“Given that this is…Fan Fest, you’re probably expecting us to announce the release date of Dawntrail,” he said (transcription via PC Gamer). “Unfortunately, though we do have an internal date that we are targeting, we are adjusting the schedule to ensure it’s fine-tuned as much as it possibly can be before announcing, so we will not be sharing that today.”

As for why the team is taking this approach, it’s to avoid another incident like Endwalker. The pivotal expansion was set to launch on November 23rd, 2021, but ended up delayed to December 7th.

“If you’re wondering why, well, it’s because, as you know, for Endwalker, for the very first time in my career, we had to delay the release. We don’t want that to happen again, even if it’s just a few weeks. So we are taking great care to make sure our schedule is on track before announcing, but we will get you that info as soon as we can.”

Yoshida also reaffirmed that it will launch this Summer, not the “Square Enix time” version of the same. “We said for [Final Fantasy] 16 we were gonna release it in Summer, and it came out in June. We will not be releasing on Square Enix time. We will be releasing on [Final Fantasy] 14 time, which means properly in Summer.” Of course, that could still fall anywhere between May 1st and September 23rd, depending on the season type.

Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail sees players venturing to Tural, a continent dubbed the New World, and utilizing new Jobs like the Viper and Pictomancer (the Beastmaster is due later). Check out the full trailer, and how the new areas and Dungeons look here.

To be able to access the event, players need to have a character in Final Fantasy 14 of at least level 15. Alongside the usual pre-requisites of having to unlock access to the Gold Saucer, players will also have to complete the event quest titled Just Crowning Around.

On completing the quest, players will be able to join a Blunderville show—essentially a match of Fall Guys in Final Fantasy 14. Completing an event allows players to earn MGF, which in turn can be exchanged at the Gold Saucer for special cosmetic items based on Fall Guys.

Alongside new Fall Guys-inspired clothing, players can also earn an emote called Embracing Blunders, as well as a number of pets, dyes, and an Orchestrion Roll of the Fall Guys theme song.

However, despite the fact that the vast majority of the story can now be played solo, it is worth noting that the Duty Support system only features support for 4-player trials. This means that only early trials from Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn, namely the fights against Ifrit, Titan, Garuda, and Ultima Weapon, will feature AI party members. 8-player trials, which constitute the vast majority of the trials in the game, will still require players to queue up with other players for the epic boss fights.

The Duty Support system is an evolution of the Trust system that was originally introduced with the Shadowbringers expansion. Through the system, players can take on dungeons from the game with the help of AI-controlled party members.

Final Fantasy 14’s next major expansion, Dawntrail, is slated for launch in Summer 2024.

“And with like, the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster series coming out, we thought that wouldn’t it be cool if we can play that in the Gold Saucer?” said Yoshida.

The producer revealed, however, that the fact that the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster games were running on what was described as “middleware” made it difficult to incorporate the titles inside Final Fantasy 14.

“So because it’s running on middleware, if you want to implement that into 14, you’d have to build another system that can play back the middleware inside the game,” said Yoshida. “So it’s like you’re building a system of a game to play a system of a game. It’s just this weird configuration.”

The Final Fantasy 14 Fanfest also recently saw the announcement of the next major expansion for the MMORPG. Titled Dawntrail, the expansion is slated for release in Summer 2024. Before that, Final Fantasy 14 will also finally launch for Xbox Series X/S in Spring. Square Enix has also expanded the Final Fantasy 14 free trial to now also include content from the Stormblood expansion.

As is the case with any major update for Final Fantasy 14, The Dark Throne will also continue the game’s main storyline through the addition of new Main Scenario Quests. There will also be a new dungeon—the Aetherfont—and a new trial—The Voidcast Dais—where players will take on Golbez in both Normal and Extreme difficulties.

Endgame players can look forward to the final set of raids in the Pandæmonium raid series with the addition of Pandæmonium: Anabaseios, which will be available in Normal and Savage difficulty options. The new Unreal Trial this time around will be Containment Bay Z1T9, where players will take on Zurvan.

Other content coming to the game include the continuation of the Tataru’s Grand Endeavour side quest storyline, new routes for Ocean Fishing, new sanctuary ranks and content for Island Sanctuary, and the start of a new PvP season for Crystalline Conflict.

Dungeons from the Stormblood expansion are also getting updated with support for the new Duty Support System, which means that they can be played and completed with AI companions rather than other players.

Later on, the game will get update 6.45, which will bring with it a new level cap of 80 for the Blue Mage job, a new Variant Dungeon—Mount Rokkon—which will also be available as a Criterion Dungeon, and continuations of the Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures, Manderville Weapons, and Splenderous Tools questlines.

As part of the core set of features of the update, the main storyline will be continued. The update is also bringing with it a new dungeon titled The Aetherfont, and a new set of 8-player raids in the Pandæmonium raid series. A new 8-player trial, named The Voidcast Dais, will also be released in normal and extreme difficulties.

Other features of the update include a new zone for Ocean Fishing, updates to Island Sanctuary, support for Stormblood main scenario dungeon for the Duty Support System, Containment Bay Z1T9 returning as the new Unreal Trial, and a new chapter in the Tataru’s Grand Endeavour quest.

