By Jason Parker
During the Final Fantasy XIV 7.3 Live Letter, it was revealed that major changes were coming to the Occult Cresncent and Forked Tower, but it turns out, some of these changes will be dropping sooner than expected! According to a post from Yoshi-P on the official FFXIV website, a hotfix will be deployed tomorrow, July 3, 2025 (or shortly thereafter), to make sure some important changes are on the way to make the Forked Tower a more enjoyable experience for large groups of players.He also pointed out that this Forked Tower change will not impact the current planned release date for patch 7.3 in Final Fantasy XIV, only that this important change will come ahead of schedule. This will address some of the important concerns players had with the mode, but not all of them.Final Fantasy XIV hotfix to improve Forked Tower Entry System soonIn a blogpost by Yoshi-P (Naoki Yoshida), Final Fantasy XIV is going to add a pair of changes to the Forked Tower around July 3, 2025, and revealed another update that would be coming somewhere down the line. The changes made are as follows:Important changes to Forked Tower in FFXIVThe ability to enter the Occult Crescent instance with a preformed alliance of up to 48 playersAllowing auroral mirages to generate sooner after the Occult Crescent instance has loadedBeing able to queue with a 48-player group for Occult Crescent is huge (Image via Square Enix)This is only a portion of the changes that will be made to the Forked Tower experience in Final Fantasy XIV, with the rest coming closer to, or during patch 7.3. The big deal for this for me makes it seem like players who want to set up 48-player alliances to clear Forked Tower before they go in, will be able to do so.While Occult Crescent is for up to 72 players in an instance, a group of 48 will be able to join one and work together immediately. We do not know if this guarantees that they will join the Forked Tower together, but it sounds like the odds will be decent.Having auroal mirages generate sooner is also a great idea, meaning players will have to wait less, if they’re ready to grind their way through the Forked Tower in Final Fantasy XIV. In addition to the already revealed changes, something major was discussed, and will be implemented later: enabling exclusive access to the Occult Crescent instance for a set time when joining with a preformed alliance. This however, will guarantee that players can set up Forked Tower groups that will surely be able to go in with just their preformed alliance.The first two changes will be implemented on July 3, 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter. The other change does not have a specified date at this time. The developers have said that the upcoming changes may require a little more testing, and that they will make an official post on the Lodestone, when the date has been confirmed.Check out our other Final Fantasy XIV guides and featuresFinal Fantasy XIV: All new mounts available in patch 7.25 and how to get themFinal Fantasy XIV Occult Crescent guide: How to access Forked TowerFinal Fantasy XIV Occult Crescent guide: Where to farm demiatma for Phantom WeaponsFinal Fantasy XIV Occult Crescent guide: All Phantom Jobs and how to unlock them