " Reduces target's HP recovered by healing actions by 10%" and now affects healing from non-magical abilities.

The Feast Changes and Updates

• Starting points for each team are displayed more clearly in the Crystal Tower Training Grounds.
• The countdown icon displayed upon initiating a Focus Attack is now displayed above the enemy team party list as well.
• When spectating, Team Claw's areas of effect will be shown in blue, and Team Fang's in red.
• As Season Eleven ends, Season Twelve begins.

Frontline Changes and Updates

• Tanks and melee DPS will take 30% less damage and deal 15% more.
• The following adjustments have been made to the Borderland Ruins (Secure):
  • Interceptor drone HP is increased.
• Interceptor node The following adjustments have been made to Fields of Glory (Shatter):
  • Small icebound tomelith HP is increased.
  • Large icebound tomelith HP is increased.
  • The Magic Vulnerability Down effect has been removed from small and large icebound tomeliths.

Rival Wings Changes and Updates

• Tanks and melee DPS will take 20% less damage and deal 10% more
• In Astragalos campaigns, a magitek field now protects the base and core
• The following adjustments have been made to Soaring:
  • The maximum number of stacks has been increased from 10 to 20.
  • Healing Potency Up now affects the amount restored by non-magical abilities.
  • At 20 Soaring stacks, the Flying High status will be applied. In addition to increasing damage dealt and HP restoration, it makes the adrenaline gauge fill more quickly.
  • Stacks are no longer reduced upon KO.
  • The stacks for all alliances on a team will now increase when an enemy tower is destroyed.
• Additions and adjustments have been made to mammets and machina in Astragalos campaigns.
  • The effects of Soaring and Flying High will no longer apply when piloting machina.
  • Damage dealt to mammets and machina is no longer reduced when attacking from 15 yalms or more.
  • The reduction in HP restoration to mammets now affects non-magical healing abilities.
  • The self-sacrificing attack used by mammets against the enemy core has been changed to an action specifically designed for this purpose.
  • The amount of ceruleum gained for defeating mammets has been increased.
  • Brute Justice can now be deployed an unlimited number of times, rather than being limited to twice per battle.
    * There have been no changes to the maximum number of combatants that can ride Brute Justice simultaneously.
  • The amount of ceruleum gathered by each player is now displayed on the results screen.
• Adjustments have been made to machina and steam cannons - see details here.

Items Additions and Updates

• New Items added
• New Recipes added
• Some items may now be sold, desynthesized, submitted as expert deliveries, and converted into materia.
• The glasses on the Mun'gaek Hat can now be toggled with the "Manually adjust visor" option.
• A new item can now be exchanged for Achievement Certificates.
• J'tandhaa in Rhalgr's Reach (X:9.6 Y:11.6) now offers materials for raising item level 380 gear to level 390.
• New items can be exchanged for Allagan tomestone of poetics with Hismena in Idyllshire (X: 5.7 Y: 5.2).
• The following recipes now produce two items instead of one when successfully synthesized:
  • Carpenter - Urunday Lumber
  • Blacksmith - Chigusa Ingot
  • Armorer - Chigusa Ingot
  • Goldsmith - Evergleam Ingot
  • Leatherworker - Procoptodon Leather
  • Weaver - Stardust Cotton Cloth
• Special Recipes can now be viewed by category more easily in the Crafting Log
• Players can now speak with Adkiragh to complete custom deliveries.
• Adjustments have been made to Zhloe Aliapoh and M'naago's custom deliveries.
• ew items have been added to gathering points.
• New fish have been added.
• Additional items can now be obtained via retainer ventures.
• New Mounts have been added
• The following Mounts are now able to fly:
  • Direwolf
  • Unicorn
  • Nightmare
  • Aithon
  • Xanthos
  • Gullfaxi
  • Enbarr
  • Markab
  • Boreas
• Music for the following mounts has been changed:
  • The Red Hare
  • Nezha Chariot
  • Indigo Whale
  • Aquamarine Carbuncle
  • Citrine Carbuncle
  • Mystic Panda
• New chocobo barding has been added.
• New minions have been added.

System Updates and Changes

• New achievements and titles have been added- If you have already fulfilled the requirements for the new achievements prior to the release of Patch 4.5, they will be awarded upon accessing them from the Achievements menu.
  • I Made That: Carpenter VI
  • I Made That: Blacksmith VI
  • I Made That: Armorer VI
  • I Made That: Goldsmith VI
  • I Made That: Leatherworker VI
  • I Made That: Weaver VI
  • I Made That: Culinarian VI
  • I Found That: Miner VI
  • I Found That: Botanist VI
• Certain duties and trials will now count toward the completion of achievements ( details here )
• In preparation for the upcoming World Visit system, a number of additions and changes have been made.
  • World" has been changed to "Home World" in various UI elements.
  • The Home World of other players is now displayed in cross-world linkshells and the PvP team menu.
  • The number of players online shown in the free company menu will now match the number of players shown under "Members Online and on Home World."
  • Send Tell, Invite to Party, Invite to Linkshell, and Target subcommands are no longer accessible via the contact list.
  • In the linkshell members list, currently online invitees are now displayed in the same color as members.
  • Changes have been made to the way in which the blacklist is displayed.
  • The current World of players recruiting for a cross-world party is now displayed in the Party Finder.
• When using the /tell text command, it is now necessary to add "@[Home World]" to the character name (no space).
• The online status of free company members is now displayed while you are in a duty.
• Players can no longer be added to the friend list or blacklist via character name alone.
• You may now invite friends from other Worlds to a party via the friend list.
• The World name is now displayed in the Server Info HUD.
• If a player is accessing the retainer vocate menu when matched to a party via the Duty Finder, they will automatically exit that menu.
• The following additions and adjustments have been made to Group Pose:
  • Group pose can now be used in the following situations:
    • Transformed (through various means)
    • Roleplaying
    • KO'd
    • Transporting
  • Group pose can now be used with adventurer squadron members.
  • When other characters are standing ready to use a performance action, this will be displayed in your group pose.
  • Adjustments have been made to the depth of field slider, resulting in changes to areas affected and strength of the blur.
  • Looped emotes can now be initiated from within group pose. It is no longer necessary to initiate them before entering group pose.
  • The control guide will now be displayed when using group pose for the first time after logging in.
  • A confirmation window will appear when attempting to exit group pose.
  • Battle effects can now be toggled on and off.
  • A manual focus option has been added to General Settings.
  • A wet attire option has been added to Effect/Frame Settings.
  • Emote controls have been added to Motion Settings.
    These controls affect your character and adventurer squadron members. However, there are certain conditions under which they cannot be used.
  • The current time is now displayed in Group Pose Settings.
  • A message will now be displayed when attempting to use the Stop Time/Weather feature in certain duties in which the time and weather conditions are locked.