*The main stage at hub27, Berlin, ahead of today's keynote — the Evercold expansion's European moment.*

Week of 25 July 2026

The weekend of 25 July belongs, above all, to Final Fantasy XIV. Fan Festival 2026 makes its European stop in Berlin today, with Naoki Yoshida's keynote at 09:00 UTC and a two-hour Producer Letter Live No. 93 to follow — between them expected to name the new Tank job for the Evercold expansion and deliver the deepest look yet at Beastmaster, the confirmed Limited Job. Elsewhere, Black Desert Online's Heidel Ball is also today, Old School RuneScape delivered one of its most comprehensive quality-of-life patches in years, and World of Warcraft's Mists of Pandaria Classic reached its closing chapter. It is a busy Saturday in the genre.

Final Fantasy XIV

Fan Festival 2026 reaches Europe today, with the two-day event at hub27 in Berlin the second of three global showcases for the Evercold expansion. The in-person venue sold out; all stage content outside the paid concert streams goes live free on YouTube and Twitch with English interpretation.

EU Fanfest Berlin — 25–26 July

The keynote begins at 09:00 UTC (10:00 BST) on Saturday 25 July. Square Enix has confirmed a 'big announcement' from Yoshida; the widely expected centrepiece is the reveal of the new Tank job coming in the 8.0 expansion, Evercold. A new CGI trailer extending the Evercold footage from Anaheim is also confirmed.
Producer Letter Live No. 93 follows at 23:30 BST Saturday — a two-hour deep dive into Beastmaster, the Limited Job confirmed for Evercold, with live gameplay. Yoshida confirmed cosplay for the keynote stage appearance.
Sunday 26 July brings further panels, including The PRIMALS Live concert in the evening (paid stream ticket required).
Virtual stream tickets for both weekend concerts (Keiko Piano Concert Saturday, The PRIMALS Sunday) remain available via StreamPass until 17 August.

What is Confirmed for Evercold

Two entirely original jobs — Tank and Physical Ranged DPS — neither derived directly from other Final Fantasy titles. The Tank reveal is expected today; the Ranged DPS is anticipated at Tokyo Fanfest in October.
Evolved combat mode details: a second combat option alongside classic Reborn mode for existing jobs, with all new jobs from Evercold onwards being Evolved-only. Details on scope and implementation expected in Berlin.
A new 8-person raid difficulty level — a third tier sitting between Normal and Savage, broadening accessibility for endgame raiding.
Same-region cross-DC party finder: players across different data centres in the same region will be able to form parties together.
Character action skins: cosmetic overlays for job-specific actions, confirmed as a system coming with Evercold.
Armory system overhaul: item level earned on one job at maximum level will apply across all jobs, removing the need to re-gear each job from scratch.
Duty Support improvements and enhanced MSQ NPC companions for the Evercold story.

Patch 7.55 — 28 July

Patch 7.55 goes live this coming Monday, 28 July, as the final substantive Dawntrail patch before Evercold's content cycle begins. Details are yet to be published in full, but the patch is confirmed.

Nintendo Switch 2 — August 2026

Final Fantasy XIV arrives on Nintendo Switch 2 in August, with the Switch 2 version confirmed playable at Nintendo-adjacent events in Japan ahead of launch. This extends the game's platform reach ahead of Evercold's targeting of January 2027.

FFXIV Mobile (Chinese Edition) — End of Service

Square Enix and Tencent confirmed on 17 July that Final Fantasy XIV Mobile (Chinese Edition) will end service on 30 September 2026. In-game purchases and new registrations were suspended immediately on 17 July. The planned global launch — anticipated since the game's announcement in November 2024 — has been cancelled entirely.

Black Desert Online

Pearl Abyss holds its annual Heidel Ball showcase today — Saturday 26 July in Southern California time — though the event falls on 26 July Pacific time, making it a simultaneous Saturday event alongside Fanfest Berlin. The showcase marks the 10th anniversary of the game's NA/EU service, and a full class reveal is on the agenda.

