During a broadcast from Tokyo Game Show, Final Fantasy XIV Online’s Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida announced that Patch 6.55 – Growing Light – will be released in early October. There’s a new trailer that gives us a first look at the new adventures to come, including main scenario quests, and alliance raid, trial, and more. (It’s worth noting that information about the next expansion, Dawntrail, will come during the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in London during October 2023 and the Fan Festival in Tokyo during January 2024.)
Patch 6.5 includes everything from new main scenario quests to a new customer deliveries client. The new main scenario quests, labeled Part 1, is the next chapter in the Warrior of Light story. There’s a new dungeon in the Lunar Subterrane. A new trial, The Abyssal Fracture, pits players against Zeromus in both Normal and Extreme difficulties. A new unreal trial has players fighting in the Singularity Reactor against the fearsome Thordan. Myths of the Realm #3, a new alliance raid, has players exploring the mysteries of Thaleia.
Duty Support has been added to the Drowned City of Skalla, the Burn, and the Ghimlyt Dark Dungeons, allowing players to play through all main scenario dungeons from A Realm Reborn to Endwalker solo. Island Sanctuary updates include new ranks, visions, a gathering area, new materials, craftable items, crops, animals, isleworks handicrafts, structures, and more. Miscellaneous updates include the ability to story optional items in the armoire, new fashion accessories, mounts, minions, emotes, and more. There are various job adjustments, player versus player updates, and a new customer deliveries client with Margret.
During the same broadcast, Yoshida shares some information on new content coming to Patch 6.51 and Patch 6.55. Patch 6.51 includes a new variant dungeon (Aloalo Island), a new criterion dungeon (Another Aloalo Island), a new arena (The Red Sands), and tool enhancement quests. Patch 6.55 includes new main scenario quests (Part 2), Tataru’s Grand Endeavor, more Hildibrand adventures, weapon enhancement quests, and Endwalker tribal alliance quests.
Related reading: A Look back at Final Fantasy XIV Online’s Patch 6.4.
Final Fantasy XIV Online is actually quite accessible to newcomers, despite the overwhelming amount of gameplay there is available. There is a free trial that includes all content from A Realm Reborn and Heavensward, giving new players hundreds of hours of play without a limit on playtime. That being said, if you’re into it, purchase it: support game development!
Developed and published by Square Enix, Final Fantasy XIV Online is available for PC/Mac, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Xbox Series. There was a PlayStation 3 version, which is no longer supported. Patch 6.5, Growing Light, will be released on October 3.
