Final Fantasy XIV patch 7.3 is changing up Cosmic Exploration and Occult Crescent: Live letter recap

Final Fantasy XIV’s Cosmic Exploration and Occult Crescent didn’t quite land the way the devs hoped it would, and in patch 7.3, there will be some changes. During the Letter from the Producer LIVE Part LXXXVII on June 20, 2025, Yoshi-P and Toshio Murouchi used the first part of the Live letter to address these two modes, and how they would be changing due to player feedback.

Part of the issue with these modes as far as I saw was that Cosmic Exploration was sped through too fast on many servers. This made it so many players couldn’t experience all the updates, and felt left out. When it came to Occult Crescent, many felt it was just Eureka 2.0, and you can’t even level up jobs in it.

Unfortunately, the Live Letter didn’t have live translations, but there was English in the text on the information slides and YouTuber iluna minori also translated it live on their channel. Here’s what Final Fantasy XIV’s developers have in store for 7.3 for both Cosmic Exploration and Occult Crescent.

Final Fantasy XIV developers address feedback for Occult Crescent and what will change in patch 7.3

During the patch 7.3 Live Letter for Final Fantasy XIV, some changes were announced for both Cosmic Exploration and Occult Crescent. There were quite a few bits of feedback offered to the developers, which they revealed during the stream:

Hopefully, this in particular changes in the future (Image via Square Enix)

Player feedback for Occult Crescent

• I wish I could enter the Forked Tower with a preformed alliance.
• I wish there was a normal and savage version of the Forked Tower, like there was with Delubrum Reginae.
• WHen magic pot and happy bunny coffers contain only materia and fireworks, the rewards feel inadequate for the effort required.
• Enemies in FATEs can be defeated too quickly. Unless you’re paying close attention, a FATE may be completed before you’ve even arrived.
• Please increase the drop rate for demiatma and soul shards.
• The window for aural mirages is too short, making it impossible to get there in time if you were in a critical encounter.

As far as preformed alliances go, this is going to take some time to implement. It sounds like it will be coming sometime around August 2025, so it is something that’s on their radar. When it came to Normal/Savage versions of Forked Tower, there were a few reasons why this didn’t happen. One of the major reasons was that the content was more difficult than expanded, but future content will be Normal/Savage.

Happy Bunny Coffers and Magic Pot rewards definitely frustrated players as well in Final Fantasy XIV. The developers are discussing how to fix this in the future. They will be looking into the reward data, and see if they can make some adjustments.

Sorry, this won't be changing in patch 7.3 of Final Fantasy XIV (Image via Square Enix)

Another complaint for Occult Crescent in Final Fantasy XIV was that FATE enemies can die before players even get to them, making them feel left out, or that they wasted their time trying to even go and take part. This is more of a difficult thing to fix, because of how things are coded, but they’re trying to adjust the parameters for this, so players can actually join in before it ends.

They don’t want the fights to feel too hard for these FATES, and more testing is needed. Rest assured, they are looking into it. Another common complaint, one I saw often, was that demiatma (Phantom Weapons) and soul shards have incredibly low drop rates in FFXIV’s Occult Crescent.

Sadly, this won’t be done in patch 7.3 for Occult Crescent in Final Fantasy XIV, but it will happen in the future. For now, it’s going to remain the same. I know this isn’t what people want to hear, and I disagree with the choice, but that’s how it is for now.

The Auroral Mirages timing window is also incredibly short, especially for people in critical encounters. This is the weather feature used to allow people entrance into the Forked Tower. The weather system for this is going to be changed in the “near future”. The weather system will no longer trigger until the environment allows for it. That means “no active critical encounters”. Hopefully, this will make it easier for more players to take part.

Final Fantasy XIV developers address feedback for Cosmic Exploration and what will change in patch 7.3

Cosmic Exploration is also a mode where quite a few players had complaints and feedback, some of which ought to be addressed in Final Fantasy XIV patch 7.3. Here are all of the instances of feedback offered, and what was said:

I agree - this is incredibly tedious (Image via Square Enix)

Feedback and complaints from Cosmic Exploration

• Can you allow us to use mounts?
• Please increase the time limit for missions.
• Please make the mission report window open automatically.
• Please make it so your GP is fully restored after completing gatherer missions.
• Please make it easier to understand when sequential missions are available.
• Please make projects easier to successfully complete.
• Please keep the relative positioning of shops and NPCs constant as the base develops.
• Please have holograms installed from the beginning.
• Please add more incentives to continue playing once we’ve finished cosmic tool enhancement and gotten the current rewards.
• Please implement a retainer bell.
• Please make it easier to get to the cosmic exploration base.

While you cannot use mounts now, in Final Fantasy XIV patch 7.3, for this planet, and the future planets, mounts will be allowed. This is a simple, solid solution, and I’m glad to see this change, even if the movement speed with sprint was decent. Next up was the time limit for missions.

The time limit for missions, especially gatherers, feels cruel and perhaps too fast. In patch 7.3, for B-rank missions and lower, and some A-ranked missions will have their time limit adjusted. This should make it so players can complete missions without issue. This was something that genuinely frustrated me as I leveled on the moon.

One thing players also wanted to see was that the mission report window opened automatically in the future. This was originally how things were supposed to go, but it didn’t work well. This will be updated in the future, so hopefully, in patch 7.3 of Final Fantasy XIV’s Cosmic Exploration.

This should likely be addressed in future content, at least (Image via Square Enix)

Things really slow down when your GP isn’t fully restored after missions. This will be fixed in patch 7.3 as well, and the cooldowns will also reset, making it easier to gather on the moon. As it pertains to sequential missions, it will be made easier to understand in patch 7.3 as well.

Others wanted projects to be easier to successfully complete in Final Fantasy XIV’s Cosmic Exploration. This is something they should have looked into earlier, according to the devs, and they’re going to look at it, and monitor it to see if more changes will be necessary.

There was way more feedback for Cosmic Exploration, as it turns out! Players also wanted the shops and NPCs to remain constant as the base develops and grows. This is another feature that the devs are going to look into, and perhaps rework the entire level design instead. This is more for the future planets, than the current one.

Nothing concrete was given on this point, but it is being looked at (Image via Square Enix)

Holograms will also be installed from the beginning moving forward, it sounds like. Others wanted some kind of incentive to keep playing the mode after they’ve received all the rewards. Yoshi-P and the team are looking into this, but nothing concrete was revealed.

Players also want a retainer bell for this area, which certainly makes sense. Having to teleport away and come back is frustrating, and Yoshi-P acknowledges this. He’s asked the development team to put one in, so you can look forward to a retainer bell in future content.

It’s kind of tedious to get back to the cosmic exploration base. Teleport to a specific place on the moon, take the vehicle, it’s not hard, only tedious. Having a specific teleport would make it so much easier. There will be adjustments for this in the future but again, nothing specific, except perhaps a teleport ticket to get you to the cosmic base easier.

These are certainly positive changes for Final Fantasy XIV patch 7.3, except perhaps the demiatma RNG. That’s going to be a letdown, but it sounds like the team is listening to player feedback, and that, overall, is a positive. Yoshi-P also asked fans to not leave negative, toxic comments, as those do get deleted by the community team, and to review your message before posting, to make sure it's not mean-spirited.

Check out our other Final Fantasy XIV guides and features

• Final Fantasy XIV: All new mounts in patch 7.25 and how to get them
• Final Fantasy XIV: How to easily farm Tomestones of Heliometry
• Final Fantasy XIV: Occult Crescent guide: Where to farm Demiatma for Phantom Weapons

Edited by Jason Parker