Heidel Ball 2026 — Today

The event begins at 10:00 AM Pacific and streams live on YouTube and Twitch in nine languages. The broadcast is expected to include expansion announcements, the full Eddie class reveal, and a content roadmap preview through the rest of the year.
A short teaser video published 17 July introduced Eddie — a gun-wielding character on a mission to bring back his sister. A press release confirmed the teaser represents a new class; combat style and abilities are to be revealed at the Ball.
The in-person venue is in Southern California; the live stream is available globally and free to watch.

July 23rd Patch and Events

The July 23 patch introduced a suite of Heidel Ball pre-event content: Heidel Ball Hot Time bonus event (through 13 August), Heidel Ball Celebration Feast (through 6 August), and Sea Palace event (through 6 August). Countdown Challenges ran through 25 July.
Terrmian Beach seasonal event and the Winged Mermaid event remain active alongside the anniversary content.

*The Corrupted Gauntlet received a thorough rework in Summer Sweep-Up Part 1, released 22 July.*

Old School RuneScape

Summer Sweep-Up Part 1 landed on 22 July, bringing one of the most extensive quality-of-life and balance passes in recent memory. The Corrupted Gauntlet received a comprehensive overhaul, a run of popular piece-of-content improvements rolled out simultaneously, and the community's attention is split this weekend between an active faction event and a forthcoming player-designed island due on Tuesday.

Corrupted Gauntlet Overhaul

Demi-boss spawning behaviour fixed: the previous system frequently spawned all three demi-bosses with the same weapon style, leaving players unable to make an optimal weapon. Spawns now ensure variety.
Hunllef's attack range reduced from 16 to 10 tiles, preventing it from reaching players before they have a chance to react.
Resources in the preparation phase are now stackable, reducing inventory management overhead.
Weapon frames are now guaranteed drops from demi-bosses, removing the previous RNG frustration on key items.

Equipment and PvM Changes

Inquisitor's armour: negative attack bonuses removed entirely, making the set usable without the previous combat penalties.
Soul Reaper Axe: strength bonus increased by 4; axe stacks now take 50 ticks to decay rather than expiring immediately on leaving combat; special attack gains +12% accuracy per stack.
Sanguine Nesty Staff: healing proc increased from 1-in-6 to 1-in-5; damage bonus on heal proc raised by 8.
Phantom Muspah: will no longer switch combat forms until it has been hit four times, allowing more deliberate engagements.
Demonic Gorilla: same form-lock behaviour introduced — will not switch styles until hit four times.
Skotizo: arena reduced in size for a more focused encounter.
Autocast settings are now preserved through death, and gravestones will auto-sort inventory on retrieval.

Community and Upcoming

The community Holy War — a faction-versus-faction event pitting Saradominist pilgrims against Zamorak worshippers — is taking place today at 12 pm ET at the Chaos Altar. The event is player-organised and separate from any official content.
Wyrmscraig, a player-designed island, arrives on 29 July. Full details remain pending, but the island was selected through a community design process.
The Fractured Archives rewards poll blog is scheduled for 30 July, with the poll opening 3 August.
RuneFest 2026: an initial look at this year's event was livestreamed on 22 July, with further details expected in the coming weeks.

World of Warcraft

Mists of Pandaria Classic reached its concluding chapter this week. At the same time, the live game's 12.1 class tuning preview generated community discussion, and a subscriber loyalty reward tied to the upcoming Midnight expansion was announced.

Mists of Pandaria Classic — Final Phase

MoP Classic launched its final phase on 21 July, opening Siege of Orgrimmar — the 14-boss raid that closes out the Mists of Pandaria storyline with the fall of Garrosh Hellscream. The Timeless Isle and the legendary cloak questline conclusion also launched alongside, together with a new PvP season.
Blizzard has confirmed there are no plans for a fresh Season of Discovery, and the state of Classic WoW beyond MoP is currently unannounced.
The 21 July maintenance window ran seven hours for Midnight (07:00–14:00 PDT) and one hour for MoP Classic, per Blizzard Watch.

