On October 30, 2026, Square Enix shared exciting details about the upcoming sixth expansion, Everkold, for their acclaimed MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV, during the Japan Fan Fest. This highly anticipated announcement kicked off with an extended trailer, leaving fans buzzing with anticipation for what’s coming next.
As you dive into Evercold, expect a blend of new characters, job mechanics, and expansive environments. Players frequently get tripped up with release date changes, so it’s crucial to stay updated. The buzz around this expansion is palpable, especially with the growing player base currently at 24 million registered users.
Before you gear up for this adventure, mark your calendar! Early access starts on February 19, 2027, and the full launch is on February 23, 2027. Be ready to pre-order on November 4, 2026, to snag exclusive in-game items!
Delayed Release Date and Pre-Order Information
Following the trailer reveal, producer Naoki Yoshida and translator Koji Fox delivered unfortunate news: the expansion’s release has been delayed. Early access now starts on February 19, 2027, with the full launch on February 23, 2027. Players eager to get their hands on Evercold can pre-order starting on November 4, 2026.
Those who pre-order the expansion will receive two exclusive in-game bonuses: a Wind-Up Kottr minion and Halone’s Earring.
The collector’s edition will be a treasure trove for fans, featuring a Meteor Survivor statue in his Reaper job outfit, a keychain of the new Cat Allied Society, and three unique in-game items:
- Valhallar Odin Mount
- Entreat Crystal Emote
- Crystal Skytlborg
- Valhallar Odin Mount
- Entreat Crystal Emote
- Crystal Skytlborg
New Job: Zephyr
The spotlight then shifted to the second new job introduced in Everkold: Zephyr. This job, previously hinted at, promises exciting gameplay for those interested.
- Role: Physical Ranged DPS
- Battle Mode: Evolved Only
- Main Arm: Crossbow
- Starting Level: 90
- Starting Location: Gridania
In gameplay, Zephyrs collaborate with a bird companion called Nephele, enabling them to execute coordinated attacks and provide party support. Expect notable enhancements in evasion, making them a strategic choice for players.
- Role: Physical Ranged DPS
- Battle Mode: Evolved Only
- Main Arm: Crossbow
- Starting LVL: 90
- Starting Location: Gridania
Gameplay wise, Zephyrs work together with a bird companion known as a Nephele to both unleash coordinated attacks and support their party. They will also excel at evasion as the job will have multiple movement related actions
Story Character Information
At the fan fest, several key characters in the Everkold storyline were revealed. Visna, who inhabits the Realmship of Water: Naglfar, presents a sweet relationship with the Warrior of Light, building on their connection from the latest MSQ patch.
More details emerged about Baldr, the foreman of the Realmship of Fire: Hringhorni. His nautical-themed title reflects his leadership role within this realmship.
During the extended trailer, fans discovered Legerta, the first mate of Naglfar, styled as Rimeblood, recalling a familiar face from the Heavensward storyline.
Further, insights into Halmarut and Calyx were shared, with their allegiances remaining ambiguous. While Calyx has been an adversary in the past, his current situation leaves him with little choice but to align with Halmarut.
Next, more information was revealed about Baldr, the Bastion of the Realmship of Fire: Hringhorni. He is the leader of this realmship or rather, the forreman as each character’s major character’s title is nautical themed to fit with each area being a flying ship.
During the extended trailer, players were introduced to the new character Legerta, whose face will look familar to longtime fans who played through Heavensward. She is the first mate of the Realmship of Water: Naglfar and is known by the title of “Rimeblood”.
New art of Halmarut and Calyx was also shown during the fan fest, with both Yoshida and Koji speaking about how Halmarut’s status as a friend or foe is still up to question and how despite Calyx being a foe in the past, his current form gives him little choice outside of following Halmarut.
New Areas
Several thrilling new areas were displayed throughout the keynote. First up was the Realmship of Earth: Sessrymnir, which features an agricultural and mining community powered by intricate magical practices.
Next in the spotlight was the Realmship of Wind: Skidbladnir, inhabited by the kettir, renowned for their airship construction skills.
A montage followed, briefly showcasing multiple Everkold areas whose complete details are still under wraps.
Finally, we heard a teaser about the second town of the expansion, Hjartadunur, famous for a notorious jump puzzle deemed more challenging than the one at Kugane Tower.
Next, the key note shifted to showcasing the Realmship of Wind: Skidbladnir. This realmship is home to the kettir, who excel at building airships.
After those two realmship videos, viewers were then shown a montage of multiple other Evercold areas whose names and purposes have yet to be fully revealed.
Finally, we were given some information on the second town of the expansion: Hjartadunur. Little was revealed about this town aside from the most important piece of information: It will have a jump puzzle harder than the one at Kugane Tower.
