Remember when Final Fantasy XIV producer and director Naoki Yoshida noted during the last Live Letter broadcast that changes to forming parties to enter the Occult Crescent’s Forked Tower dungeon would be coming in patch 7.3, which is slated to land in early August? Well, there’s some good news for those grinding it out in that zone: A couple of those party forming functions will be arriving before then – on Thursday, July 3rd, to be exact, assuming all goes well.
Specifically, the ability for players to create a pre-formed alliance of up to 48 players and enter the Occult Crescent together and the spawning of the special weather condition that opens access to the Forked Tower shortly after loading into the zone will both be available prior to patch 7.3. In addition, Yoshida confirms that the devs are working on another feature for 7.3 that will let pre-formed alliances get “exclusive access to the Occult Crescent instance for a set time.”
The announcement does note that while these two features are being prioritized ahead of time, their release will not delay the development and launch of patch 7.3. Still, players should be aware that the required emergency maintenance may introduce some technical issues, though Yoshida does point out that “the benefits of implementing these changes in a timely manner outweigh the minor risks involved and will do our utmost to ensure the update is released in a stable state.” Should the July 3rd release date slip, players will be duly informed.
