Final Fantasy 14's next major expansion has finally been revealed at North American Fan Festival 2026, bringing with it tons of quality-of-life changes, new content, and even a major update to the combat system. But the bad news is that you won't be able to get your hands on any of these until next January. This means we have plenty of time to prepare.
And there's a lot we can fix now to make sure we're well prepared and ahead of the curve when Patch 8.0 finally releases. If you're too far behind, get ready to go. It looks like it's pretty much resolving all the complaints fans have had over the years, so I'm excited to see what the landscape looks like for one of the genre's best at this point next year!
Catch up on MSQ
Of course, as we begin, we have to cover the Main Scenario Quest (MSQ), which serves as the main storyline of Final Fantasy 14, stitching A Realm Reborn and all its expansions into the loving, coherent and emotional story we all know and love. But while some of us are thoroughly enjoying Dawntrail, many players will take a temporary break and have a lot to catch up on.
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Whether you've stopped playing because you're uninterested in the latest expansion, or are a newbie working your way through each expansion, you'll have to keep plowing through MSQ until you see that glorious 'To Be Continued' sign on your HUD. And to give you a little more excitement, there will be two updates that further expand 'Post-MSQ' to help connect Dawntrail to the upcoming Evercold expansion!
Upcoming MSQ updates
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Patch 7.5 – Released April 28, 2026
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Patch 7.56 – Released September 8, 2026
As you can see, the first MSQ update has been released now, with the second update scheduled for release later this year. If you haven't caught up yet, I suggest you hurry because January will be here before we know it!
Hildibrand's quest is as follows
Speaking of keeping up with the quest line, you should focus on the excellent Hildibrand quest. Because it's the best side content the game has to offer. And it won't end there, with more quests added to this fun quest line with patch 7.55 on July 28th this year, and there's bound to be more shenanigans happening once Evercold releases.
If you want to participate in one of the best aspects of the game but haven't started this quest line yet, there are a lot of quests here so you'll be involved in this quest line for the long haul. As with MSQ, if you want to future-proof yourself with the inevitable updates across Evercold, you might want to catch up on Hildibrand's story now. Because doing so will become increasingly more difficult as more quests are added in the future!
Make sure your destiny is complete
Next, let me convey an ambiguous message here. Nonetheless, we have a strong hunch that you'll want to complete all shared FATEs in each zone and region, as announced that there will be 'public field improvements' in the upcoming Evercold update. There will likely be completely new encounters and things to do in the main areas and regions, but there may also be some tweaks to FATE here and there.
Regardless of what they're trying to do, it's clear that they want to make it worth it for you to revisit old areas and really explore the incredible areas the game has to offer. If you've been ignoring or putting off FATE, take this opportunity to check it off your list. You'll immediately find out what FATE has added in Patch 8.0. If you haven't played FATE yet, get ready to sink hundreds of hours into it!
Time for the Evangelion Marathon
And then there's the slightly odd part, but the next collaboration has already been announced and won't make it into the game until Evercold releases. This crossover is none other than the Neon Genesis Evangelion series, one of the most beloved manga/anime series. The crossover takes place via 24-player Alliance Raids, which are very similar to how the Nier Raid series is handled if you participate in them.
And similar to Nier, Evangelion has a deeply emotional, visceral, and personal story filled with outstanding characters and world-building. So, if you haven't already, I highly recommend you watch this series, especially if you're an anime fan. Not only will you have the best experience for the first time (jealousy), but you'll also appreciate Alliance Raids a lot more since you'll be chock-full of references, lore-related information, and more!
Evangelion release/viewing order
- Neon Genesis Evangelion (TV series)
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Neon Genesis Evangelion: Death and Rebirth (movie)
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Summary video (can be skipped if you watched the TV series)
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Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes
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- Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion (movie)
- Resurrection of Evangelion (movie)
- Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone (movie)
- Evangelion: 2.0 can advance (not) (movie)
- Evangelion: 3.0 can be played again. (movie)
- Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 three times (movie)
Level up your jobs wisely from this point on
Now it's time to focus on tasks and leveling. Evercold will be introducing a new combat system that aims to further streamline the process by reducing turn times while also reducing the number of buttons to press in any given string, without losing the identity of the action. Reborn mode maintains the status quo, while Advanced mode aims to bring out the personality of each task, like music to our ears.
But what effect will this have on the current state of the game? Well, some tasks are so bloated or just have seemingly complex loops that they're not worth the time and effort to learn. So if you've been putting off doing things like Samurai, Red Mage, Gunbreaker or Astrologan, it might be better to stick with it until patch 8.0 is released and focus on 'simpler' stuff until then.
That's not to say that the task is impossibly difficult to learn, but it will certainly be a lot more fun and rewarding to learn if the advanced mode is as successful as it seems. Rotations should be fun, expressive, and unique to specific jobs, and some jobs are simply not fun to play. Hopefully this will be a thing of the past in Evercold!
Your fascinating collection starts now
Finally, it's time to talk about upcoming changes to character customization and glamor. Evercold is making a number of changes to that area as well, which will not only allow you to pull more items from your gear, but will finally allow you to mix and match gear across each task in the game, allowing players to create more awesome creations than ever before within the game.
If you've ever wanted to take a look at the fashion side of Final Fantasy 14, now is the perfect time to take a shot at that outfit or armor set you've always thought was cool, especially the ones you don't even play. Do you like a specific ninja set but only play Dragoon? This is no longer a problem in 8.0. Because now Dragoon can wear that very ninja costume.
Over the next few months, grab every armor set and clothing item you think is cool. Now you can finally mix and match them to your heart's content. This is one of the best aspects of Final Fantasy 14. Especially if you achieve a specific look that best reflects your personality and interests!
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