New Dungeons
The fan fest revealed four dungeons, showcasing various formidable foes that players will encounter. One particular creature caught audience members off guard, as Yoshida and Koji Fox moved past it without giving additional context.
These dungeons will have many foes such as the one pictured below who made the person typing this sentence scream as neither Yoshida nor Koji Fox addressed it and simply moved on as if nothing happened.
Main Story Progression Changes
As discussed earlier, Everkold‘s main scenario quest structure is shifting significantly. All players begin with the same onboarding quests but can then choose between three distinct paths, offering flexibility in gameplay sequences.
To accommodate varying player strengths, select segments of Everkold will introduce an Auto Content Balancing system, dynamically adjusting levels and gear for optimal experience.
In order to account for players unlocking dungeons/trials at different points in time (and thus being at different levels of strength), select parts of Evercol will feature “Auto Content Balancing” This system will scale participants accordingly. Gear will also scale according to this system. No matter which path you choose the game will adjust to be optimal.
Weekly Progression System
In an exciting overhaul, Everkold will transition daily routines, like roulettes, into a new weekly system. This revamped setup will feature an updated Adventurer Activity UI, which adjusts visually based on your location.
Alongside this, a progress bar will track players’ accomplishments, unlocking rewards through various activities like trials and crafting. Standard missions will be repeatable, while unique tasks will be one-time events tied to each patch’s main scenario quests.
Additionally, pairings of patches will now be referred to as “seasons”, marking a terminology update with no additional costs involved.
As was previously detailed in both the North American and Berlin fan fests, Evercold will be transitioning Final Fantasy XIV’s daily routine systems such as running roulettes into a new weekly system.
Alongside these changes, there will also be a newly updated Adventurer Activity UI. The background will change to reflect the current area that your character is in. According to Yoshida, the development team is working on ways to customize the room you are in.
At the bottom of this UI, there will be a progress bar and rewards which will progress and unlock via completing weekly missions and earning points. These mission will involve trials, crafting, PVP, and more. Standard Missions are repeatable while other missions, such as completing each patch’s MSQ patches will be one time only.
As previously mentioned during the Berlin Fan Fest, every pair of two patches will now be refereed to as a season. This is merely a terminology change and will not come with any extra fees.
Battle System Changes
During the keynote, Yoshida reiterated earlier announcements about a split in the battle system: Reborn Mode and Evolved Mode. While Reborn Mode keeps the current familiar mechanics, Evolved Mode promises more dynamic actions.
Details on Evolved Mode will follow in a detailed live letter later. Additionally, there’s mention of Character Action Skins, a planned feature allowing players to modify animations and effects for various actions.
During the Berlin Fan Fest, it was revealed that the game’s battle system would be split into two modes. Reborn Mode and Evolved Mode. Reborn Mode is the current battle system that all FFXIV players have grown accustomed to while Evolved Mode will be different with “More dynamic actions”.
While there wasn’t much extra info given about Evolved Mode during the key note, viewers were assured that a highly detailed live letter would be coming at a different date.
Character Action Skins were also brought up again. This new system will allow players to customize an action with different animations and effects.
A limited number will launch, but will be expanded going forward. During this keynote were were shown pictures of various different teleport animations.
Equipment System Changes
Another significant development introduced is the Item Level Link system, enabling players to match the item level of their highest job for new content without needing to grind for equipment across all jobs.
Everkold will also incorporate a new gear optimization system, divided into Seasonal Gear and Raid Gear categories. Players will earn seasonal gear by completing missions and enhancing their activity level in the new progression system.
With this update, unlocking gear becomes streamlined—no more fetching items from NPCs. Casual players can acquire sufficiently leveled gear for smooth progression, while hardcore players will pursue Raid Gear obtained from more challenging content.
Another change first revealed at Berlin which viewers were reminded of during this key note was the addition of the Item Level Link system. Where any job that the player has at max level can temporarily match the item level of their highest item leveled job in order to run new content without needed to grind for equipment on every job.
A new gear optimization system will also be introduced in Evercold, allowing you to improve gear throughout a season. There will be two different types of gear each with a different route: Seasonal Gear and Raid Gear.
Seasonal Gear can be earned by completing Missions and raising your activity level in the new weekly progression system. At certain milestones, you will earn seasonal gear, such as the accessory pictured below. Unlocking the accessory for one job will also unlock it for all other jobs.
Seasonal gear will be unlocked via this new interface, players will no longer need to talk to specific NPCs in order to obtain a patch’s gear.
This type of gear can also be optimized once per season and is intended for normal players who casually play FInal Fantasy XIV and just want item levels high enough to challenge and complete each patch’s content.
Raid Gear, in contrast, is intended for hardcore players and will be obtained in 8-player Savage Raids. Starting in 8.0, raid coffers will drop for each individual party member at the final floor of each patch’s raid. Everyone gets an item.
