Quote:Click To Embiggen, and for Lossless Version


The UI updates not only makes the critical step towards moving Final Fantasy XIV away from feeling like an emulated console title, but also helps critically reduce the amount of time spent in menus. What used to take literally four to seven minutes in gear swaps and unequipped, is now literally 15 seconds. UI lag is most definitely down, though some wait is still noticeable in high traffic areas. This is probably because there is a significant reduction in server-authenticated actions.

Custom chat tabs are now available, though only two will be able to be "typed in", which are the two set on the first bar (IE: "General", and my re-designed "Whisper" tab). So, the second set will have to be used entirely for logging things. This makes stuff much better in the long run though, making it easier to sort out chats with vital combat information.

The SP and XP bars at the bottom make for a much-needed method to track progression without having to always go to the menu. This is most useful during Synthesis and Gathering (such as fishing).

As far as the changes to magic, this has made my (what feels like) neglected Thaumaturge discipline feel like something I can use. Spells are potent, they actually hit and while still have a chance to resist aren't prone to it. Combat feels much more fair in that respect than it used to be. Thaumaturge characters were at best used for spam-healing and Punishing Barb "Lalabombs".

It seems they've done a bit of optimization too. Performance on my machine using the old "max" quality for rendering has gone up while giving those with even stronger CPU and GPUs than mine a chance to really kick in environment lighting up another notch. It sure does look pretty.

Only complaint is that with the XP/SP bar at the bottom, I'd REALLY like to see a "borderless windowed" mode, or at least the ability to alt-tab without crashing.