The Rising limited-time seasonal event quest returns to Final Fantasy XIV on August 27th to coincide with A Realm Reborn's seventh anniversary of service. During the event you'll be able to nab an exclusive Wind-up Ardbert minion and The Sultana's Seven wall-mounted furnishing. You'll have until September 14th to complete the event. In order to participate, you'll need to be at least Level 15 and unlocked travel to Ul'dah. To begin, start the quest "Art of Glass" which can be found with J'bhen Tia in Ul'dah's Steps of Nald. (X:10.3, Y:8.3) "The Rising festival is known for bringing a splash of color to Ul'dah, and this year's celebration is especially vibrant. J'bhen Tia's exhibition of stained glass evokes memories of a pivotal moment in history, but he will need the assistance of a willing volunteer to ensure the event proceeds without a hitch." -- The Lodestone You can check out events from previous years on our YouTube channel -- including 2019. 2018. 2017, and 2016's. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsGo7hLf0cs

It’s been one year since Final Fantasy XIV celebrated the successful launch of its third expansion, Shadowbringers. With the finale in the form of Patch 5.3: Reflections in Crystal only a day away from emotionally crushing the community while simultaneously providing us adorable stickers for our screenshots in Group Pose, I had taken this time to fondly look back and reflect on what made Shadowbringers such a fantastic expansion compared to those that came before. I found myself asking: Why was it so good? What was done differently this time around? What made Shadowbringers rival previous Final Fantasy games, matching them in greatness and nostalgia? As I thought about these questions, I realized it was because the development team hit five major story-crafting elements that ultimately led to the game’s success. In this piece, I will be going over those five subjects in hopes that it not only puts my thoughts about the expansion into words, but also help others see what I believe made the story so incredible, and why Shadowbringers was, and is, an incredible work of art that will be remembered for years to come. A warning for those still new to the game: There are going to be some

As the release of Patch 5.3 "Reflections in Crystal" draws closer, Square Enix has been sharing more information on the third major update to follow Final Fantasy XIV's Shadowbringers expansion. This time we get a glimpse at the new tribe quests in Lakeland that feature Norvrandt's dwarves, updates to New Game+, Trial Synthesis, and Sundry Splendors. Before we begin, you can also check out additional information on the A Realm Reborn revamp and Unreal Trials here. You can also check our rundown of the latest Letter from the Producer Live broadcast which details more of the content to come. Crafting-based tribe quests arrive with the dwarves. While you may have previously encountered them in Kholusia, it seems there's a specific reason why they've set up a camp in Lakeland. Rewards will include exclusive minions and mounts, one of which may be pictured below... "The people of Tomra aspire to follow in the footsteps of their hero, the Warrior of Darkness, by contributing to the prosperity of Norvrandt. Their ambitious plans will lead them far from home─and perhaps the doorstep of that very hero─as they labor to bring a design sketched by legendary dwarven smith Watts to life." -- Patch 5.3 Website Crafting won't

More details on Final Fantasy XIV's third major patch following the Shadowbringers expansion went online today, including more information on Ishgard Restoration, the A Realm Reborn Revamp, as well as new mounts and minions. Titled "Reflections in Crystal," Patch 5.3 will continue the main scenario through the conclusion of the Shadowbringers story, including a new dungeon and mystery trial. The YorHa Dark Apocalypse alliance raid series collaboration with NieR Automata will also continue with The Puppets' Bunker, and a new map will be added for the Resistance Weapon series, in which you'll take part in a campaign against the Garlean Empire. You can read more on the patch's contents (and watch a trailer) here. It's important to mention that, before you can start Patch 5.3's main scenario, the team is now requiring that you complete the Crystal Tower alliance raid series and the My Little Chocobo quest obtainable from your Grand Company. Faux Hollows will be a mini-game built around a new difficulty mode for trials: "Unreal." While it's not necessarily harder than Extreme or Ultimate trials, the concept behind this mode is to tune classic trials to players' current level and item level rather than using level sync. The first trial will

The Moonfire Faire limited-time seasonal event returns to Final Fantasy XIV on August 12th and concludes August 26th. The summertime festivities will reward exclusive items, such as the dye-able Summer's Flame set (head, body, arms, legs, and feet pieces specifically), a Flame Dance emote, and a Water Bomb Stand outdoor furnishing. In order to participate, you'll need to be at least Level 30. The quest to participate is "A Fish Too Far," which can be found with Mayaru Moyaru in Limsa Lominsa's Upper Decks. (X:11.5, Y:13.8) "Mayaru Moyaru is grinning from ear to ear, and yet something in his eyes suggests this year's celebration is not all smiles and sunshine. Whatever dangers lurk beneath the surface of this year's faire, event chaperones are not like to turn away a helping hand." -- via The Lodestone Via: The Lodestone You can check out events from the previous years on our YouTube channel – specifically from 2019, 2018, 2017, and 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZgHCM0CCw4

