The first of three Final Fantasy XIV Fanfests has recently concluded in North America; this was the first event to announce the upcoming 8.x expansion coming down the line for Final Fantasy XIV. Producer Naoki Yoshida came onto the stage with a jacket, so we couldn’t see his t-shirt in case you were curious about any potential teasers!
Before that, we got our first glimpse of some of the upcoming locations and the title for the newest expansion, which will be called “Evercold.” I think the biggest shock for me was that the release date for the expansion is planned for January 2027; I personally was expecting it to be slightly later. The info kicked off a two hour-long excitement rollercoaster, although as always, all the info we received is still subject to change, and things could look different when the expansion launches in January 2027.
Tome System Waves Goodbye
Another huge change that nobody expected and that shocked pretty much everyone at the event was that the developers are seemingly removing tome system. This system has been in place since the game launched in 2013, and the daily/weekly grind was getting quite repetitive for most players. Square Enix has instead announced a new season system which seems to be the way to get gear in the 8.x and above series. We saw that several different activities will give points that level up the season. This reminds me a lot of the PvP series pass, which would give you rewards as you complete it.
The team also mentioned that this is not a battle pass and rewards will be earned for free. I personally am looking forward to more information on this system, as I’m a little worried about it; still, this was my was my only concern during the entire keynote and everything else looks incredible. Also, if you miss one week, you will be able to do a catch-up system to get the rewards from the previous week. Meanwhile, the entire UI system has been changed, showcasing different things in an Adventurer Activity window, though the developers did not go into much detail, and the UI is subject to change as they still have nine months until release.
Elsewhere, Square Enix also mentioned that the armoury system will be getting a major revamp, with the system not having been changed since ARR. One of the key changes is the fact you will be able to sync your highest gear to other jobs. So, if you run the new raid as a Paladin and then wish to play White Mage because either someone in your raid group is away or you just want something else to do for a change, you will be able to sync your gear to your Paladin’s item level. There will be some limitations, however; I think I heard about Materia sync issues, but we will hear more about this system in future fanfests. Your Materia will not be sync’d to the other jobs, so if you wish to be optimal you will still need gear for them.
Speaking on gear, the developers also announced a new raid tier, which is between Normal and Savage. No details or name of the mode have been announced at the time of writing. We also leanred that the alliance raid is a crossover with Evangelion for the alliance raid series! We had a previous crossover with Nier, and that was well done, and yes, all three tiers throughout the expansion will be based on Evangelion, so expect lots of content throughout the expansion.
One Button Combos! New Jobs!
One of the big things teased was the fact there will be two new jobs, one tank and one physical ranged. We did not get the details of the jobs; one will be announced at Berlin FanFest, and the other will be announced at Japanese FanFest. However, we at least know the roles that will be added.
Players were already aware that the combat system was being changed, as Square Enix has teased the job changes for 8.x for a while now, but one of the biggest changes is the new Evolved/Reborn combat system. There was a lot of information to be covered with this new battle system, and we will have an article covering this in more detail from the development panel that happened after the keynote. The new jobs will only support evolved combat. Evolved combat will remove certain actions but also combine certain current actions. Skills currently often go 1, 2, 3; for example, a Paladin has Fast Blade>Riot Blade>Rage Of Halone. With the new Evolved system, this will just be Fast Blade on the bar, and it will automatically change to Riot Blade and Rage of Halone; once the combo is over, it will go back to Fast Blade.
This will mean instead of three buttons, you will have one. Also, some skills will combo that didn’t before; Shirk, which was a skill that gave the target agro to another teammate, which is used for tank swaps, will now be merged with Provoke. Provoke would steal aggro from the enemy. As such, now you have one skill that, if you target a player, will do the shirk effect, but if you target the enemy, it will do the provoke effect. Each job will support Evolved mode, which is the new combat system, but you still have the Reborn system, which is the original system that is currently in the game. Though as mentioned previously, only the current jobs will support the Reborn function, new jobs will be Evolved only.
Party Play With Less Hassle
There is a tonne of content being left for future Fanfests, plus, with 7.5 still not out until next week, some things were obviously hidden due to spoilers. But one feature confirmed to drop before the expansion is the server party finder and the server-based duty finder. If you are in the US, there are several different data centres, and if you want to play with a friend, you would need to log off and go to character selection then switch to a different centre. With the new feature, the developers will be allowing you to queue up with other DC/servers without logging in with people in the same region. The team made a joke about certain DCs being considered raid ones, so now you don’t need to be on them to do certain content. Some DCs are pretty empty compared to others, so needless to say a lot of players including myself are very happy with this change.
Finally, the team showcased several new zones and several new dungeons and what looks like some new cities. However, due to how early we are currently from release, we only really got some screenshots; still, the zones shown look very Nordic to me, and I really can’t wait to see how the story evolves.
8.0 looks so good, and everything that has been showcased looks really positive to me. I love the combat changes. As someone who plays multiple jobs, I really love the gear sync system for just running dungeons with whatever job I want. I do worry about the season pass system; it was said the seasons will last two patch cycles like the current gear system does. Still, the developers have hit the mark with everything else, and if you want to see more details on the battle system, we have an article here from the development panel.
On a side note, Shadow Bringers will be part of the free trial, which means you can do one of the best Final Fantasy story campaigns for free. Square Enix also announced the Nintendo Switch 2 port, but you will need a separate subscription to play the game; if you own any other version the subscription is 50% off the usual asking price.
Final Fantasy XIV: Evercold launches in January 2027.