In the 89th Letter from the Producer Live broadcast conducted by the Final Fantasy XIV team, producer/director Naoki Yoshida and global community producer Toshio Murouchi went over content and features to be added to the game in its next major patch: “Into the Mist”.
Otherwise referred to as Patch 7.4, it will release Tuesday, December 16, 2025.
Catch our summary of the major details below. If you’re getting caught up with recent patches, check out our quick reference guide regarding where to unlock content and features in Patch 7.35.
Patch Overview
Here’s a rundown of the content and features coming in Patch 7.38 and 7.4 series, which includes Patch 7.41 and 7.45 that will follow August’s launch:
Patch 7.38 (November 11, 2025):
This patch will remove the weekly limit on AAC Cruiserweight Tier (Savage) and allow players to exchange Ordelle and Montiont coins found in the Echoes of Vana’diel alliance raids for evercharged ester, allowing for more accessible item level upgrades.
A new furnishing will be added to Return to Ivalice alliance raid treasure coffers to celebrate the release of Final Fantasy Tactics The Ivalice Chronicles release.
Patch 7.4 (December 16, 2025):
Patch 7.41 (January 6, 2026):
Titled “Into the Mist“, the fourth major content patch following the Dawntrail expansion will release on Tuesday, December 16, 2025. With it include updates to the main scenario quest, a new eight-player raid, new allagan tomestones to exchange for endgame gear, and new crafted items as well.
Into the Mist sees the Warrior of Light and company once again in Living Memory, where, in new images shared on the broadcast, they behold an airship seemingly constructed of electrope. We also see Krile pondering something in Tuliyollal, hinting at perhaps a prominent role in this chapter. Sphene accompanies the party to the new expert dungeon: The Mistwake. Here, we see a subterranean city with an abundance of machinery powering it. An unfamiliar, be-sweatted character appears to be handing the viewer a strange device.
Regarding sidequests, Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures will also continue with the inspector’s typical panache, including a barreltender wearing sunglasses riding a motorcycle.
A new trial will be added: Hell on Rails featuring what appears to be Doomtrain evoking its appearance in Final Fantasy VIII but with a distinct electrope-based construction. A normal and extreme-level difficulty will be available for players to challenge.
The third and final rung of the Arcadion raid series will commence with the Heavyweight Tier. Here, we can see an ancient-looking arena with stone flooring. A red-haired, presumably eldite woman cradles her face, and a leather coat wearing eldite man gazes down at the viewer from above.
Yoshida noted that many players, including those overseas, celebrate the Christmas holiday with friends and family, so the deployment of the savage-difficulty raid is later than usual: three weeks instead of one (Patch 7.41). This way, players can enjoy this time without fretting about difficult, time-intensive raid content.
The next unreal trial will be versus Tsukuyomi, apdated from the Stormblood patch series trials for a level 100 encounter.
Duty Support will be updated with A Realm Reborn dungeons Dzemael Darkhold and Aurum Vale. The system will be adjusted where players will gain a buff not dissimilar to the Echo should they wipe in these duties. Stacks of this buff will continue to accrue per wipe until the boss is defeated.
Frontlines will get a new map and campaign: Worqor Chirteh seen in or near Urqopacha, a zone from the Dawntrail expansion. More details about this mode will be revealed in the next broadcast. PvP Series 10 will begin in 7.4, and with it new series rewards — PvP actions will also see adjustments with this timing.
A new course will be added to Air Force One, a mini-game in the Manderville Gold Saucer where players travel along a path and attempt to shoot at stationary and moving targets for points. This course The Cieldalaes transports players to the tropical island chain leading them through darkned caves, a lagoon with an abandoned ship, and even a duel against a kraken.
Phantom weapons will see yet another upgrade tier (to item level 775) and the items necessary to upgrade them will be found in the Occult Crescent. While no new zone or duty is being added in 7.4 for the Field Exploration series, three new phantom jobs will be added: mystic knight, dancer, and gladiator. Additionally, new accessories will be added to aid in exploring the Occult Crescent (four four DoW/DoM each) and can be obtained rarely from critical encounters, treasure chests, magic pots, and happy bunnies. Development on the next Occult Crescent update continues, and the in-instance duty will have several difficulty modes as requested by players.
