Yes, Final Fantasy XIV is still running strong! It has a total of 27 million registered players, and expanded Free Trial makes it super easy to start the game despite the fact it first launched over a decade ago. What keeps players returning is these patches that involve lots of new stuff. The latest patch, 6.4, is titled The Dark Throne and is available now. Square Enix has also announced some of what will be coming in the next patch.
Let’s start with the present: Patch 6.4. New main scenario quests expand on the story of the Warrior of Light. There is a new raid dungeon – Pandaemonium: Anabseios – that is the final instalment of the Pandaemonium raid series. New challenges await in a new dungeon, the Aetherfront. A new trial, The Voidcast Dais, is a challenging new battle against Golbez at both Normal and Extreme difficulties. Fight in Containment Pay Z1T9 against the mighty Zurvan in a new unreal trial. There’s also new side story quests available that continue Tataru’s Grand Endeavour.
That’s not all, though, as a bunch of other updates are included in the patch. Support for several Stormblood main scenario dungeons (The Sirensong Sea, Bardam’s Mettle, Doma Castle, Castrum Abania and Ala Mhigo) will be added so they can be completed solo alongside a party of NPC allies. There’s a new ocean fishing route towards Kugane. Island Sanctuary updates include new ranks and items to gather, construction plots, craftable items, cops, animals, the ability to place outdoor furnishings near structure, and more. There are Player vs Player updates for season 7 of Crystalline Conflict and the rules of the Fields of Glory. Finally, miscellaneous updates include the introduction of a new Allagan tombstone currently, UI updates to display job icons in the chat log and on player nameplates, the ability to glamour scholar fairies, and more quality of life improvements.
The next update, Patch 6.45, includes several goodies as well. Blue Mages will have their level cap raised to 80, new exclusive gear, and new enemies to challenge. There will be a new variant dungeon (Mount Rokkon); players will be able to enjoy the variable-difficulty dungeon designed for 1-4 players (the difficulty depends on the party size). The new criterion dungeon (Mount Rokkon) is high-difficulty four-player content that is visually similar to the variant dungeon, but with a set route and two difficulty options. There will also be more Hildibrand adventures, weapon enhancement quests (Manderville Weapons), and tool enhancement quests (Splenderous Tools).
Developed and published by Square Enix, Final Fantasy XIV is currently available for PC/Mac via Steam, PlayStation 5, and PlayStation 4. It was originally available for PlayStation 3, but that support ended back in 2017.
