Here's everything in FF14 7.5 shown during Live Letter 92, including the return of Final Fantasy's most sinister villain

We’ve just been given our first proper in-game look at the FF14 7.5 patch and everything it brings to the MMORPG, straight from Game Director Naoki Yoshida and Community Producer Toshio Murouchi. FF14 Live Letter 92 is a bulky affair, with ‘Yoshi-P’ wearing a baseball shirt that reads, “Losing isn’t an option.” Despite the fact that all of the expansion details are being saved for a reveal at Fanfest NA next week, he warns that this is a dense showcase, and expresses (via community translation) a little nervousness about his capabilities in showing off the likes of the Beastmaster job during today’s in-game demos.

As was previously announced, Final Fantasy 14 patch 7.5, ‘Trail to the Heavens,’ launches on Tuesday April 28. We got a quick rundown of all the essentials during the previous Live Letter. There’s the first half of a two-part MSQ that will conclude in patch 7.56, including a new dungeon and trial, the conclusion to the Echoes of Vana’diel alliance raid, the Dawntrail allied society capstone, custom deliveries for taco vendor Tiisol Ja, PvP updates, and the finale of the current Hildibrand arc. Then we’ve got the second Occult Crescent zone and completion of its Phantom Weapons, another Cosmic Exploration star, the next ultimate, the Shinryu unreal, more ocean fishing, housing improvements, the consolidated dye system, Gold Saucer extras, and of course the new Beastmaster limited job.

Today is all about actually showing that stuff in action. That starts with the trailer, which you can watch below. Note some light spoilers from the video for just this particular paragraph if you’re avoiding it. As I speculated following the launch of the special site, we get confirmation that Zero is making a return alongside Golbez, as is Jullus, our Endwalker friend from Garlemald. Most intriguing, however, are the final moments. “Did you think you’d won? Guess I’ll have to spice things up!” That’s unmistakably Kefka (of FF6 and Stormblood raid series fame), and while his involvement isn’t clarified, Yoshida does let slip that the end of the trailer is a teaser for the ultimate that will be revealed in full at Fanfest.

We start our in-game demos with the alliance raid, Windurst: The Third Walk. Yoshida braces himself to fight the first boss, Shantotto the Demon. If you know FF11, you’ll know why she’s so feared – not as an outright villain, but as an extreme agent of chaos. Murouchi comments that the encounter feels like an “HD remastered version” of the old MMO: “If I drown in the nostalgia, I won’t be able to finish this raid,” he jokes. Yoshida ponders why Shantotto is here, and why she’s appearing right up top. “Everyone knows Shantotto isn’t going to stop here, so this is all I can show… You will see.”

We then dive into the new Crystalline Conflict arena, Archeia Harmonias. It features protective Healing Glyphs placed in front of each team’s starting point, and special checkpoints called Aetherometers. These must be filled completely without your team all leaving, or any enemy stepping onto the ring, or it will immediately reset progress to zero. Once it’s charged to full, the attacking team unlocks Aetherial Bridges and Jump Glyphs that help you quickly push forward to advanced positions for the remainder of the match.

Yoshida then pauses the action to dig into some new quality-of-life updates. The Sightseeing Log is being updated, with log messages now making it clearer when you need particular weather or a certain emote to fulfill the conditions. Given that these have been easy to find online for years, that’s probably the right move, and will make them much more comprehensible to newer players.

All dungeon gear from 3.0 onwards (that’s Heavensward) will now be eligible to store as outfit glamours, ensuring the full set only takes up one space in your Glamour Dresser. You can also remove items from outfit glams individually. It’s a huge upgrade that makes collecting all the dungeon gear a much more feasible achievement, if you’re of a mind to do so.

“It surely helps for collections,” Yoshida acknowledges, “and it’s easy to tell if you completed a set. I know people will open this in game and see the new features, and they will get overwhelmed because they will want to do everything at once. Then they end up never doing it. Please take your time, do three today – no need to do all of them today,” he pleads. “Don’t try to reach the goal in one go! This applies to everything: step by step. Warriors of Light can do it.”

You’ll now be able to perform more actions while you’ve got the crafting log open, including changing your class/job, consuming food and potions, moving items around your inventory, joining and leaving parties, and operating linkshells. Your Chocobo companion also gets an upgrade, with new animations based on its rank, and the ability to react appropriately if you poke or pet it. “Please think of this as a starting point for Chocobo updates,” Yoshida notes. “We have more things planned for the future – this is just a little step to show that we didn’t forget.”

Next up are two new color schemes: one a delightful bubblegum (or Pepto-Bismol) pink, the other a more tasteful but less exhilarating clear gray. “During A Realm Reborn we prioritized simple UI designs that didn’t have too many options for change,” Yoshida explains, “but obviously UIs have evolved a lot in the last ten years.” I’ve grown into a real light-mode enjoyer in FF14, contrary to my web browsing habits, but I think the pink might be too much for me.