Patch 12.1 Class Tuning Preview

Ahead of the 12.1 patch, Blizzard published a class tuning pass for review. Notable changes: Solar Bolts +15%; Assassination Rogue +6% overall; Riptide direct heal +25% and HoT component +100%; Unleash Life +50%; Warrior Revenge +20%; Thunder Blast +10%.
Blade's Edge is returning as part of the 12.1 content cycle.

Subscriber Loyalty Reward

A six-month subscription bonus has been announced: a moth mount for players of Midnight, and a moth pet for Classic subscribers. The reward is tied to the Midnight expansion's release window.

Patch Cadence Community Debate

An ongoing discussion in the community around Blizzard's eight-week patch schedule continues, with players debating whether the cadence leaves content feeling sparse between major updates. Blizzard has not formally responded.

Elder Scrolls Online

ZeniMax Online Studios continues to navigate a period of structural change following the layoffs reported last month. This week brought the removal of the web-based Crown Store and a delay to the Update 51 PTS, alongside a notable announcement about the studio's relationship with Bethesda Game Studios.

Web Crown Store Removed

The website-based Crown Store was taken offline on 22 July. ZOS cited capacity management as the reason — a consequence of operating with a reduced workforce post-layoffs. Crown Store purchases remain available in-game.

Update 51 PTS Delayed

The Public Test Server for Update 51 has been pushed to 3 August (previously expected earlier). The update itself is unlikely to ship until mid-September as a result. The delay is in line with expectations given the studio's current staffing levels.
The current Season 1 runs through 21 October. Item sets are enabled for Vengeance testing through 27 July.

Monthly Crown Store Showcases Ending

ZOS has confirmed that monthly Crown Store showcase blog posts — which provided promotional write-ups of new cosmetics — are ending. They will be replaced with a simpler item-list format. The change is presented as an efficiency measure.

Bethesda Collaboration Confirmed

Bethesda Game Studios and ZeniMax Online Studios have confirmed a closer collaboration on the Elder Scrolls franchise, suggesting that ZOS is being at least partially repurposed in support of The Elder Scrolls VI's development. The nature and extent of that collaboration have not been formally specified.

Guild Wars 2

The week after a major balance patch is typically quiet for Guild Wars 2, and this one followed that pattern: a hotfix pass on 20–21 July addressed several bugs introduced or not caught in the previous week's update, and WvW Rush Week is running through 28 July.

Balance Hotfixes — 20–21 July

Weaver Superior Elements: critical chance now correctly applies at 20% (was applying at 15%).
Deadeye Malicious Death's Judgment: malice stacks are now consumed correctly on cast.
Bladesworn Dragon Trigger / Gunsaber PvP interaction: fixed.
Mesmer Method of Madness: cooldown reduced from 35 seconds to 28 seconds.
Necromancer Taste of Death: now has a 10-second cooldown.
Thief Flawless Execution: now correctly affected by quickness.
Full notes on the official forums.

WvW Rush Week

WvW Rush Week runs from 21 to 28 July, offering increased rewards for World vs World participation across all tiers.

Black Lion Update and Guild Wars Original

The 21 July Black Lion update added the Cart Wheel and Bucket Hat finishers (500 gems each).
Wintersday in July began in Guild Wars Reforged (not GW2) on 24 July — an annual tradition returning Wintersday content outside its usual December window.

RuneScape 3

The mid-game rebalance project continues to deploy, with the Fletching retier and a wide set of progression improvements going live this week. Construction, introduced last month with Player-Owned Housing, also received post-launch refinements.

Mid-Game Rebalance — Live

Fletching retier: bolts, arrows, and fletching products have been reassigned to more appropriate level brackets, addressing a long-standing compression issue at the lower end of the skill.
Agility course XP overhaul: XP rewards across courses have been adjusted to reflect the mid-game rebalance targets.
God Wars Dungeon 1 and 2 reforms: boss drop rates and instance costs revised. Instance cost removal for several encounters.
Drop rate improvements across a range of mid-game content, targeted at the level 70–90 bracket.