In the latest Letter from the Producer Live broadcast series, Final Fantasy XIV producer/director Naoki Yoshida and global community producer Toshio Murouchi shared new details on the third major update to come after the Shadowbringers expansion.Additionally, it was revealed that the game's free trial would be expanded to include the Heavensward expansion's content. You can find our summary of the major information below. Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jmALV5kDVw Patch 5.3 Content & Features Summary Patch 5.3 "Reflections in Crystal" arrives on August 11, 2020.New main scenario quests will be added. Yoshida says the Reflections in Crystal scenario has the most voice acting and cutscenes yet, so you might just want to devote a play session to it alone due to its length.The Crystal Tower alliance raid series will become a required quest as well as the My Little Chocobo quest.New tribe quests will feature the Dwarves with a focus on crafting.The Sorrow of Werlyt scenario quest will continue. A new Level 80 instanced dungeon The Heroes' Gauntlet will be added.A new mystery trial has been added, includes an Extreme-level difficulty.The YoRHA Dark Apocalypse alliance raid series collaboration with NieR Automata will continue with The Puppets' Bunker.The A Realm Reborn Revamp will include the ability to fly in A

Arriving on August 11, the third major update to follow Final Fantasy XIV's Shadowbringers expansion will include the continuation of the main scenario, Sorrows of Werlyt scenario, and the ongoing YoRHa Dark Apocalypse scenario collaboration with NieR Automata. Titled "Reflections in Crystal", the patch comes two months after it's original planned release, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Producer/director Naoki Yoshida has penned letters to the community explaining that the delay was necessary in order to safely ensure development and operations teams could work from their homes and ensure the office was safe should work need to conducted there. Today, Square Enix launched the new Patch 5.3 website with the first of several updates that provide details on upcoming content and featues. More information will come in the next Letter from the Producer Live broadcast scheduled for August 22nd. Be advised the following contains spoilers for the Shadowbringers main scenario. MAIN SCENARIO: REFLECTIONS IN CRYSTAL "Having confirmed their suspicions that the resurrected Ardbert is none other than Elidibus, the Scions endeavor to shed light upon the Ascian's dark plot. But time is against them, for the hour of their departure─or demise─fast approaches." The next chapter in the Shadowbringers main scenario begins after completing the Echoes of a Fallen

The King Slime Crown returns! The special Dragon Quest X Collaboration Event "Breaking Brick Mountains" is coming back to Final Fantasy XIV on July 3, 2020 and will last until July 27. New players and players who may have missed the initial run of this collaboration back in 2014 will be able to take part in the event by completing themed quests and participating in unique FATEs to obtain Dragon Quest related items. To start the quest, players only need to speak with Havak Alvak of the Mythril Eye in Ul'dah - Steps of Nald when the event begins in July. If you have already completed this quest, you cannot undertake it a second time. Havak's location is located below (Images via Lodestone): After picking up the quest, players will be able to seek out and take part in special FATEs to complete the questline in order to obtain the Wind-up Brickman, Thug's Mug helmet, and to purchase the wiggly King Slime Crown from Toughie in Ul'dah - Steps of Nald (X:8.2 Y:12.2). The "Brick by Stone Brick and Brick by Gold Brick" FATE locations are located across multiple zones in A Realm Reborn. These areas include the following: Central Thanalan, Sil'dih Excavation SiteLower

Square Enix has just announced a cancellation to their plans for this year's North American Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival, originally set to be held in November. Citing concerns with the on-going coronavirus pandemic, producer/director Naoki Yoshida took to the forums, sharing a Letter from the Producer to explain the current situation. "The North American Fan Festival was scheduled to be held in San Diego half a year from now in November, but after much deliberation we have made the difficult decision to cancel proceedings," said Yoshida. "Although we have been moving forward with various arrangements to adapt to the unfolding pandemic, we ultimately feel that we cannot guarantee the health and safety of the attendees, performers, or company staff members who would be present at the event. Thus it is with great regret that we arrive at this conclusion, and I offer my sincere apologies to all who were looking forward to enjoying the festivities." Despite the cancellation, however, Yoshida states that Square Enix is already drawing up plans for a possible new date, city and venue in the first half of 2021 to host a North American event. The current Fan Festivals in Japan and Europe planned for December and February

In the 58th Letter from the Producer Live broadcast, Final Fantasy XIV director/producer Naoki Yoshida and global community manager Toshio Murouchi shared more information about the third major update to the Shadowbringers expansion. We've included a summary of the major information below: Covid-19 impact on development Yoshida read a letter from a player who is a medical worker on the frontline of fighting the coronavirus who expressed their thanks to the development and operations team for a game giving everyone the strength to get through this. Square Enix staff are working from home. Originally, Patch 5.3 was scheduled to release in mid-June. The original plan was to have Yoshida check over the patch content in the second week of April; it was then decided that the Square Enix office in Tokyo would need to transition to work from home. Voice actors are recording lines from home and sending the data to to Square Enix. Everything for Patch 5.3 has now been recorded. Staff are testing their updates from home to prevent bugs before their changes are pushed to the game. The transition to work from home hasn't been without difficulties, such as needing to connect to an internal server for security purposes. Some staff could do this in