Well met, Warriors of Light! Final Fantasy XIV‘s EU Fan Festival 2026 in Berlin just concluded its keynote. Between the new tank job and the 8-player raid series surprise reveal, the wait for the upcoming expansion Evercold is truly unbearable. To think that we still have the JP Fan Festival to get through as well!
The broadcasts are available on YouTube and Twitch, so feel free to scrub through the VOD! As always, big thank you to Koji Fox for the live English translations!
Evercold Extended Teaser Trailer
Lucky for us, there aren’t any changes to the release month. Please look forward to January 2027 and our Warrior of Light’s adventure into The Godless Realms Saga! In the Fourth, take to the skies aboard Realmships, also known as the Five Firmaments, and discover how civilization persevered despite the cruel and unforgiving spreading of the ice.
We got a close-up preview of the Realmships of Water and Fire — Naglfar and Hringhorni respectively — as well as the player city hub Falgarthr.
Of course, a new expansion means we have new characters too! While watching the updated trailer, keep an eye out for the pink-haired Visna, and a male Roegadyn sporting some fancy new weapons. 👀
First New Job Revealed: Bastion
The team has peer pressured YoshiP to once again cosplay as the new job! Dressed as a bulky tank, our beloved producer gives off a commanding and reassuring aura. Introducing FFXIV’s newest tank job coming to Evercold: the Bastion! Armed with twin great-shields, named Skyltborgs, you too can charge into battle as the party’s Main Tank.
The job starts off in Limsa Lominsa and at level 90. Notably you can only play the job in Evolved Mode, which the developers explained at Anaheim’s Fan Fest earlier this year.
Stay tuned for the physical ranged job reveal at the JP Fan Fest in October!
Main Scenario Quest Updates
With so many interesting new areas, they wanted to allow players some freedom with how you experience the Main Scenario Quest. For example, after completing an establishing quest in Area A, players can tackle Areas B, C, and D in whichever order they choose. As such, players may end up at differing levels, since the MSQ progression isn’t as linear as before. To resolve this, Evercold will introduce Auto Content Balancing to ensure encounters remain balanced for everyone.
Game Design Changes
Quick recap from the first fan festival:
- Transitioning from a daily system to weekly one. Provide players different ways to progress their character’s power levels. More details in Japan!
- Season System that bundles the even and odd patches together. Remember, no Season Passes nor additional fees!
- Two Action Systems: Reborn Mode (what we’re used to) and Evolved Mode (emphasizing job individuality)
- Character-Focused Design:
- Armoury System Update where your highest item level is synced across your level capped jobs
- Character Action Skins (expanded upon below)
- Improved Character Creation Options (new: option to toggle certain racial features) starting in Patch 8.1
As promised, we have more details on Character Action Skins! They can be acquired as rewards, and are available for both character (such as emotes) and job actions. For example, you can customize your Teleport animation to match your character’s style. Currently, the plan is to release general action skins with Patch 8.0, and the first batch of job action skins will be in Patch 8.1. For subsequent patches, there will be more action skins to look forward to.
Ever-Evolving Content
In terms of field updates, they want to include aspects of exploration and collaboration like in the Eureka zones. Expect details on the tentatively named World Raids soon!
They are adding optional auto-navigating from quest giver to quest area, similar to what many mobile games have nowadays. While they feel like the journey itself to be part of the experience, they also want to provide the option for players prefer to save time.
Starting in Evercold, they are bridging the gap in difficulty and rewards between Normal and Savage by adding a third difficulty for 8-person raids. Players can practice the encounters and earn Season Gear that can be gradually upgraded. However, players already comfortable with Savage raids can continue to acquire direct gear upgrades.
Expect improved party finder search and matching criteria along with the arrival of same-region player matching. It’ll arrive first in Japan on October 12th, 2026 and eventually expand to NA, EU, and China once issues are ironed out.
Final Fantasy VII Raid Series & Gold Saucer Updates
Introducing the next 8-player raid series, Beyond the Lifestream, a crossover raid story with Final Fantasy VII! Expect a high degree of fidelity to FFVII, as the Remake team is taking an active role in development supervision.
As usual, we’ll expect three raid tiers and the first one to arrive in Patch 8.01. As promised with Evercold, the raids will include three fight difficulties (Normal, New, Savage).
Also, Patch 7.56 features a surprise addition! In preparation for the FFVII raids, it appears the FFVII’s Gold Saucer is being added into FFXIV’s Gold Saucer! Please look forward to an all-new typing attraction, the Keybound Brawler, coming October 28th, 2026.
Evangelion Alliance Raid: Ghosts of Desire
Missed the initial Evangelion raid announcement from Anaheim? You can experience the slightly updated teaser instead!
Duty Support & Chocobo Companion Overhaul
When Duty Support changes were first mentioned, there was hope that players would be able to queue with a friend and be able to duo dungeons together. The solution the developers cooked up is the Chocobo Companion Overhaul arriving in Patch 8.1! Customize your trusty feathered friend to support you in dungeons!
There was a lot of reveals and information showered unto us this keynote! In-depth coverage of various topics are on the way, so keep an eye out for our articles on Icy Veins!
