While Final Fantasy XIV is a brilliant MMORPG, it unfortunately has an absolutely dreadful early game that simply serves to push new players away. Not only does it take far too long to get through the base game's quests, but the storylines just aren't all that interesting until you reach Heavensward.
In order to correct this, the developers announced a while back that they will be doing a massive rework of the base game's story, as well as greatly reducing the amount of quests you'll need in order to progress towards the expansions. All of this was supposed to come in the near future as a part of the next major update, Patch 5.3, but unfortunately it would appear that the update is getting delayed due to the ongoing pandemic.
"FFXIV relies heavily on our development and QA partners across the world, and at this point, we must accept that the situation will significantly impact our development schedule," reads the developer blog. "Though it is clear that patch 5.3, which was planned for mid-June, will be delayed because of the above, we are at this time undecided as to whether it will be feasible to limit the delay to two or three weeks, or if it will be closer to a month."
"We are terribly sorry for the disappointment this may cause our players, as we know you look forward to new patches. However, it is also important to prioritize the physical and mental health of our development team, without whom we would never be able to release the quality updates and features you expect from FFXIV, so we ask for your understanding as we adjust our schedule in accordance with the situation."
A disappointing turn of events, but still understandable given that transitioning to working from home for a massive company isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world. With that in mind, don't be surprised if quite a few other games end up going through similar delays while adjusting to the current situation.
To learn more about the team's plans for Final Fantasy XIV, as well as the delay itself, you should hop over to the official website.