Construction Post-Launch Updates

Several improvements to the Player-Owned Housing skill have been deployed following player feedback since last month's launch: levelling benefit improvements, Fort Forinthry reinforcement activities now award Construction XP, and construction contracts award additional XP.

Leagues II — Approaching

Leagues II: Equilibrium is now approximately one month away, with a confirmed launch in late August. No new details have been published this week.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

Galactic Season 10 is in its final week, with Season 11 already named. The standard seasonal rhythm continues with no major content additions this week beyond the running events.

Galactic Season 10 — Final Week

Galactic Season 10: Secrets of the Syndicate ends on approximately 27 July. Final Season 10 objectives ran through 27 July, with Pirate Incursion active 21–28 July.
Season 11: Light and Shadow is the confirmed name for the next Galactic Season, beginning imminently. No further details have been published.

Nar Shaddaa Nightlife

The annual Nar Shaddaa Nightlife event continues through 11 August, offering casino-themed rewards and seasonal currency.

*Alliance Tournament XXII: rules published 24 July, with registrations open through 30 July.*

EVE Online

The Alliance Tournament returns for its 22nd iteration. Rules were published on 24 July, and registrations are now open, with this year's event carrying added weight as CCP Games retires the legendary CCP ticker at the conclusion.

Alliance Tournament XXII

The 16-team format returns. Registration cost is 4,000 PLEX per team. Registration closes 30 July at 11:00 UTC. Full rules published on the forums on 24 July.
Roster lock deadline: 17 August.
Match schedule: Preliminary rounds 29–30 August, 5–6 September, 12–13 September. Final is best-of-five.
This year's tournament is the final year the CCP ticker will compete — a piece of the game's cultural history that has been present in tournament play since the format began.

Broader Genre News

Several titles outside the primary roster had notable developments this week, with EverQuest returning in a new form and Dungeons & Dragons Online launching a substantial expansion.

EverQuest Legends — Launching 28 July

EverQuest Legends launches on 28 July following the conclusion of its beta period. The title brings the EverQuest franchise back with a modernised approach while retaining its heritage. More at launch.

DDO — Terror of Demogorgon

Dungeons & Dragons Online launched the Terror of Demogorgon expansion on 22 July. The expansion adds new quests, the Demogorgon encounter, and gear across the level range. Details on the official site.

Guild Wars 3 — Faction Story Details

ArenaNet published additional narrative details regarding the faction system and world-building in Guild Wars 3, continuing the drip of story context ahead of any gameplay reveal. No release window has been given.

SpiritVale — Steam Milestone

SpiritVale, which launched into Early Access on 15 July, reached 19,364 concurrent players on Steam this week — a notable figure for a new MMO entry. The title appears to be sustaining momentum beyond its launch weekend.

Lord of the Rings Online — Expansion Reveal 31 July

Standing Stone Games has confirmed that a new LOTRO expansion name, setting, and details will be revealed on 31 July. The Ill Omens skirmish event runs 23 July–11 August. A new monster player class — the Angmarim Sorceress, the first new PvMP class in 18 years — is also in development.

Looking Ahead

By the time this is read, the FFXIV Berlin keynote will likely have concluded — the Tank job named, the Evercold trailer extended, and the Beastmaster deep dive will be in progress or already done. Fanfest events tend to reshape a community's priorities for weeks afterwards, and this one carries more than the usual weight: two new jobs, a revamped armory system, and a confirmed January 2027 window mean the Evercold clock is now very much running.

Heidel Ball's Eddie reveal should also be complete by the time most players see this, and BDO's roadmap for the rest of the year will have been set out. Given the anniversary framing, Pearl Abyss may lean into retrospective content alongside whatever comes next.

The week ahead brings EverQuest Legends on Tuesday, the OSRS Wyrmscraig island on Wednesday, the OSRS Fractured Archives poll blog on Thursday, and — most significantly for LOTRO players — an expansion reveal on Friday 31 July. It is, as it has been for the past few weeks, a genre in motion.

Berlin Waits for Yoshida