Cosmic exploration will continue with a voyage to a new star: Oizys. In this strange, desert-ified world, players can obtain further enhancements to their cosmic tools up to item level 765. New rewards will be available here, including those exchange-able with cosmocredits, cosmic fortune prizes, and new tokens obtained from EX+ missions and new items for exchange.
Sequential missions will get a bonus, and “ruin exploration” has been added as a feature where you will “uncover ancient records pertaining to the planet’s past and have them appraised for a range of items.”
Variant Dungeon Rework:
The team spent a larger amount of time explaining the new variant dungeon and how the variant/criterion system has been reworked, citing the feedback driven changes that inspired the update to the latest Deep Dungeon: Pilgrim’s Traverse.
The Merchant’s Tale will be the latest variant dungeon, and Yoshida noted its unique style, fit for a Pictomancer perhaps. The NPC accompanying the player this time is a relative of Y’shtola. Here, they and the Warrior of Light are seen raising their palms to a book.
or those unfamiliar with Variant Dungeons: you will travel to a dungeon at the behest of a particular NPC, then explore that dungeon with the NPC. Completing different “routes”, a story will begin to emerge based on your experiences and records found. The route changes based on the doors you choose, contraptions activated, etc. Fight different bosses on different routes; mechanics may change depending on your actions. Hints for discovering other routes can be found within discovered records. Variant dungeons can be attempted solo or with a party, and there are dedicated duty actions you can equip from the bespoke menu. Rewards can be found from coffers or tokens that can be exchanged for myriad rewards.
When you complete a variant dungeon, you will unlock the corresponding ‘criterion dungeon’. While there are no branching paths, the difficulty increases significantly, including a savage difficulty version. However, the duty structure has been adjusted based on feedback. Until now…
Variant dungeons themselves are unchanged, but once completed, you will unlock a new ‘Variant Dungeon (Advanced)’ duty. There’s no exploration but consists of three boss battles from the variant dungeon you can challenge in any order. After defeating any one boss, you may opt to stop there. However, if you defeat all three in a single run you will receive a bonus reward. These can be attempted with parties of 2-4 players and duty-specific actions will be available.
Once the Advanced variant dungeon is completed, a new criterion dungeon will be added. This is even higher in difficulty and you must proceed sequentially through boss encounters to receive a reward. Revival methods are limited.
System Updates:
Two new UI color themes, “Clear Green” and “Clear White” will be added. The Strategy Board will at long last be implemented, with Yoshida thanking players for their patience in awaiting this feature. More information will be discussed in the next broadcast, but the function of this will be to quickly organize and communicate a strategy for difficult high-end encounters. Players will be able to generate a code based on what you create to easily share.
A new Command Panel function will be added based on player feedback, where four separate panels of 25 slots. Anything that can be placed into a hotbar can be placed into the command panel, ideal for squirreling away commonly-used emotes and macros to consolidate HUD space.
The team is relaxing a long-held policy of certain types of gear glamour only being equip-able by certain roles. “Use any gear in your glamour, irrespective of class, job or level restriction.” However, weapons/tools are exempt due to animations – specifically that once class of items can’t be glamoured into another. A two-handed sword can only be glamoured into a two-handed sword.
Regarding housing and glamour plate updates, Yoshida shared that the team is in the final stages of optimizations for housing item limit increases and other housing system-level updates, but they need until Patch 7.5 to implement them. There are many optimizations that need to go into this increase so that players can place more furnishings, and there are challenges in making sure that it doesn’t put too much strain on the CPU. Once these optimizations are complete, tasks like increasing glamour plates can be undertaken, but there’s an order that they have to proceed in to accomplish this.
Announcements
- Fan Festival 2026 in Anaheim, CA, USA tickets are currently on sale to players with an active subscription. This event will take place April 24-25, 2026 at the Anaheim Convention Center.
- Eorzea Symphony 2025 ticket applications are now available. Attendees to Eorzea Symphony 2025 may pre-order merchandise until Friday, November 7, 2025.
Yoshida closes the broadcast with a few notes: on Tuesday he’ll be play testing the planned updates for 7.4. A 14-hour broadcast won’t happen this year due to scheduling challenges, but 2026 will be a busy year with the worldwide fan festivals and they want to prioritize development on the game.
