Final Fantasy XIV Live Letter 91: Beastmaster Returns, Occult Crescent Revamp, Housing Update & More

Welcome to the 91st Live Letter! This latest info drop is geared towards Final Fantasy XIV‘s upcoming patch 7.5, which will be the last major patch for Dawntrail. During the live letter, no in-game footage was shown; instead, gameplay will be showcased during Part 2, set to arrive one week before NA FanFest 2026. In short? Update 7.5 is promised to add a heap of fresh content.

Main Story And Dates

The patch title is called Trail to the Heaven. During the Live Letter, Yoshi P joked about everyone dying; hence, the name of the patch. The story will be split between 7.5 and 7.56, while the release date for 7.5 is set for April 28, 2026. 7.56 patch is planned for early September 2026. For the current estimated dates of each patch

7.5 April 28, 2026
7.51 Early June
7.55 Late July
7.56 Early September

Sidequests

The Dawntrail allied society quests will be wrapping up with this patch, giving you a quest if you have completed the previous patch questlines. Continuing the side quest discussion, Hildabrand will also be returning with 7.5. There will also be new custom deliveries; a Mamool Ja named Tiisol Ja will appear in 7.5.

Duty support extends to The Dusk Vigil and Shisui of the Violent Tides. This allows you to bring in trusts to help you out with the dungeons; rather than doing it with an online group, you can solo the dungeon with AI bots. But Yoshi P has said they might have reduced the challenge a bit too much from feedback, but it was needed due to the bot system.

Meanwhile, players will be continuing the Relic Phantom Weapon quest with 7.5. Square Enix mentioned that a lot of work went into designing the relic weapons this time; they have tried to not show the final models, but it seems people have leaked them already. The development team plan to show some of them officially during the next live letter.

Battle Content

Elsewhere, Square Enix showed a mysterious, snow-covered city that we will be visiting, while the newly-announced dungeon is called ‘The Clyteum.’ In addition, it looks like we are returning to Garlemald; Yoshi P mentioned there has always been a dark impression of Garlemald amon players, even wondering if the city actually has people living in it.

The new patch will also implement the final part of the Alliance Raid. It seems people have been going back to Final Fantasy XI due to this raid (it was inspired by FFXI, after all) and the teaser screenshot clearly shows off the base zone of Jeuno, which was a hub town in FFXI. It also shows a mysterious Black Mage floating in the sky, and should they decide to unleash their full power, it’s all over – or so the team says. If you have ever played FFXI, you know this character is called ‘Shantotto,’ and appeared in a previous crossover.

The final raid will be based on Windurst. Square Enix said during the stream how much effort was put into the grass and trees for this area, which you can see in the image below. The team has been trying to recreate the style of the original game, but due to the fact it was a PS2 title, it went beyond a mere recreation. Meanwhile, it also looks like we will also visit Aht Urhgan, Whitegate, with the developers saying we should look forward to the recreation of the music from the locations – there might even be a new song that plays. Finally, the alliance raid will be showcased during the next live letter.

The new trial will be fighting Enuo (normal/extreme). The Live Letter mentions lots of shifts in the plot and that there will be a whirlwind pace at some points. The team did originally think of having the name of this fight as a mystery but ultimately decided against it. Moving on, the developers noted how challenging the Shinryu battle was when it was released, and it seems 7.5 will be launching with Shinryu (Unreal). Unreal versions of fights, for those unaware, take the old battle and scale it up to the current level and gear. This gives some of the original challenge back from when it was first released. A new ultimate is also on the horizon, but there is no image available, and the title of the raid is even blocked out.

New Field Exploration

Occult Crescent North Horn is confirmed as the new field exploration, and while the team can only show some of the field location in a screenshot, it does confirm a new zone will be coming with update 7.5. The creators have teased some new jobs that will be in Occult Crescent too, as field exploration has its own job system. Beyond that, the Occult Crescent will have another new raid, Forked Tower Magic, but unlike the previous field zone, there will be a Normal and Extreme version. Normal can be done with fewer players. Up to 48 players can be in Normal or Extreme, though, but you do not need 48 players to complete it.

