So, the North American leg of 2026’s Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival tour in Anaheim, CA, occurred last weekend with the forthcoming expansion Evercold announced.
Plenty of FF14 content creators and gaming news sites have discussed the reveals, so I won’t go too far into detail except saying the “Evolved” combat mode, at least the little early demo that was shown, looks like it will be very very good.
Additionally, mention that they’re trying to revitalize the overworld, and as someone who spent lots of time running unspoiled node loops in the past knows how relatively “empty” the overworld is once most of the server is done with the MSQ and FATE books for increased mount speed.
The only thing that seems to drag people out into the overworld in great numbers is Hunt Trains.
Will I be returning? Very likely, though likely not until after the Tokyo Fan Fest later this year.
Evercold is projected for January 2027 release, so if I return in November, I’ll have two months to get through the remainder of the 7.x story, so that should work out nicely.
The next big deal for me regarding FF14 is the European leg of Fan Fest 2026 in Berlin at the end of July, so expect something around that time. Hopefully they’ll build on what was revealed in Anaheim and create more hype for the playerbase. I’m very much hedging my expectations considering how the last two expansions’ launches went for me.
In the meantime, I will likely keep playing WoW as Midnight’s seasons roll along. I’m having fun with it, and having friends playing with me is great too.