Final Fantasy XIV’s main story quests can now be played entirely solo

Square Enix has released patch 6.5 for its popular MMO, making nearly all of its main quests playable without the need to group with other players from the base game to the end of its latest expansion. Its Stormblood expansion is also now available for free trial players.

The details:

• Following the addition of the "Duty Support" system in April 2022 with version 6.1, which allows players to group with NPCs instead of other humans, the community has requested full support for the system after it only covered a portion of the story. Since 6.1, Square has continued to cover more of the game's quests, eventually resulting in Duty Support covering almost all dungeons and scenarios with patch 6.5.
• The system's main appeal is its ability to eliminate waiting times as the game's Duty Finder searches for other players looking to complete the same quest. Although wait times were typically short in the early game due to other new players jumping in, the further players progressed into its expansions, the longer they became, resulting in progression being halted for up to 30 minutes at a time.
• However, not all of the main story is playable solo, with mandatory eight-person trials requiring the use of the Duty Finder to complete due to the Duty Support function only supporting up to four players. Each expansion has around five trials that players must complete, so some human interaction is still required at times.
• Those who are interested in trying out the game for free can now do so with the second expansion, Stormblood, as well as the base game A Realm Reborn, and the first expansion, Heavensward, being made available for all. There is no time limit on the free trial, and players can complete the main story, side quests, raids, and level all pre-Shadowbringers jobs up to level 70.

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