Final Fantasy 14 is an excellent MMO with some of the best storytelling in the series, but the first 50 levels are a drag compared to the cooler expansions. That's why Square Enix announced plans last year to overhaul the original story of A Realm Reborn, shortening the story and removing many tedious elements so that new players can get to the good stuff more quickly. Director Naoki Yoshida then revealed during a live stream for developers that the overhaul will take place in the next major update.

Jokingly named "A Realm Revamped," members of the FF14 subreddit translated the Japanese livestream to reveal exactly how the original story will change. According to their translation, roughly 13 percent of the original campaign has been cut entirely, while other quests have been streamlined to reduce the number of steps required to complete them. At the same time, experience and gear rewards will be raised to allow players to level up a bit faster, so that they no longer need to complete side quests to reach level 50.

The zones that will primarily feature in A Realm Reborn will also be updated, allowing players to move around using flying mounts, and two particularly important side quests will be incorporated into the main storyline progression so that players do not accidentally skip them.

This is a very welcome and significant change. When Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn was first relaunched in 2013, I did not care for its storyline and boring side quests. But time has not been kind to A Realm Reborn, and compared to more recent expansions like Heavensward and Shadowbringers, the original story (playable from level 1 to 50) is tedious and slow. my enthusiastic recommendation as the best MMO of 2020 It sucks to have to warn players that "the early stages aren't very interesting" when I'm going to.

Of course, the new campaign rework is just one of the few new things coming in update 5.3, called Reflections in Crystal. The update also continues Shadowbringers' main storyline and adds new dungeons, raids, and quests; you can check out a complete breakdown of what was revealed in the FF14 subreddit.

Regarding a release date for 5.3, Yoshida said that the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic has (unsurprisingly) affected development, and the patch will probably be delayed. Players currently expect a June or early July release.

If you haven't played Final Fantasy 14 yet, check out our review of the latest expansion. Better than Final Fantasy 7. Fight me.