FFXIV Players: Here’s Every Major Drop Before Evercold Hits

Happy Patch 7.5 launch day, Warriors of Light! There is a lot to get done in Final Fantasy XIV right now. To list off a few, you’ve got the Main Scenario Quests and their duties, the new Alliance raid, and mount farming. The list keeps going! If you’re lost, check out our list of activities to get you started.

What’s exciting is that there is still more to come. We got a good idea of the timeline from now until Evercold from the NA Fan Fest keynote, so buckle in as we run through it! For your convenience, use the following list to jump around!

• Patch 7.51 – June 2nd, 2026 (Cosmic Exploration, Custom Deliveries, Ultimate)
• Berlin Fan Festival 2026 – July 25th and 26th, 2026
• Patch 7.55 – July 28th, 2026 (Hildibrand, Occult Crescent: North Horn, Phantom Weapons)
• Patch 7.56 – September 8th, 2026 (MSQ part 2, Beastmaster)
• Tokyo Fan Festival 2026 – October 31st and November 1st, 2026
• Patch 7.5x (Same-Region Player Matching)
• Evercold – January 2027

Patch 7.51 – June 2nd, 2026

Next stop, Auxesia! We are now arriving at our final destination on our Cosmic Exploration journey. At least for now. Maybe they’ll continue this journey for Evercold’s crafting and gathering relic tool quest lines. Unlikely, but I think I’ll miss the Loporrits.

Speaking of relic tools, I’m really excited to see how the Cosmic Tools glow in their final form. My frying pan and alchemy alembic are ready. Even if the relic tools aren’t your goal, there are still different rewards to aim for! Perhaps the Omega Fist mount can be claimed from Auxesia’s Cosmic Fortune wheel?

Now I know my memory isn’t the sharpest, but this Miqo’te doesn’t seem like our beloved taco provider. Since the recent Custom Delivery recipients let you glamour their outfits, this is probably their way of getting around making gear appropriate for Mamool Ja anatomy. Anyways, seek out Tiisol Ja and find out how you can help with the expansion to Aunt Tii’s Tacos.

Last but certainly not least for this patch, Dancing Mad (Ultimate) is our final Ultimate raid for Dawntrail. Whether you’re an alarm clocking raider gunning for world’s first, casually tackling it with some friends, or just watching it all go down in streams, you won’t want to miss Kefka’s spectacular performance!

Berlin Fan Festival – July 25th and 26th, 2026

During the North American Fan Festival 2026 keynote, there were a number of times where topics were introduced and then pushed for the Berlin Fan Fest. The following is a list of those topics:

• More context on Evercold since there will be fewer spoilers after Patch 7.5 MSQ
• Reveal for the first new job coming in 8.0 (either tank or physical ranged DPS)
• Expanding on the changes to game design (mitigate monotony, respect the player’s time)
• Closer look at the Character Action Skins
• Details on changes and quality of life for Quests
• Explanation on the new difficulty between Normal and Savage for 8-player content
• Upcoming Raid series for 8.0
• Expansion of Duty Support to potentially allow pairs of players to queue together

Patch 7.55 – July 28th, 2026

The Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures will be reaching the conclusion of their Dawntrail chapter too. Follow along with Inspector Hildibrand’s antics and find out just what kind of trouble he’ll find himself in!

Also, the next field operation Occult Crescent: North Horn will become available. There haven’t been more details since the 91st PLL but to quickly recap what we know:

• New Monsters, Critical Encounters, and FATEs
• Knowledge Level cap increased to 40
• At least 8 new phantom jobs
• New North Horn gear (skip early steps by using upgraded South Horn gear!)
• New Forked Tower: Magic with Normal and Extreme difficulties
  • Normal mode is more accessible for casual players and can be completed with fewer players
  • Extreme mode will be easier to enter, with extreme-only-mode instances that will spawn the Tower immediately

Of course, with more Occult Crescent content, the final stage of the Phantom Weapons can be completed. We saw a couple of the in-game models during the 92nd PLL, if you’re interested. As of writing, this is about three months away, so you have plenty of time to get through the slogs that are the Demiatma or, worse in my opinion, the Crystal Paste steps.

Patch 7.56 – September 8th, 2026

Patch 7.56’s Main Scenario Quest will be setting us up for our foray into the Fourth reflection in Evercold. Without spoiling Patch 7.5’s MSQ, the pressure is really starting to build. We’ll have to wait to see how our Warrior of Light’s journey progresses!

The new limited job Beastmaster finally makes its grand entrance in the final final patch of Dawntrail. Phew! We made it before the next expansion. There is simply too much to cover so please check our article for what we know so far. They promised a special stream focused on Beastmaster so be on the lookout for that!

Tokyo Fan Festival – Oct 31st and Nov 1st, 2026

Next, we’ve got the Tokyo Fan Festival 2026 to look forward to! A reminder that the ticket lottery is currently on-going until Sunday, May 10th. The NA Fan Fest keynote also pushed some topics for this Fan Fest:

• The (almost?) final form of the new Adventurer Activity UI
• More details on changes to the game design (weekly activities, rewards)
• New ways to raise item level besides savage raiding and tomestone grinding
• The second new job coming in Evercold (either tank or physical ranged DPS)
• Deep dive on how progression in 24-player raids is changing (less time to progress without cutting raid length)

The list is sure to grow when the Berlin Fan Fest is underway. Stay tuned for more information!

Patch 7.5x – Same-Region Player Matching

One of the last big changes left is same-region player matching, with no set date for release yet. Whenever it finally goes live, lengthy matchmaking times on less populated servers should become a thing of the past. You won’t have to lose out on folklore and unspoiled gathering nodes nor lose access to retainers just to do roulettes! The Party Finder is also included in this change.

Players can join friends without relying on data center travel and new players won’t feel forced to wait for congested worlds to open up for character creation. However, joining the same Free Company or sharing a house will still require sharing a home world, so there is no getting around that. Also, we’re not sure how they’ll include the OCE region and we’re hoping they’ll have access to another region’s pool of players too!

Testing will begin in Japan first, then roll out to the US, EU, and China afterward. We’re slowly breaking the barriers separating players!

Patch 8.0 Evercold – January 2027

Now comes the most exciting part: the next expansion, Evercold! Most FFXIV expansions landed in the summer (with the exception of Endwalker due to COVID delays) so we were surprised to hear that Patch 8.0 arrives in January 2027. However, it is fitting that the frigid expansion arrives in the winter. There is simply too much to cover here so make sure to check out our Evercold guide hub!

Have you heard that with Patch 7.5, the Free Trial now includes the Shadowbringers expansion? It’s the perfect opportunity to dive into the YoRHa: Dark Apocalypse Alliance raids. I look forward to seeing more Warriors of Light out there! As always, make sure to check Icy Veins for all your FFXIV needs!