Final Fantasy 14 Is Getting an Even Bigger FF11 Crossover

Summary

Final Fantasy 14 is having its third crossover event with Final Fantasy 11, but this one will be much bigger than previous collaborations.
The new Alliance raid series in the expansion will give players a glimpse into the world of Final Fantasy 11 and launch in three patches.
Fans of Final Fantasy 11, as well as current and former players, are eagerly anticipating the love letter that this new Alliance raid will be, even if they don't know much about Final Fantasy 11.

Final Fantasy 14’s next Alliance raid is going to be a huge crossover with Final Fantasy 11. Though this is the third time Final Fantasy 14 is crossing over with its predecessor, it will be doing so in a much bigger way than before.

The second Fan Festival for Final Fantasy 14 just revealed tons of new information for Dawntrail. Players learned about the Viper, the first of several new jobs coming to Final Fantasy 14, and got another good look at the graphics update coming in the expansion.

During the keynote for the convention, Final Fantasy 14 also revealed the subject of the 24-man Alliance raid for the new expansion. Titled Echoes to Vana’diel, this new raid series will give players a glimpse of Final Fantasy 11–the original Final Fantasy MMO whose launch predated even World of Warcraft. Few details are known about what characters, bosses, and locations will be involved, but players can expect the first raid to launch in Dawntrail Patch 7.1, and the second and third to come in 7.3 and 7.5 respectively.

This is technically the third crossover Final Fantasy 14 has had with Final Fantasy 11. The first, Burgeoning Dread, was a small event that awarded a Shantotto minion, and only ran in 2014. The Maiden’s Rhapsody, a larger event originally celebrating FF11’s final expansion, ran in 2015, and gave Iroha's iconic armor as a reward. This event repeated in 2017, 2020, and again in 2022, but as an Alliance raid, Echoes of Vana’diel will be larger, evergreen content, rather than a small, limited-time event.

Fans can’t wait to see what Final Fantasy 14 has in store for them in Echoes of Vana’diel. Though Final Fantasy 11 never had a population as huge as FF14, the venerable MMO has a dedicated fanbase that still plays to this day. Many current and former FF11 players now play Final Fantasy 14, so this new Alliance raid promises to be a love letter to these fans.

Final Fantasy 14 crossed over with Final Fantasy Tactics and NieR: Automata in previous Alliance raids, both of which may give players an idea on what to expect in Dawntrail’s collaboration with Final Fantasy 11. These raids were enjoyable, and provided opportunities to get iconic outfits from previous games, all while melding the lore of the two worlds together successfully for the most part, so Echoes of Vana’diel should prove enjoyable–even if players know nothing about Final Fantasy 11.