Unlike Seasonal Gear, Raid Gear can be optimized twice per season in order to both further increase its item level and unlock slots for advanced materia melding.
Other changes will be coming to the game’s equipment aside from the new Seasonal and Raid Gear systems. Such as a new feature that will allow you to hide parts of the outfit. For example, you can turn off the scarf on the black mage set pictured below or remove the gunbreaker’s spare cartridges.
Character Customization Changes
Character Customization Changes
With the release of 8.0, players will be able to change the color of this eye’s iris and have access to an expanded color picker for eye, hair, and skin tone. There will also be improved customization for eyes and lips as well as the addition of eye shadow and face paint layering.
The expansion will also refine character customization, including iris color changes and a more extensive color picker for hair, eyes, and skin tones. Enhancements to eye and lip details will further personalize characters, introducing layering options for eye shadow and face paint.
A new benchmark will roll out in early December, allowing players to explore these customization paths before Everkold launches.
Mount Speed Changes
Three existing mounts will be receiving speed enhancements with the release of Evercold. These mounts are the SDS Fenrir, the Garlond-GL-IS, and the Hardy-Daytona. Owning any of these mounts will increase the speed of all of your owned mounts.
Raid Changes
New Battle Content – “Gauntlet of Power”
As for Alliance Raids, they will be receiving a major revamp in Evercold. According to Yoshida, due to the current Alliance Raid system taking too much time to complete being a demotivating factor for players, each individual Alliance Raid will be split in half as separate duties. Both halves will have their own set of rewards.
There will also be a new Savage Alliance Raid system added to the game starting with the Evangelion Alliance Raids to address complains from players that the difficulty of odd numbered patches was too low. Rewards for these savage raids will include raid gear upgrade materials.
New Battle Content – “Gauntlet of Power”
A new style of battle content titled “Gauntlet of Power” will be added to the game soon. Unlike other content in the game which syncs the player to a lower level to match the dungeon/trial and thus restricts your actions, This new content uses the auto-balancing system so players of higher level will be able to use all of their existing actions.
The Gauntlet of Power is a 4-player dungeon boss rush (Party matching for players level 51 to 110) where you’ll face up to 5 bosses, voting after each battle whether to continue. Over 200 bosses will be selected randomly from the previous expansions’ existing bosses.
Bosses will only be selected from duties all players in the party have completed in order to prevent potential soilers. If one person abandons, the gauntlet will conclude.
Fans were treated to news about a new battle experience titled Gauntlet of Power. Unlike previous content, this dungeon focuses on allowing players to use all their existing actions without level syncing.
In this intense event, a party of four will face up to five bosses, selecting to continue after each match. Player selection ensures that bosses come from employed duties all players have completed in order to avoid spoilers.
A unique item, available via the new Adventurer Activity menu, will unlock specific features, requiring players to finish the Stormblood expansion to participate.
Same-Region Player Matching
Testing for Same-Region Player Matching is set to begin soon, with North American servers on November 10 and China servers following on December 1. These updates will involve a round of 24-hour maintenance to implement.
Housing Changes
Currently planned for the release of 8.2 (Though not fully guaranteed yet) will be the ability to place specific furniture in mid-air. As usual, the development team also plans to expand the number of available housing plots in the future.
Beginning with 8.1, housing updates will allow players with S-sized plots to expand their interiors to L-sized sizes for a significant gil cost. Players can also look forward to potential furniture placement in mid-air come 8.2 and additional housing plot expansions.
Final Fantasy VII Remake Raids
The Final Fantasy VII Remake Raids will be made with the full support of that game’s development team. The release schedule of the Normal and Savage versions of these raids will be similar to that of previous expansions’ raids, however the Fierce difficulty will be released a week after savage in order to not interfere with world first races and hopefully not spoil players on the contents of Savage.
Raids based on Final Fantasy VII Remake will be developed in collaboration with that title’s team. The rollout will resemble past expansions, but the Fierce difficulty will debut a week later to maintain balance and preserve world-first race integrity.
Evangelion Alliance Raids
A new trailer for Evercold’s upcoming Evangelion Alliance Raids was shown during Fan Fest, narrated by Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice of Misato Katsuragi.
Fans were treated with a trailer for the Evangelion themed Alliance Raids narrated by Kotono Mitsuishi, the voice behind Misato Katsuragi.
The keynote wrapped up with announcements about various changes for players to expect, including:
- Level cap raised to 110
- Updates to existing battle content
- New job-specific gear
- Duty Support for playing with NPCs
- Level cap raised to 110.
- Updates to existing battle content.
- New job-specific gear.
- Duty Support will allow multiple players to play content with NPCs