Patches will start laying the foundation for next summer’s expansion

Final Fantasy 14has teased what to expect from the MMO’s upcoming patches, the last updates to hit the game before the release ofincoming expansion Dawntrail next year. As usual, there’s a lot of stuff planned, from new dungeons and trials, to quests and XIV’s upcomingFall Guyscrossover.

Director Naoki Yoshida - aka Yoshi-P - detailed the incoming FF14 patches during the latest Letter from the Producer Live event, held during last weekend’s Fan Festival in Las Vegas. The patches will include a two-part release named Growing Light, which will begin setting up story elements forDawntrailacross two major updates landing in early October and next January.

6.5 will land in early October, and start laying the foundation for next year’s Dawntrail expansion. (Thanks,Nova Crystallis.) The main scenario will explore a new Expert dungeon on the moon, The Lunar Subterrane, following the major role played by the moon throughout previous expansionEndwalkerand the patches since. In typical Yoshi-P fashion, he urged players to soak in the changing scenery during their adventures through the dungeon.

A new trial, The Abyssal Fracture, will pit players against Zeromus, continuing theFinal Fantasy IVinspiration and cameos throughout Endwalker and its post-expansion story, following the appearance of fellow FF4 baddies in Golbez and the Four Fiends.

As well as including an Extreme version of The Abyssal Fracture, the 6.5 patch will also cycle in an Unreal difficulty version of Heavensward’s final boss TheSingularityReactor, replacing current Unreal trial Containment Bay Z1T9.

A third Myths of the Realm alliance raid will also be added, serving as the conclusion to the Aglaia and Euphrosyne raids added in patches 6.1 and 6.3.

Elsewhere, the latest season of PvP will kick off, with updates to the competitive Crystalline Conflict in the form of UI improvements and a new desert arena called the Red Sands.

FF14’sAnimal Crossing-like gathering and crafting mode Island Sanctuary will get an update too, adding a new area along with various crops, items, materials, animals and whatnot.

Yoshi-P also looked ahead - albeit in a little less detail - to the minor 6.51 patch expected at the end of October. The patch will introduce the third Variant and Criterion dungeon in the tropical island-looking Aloalo Island.

You’ll be able to give it a go even if you haven’t finished The Sil’dihn Subterrane and Mount Rokkon, the previous V&C dungeons built around variable branching paths and randomised events.

Final Fantasy14’s crossover with Fall Guys is also due to roll out sometime during the 6.5 patches, appearing in Eorzea’s Gold Saucer.

As is now typical for the game, it certainly sounds like the team won’t be resting on their laurels in the gap between now and Dawntrail.