With the most recent Live Letter that dropped on July 24, 2025, Final Fantasy XIV players received more info on the game’s upcoming patch, The Promise of Tomorrow. This info is actually the second part of the reveal for the patch; the previous Live Letter went over a small amount of content, but with this update Square Enix has offered a deep dive into everything that is upcoming in the patch – including a release date of August 5, 2025!
First off, we got a brand new trailer. This trailer showcased the new dungeon, a tease of the trial, and, for me, the biggest thing of all, the second part of the FFXIV alliance raid. As an FFXIV veteran, the raid series is the main thing I am looking forward to in the patch.
Some of the major points that were announced and showcased during the live letter
- New Main Scenario Quests
- New Alliance Raid – Echoes of Vana’diel, Part 2: San d’Oria: The Second Walk
- New Dungeon – The Meso Terminal
- New Trial – Includes both Normal and Extreme modes
- New Unreal Trial – The Wreath of Snakes (Unreal): Take on Seiryu, one of the Four Lords, at level 100
- New Treasure Dungeon – Vault Oneiron
- Duty Support Additions – Support for the Cutter’s Cry will be added
- PvP Updates – The start of PvP Series 9, existing action adjustments, new ranked tiers and the addition of a new Crystalline Conflict arena: the Bayside Battleground
- Miscellaneous Updates – Chat bubbles, Phoenix Down changes, Group Pose updates and more
As the trial is story locked, Square Enix has done their best not to showcase too much of it to avoid spoilers. Unreal trials are previous fights that have been scaled up to the current item level and character level; these can be done twice a week to get rewards. Make sure you get the Unreal done ASAP, as once it has gone, you cannot do it again at that level. (Though if you wish to fight it at the original scaling, you can use the sync option, but this does not give the same rewards as the Unreal version.)
The dungeon Cutter’s Cry has now been added to duty support; the benefit of this is now you can go in with AI and complete the dungeon solo while still in a party. There might be some slight changes to the dungeon due to the new AI system, so if you haven’t experienced it before the change, you might want to do the dungeon ASAP.
One of the big changes in the update is the changes to the PvP ranking system, with some new ranks being added. These ranks are called Omega and Ultima and will be above the current top tier that is Crystal. Also, one of the big changes is you can now queue casually as a duo; this will allow friends to play together. Some big content creators are also offering help and tips if you join them, such as Brian Ricardo, who is probably one of the biggest and best FFXIV PvP content creators.
There is also a new map on the way, which looks to be inspired by Final Fantasy X, and though there is no environmental hazard, the map does look pretty big and has plenty of different locations to sneak up and attack your enemy. Some other balance changes are planned for PvP, but currently they have not been announced just yet; we will find these out when the patch notes drop on August 4. Finally, there will be a new series pass, this will have several different rewards that you can unlock from playing PvP.
Overall, the content dropping in 7.3 looks pretty solid, and as mentioned before, I am incredibly excited for the alliance raid. As a veteran FFXI player, this series has really got me hooked. Beyond this latest patch, further updates are also set to arrive with Patches 7.31 and 7.35; these include:
- Cosmic Exploration: New Planet – Phaenna (Patch 7.31) – A new planet for intrepid crafters and gatherers to explore, as well as additional updates and changes
- Weapon Enhancements Quests (7.31) – Phantom Weapons
- New Deep Dungeon (Patch 7.35) – Pilgrim’s Traverse
- New Allied Society Quests (Patch 7.35) – Yok Huy
- Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures (Patch 7.35)
These pieces of content will arrive later on; the deep dungeon also has a new quantum version that will be launching for the final fight. This will be a four-person-style ultimate difficulty challenge. For anyone who doesn’t know, Ultimate is the highest tier of raid content in the game, and very few people are ever able to clear it. The deep dungeon itself has been changed from previous dungeons, allowing matchmaking for the entire dungeon rather than for certain floors; it can still be queued as a group or solo if you wish, though. It will also have several new mechanics and also more restart points than previous deep dungeons. You will need to have finished level 50 in the original deep dungeon, Palace of the Dead, to be able to enter the new one, though.
Final Fantasy XIV Update 7.3 – The Promise of Tomorrow launches August 5.