Following a short break and some Primals tracks, it’s time for the Beastmaster. As was previously noted, you’ll need to reach level 50 on a combat class to unlock this, have completed the 2.0 main story, and own Dawntrail on your account. You’ll be able to capture up to 50 beasts to fill out your bestiary, which you can do entirely in solo play, although Yoshida recently confirmed it would also work while playing in a party. These can then be called upon to walk by your side (yes, even in cities) and battle with you in a group.

As an example, Yoshida notes, “There are mobs from alliance raids, but if you want to do it solo, you can obtain those as quest rewards.” You will need to be at an appropriate level to bring each of them under your control, however. Because it’s a limited job with an initial starting cap of level 50, you won’t be able to take on a lot of the standard public content as a Beastmaster. However, there’s a special mode called Crucible of the Unbroken, which is designed as a dedicated single-player activity for the job.

Capturing beasts is a three-stage process. Use ‘gauge’ to see if a mob can be captured, fight and weaken it to increase your chances of success, and then use ‘catch’ before knocking it out. Pull all of that off, and it’ll be recorded to your Master’s Bestiary. From there, you can assign up to three of your creatures to ‘battlehorns.’ These are used to swap between your assigned beasts during a fight and call on each of their actions. You’re also able to change their size, either individually or across the board.

Once a fight starts, you’ll have a range of ‘beast actions’ that each summon can employ. ‘Tempered Release’ uses an action that’s unique to each creature, ‘Trick’ is an “instinctual skill” (more on that in a moment), ‘Nature’s Gift’ draws power from the beast for a move of your own, and ‘Finisher’ delivers a powerful area-of-effect attack before returning your follower to their battlehorn. Yoshida demonstrates with his starting creatures: the dog’s Tempered Release is a six-hit cut, but the dodo’s offers a buff against Earth element and blind. “It’s not always an attack.”

You’re managing two simultaneous gauges, one for you as the Beastmaster and one for your Beasts. By both of you using instinctual skills in succession and building these up simultaneously, you’ll trigger an even more powerful ‘instinctual combo.’ You’ll need to pay close attention to the affinity of these skills and perform them in a specific order to maximize your damage output. Once you reach a higher level, you’ll gain the ability to fill your gauges instantly for multiple connected combos.

Yoshida gives us a quick dip into a dungeon, and then shows off some more details on a training dummy, using debug commands to speed things up. “When you combine two elements, you get light or dark,” he comments, highlighting the two halves in the center of the job UI. “Those elements have to be used quickly, or the effect will run out.” He jokes about turning the annoying freeze effect of the Chimera in your favor, and remarks, “It will be helpful to remember which beast has which element.”

Yoshida notes that you can level Beastmaster without doing the job quests if you prefer, and will be able to train your beasts through the dedicated solo instances. “At the end, there might even be extra subspecies,” he teases, “like different skins or designs for beasts you have captured.” Shiny hunting in my FF14? Oh no. Yoshida promises an extra stream closer to the release of Beastmaster, saying he hopes to bring the job’s designer Masaki ‘Mr Ozma’ Nakagawa on to give us a showcase of his own.

There’s a preview of the new Phantom Weapons. “We designed these weapons with the artifact gear in mind,” Yoshida notes. I’ve traditionally not been a big fan of glowy gear designs in the past, but the two-tone flame effects on a lot of these strike just subtle enough of a balance that I could see myself using some of them. There’s also a flick through some of the new mounts and minions, including two fresh sets of wings, a rocket fist, the motorbike from Hildibrand, and a platypus that runs around with you on its back.

It wouldn’t be a Live Letter without Yoshi-P holding up some paper printouts, and he teases a selection of new gear from Occult Crescent and Cosmic Exploration, including a yellow mechanic’s jumpsuit and a recreation of the Loporrit clothing. “There is lots of content coming, of course,” he reassures, “so of course there are many rewards. This was just a few of them.”

To wrap the show up, the pair recap the upcoming Fanfest dates, and announce a collaboration with Filipino restaurant chain Jollibee. There’s clothing for sale, and the ability to snag an in-game ‘Eat Chicken’ emote. Composer Masayoshi Soken joins to discuss The Primals performing at Download rock festival in June, and reveals that the music team created “almost as much for patch 7.5 as 7.0 – basically an expansion.”

That’s all for today. Huge thanks as always to ‘Miuna’ and ‘iluna minori’ for their continued volunteer work live-translating the presentation via the FF14 Discord, which helps to make these roundups as thorough and detailed as possible.

FF14 patch 7.5, Trail to the Heavens, launches on Tuesday April 28, 2026. It’ll be followed by patch 7.51 in early June, 7.55 in late July, and 7.56 in early September. That last part is where we can expect the second part of the MSQ, and that should set us up much more directly for the 8.0 expansion and beyond.