Here is a summary of the recently concluded Live Letter 78, which includes our first look at Final Fantasy XIV (FFXIV) Patch 6.5.

This is a summary of the FFXIV Live Letter that was held back on May 12, 2023. It covered the rest of the information for Patch 6.4, which is coming this month. Without further ado, let's jump straight into the summary.

FFXIV Live Letter 78 Patch 6.5 Summary

The Live Letter happened on day 2 of the North America Leg of the FFXIV Fan Festival. The FFXIV Live Letter 78 hosts were Naoki Yoshida, Toshio Murouchi, and Kate Cwynar. They started the Live Letter by announcing the name of the upcoming patch: Growing Light. The Japanese title, 光明の起点 (Koumyou no Kiten), roughly translates to “Light's Origin” or “Light's Starting Point”, which players can read as “Light's Zero”. The title seems to suggest that Zero will play a huge part in this patch.

As for the release date for the patch, as with most X.5 patches in previous expansions, it will arrive in two parts. The first part of 6.5 will arrive in early October 2023. Yoshi-P made a point to emphasize that it will arrive “early”. Next, Patch 6.5 will arrive in mid-January 2024. This is at least four months before the launch of Dawntrail in the Summer of 2024.

They first showed screenshots from the upcoming patch. This included a picture of Y'shtola and Vrtra, as well as another of the Warrior of Light, Ryne, and Zero outside the Crystal Tower in The First. This surprised a lot of players, as it begs the question of how and why Zero is in The First.

They then revealed the upcoming Expert Dungeon: The Lunar Subterrane. Players will be going through this Dungeon located in the depths of the moon in The Void. Yoshida hinted that the scenery in the dungeon will change drastically as the player progresses through it. Additionally, this will lead to the patch's trial: The Abyssal Fracture. There, the player will fight Zeromus, who they had a brief encounter with near the end of Patch 6.4. The Extreme version of this trial will also come out in Patch 6.5.

There will also be a new Unreal Trial in FFXIV Patch 6.5. Players will be facing off against Thordan in The Singularity Reactor (Unreal). The fight has been adjusted to match the current player's Job levels and item levels.

They also announced the final chapter of the Myths of the Realm alliance raid series for Endwalker. The final Alliance Raid's title is Thaleia. Yoshi-P said that a lot of players enjoyed the Endwalker Alliance Raids, and hopes people will enjoy this one as well. He particularly brought up the raid's pretty maps.

Following the inclusion of Stormblood in the game's Free Trial, Duty Support is now available in the patch quests of Stormblood. This includes:

  • The Drowned City of Skalla
  • The Burn
  • The Ghimlyt Dark

Once the Duty Support for these dungeons goes live, players can now play all of the Dungeons in FFXIV up to Endwalker solo. Players will only have to play with other players during trials and alliance raids. Patch 6.5 will also be when Stormblood joins the Free Trial, so players have that to look forward to.

As for PvP, they announced the start of Series Five. Additionally, Season Eight will run from Patch 6.48, which will arrive on August 8, 2023, until the launch of Patch 6.51 in late October. Speaking of PvP, Crystalline Conflict will receive minimap and UI adjustments, as well as a new map: The Red Sands. Speaking of PvP, Job adjustments will be arriving in patch 6.5 for both PvP and PvE content, however they are minor in scope.

Island Sanctuary will also receive an update in patch 6.5. They will introduce various new things:

  • New Ranks and Visions
  • New gathering areas in the wilds
  • New materials
  • New craftable items
  • New crops
  • New animals
  • New islework handicrafts
  • New Structures
  • Felicitous Favors
    • Players can deliver requested handicrafts to receive special tokens
    • These tokens are tradeable for exclusive rewards

Yoshi-P also noted that they have heard the player's request for an “increased pasture size”, but they are not sure when it will get implemented.

They also noted various other small changes to the game coming with the launch of FFXIV Patch 6.5:

  • New Custome Deliveries
  • Consecutive Aetherial Reduction
  • Fish Guide clarity update
    • Newly caught fish will have a green dot
  • Players can now store optional items (items from the FFXIV Online Store) in the armoire
  • Item Level Restriction for Duty Roulette: Alliance Raid will receive a change
    • Players can no longer do the unequip technique to forcefully get Crystal Tower
  • Sorting Teleport destinations by the expansion will be available
  • New Extreme trial mounts

After announcing everything coming to FFXIV in Patch 6.5, they then moved on to what will arrive in Patch 6.51. The two major updates are the new Variant and Criterion dungeon, as well as the new Splendorous Tools quest.

The third Variant and Criterion dungeon, called Aloalo Island, will be coming to the game with Patch 6.51. Players do not need to complete the other Variant Dungeons to play in this one. The map of the dungeon seems to be a lush tropical island, which Yoshida notes has a “very robust story.” Splendorous Tools will also receive another upgrade tier, continuing Grenoldt and Mowen's story from where it left off.

Finally, there's Patch 6.55, which will serve as the link between Endwalker and Dawntrail. As mentioned above, players can expect this patch to arrive mid-January, 2024.

For starters, this patch will see the introduction of the capstone quest for the three Endwalker tribal quests, namely the Arkasodara, the Omicron, and the Lopporits. Players will have to complete all of the available side quests for all three tribes to see the capstone quest. Tatari's Grand Endeavor will also continue in Patch 6.55, but not many details were released. The Hildibrand questline will also receive a new chapter in Patch 6.55, with Somehow Further Hildibnrand Adventures. This brings with it the next upgrade to the Manderville Weapons.

Finally, they announced the crossover with Fall Guys. Specifically, they announced the FFXIV side of the collaboration. Basically, the Gold Saucer will have an update that allows players to play in stages inspired by the game Fall Guys. It also allows players to tackle said stages with their friends, and will likely maintain the Battle Royale mechanic from Fall Guys. They didn't mention if this will be a permanent addition like the Nier Automata crossover. Yoshida mentioned in the Live Letter that some of the members of the Fall Guys team actually plays FFXIV. These members in particular are enjoying making the crossover content.

They finished the FFXIV Live Letter 78 with some announcements. Commemorative FFXIV Fan Fest items are now available in the game's online store, specifically the following:

They also announced the Forge Ahead: Final Fantasy XIV arrangement album. This album contains nineteen tracks, which include piano arrangements by Keiko, band arrangements by The Primals, and more. This goes on sale in December 2023.

There is now also an FFXIV-themed High-end Turntable. The SL-1500C model was personally selected by Masayoshi Soken. He also supervised the turntable's design. Players can now pre-order the turntable, which has a cost of $1700. Finally, players can also pre-order High-precision artwork for Final Fantasy XIV.

That's all for our summary of the FFXIV Live Letter 78, which contains news for Patch 6.5 and more. Check out our gaming news articles for the latest in gaming news.