FFXIV patch 7.1: Crossroads coming in November, including new Chaotic Alliance Raid, improved Hall of the Novice, and more

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With the Tokyo Game Show 2024 coming to an end, Naoki Yoshida and Toshio Murouchi have sat down and provided viewers around the world with the first sneak peak of what’s to come in Final Fantasy XIV‘s patch 7.1.

We now have a name for the patch, Crossroads, and as usual there are more MSQ quests and a new dungeon, Yuweyawata Field Station, to be completed. With its release planned for “mid-November”, Crossroads is jam-packed with new content and features, so without further ado, let’s dive into today’s reveals.

Note: The stream was in Japanese only, and information here comes from live translations provided by Miuna in the FFXIV Official Discord server.

Echoes of Vana’diel details revealed

Revealing that he has undertaken the first play test with 24 players, Yoshida proudly showed off some screenshots of the upcoming Echoes of Vana’diel Alliance Raid quest line:

Part one of the quest line will be called ‘Jeuno: The First Walk’, and the locations will be familiar to anyone who has played Final Fantasy XI. According to Yoshida, the same artists and designers who worked on these locations in FFXI have also worked on them in FFXIV, so they’re true to the source material.

It was also revealed that, to remain in-keeping with the fact that boss names in FFXI were not translated into Japanese, they also won’t be translated in FFXIV.

Embrace the chaos

The first ever savage tier 24-man raid is to be added in patch 7.1, aptly named “Chaotic Alliance Raids”, although they may not be what you’re expecting.

The first ever Chaotic Alliance Raid will see players face off against the Cloud of Darkness in Final Fantasy XIV

Rather than going through an entire Alliance Raid with beefed up trash mobs, Chaotic Alliance Raids will instead be 24-man encounters with the final boss of the raid. The first of these will be The Cloud of Darkness (Chaotic), which will see players face off against a now very familiar enemy who has a whole new range of mechanics to throw at us.

That explains why she’s on the official Crossroads patch art.

The Hall of the Novice is getting additional lessons in Final Fantasy XIV 7.1

A surprising, although not unwelcome reveal from today’s Live Letter was the fact that the Hall of the Novice is getting additional lessons for people to complete once they hit level 49.

These lessons will be about specific mechanics, including and not limited to:

Different types of tank busters
Spread markers
Stack markers
Look away markers
Towers

It was noted that these lessons aren’t compulsory, but were added after issues were raised, particularly from “overseas players”, about those graduating from Sprout status being unaware of how some mechanics are supposed to play out.

Dawntrail’s first Allied Society and Custom Deliveries

The first of Dawntrail’s Allied Society quest lines will take us to Urqopacha, and put us back in contact with the Pelupelu who reside there. Few details were given about what the quest line would entail, but it was revealed that this would be an Allied Society for Battle jobs.

The Pelupelu will be the battle job Allied Society in Final Fantasy XIV 7.1

We were also introduced to our first Custom Deliveries NPC for Dawntrail, Nitowikwe, who looks to be based in Shaaloani. According to the screenshots, we’re likely to be working alongside the reflections of the train crew who helped us force our way into Heritage Found.

Nitowikwe will be the first Custom Deliveries NPC in Final Fantasy XIV 7.1

Byakko’s making a comeback

The first of Dawntrail’s Unreal Trials has been revealed, and it will see players face off against Byakko once again in The Jade Stoa (Unreal). Little was revealed about the mechanics that players can expect, but I’m looking forward to taking another freefall down the tunnel of doom.

Byakko is making a comeback as the first Unreal Trial in Final Fantasy XIV 7.1

Yoshida also noted that now that we’ve seen the first of the Unreal Trials for Dawntrail, we can gather which direction they’re going to go in for the rest of the expansion. It’s likely that we’ll be taking on a few more Auspices before the expansion reaches its conclusion.

Trials and Raids

The only Dawntrail Trial to not have an Extreme version, The Interphos, will now get its more difficult counterpart in the shape of The Minstrel’s Ballad: Sphene’s Burden.

Sphene's Burden in Final Fantasy XIV 7.1

We were also shown some new glimpses of the next Ultimate Raid, Futures Rewritten (Ultimate), including more new screenshots of the foes we’re set to face, including what appears to be Gaia in a much more powerful form. Futures Rewritten (Ultimate) is not set to be released when the main 7.1 patch is implemented, but is expected to come one or two weeks later.

Futures Rewritten (Ultimate) in Final Fantasy XIV 7.1

And of course, Hildibrand

Love him or hate him, at this point no expansion would be complete without him (except Shadowbringers, which seems to have done just fine without him). Either way, the gentlemanly detective is back for the Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures.

Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures in Final Fantasy XIV 7.1

From the screenshots shown, it’s clear to see that Hildibrand and co. will be heading to Solution 9. How and why remains to be seen, but there are sure to be fireworks, and bombs.

But wait, there’s more!

There were so many new additions and updates mentioned in the one hour long Live Letter, and it’s impossible to gather them all together in order to pass them on. Rather than try, here’s everything else that was mentioned, as well as any relevant screenshots:

New Game+ support will be added for 7.0 including:
- MSQ
- Job Quests
- Role Quests
Duty Support will be added for 7.0 dungeons
- Duty Support for non-MSQ dungeons to be added at a later date
- Duty Support to be added for Halatali
PVP Update
- New actions to be added for all jobs except Viper and Pictomancer
- Arena improvements for Red Sands and Cloud Nine
- Balance adjustments for Frontline and Rival Wings
- PvP Series 7 begins
PvE balance adjustments, although specifics were not detailed
Doman Mahjong update
- Voiced reactions and commentary from Scions to be added
- Individual voices can be chosen from a new menu
- New voices will be purchased from the Gold Saucer with MGP

Housing update
- The ability to change the interior design of your house regardless of housing district will be implemented
- New modern and pillarless interior designs to be added
- Changing the interior of your house can be done as often as you like at no cost
- Items in the house when the interior is changed will automatically be sent into storage

The new modern house interior coming to Final Fantasy XIV in 7.1

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