To access Normal mode, you need to stand atop a node and register your interest in the duty; if more than 48 players are on the node, then it’s selected at random. You will be given priority if you are not selected during the selection process. Extreme can only be accessed from ‘extreme mode only’ instances, separate from the Normal mode. Furthermore, you will need an alliance of 12 or more players in three or more parties. Upon entering the Extreme instance, the tower will immediately become accessible. Square Enix has tried to split the difficulties due to the feedback the team received.

New Limited Job Beastmaster

It seems no gameplay will be shown of this; so far we only have one limited job in the game, which is Blue Mage. Due to the glamour update, you will be able to put the AF armour on any job, but originally it’s designed for Beastmaster. This allows you to capture beasts and call upon them to fight with you. It seems to attack with a one-handed axe; this is the same as the original Beastmaster in FFXI. To unlock Beastmaster, you will need a War/Magic job above level 50 and finish the 2.0 storyline. You will need to own Dawntrail to play the job, but you don’t need to be in the expansion.

To capture monsters, first you need to attack and weaken them; there will be up to 50 beasts that can be tamed. The team mention you should try and feel your bestiary first before moving on, and confirmed new monsters will be added in the future. All of the creatures can be captured solo; the developers showcased multiple different enemy types during the Live Letter. Once caught, the monsters can walk alongside you. The monster bestiary has information on location caught; they also seem to have a level system too, and there is a size chart based on the enemy. It also shows different auto-attack elements and different beast types. Each monster has two attacks; this is different based on each creature, too.

Up to three monsters can join you in battle at one time and use their actions and abilities to help out in battle. Your own actions and rotation will change based on the monster you have out. You’ll utitlise the instinct system to attack with your partner monster. The role will be capped at 50 at launch. There is unique content made just for Beastmaster; some of this will be shown off during the next Live Letter. The new content is called ‘Crucible of the Unbroken’ and will be a focused single-player experience, offering a new duty style that hasn’t been in FFXIV before.

Square Enix is also trying to add a Ranked Mode, but you are able to just complete it without worrying about this. Masaki ‘Mr Ozma’ Nakagawa was in charge of much of this, from the job design to the conten itself. The job will not be launching in 7.5, but later on in 7.5x. In addition, it seems Blue Mage will not be getting an update in this expansion, something which the team has apologised for; it seems Beastmaster took more time to work on than originally planned.

PvP

Series 11 kicks off with Update 7.5 so make sure to finish your current series before the next patch drops. Also, there will be a new Crystalline Conflict zone; this is called Archeia Harmonias, and seems to be based on a library. The zone will have specific rules, but details will be shown during Part 2, and there will also be in-game footage of the new zone shown off. Yoshi P mentions using the bookshelves to cut the line of sight.

Miscellaneous

Ocean fishing will also be getting an update; this is a new route through Thavnair. Cosmic Exploration will be returning too, with a new planet being added. Players will be visiting Auxesia, which has been expanded with every patch that has been released in Dawntrail. More content and rewards will be announced during Part 2. Elsewhere, the development team is also working on multiplayer content for the Gold Saucer, but this is just an announcement that it will be coming sometime in the future. It will be coming in 7.5x, though, but for now details will be revealed at a later date.

Elsewhere, the housing system will be getting some changes too; the team is increasing the placement limit for indoors and outdoors. Outdoors seems to be doubling, while indoors is getting a huge increase also, with the large house going from 400 to 600. Plus, you will be able to store more items to help save some item space. Apartments and private chambers will also receive this increase in item space. There will also be an option to reduce players visible to prioritise furniture displays or to only show players close to you. Square Enix has also got the feature to give you a large interior even if you have a small house working, but this will be added in a later patch. They also plan to update the housing UI to help make it easier for players to use.

To help with item space, armoire storage will be updated for all job-specific gear, AF and all gear from dungeons from 7.x. The option to store items from earlier dungeons will be rolled out over time. Continuing the talk of Glamour, the developers are reducing the amount of dye items, so now you will have three base dye items that can be different colours without having to own several different dyes. This will not affect dyes that can be bought with real money. If you currently own some of these dyes, they will be unusable, but you can trade them in for the new dye system. Finally, the team plan to change a lot of the older systems, with more details announced during Fanfest. DC issues supposedly will also be fixed, which will be a welcome addition.

The Final Fantasy XIV live letter is unofficially translated by the wonderful folk on the reddit discord, and service they provide allowed me to get this information out ASAP – a big thanks to them once more!