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

As the Tokyo Game Show 2024 comes to a close, Naoki Yoshida and Toshio Murouchi have sat down and given viewers around the world the first sneak peak of what’s to come Final Fantasy XIV‘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 complete. With release slated for “mid-November,” Crossroads is 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 the information here comes from presentation slides (which thankfully have been translated) and live translations provided by Miuna in the FFXIV Official Discord server.

Echoes of Vana’diel details revealed

Yoshida revealed that he has completed the first playtest with 24 players and proudly showed off some screenshots from the upcoming Echoes of Vana’diel Alliance Raid mission series:

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

Part one of the questline is called ‘Jeuno: The First Walk’ and the locations will be familiar to anyone who has played Final Fantasy XI. According to Yoshida, these are the same artists and designers who worked at these locations FFXI worked on it too FFXIVso they are faithful to the source material.

It was also revealed that, to stay in line with the boss joining in FFXI have not been, and will not be, translated into Japanese FFXIV.

Embrace the chaos

The first ever ferocious 24-man raid will be added in patch 7.1, aptly named “Chaotic Alliance Raids”, although they may not be what you expect.

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

Instead of going through an entire Alliance Raid with reinforced garbage mobs, Chaotic Alliance Raids will instead be 24-man encounters with the raid’s final boss. The first of these will be The Cloud of Darkness (Chaotic), which will pit players against a now very familiar enemy that can throw a whole new set of mechanics at us.

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

Register for extra credit in the Beginner’s Hall

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

A surprising, but not unwelcome, revelation from today’s Live Letter was the fact that the Hall of the Novice will have additional classes that people can complete once they reach level 49.

These lessons cover specific mechanisms, including and not limited to:

• Different types of tank breakers

Spread markers

Stack of markers

Look away markers

Towers

It was noted that these lessons are not mandatory, but were added after concerns were raised, particularly from ‘foreign players’, about those achieving Sprout status being unaware of how some of the mechanics should work.

Dawntrail’s first Allied Society and custom deliveries

The first of Dageraadspoor’The Allied Society mission lines will take us to Urqopacha and reconnect us with the Pelupelu who reside there. Few details were given as to what the questline would entail, but it was revealed that this would be an Allied Society for Battle jobs.

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

We were also introduced to our first Custom Delivery NPC for Dawn trailNitowikwe, which appears to be based in Shaaloani. According to the screenshots, we are likely collaborating with the reflections of the train crew who helped us find our way to Heritage Found.

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

Byakko makes a comeback

The first of Dawn trail‘s Unreal Trials has been revealed and players will once again face Byakko in The Jade Stoa (Unreal). Little has been revealed about the mechanics players can expect, but I’m looking forward to freefalling into the tunnel of doom once again.

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

Yoshida noticed that too now that we’ve seen the first of the Unreal Trials Dawn trailwe can find out what direction they’ll go in for the rest of the expansion. It is likely that we will assume a few more auspices before the expansion reaches its end.

Trials and raids

The only one Dawn trail Trial not to have an Extreme version, The Interphos, now gets its tougher counterpart in the form of The Minstrel’s Ballad: Sphene’s Burden.

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

We also got some new glimpses of the next Ultimate Raid, Futures Rescribed (Ultimate), including more new screenshots of the enemies we’ll face, including what appears to be Gaia in a much more powerful form. Futures Rescribed (Ultimate) is not expected to be released when the main 7.1 patch is deployed, but is expected to release one or two weeks later.

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

And of course Hildibrand

Love him or hate him, at this point no expansion would be complete without him (except Shadowbringerswhich seems to have done just fine without him). Anyway, the friendly detective is back for the Unbelievably Further Hildibrand adventures.

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

From the screenshots shown it is clear that Hildibrand and co. will be heading towards Solution 9. How and why remains to be seen, but there will certainly be fireworks and bombs.

But wait, there’s more!

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

• New Game+ support is being added for 7.0, including:
  • MSQ

• Job searches

Role missions

Duty Support is being added for version 7.0 dungeons

• Duty support for non-MSQ dungeons will be added at a later date

Duty Support is added for Halatali

PVP update

• New actions are 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 the details weren’t detailed

Doman Mahjong update

• Scions’ comments and comments will be added

Individual voices can be selected from a new menu

New votes will be purchased from the Gold Saucer with MGP

• Property update
  • The ability to change the interior design of your home, regardless of the residential area, will be implemented

• New modern and pillarless interior designs are added

You can change the decor of your home as often as you want, without any costs

Items that are in the house when the interior is changed are automatically sent to storage

Image via Square Enix/YouTube

The post-FFXIV patch 7.1: Crossroads is coming in November, including the new Chaotic Alliance Raid, improved Hall of the Novice and more first appeared on Destructoid.