Final Fantasy 14 (opens in new tab) director Naoki Yoshida has apologised for some recent PvP balance changes that just so happened to make black mage—well known to be his main class—absolutely cracked out of the wazoo.
It didn’t help that in the weeks prior to the patch, Yoshida had been spotted (opens in new tab) across Japanese servers participating in Crystalline Conflict, the game’s new PvP mode. When the balance patch dropped in late May, memes poured out of Reddit (opens in new tab) and Twitter with people wondering if Yoshida’s recent games had anything to do with the ream of buffs black mage had suddenly received.
Well, Yoshida didn’t exactly confirm or deny that his love for black mage was the reason behind its souping up, but he admitted in a recent Lodestone post (opens in new tab) that the team “went too far” with adjustments.
“What should have been minor changes were released as major changes, which ultimately resulted in an overpowered black mage,” he wrote. “By adding a heavy effect, giving Paradox multiple charges, and otherwise decreasing casting times, the black mage was granted an undeniable advantage, which we intend to revert in a future patch.”
Those black mage PvP buffs tho pic.twitter.com/0O0fxHo8G6May 24, 2022
He goes on to say that the class is “experiencing no preferential treatment by being specially mentioned,” saying that developers “evaluate action balance for all jobs with a similarly scrutinizing gaze.” There’s also a small sentence that I can only take as a small humblebrag of his own skills: “Having said this, my personal impression after countless Crystalline Conflict matches is that, in the hands of a skilled PvP combatant, the black mage has more than enough potential to excel in battle.”
Considering Yoshida was able to achieve the top PvP rank before the buffs came along, the chances of him wanting all the buffs solely for his own benefit seem slim. But still, it’s fun to think that you could take the helm of a game you love and casually make things better for your main class or playstyle. The black mage buffs will be reverted when Patch 6.15 arrives on June 7, so get all your overpowered casting shenanigans out before then.