Excitement is at an all-time high for Final Fantasy XIV due in no small part to the game’s Endwalker expansion releasing later this year. While the feedback on the new content that’s been revealed has mostly been well-received, Square Enix has recently confirmed that it has changed the icon of the new Sage job due to expressed concerns about trypophobia.

For those unfamiliar, trypophobia is in essence the fear or disgust of strangely-patterned clusters of holes, bumps, etc. The Sage job’s original icon – which we won’t be showing here – had three holes clustered together, which was apparently an issue for some. “When we released new details for sage and reaper on the special site, we also included their icons, not thinking that they were particularly big reveals,” said Final Fantasy XIV game director Naoki Yoshida.

However, we soon received feedback from players all over the world, who told us that the sage icon made them uncomfortable or fearful.”

This prompted Square Enix to change up parts of the design of the Sage job icon, though its overall concept is still all in all the same. “To address the problem, the new icon reduces the holes while accentuating the design concept,” said Yoshi-P. “Now, comparisons will inevitably be made, and some of you may prefer the original. But we believe that designs like this are things that grow on you as you play the job, and ask for your understanding as we head into Endwalker.” Here’s how the new icon looks:

Thankfully these concerns were brought up before the release of Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, though some folks are undoubtedly already in possession of some fan-made merch with what is now the ‘old’ Sage job icon. Still, things could be worse.

Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker releases on November 23, 2021 for PC, PS4, and PS5.

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