FFXIV 7.35 lands Oct 7 with Monster Hunter Wilds Arkveld fight and Pilgrim’s Traverse

FFXIV 7.35 is locked for Oct 7 – and it’s more than a crossover patch

Square Enix used Tokyo Game Show to confirm Final Fantasy XIV patch 7.35 drops Tuesday, October 7. The headline is the Monster Hunter Wilds collaboration against Guardian Arkveld, but the real story is how this patch acts as a testbed before the next expansion. Director Naoki Yoshida called out Pilgrim’s Traverse – a new deep dungeon with variable difficulty – as the place to see where FFXIV’s design is headed. That caught my attention because every time XIV experiments (Criterion dungeons, Blue Mage, even Eureka Orthos), we see those ideas reshape future endgame.

Key Takeaways

• Release date: Tuesday, October 7. It’s the final patch before the narrative pivots toward the next expansion.
• Monster Hunter Wilds trial vs. Arkveld: 8-player, item level 725 for normal, 740 for Extreme. Expect fewer group stacks, more personal responsibility.
• Pilgrim’s Traverse deep dungeon introduces variable difficulty — likely a sneak peek at future encounter design knobs.
• Rewards lean hard into glam: faithful MH armor, no gender locks, base/augmented weapons, silly-but-brilliant Palico cart mount.

Breaking down what’s actually in 7.35

Here’s the core package. The Monster Hunter Wilds collab gives us The Windward Wilds trial versus Guardian Arkveld in both normal and Extreme, designed for eight players (you can queue with custom party sizes). You’ll need to be level 100 and done with the 7.0 Dawntrail MSQ. Normal requires average item level 725 — the same bar as the 7.3 story trial — while Extreme expects 740. Translation: if you’ve been coasting on casual catch-up, you’ll want to polish your gear before launch.

On top of that, we get Pilgrim’s Traverse, a brand-new deep dungeon with variable difficulty options; more Hildibrand hijinks (because of course); and progress for the Yok Huy allied society. It’s that “variable difficulty” phrasing that matters. Yoshida has been open about experimenting here, and if this lands, expect future dungeons and maybe raids to adopt more flexible tuning without splitting the player base across too many modes.

Monster Hunter, but make it FFXIV

Capcom’s Ryozo Tsujimoto joined Yoshi-P to talk shop, and the team basically admitted there’s always friction when you fuse MH’s real-time hunting flow into XIV’s raid language. The Rathalos fight back in Stormblood leaned into that by limiting resurrections and healing, then letting us carve a tail for loot. Arkveld seems to follow the “your survival is your job” angle. Yoshida hinted at fewer group mechanics and more individual checks — a smart way to channel Monster Hunter’s ethos in an MMO party.

The live demo showed those rolling wave AoEs we’ve seen in Dawntrail’s alliance raids, overlapping patterns that force you to read the arena while tracking Arkveld’s chain-whip tells. The dev team wiped once, cleared on the second pull, and it looked manageable at normal if you’re comfortable with current 8-man trials. Extreme will be the real test; Rathalos Extreme had identity and bite, so that’s the bar.

Rewards and the gear reality check

Let’s talk loot. Armor this time stays “pretty faithful” to Monster Hunter Wilds designs and — bless — no gender locks. Weapons drop in base and augmented versions, so glam hunters can score looks from normal without living in Extreme. Assignments are spicy: Black Mage gets a Hammer (yes, really), Warrior rocks what looks like a transformed Charge Blade, Dark Knight claims the Greatsword, Samurai wields a Longsword, Ninja and Dancer get Dual Blades variants, while Viper gets an original piece. Red Mage adapting the Arkveld lance is a glow-up I didn’t know I needed. I’m also weirdly charmed by the Sage nouliths looking like four tiny Hunting Horns.

The mount lineup might cause debate. No Arkveld mount, which stings, but the medical cart — the one that ferries you off when you faint in MH — is a brilliant bit of crossover comedy. Two Palicos lug your limp Warrior of Light across Eorzea. Add in the Seikret mount we’ve already seen, baby Seikret and Vigorwasp minions, Felyne housekeepers, furnishings, framer’s kits, fashion accessories, and five orchestrion rolls, and it’s a solid glam buffet.

The catch is accessibility: i725 for normal means this isn’t a casual sightseeing tour for lapsed players. That’s fine for a mid-to-late patch, but if you’re returning for the collab, plan a weekend of tomestone shopping first.

Pilgrim’s Traverse and the future of difficulty

Deep dungeons are where XIV gets weird in the best way. Palace of the Dead and Heaven-on-High gave us rogue-lite progression; Eureka Orthos pushed variety and boss design. “Variable difficulty” suggests dials the team can turn: enemy density, debuff modifiers, resurrection rules, timer pressure — knobs that could later inform Criterion-style content or even normal raids without splitting queues. If you care about where endgame is headed, don’t skip this one.

Store glams and the pre-expansion cadence

One more note: three Final Fantasy Tactics outfits (Ramza, Ovelia, Gaffgarion) hit the online store on Tuesday, September 30 to coincide with The Ivalice Chronicles release celebration. Love the designs, side-eye the timing. XIV has balanced in-game earnable glams with premium shop drops for years, but dropping paid outfits a week before the big collab always fuels the “nickel-and-diming” discourse. At least the Arkveld gear looks obtainable in normal — a good counterweight.

TL;DR

FFXIV patch 7.35 lands October 7 with an 8-player Monster Hunter Wilds Arkveld trial (i725/i740), the Pilgrim’s Traverse deep dungeon with variable difficulty, and a mountain of glam rewards. It’s not just a crossover — it’s a design testbed before the next expansion, and that’s the part to watch.