Here's everything in FF14 7.5 shown during Live Letter 91, including our first look at Beastmaster

FF14 7.5 is the final major stop on the Dawntrail train as the MMORPG launches us towards its new expansion. To guide us through everything coming in the new update, game director Naoki Yoshida and community producer Toshio Murouchi sit down for FF14 Live Letter 91. Yoshida promises (via unofficial translation) that "7.5 will be a long patch, so there will be a lot of content," although he teases that there's a lot he can't talk about freely until after the NA Fanfest in April, where we're expecting the first reveal for the Final Fantasy 14 8.0 expansion. We also have the first reveal of the Beastmaster job, and some incredibly welcome updates to housing restrictions and the way dyes work.

Final Fantasy 14 patch 7.5 is titled 'Trail to the Heavens' and it arrives on Tuesday April 28, the week immediately after the North American Fanfest on April 24-25. Following pre-expansion tradition, the MSQ will be split into two parts, with the second half that will more directly feed into 8.0 scheduled for early September. Yoshida nods to the patch's title, joking, "Is everyone going to die?" As always, we don't get any in-game demonstrations today, just screenshots and information, but there's more than enough to satisfy.

I won't get too into specific spoilers in case you've yet to play FF14 patch 7.4 (you really should, it's excellent), but it does appear that our Warrior of Light will be meeting the diminutive plushie of note from that arc. We're also getting more of Urianger with the Loporrits; Yoshi-P notes that their relationship will play an important part. "We have many story lines coming together and concluding, but it's time to move the WoL's storyline further again." More details on what this looks like at Fanfest, naturally.

Of particular interest is the new dungeon The Clyteum, which is part of the MSQ and takes us back to Garlemald. "This might or might not be related to the next expansion itself," Yoshida teases, "but it leads us there." He adds, "I thought Garlemald calmed down, but things are clearly burning so something is going on. You always had a dark impression of Garlemald since A Realm Reborn, questioning whether people even live there. So is it related to the Source? Please look forward to it."

Our new Trial, meanwhile, is a rather niche pick - Enuo, a superboss that is only fought in the remastered Final Fantasy 5 Advance. Stormblood climax Shinryu's Domain is the Unreal Trial for 7.5, bringing it back to a level of challenge equivalent to its original release. The third part of the FF11 Alliance Raid is Windurst: The Third Walk, and we get a glimpse of fan-favorite troublemaker Shantotto. "If this person unleashes their power it's over," Murouchi remarks, and Yoshida confirms that we will need to face them in battle in some capacity.

We're also getting the next Ultimate Trial, although there's no hints here, with the reveal promised for Fanfest. Elsewhere, there's the capstone quest that brings together all of the Dawntrail Allied Societies, the conclusion to the Inconceivably Further Hildibrand Adventures, the final step for the Phantom Weapon enhancement chain, and Custom Delivery quests for Tiisol Ja (of Aunt Tii's Taco Stand in Tuliyollal). PvP series 11 will add a new Crystalline Conflict arena, the library of Archeia Harmonias.

Occult Crescent's second zone, North Horn, is a land that looks largely drained of life, although there are some pretty sights to find. Expect new monsters, Critical Encounters, and FATEs, with eight more Phantom Jobs to level and an increased maximum knowledge rank of 40. In response to the difficulty frustrations around South Horn's climax, the new Forked Tower: Magic 48-player encounter will offer both 'normal' and 'extreme' variants, with the easier option being feasible to complete with "a small number of players."

There are no longer any Cipher entry requirements for either version. All you need to do for the normal mode is to stand in the registration region on the map - participants will be chosen at random, and if you aren't selected for one you'll be given priority for the next. Extreme instances are separate, and must be entered by an alliance consisting of 12 or more players across three or more parties. Once you join the extreme instance, Forked Tower: Magic will immediately become available to start.

"We got a lot of feedback last time so we tried to split the difficulties, while keeping the hard mode engaging," Yoshida explains. Occult Crescent: North Horn will also have new gear to discover, and you can collect and upgrade pieces as you play to maximize your strength in the zone. If you already own upgraded items from South Horn, you're allowed to skip some of the enhancement steps for North Horn.

The Duty Support feature is being extended to two more optional dungeons, Heavensward's The Dusk Vigil and Stormblood's Shisui of the Violet Tides. "We did see the feedback that we might have reduced mechanical difficulty too much," Yoshida acknowledged, "but with Duty Support in mind we had to. We want solo players to be able to enjoy the content, but we're being careful not to take away too much from mechanics and gimmicks."

