Final Fantasy 14's 8.0 update will shape the future of the MMO, but I hope Square Enix remembers the one quest that got me excited for Dawntrail

Square Enix has been honing a fine formula to Final Fantasy 14 content since bringing the MMO back from the brink with A Real Reborn's launch 16 years ago. While the approach to content has undoubtedly served its purpose, looking to the game's next era, I hope the familiar comforts of that routine are more greatly deviated from to keep things fresh.

If you've played Final Fantasy 14 for any great length of time, the rhythm of the roadmap is a familiar beat. Each grand expansion has a series of smaller patches between them to make your subscription cost feel worth the fee. The story following an expansion typically deals with the narrative aftermath before we're steered toward the tale of the next expansion, raid series are expanded upon with further encounters, and there's plenty more content introduced to appeal to the various corners of the MMO's vast fandom.

As we near the expected reveal of Final Fantasy 14's 8.0 expansion at the next Fan Fest this week, some big swings are needed. Dawntrail's roadmap has something for most, though midcore players were probably left waiting for their turn longer than they would have liked; The question of job design will need to be answered eventually; and, while the narrative is on the mend, optimism is subtle after Dawntrail's divisive story. There's more, but I believe in the value of a tight word count.

Final Fantasy 14's producer and director Noaki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida has been happy to hint that the MMO will undergo the bigger changes needed, though he doesn't want to call it a 'rebirth' because we've had one already and it's not quite on that scale. The sort of change I hope to see, though, is already in a quest that set the stage for Dawntrail itself.

I'm game if you are

The quest, called The Game is Afoot, is simple in its aim. We're getting to know the protagonist of Dawntrail, Wuk Lamat, who is about to bring us into their succession battle to, well, battle on their behalf so that they can succeed their father and take the throne. Part of that involves going on a hunt to answer the call of some locals who have reported that a predator has stirred up some normally docile animals.

Having played through years' worth of content, I wouldn't have been surprised if what followed involved jumping on a mount, traveling to a certain spot on the map, and bopping some newly spawned mobs between reading some on-screen text. That would have been fine, if perhaps not entirely memorable. The function of the quest would have been fulfilled, and it's not like I haven't done a lot of that.

What happened instead, though, left me pleasantly surprised – so much so, I'm writing about it nearly three years later. The Game is Afoot throws you into a solo instance, a space away from other players that allows for voice acting, cutscenes, more interactive moments, and more.

We've seen 'em plenty through the MMO's lifetime, though they typically are reserved for big moments in an expansion's story. Here, what we got felt more like a chill run through a dungeon using the Duty Support – if you're unaware, the feature allows you to swap real players for story-relevant NPCs, and it's a big immersion win. As a result, I swiftly warmed to Wuk Lamat and felt intrigued to find out how Dawntrail might subvert the ways I'm used to playing the MMO.

And then it didn't. 'Speak to Wuk Lamat' likely still rings through the forums because, well, a lot of Dawntrail is running around and speaking to Wuk Lamat. That's not to say that Final Fantasy 14 hasn't involved sections that heavily call on you to speak to people out on the map – it's an MMO, after all – but we've done it a lot, and the story writing and pacing during Dawntrail left a lot to be desired for many and made it harder to sit through.

I don't say this to suggest that the expansion's many ills would have simply been solved with more dungeons, boss fights, and other instanced encounters. What we got in that regard was grand, though arguably could have been better placed to break up some of the story grind before it really picked up in its second half.

I would, however, be delighted if Final Fantasy 14's 8.0 expansion surprised me in changing up how I expect to engage with its world. As part of the Rite of Succession in Dawntrail, for example, Wuk Lamat is challenged to endear themselves to a tribe by capturing an alpaca. It's a moment you build to through running around and talking to various people, though it eventually happens off-screen as you watch a cutscene that delves into Erenville's backstory while you wait. It's a lovely scene, though not the gameplay challenge of trying to capture the small beast you might have prepared yourself for mentally.

Another scene later in the game features a train sequence in which you fight off foes trying to stop you in your tracks. It's the sort of fun set-piece you've likely played through in other games, though here it's another cutscene to watch.

Both of these moments achieve what they set out to do, though I wonder if an opportunity was missed to draw us in even further – and what could have been done elsewhere to turn people off autopilot? Whether you're a chill Final Fantasy 14 enjoyer or a hardcore raider tearing through content to get to your precious endgame activities, Dawntrail's story probably could have done more to grab and hold your attention by shaking things up.

Final Fantasy 14 has some big things to fix and we likely won't know how successful Square Enix will be in accomplishing that until we're experiencing the 8.0 roadmap for ourselves as it unfolds.

It all, however, starts with the expansion itself. I'm always excited to play more Final Fantasy 14 and it isn't any different this time around either, I just hope playing through the story surprises me by challenging the muscle memory I've built through completing 16 years of content.

Final Fantasy 14 "can't afford another failed expansion," fans say, as unofficial census reports significant player drop ahead of the MMO's big 8.0 reveal.