Final Fantasy 14's director apologises for making his main class broken in PvP

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Naoki Yoshida got pretty heavily memed on by the community.

Naoki Yoshida cosplaying a Black Mage at Fanfest 2014.
(Image credit: Square Enix)

Final Fantasy 14 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 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 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 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." 

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.

Mollie Taylor
Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.