Hamlet Defense (ハムレット防衛, hamuretto bouei?) was a special event in the original version of Final Fantasy XIV, in which players of all classes were required to supply the small hamlets around Eorzea and aid them in battles against invading forces of Beastmen.

There were two phases to Hamlet Defense: a 50-hour non-combat phase where Disciples of the Hand and Land could enhance hamlet readiness for battle, and a 25-hour combat phase where Disciples of War and Magic joined the local militia and fought beastmen directly, while Disciples of the Hand and Land aided the effort in other ways.

Battle Preparation

During the non-combat phase of hamlet defense, players were asked to contribute to the hamlet's stockpiles by crafting and delivering several different items. Hamlets began this phase with a "supply rating" of zero, which was increased by a certain number of points every time a required item was delivered. Once this value reached certain breakpoints, the hamlet supply rating increased. Higher supply rating determined the strength of the beastmen forces and the rewards obtained by victory during the combat phase. Level 2 was the highest achievable rating at the time of the system's closing.

• Disciples of War and Magic could increase hamlet readiness by completing Caravan Security missions related to that hamlet (For example, doing Treespeak caravan security increased Hyrstmill's supply rating).
• Disciples of the Land and Hand: Delivering items requested by the hamlet militia quartermaster, or any materia-enhanced weapon or piece of gear, contributed to the hamlet’s supply rating and awarded the player with Anima points used for teleportation in the old Aethyrite system.

Battle Phase

After the 50 hour non-combat phase, beastmen started attacking the hamlet. For the next 25 hours, players of all jobs and classes had multiple opportunities to join the local militia in fending off the invading forces.

All battles were fought within instanced areas. A battle was won by either defeating the beast tribe leader, or protecting the hamlet’s four supply caches for the duration of the raid. To join the fight, your character had to be in a class that was level 45 or higher and be in a full party.

Each type of discipline had a certain role during the battle phase:

• Disciples of War and Magic - Engage the beastmen in direct combat, with the aid of several militia NPCs. After a certain amount of time, a powerful beast tribe leader entered the fray. The leader actively gave orders to his soldiers, changing their current focus of attack. The battle was won once the leader was defeated or time ran out, so long as at least one supply cart was still intact.

• Disciples of the Land - Helped to weaken the invading beastmen by collecting alchemical pots stored throughout the hamlet and delivering them, intact, to the militia quartermaster. Different pot combinations resulted in different enfeeblements.
• Disciples of the Hand - Helped to enhance the militia allies by crafting instruments of warfare with parts found in the hamlet, and then delivering the completed items to the militia quartermaster.

Rewards

Rewards were calculated by a point system affected by several different factors; certain point thresholds increased the number of chests and chance of getting better items. Hamlet Defense rewarded players with unique "Militia" gear, some of which were amongst the best equipment for their respective slot (specially for crafting and gathering classes), as well as the beast tribe seals which were, at the time, required to begin the Relic Weapon quests.

Some of the known actions that affected the score were the following:

• Hamlet readiness level (flat multiplier, level 2 hamlet = 2x bonus applied on final score)
• Time remaining.
• Number of surviving non-player characters.
• Number of enemies killed by non-player characters.
• Number of enemies killed.
• Number of times that DoL/DoH effects have been used.
• Number of deaths.
• Number of provision craters remaining.
• Using all different types of DoL/DoH effects.
• Using multiple DoH/DoL effects at the same time.
• Top 20 provisioner present in party.
• Not having any battle line breached.
• Killing "special" enemies (such as beastmen with unique weapons or "scout" animals).
• Emote use:
  • /psych targeting oneself before the first wave begins.
  • /rally targeting the troop NPCs before the first wave begins.
  • /laugh targeting the beastmen leader right after he spawns.
• Gear condition:
  • Score bonus by using level 10 or below weapon / tool.
  • Score bonus by using broken (0% durability) weapon/tool.
• Party composition:
  • All party members on the same class.
  • All party members on the same job.
  • All party members on different classes.
  • All disciplines of war present.
  • All disciplines of magic present.
  • All discipline types present (at least 1 DoL, 1 DoH, 1 DoW and 1 DoM).
  • All party members on same discipline type.
  • Number of party members using a job crystal.

A Realm Reborn

Hamlet Defense was removed entirely with the A Realm Reborn relaunch; various aspects of its design were shifted over to systems such as FATEs or the Duty Finder. There are several FATEs that involve aiding in the defense of towns against large numbers of attackers; the "Highbridge" FATE chain is perhaps the best known of these. The FATEs are not as involved as the original implementation of the system, however, and non-combat classes cannot meaningfully participate. The Relic portion, meanwhile, was shifted over to the Duty Finder almost entirely, as the questline now largely involves a series of combat trials, including three of the "hard-mode" Primals.

The Militia gear was also heavily outclassed by dungeon, high-end crafted, and "AF+1" tomestone-bought gear after the relaunch; the Militia gear is now craftable by Disciples of the Hand.