Final Fantasy 14's latest DLC, Rise of a New Sun, rolled out in patch 4.2 last month, and is the second major expansion following 2017's Stormblood. Matt "Bayohne" Hilton, from Square Enix's community team, has confirmed that The Forbidden Land - Eureka Anemos will follow in patch 4.25. The content will be similar to Diadem, which wasn't very well received at the time, but Final Fantasy 14's director and producer, Naoki Yoshida, has elaborated on what's in store, and the lessons they learned from Diadem's realease.
"We tried a few different things with the Diadem," he said in an interview with PSU back in November, via Silicon Era. "In the first iteration we focused on content where players farmed enemies without many clear objectives, and then toyed with the idea of having players complete objectives with a big surprise waiting for them (in the form of a monster). Eureka was developed based on our experiences from creating that content.
"The idea behind Eureka is to give players the opportunity to experience content that has a completely different set of battle rules from field or instanced content."
Director and producer, Naoki Yoshida, shared further details on Eureka in a recent live stream, with Siliconera posting a lengthy summary of the upcoming features.
Up to 144 players will be able to occupy a single instance with an emphasis on teamwork, and they can drop in and out of parties as they choose. If you're looking for a party to buddy up with, you can put up your "invite flag".
Player progression in Eureka will be different to progression outside of it, with elemental levels forming the core, and a level cap of 20 being implemented. Enemies encountered will also fit into the elemental system, with specific strengths and weaknesses.
While elemental EXP won't be lost between visits, getting KO'd in Eureka will result in a penalty of lost EXP - unless players get revived within 10 minutes of going down. On the plus side, if your elemental level is five or below, you won't get penalised.
To nab Eureka gear, you'll need Protean Crystals - found in Eureka - as well as an item from a "Notorious Monster," of which there are a few, and you can expect them to be as difficult to defeat as their name suggests.
The Forbidden Land, Eureka will drop in patch 4.25, but a date has yet to be confirmed.
Shabana is a freelance writer who enjoys JRPGs, wine, and not finishing games. Follow her on Twitter.