Early on Friday morning, Square Enix — developer and publisher of the Final Fantasy series — gave fans of its popular long-running MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV a closer look at its upcoming Patch 7.3 update for Dawntrail scheduled to release in early August 2025. A lot was discussed and shown during the nearly four-hour long Letter From the Producer, but one bit of news in particular has the community in quite a tizzy.
That news is the announcement that FFXIV Patch 7.3: The Promise of Tomorrow will bring something people have been begging for since the release of Shadowbringers in 2019: the ability for Hrothgar and Viera characters to wear more than a small handful of hats and helmets. You see, while these races can equip headgear, nearly every piece of it in the game won't actually display on them; this, no doubt, is a result of the former's unique leonine features and the latter's rabbit-like ears.
Come August, though, that's changing with "expanded headgear support" for Hrothgar and Viera that's finally coming six years after Shadowbringers added them. Notably, Viera will have an additional option to hide their ears or let them clip through hats and helmets — something modders realized looks fine years ago. And as you might expect from a community that's been praying for this feature for three expansions now, the hype is real:
VIERA AND HROTHGAR ARE FINALLY GETTING HATS!!!!!! from r/ffxiv
Indeed, celebration of the news has quickly risen to the top of the r/ffxiv subreddit, with countless fans rejoicing at the shocking notion that yes, it's finally happening. "OH MY GOD! OUR time has come! YAYYYYYYY," writes one ecstatic Warrior of Light. "RAAAAAA! Finally! I was this close to fant'ing," said another, referencing the Fantasia items that let you remake your character you can buy for $10 or occasionally get in-game free.
Some, though, aren't letting themselves get too excited just yet, with many pointing out the vagueness of wording like "expanded headgear support" and "various headgear will now display on Hrothgar and Viera characters."
"Expanded headgear. Doesn't mean every single hat in the game. Sure it's a good thing but it's pretty vague on the amount of hats. Keep your expectations realistic," warns one of the top comments on the aforementioned post. "We're making 3 hats available for viera and hrothgar, please look forward to it," another user joked.
I can certainly understand tempering expectations, though it's worth noting that the developers mentioned making headgear compatible with Hrothgar and Viera will be an ongoing process that will eventually encompass helmets as well. So even if many hats and helmets aren't wearable by these races at Patch 7.3 launch, there's a very good chance they will be at a later date.
After six years of radio silence on this topic, I'm just shocked that Square Enix is implementing any headgear support for Hrothgar and Viera at all. Frankly, it's kind of ridiculous that it's taken this long for it to come to the MMO, but as this fan writes, "better late than never."
As for the rest of what's coming in Patch 7.3, players can look forward to the next leg of the Main Scenario Quest (MSQ), Yok Huy allied society quests, several new dungeons, the FFXI crossover alliance raid San d'Oria: The Second Walk, and a new Cosmic Exploration planet called Phaenna.
Final Fantasy XIV is one of the biggest and best MMOs you can play today, and stands tall as one of the best PC games and best Xbox games in general. Notably, you can play the base A Realm Reborn experience and the first two expansions Heavensward and Stormblood for free (with limited features), and it's available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, PS5, and PS4.