The company has also detailed the follow-up patch 6.45, which is slated to raise the level cap for the Blue Mage job up to 80, and brings with it Mount Rokkon as the new Variant and Criterion dungeon. The comedic Hildibrand series of quests will also be continued in the update, along with continuations for the Weapon and Tool Enhancement quests.

Alongside a continuation of the main story, patch 6.3 is also bringing with it a host of PVE and PVP content for players, including a new 8-player Trial, a new Unreal Trial, a new 24-player Alliance raid, a new dungeon, and for the most dedicated PVE players, the new Ultimate raid based on Stormblood‘s Omega raid series, which is set to release shortly after the launch of patch 6.3, in patch 6.31.

A host of new ccontent will also be available for solo players, such as the continuation of Tataru’s Grand Endeavor, the Tales of Newfound Adventure, and the Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures quest lines. Players can also look forward to more Tribal Quests for Loporrits, a new Deep Dungeon—Eureka Orthos—and the addition of more Heavensward dungeons in the game’s Duty Support system.

Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker patch 6.3 is set to release on January 10.

Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker will be getting patch 6.2 in late August. The content coming to the game as part of the patch include a continuation of the main storyline and new raid content for end-game players.

Going into detail about Island Sanctuary, producer and director Naoki Yoshida spoke about how players will be able to build their own personal island sanctuary. The Island Sanctuary content is set to be relaxing solo content, revolving around gathering materials, building facilities, and caring for creatures.

Patch 6.2 will also bring a new Unreal difficulty Trial to the game—Sephirot in Containment Bay S1T7. The patch will also kick off PvP Series 2 and Crystal Conflict Series 3, along with a return of the Rival Wings mode for PvP players.

Here are all the things for patch 6.2 revealed during the announcement:

• New Main Scenario Quests: The story will continue
• New Side Quests: Continues the story of Tataru’s Grand Endeavor
• New Dungeon: The Fell Court of Troia
• New Trial: A new boss fight at normal and extreme difficulties
• New 8-Player Raid: Pandæmonium: Abyssos will be the new raid tier for normal and savage difficulties. The savage difficulty will be released one week after the release of patch 6.2
• New Unreal Trial: Sephirot in Containment Bay S1T7 (Unreal)
• PvP Updates: PvP Series 2, Crystal Conflict Series 3, and Rival Wings
• Reworks of Past Main Scenario Quests: The Duty Support system will be expanded to include dungeons from Snow Cloak through The Vault, the Steps of Faith trial will be turned into a solo quest battle, and the Thornmarch trial will be revamped

Yoshida also provided a few details about content coming in the follow-up patch 6.25:

• New Side Quests: Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures continue
• New Weapon Enhancemnet Quests: Players can obtain and enhance Manderville Weapons throughout the patch content in Endwalker, unlocked through the Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures questline
• New Tribal Quests: Omicron for Disciples of Land
• New “Variant Dungeons” Content – New variable-difficulty dungeon content designed for 1-4 players. The difficulty of enemies depends on the party size. Dungeons will feature branching routes.
• Another Path: Criterion Dungeons: High difficulty 4-player content featuring a visually similar area to Variant Dungeons, but with no branching paths. Criterion Dungeons will feature two difficulty options.

The final announcement is that patch 6.18 will launch on July 5, bringing with it the Data Center Travel feature. Using the new feature, players can travel between different data centers—essentially servers—and form parties. At launch, the feature will only work for data centers in the same areas. Traveling between data centers of different regions will not be available.

Patch 6.18 will also be kicking off a new logical data center to the Japanese region. European regions will also see more Worlds for players to play in, allowing for higher player capacity. The Chaos Data Center is getting the Sagittarius and Phantom Worlds, while the Light Data Center is getting the Alpha and Raiden worlds.

Final Fantasy 14 is available on PC, PS4, and PS5. It is currently on its fourth expansion, titled Endwalker.

In an interview with NME, Final Fantasy 14’s director and producer Naoki Yoshida revealed that while the details of the new story content to be added to the game through its Patch 6.X series have already been decided, Yoshida himself is now working on the story for the game’s next expansion.

“The plot for the main scenario in the Patch 6.X series has already been completed and we’ve decided on its conclusion,” Yoshida said. “Currently, script-related work for several patches and work on the detailed plot are underway. In fact on my end, I’m already deciding on what I envision for 7.0.”

Before the launch of Endwalker, Yoshida said that, at the time, the MMORPG’s development team had plans for at least five more years of content. Meanwhile, earlier this year, it was also confirmed that with Patch 7.0, whenever it arrives, Final Fantasy 14 will also receive its first ever visual upgrade. Read more on that through here.

Final Fantasy 14 is available on PS5, PS4, and PC.

The free trial was expanded significantly in August 2020 to offer access to Heavensward, the first paid expansion, along with all content up to patch 3.56. You’ll also have access to the Machinist, Dark Knight and Astrologian Jobs. The best part is that no subscription fees are required, though you won’t be able to group up with other players (unless they own the game).

Final Fantasy 14 is available for PS4, PS5 and PC. New players who purchase the game will receive 30 days of free game time. Monthly subscriptions past that require paying $12.99 per month. Stay tuned for more details on the MMORPG’s future in the meantime.

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