Square Enix plans to bring major improvements to Final Fantasy XIV earlier than players expected. Two big updates for the Forked Tower and Occult Crescent will go live on July 3, 2025. These changes will give players new ways to enjoy large-scale activities. Importantly, director Naoki Yoshida assured fans that launching these updates early won’t delay the release of Patch 7.3, scheduled for early August 2025.
Players Can Queue Up in Big Groups
One of the biggest changes will let players queue for Occult Crescent as a pre-formed alliance of up to 48 people. Until now, groups relied on random matchmaking. That often forced friends and Free Company members into separate teams.
Although Occult Crescent supports up to 72 players, allowing groups of 48 to queue together should keep friends united. It should also make Forked Tower runs smoother.
However, developers can’t fully guarantee that all 48 players will always end up in the same Forked Tower instance. Still, they believe the odds look good. Yoshida explained that this change came directly from player feedback during the 87th Letter from the Producer LIVE.
Auroral Mirages Will Appear Faster
Another big update focuses on auroral mirages, the special weather event that players need to enter the Forked Tower. Many players have complained about long waits for this event. Starting in early July, Square Enix plans to increase the spawn frequency of these auroral mirages.
This update should reduce downtime for players eager to tackle Forked Tower and farm rewards like the Demon Haul mount.
In future updates, the developers also plan to prevent auroral mirages from overlapping with critical engagements. This adjustment should help avoid conflicts between major in-game events.
See Also: Check out the latest updates in No Man’s Sky for another example of how live-service games keep evolving with player feedback.
Emergency Maintenance Scheduled
Square Enix plans to bring these updates online during emergency server maintenance on July 3 at 2:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The team expects the downtime to last about 4 hours. Players should plan around this window if they want to log in that morning.
More Changes Coming in Patch 7.3
These early improvements are only the beginning. Patch 7.3 remains on schedule for early August 2025 and will introduce more changes for large-group content. The planned updates include:
- Exclusive instance access for pre-formed alliances. This feature will give groups private runs for a set time before allowing random players to join. It should let alliances claim an Occult Crescent instance for themselves for a while.
- A new user interface update that shows how many sanguine ciphers players have contributed. This feature will help groups track progress during large-scale events.
- Changes to ensure auroral mirages don’t overlap with critical engagements, which should prevent clashes between different activities.
See Also: Read how Borderlands 4 is adding new player-friendly features for another look at how games listen to community feedback.
Yoshida also said that feedback about the Cosmic Exploration mode will help shape future patches throughout 2025 and 2026. He confirmed that some suggestions from the 87th Live Letter will influence upcoming updates.
Addressing Community Concerns
Some players have shared frustrations about the current state of the game. However, Square Enix’s decision to roll out these updates early shows that they’re listening. Yoshida confirmed that these changes won’t push back Patch 7.3 in August.
Many fans hope this quick response means good things for the game’s future. The speed of these fixes is unusual for Final Fantasy XIV, and many believe it shows that the developers are serious about addressing community concerns.
See Also: Find out how Monster Hunter Wilds is handling new content and updates as another example of live-service games responding to players.
Players who plan to tackle Forked Tower should keep an eye on the official Lodestone for more news. They should also prepare for these changes arriving in early July. Square Enix plans to announce exact dates for the rest of Patch 7.3’s updates once testing wraps up
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