After a short break, it's time to talk about the new FF14 limited job, Beastmaster, which won't be here until later in the 7.5 cycle. Like Blue Mage, this will be restricted, meaning you can't use it in regular content. It's a melee DPS that uses a one-handed axe and shield, starts at level one, and has a beginning level cap of 50. You'll need to have beaten the A Realm Reborn story and reached level 50 on one other class to unlock it, and you must own Dawntrail.

The core of Beastmaster revolves around capturing specific creatures out in the wild, with up to 50 that you can tame. You'll need to weaken them first (this can be done entirely in solo play), and can summon up to three of them at a time to fight alongside you once added to your Master's Bestiary. Among the initial roster are classic beasts like the Goobbue and Coeurl, but also bigger names such as the Chimera and Behemoth. Yes, you can drop a meteor on trash packs if you fancy.

With a starting cap of 50, you're obviously not going to be dealing in standard Dawntrail activities, but Beastmaster has its own activity, Crucible of the Unbroken. This dedicated single-player experience is pitched as "a completely new type of duty, unlike anything else in FF14 so far." Yoshida confirms that the whole Beastmaster job design and content is the brainchild of legendary fight designer Masaki 'Mr Ozma' Nakagawa. "He put a lot of hours into this."

Yoshida has some bad news, however. "There is one thing I need to apologize for. We did say we'd be updating Blue Mage in 7.x, but Beastmaster took all our resources, so we need to push the Blue Mage update back. I know many of you have been looking forward to Blue Mage updates, and they will come in the future, but we prioritized Beastmaster this time. I am sorry." Interestingly, however, he does note stream comments asking for a Chocobo level increase, and says, "There will be some stuff about the Chocobo that I can talk about soon."

There's still more to come in the 7.5 cycle. Ocean Fishing will get a new route in Thavnair. Cosmic Exploration will head to its next star, Auxesia, which is a lush, forested region that looks a lot like Gridania. The team is also working on some Gold Saucer "multiplayer content," and will be increasing the housing placement limits for both indoor and outdoor furnishings (along with the storeroom space for each).

"I already know that players will ask for another increase about six months after this update," Yoshida laughs. "This should allow for designs that haven't been possible so far." He adds that the option to give small houses a large interior is still coming, but it will arrive with the next patch, not the base 7.5 furniture upgrade. "We also want to update the housing UI," Yoshida continues, "it does feel like only pros can make use of things right now, things like floating furniture."

"This next update might be more important to some than actual content," Yoshida remarks, and with good reason. The Armoire, which offers essentially unlimited storage space next to the restricted Glamour Dresser, will be updated to include all job-specific artifact gear, and everything from Dawntrail's post-launch patch dungeons. Earlier dungeons will be rolled out "gradually," and the team is also looking into the ability to store dungeon armor as outfit glamours.

Dyes are being consolidated, too. All the base dyes will now be one type, Ishgardian Restoration will fill a second group, and Cosmic Exploration a third. This means you'll now only need one single, consumable item type that can be used to pick from any color in that list, dramatically reducing the busywork in finding the specific colors you need (and the storage space needed to hold them all). Your old dyes will no longer work, but can be exchanged for these new versions at the Calamity Salvager. Rare dyes, such as those bought from the Online Store and their in-game equivalents, will remain separate from these groups.

"The dye system hasn't changed much since A Realm Reborn," Yoshida concludes, "but we are at a point where I feel like a lot of systems should be reviewed now. There will be a lot more at Fanfest as well. I saw comments about data center issues as well, let me just say, those problems will be fixed." We're actually getting the part two Live Letter a week before NA Fanfest, because Yoshi-P thinks there would be too much to squeeze into one show.

That's all for today's live stream. Beastmaster is looking about how I expected it, and I'm pleased to see that. The new dedicated mode should also give it a lot more focus, and it's always nice to have some single-player FF14 activities to tackle. Thanks as always to 'Miuna' and 'iluna minori' on the FF14 Discord for their live translation of the presentation.

FF14 patch 7.5, Trail to the Heavens, launches on Tuesday April 28, 2026. Patch 7.51 comes in early June, and patch 7.55 in late July. Path 7.56, which includes the second part of the MSQ that will lead us more directly into the 8.0 expansion, will arrive in early September.