Hello, everyone!

This is Vystenya, Chesskyth, and Alevercey from the EU Community team, back with a special recap for gamescom 2024.

It's been five years since we've enjoyed the bustling crowds at the 'heart of gaming' in Cologne, Germany, and we're excited to tell you all about the amazing week we spent with our Warriors of Light!

The central stage of our booth was framed by our New Player Area to the left and our Battle Challenge to the right, equipped with hardware from our sponsors Mifcom, NZXT, AGON by AOC, Razer, and Secretlab.

Fenrir's frosty fangs loomed over our brave adventurers making their way through the dungeon Snowcloak, a cool retreat from the heat and a way for new players to try out the game's battle system with friends.

For this year's Battle Challenge, players faced Valigarmanda, the fabled Skyruin of Tural! Warriors of Light who braved the legendary beast in combat were able claim their prize: An exclusive "I BEAT" T-shirt!

For more excitement, players joined Yoshi-P on stage to face Valigarmanda in front of an audience or took on a variety of different extreme trials as a group!

) Alevercey: After many attempts by other teams, this was the first group to beat Valigarmanda (Extreme) live on stage! The glamour coordination clearly paid off.

The stage program also encompassed an exclusive panel and Q&A with Yoshi-P, as well as a PvP challenge, in which players tried to overcome a team of PvP veterans and the Producer & Director himself!

) Vystenya: Kats aka Tyra, Resilla, Dacien, Yoshi-P and Brian made one hell of a team!

Our wonderful team of casters, consisting of Tarek, Luca, Lythi, Charles and Nashi also invited Warriors of Light online and on location for different dungeon runs, alliance raids and more.

Meanwhile, the Community Team hosted a daily game of Cheering Choice, where audience members and livestream viewers were able to vote on some of the toughest questions in FFXIV history!

) Chesskyth: Full disclosure, Titan did give us a lift home and would not share the aux cord.

Whew! Not too shabby, huh?

Of course, we wouldn't be able to put on events like this if it wasn't for the amazing support of our Warriors of Light, and especially our wonderful team of ambassadors! Despite the summer heat, these brave souls gave it their all and we're deeply grateful for all their hard work.

) Vystenya: Seeing everyone together like this makes me already miss the buzz and excitement of gamescom!

Fan Celebration

On Thursday evening, in the middle of Gamescom week, our players gathered at the Roonburg in Cologne for the biggest FFXIV Fan Celebration in Germany this year!

After Yoshi-P kicked the evening off with an opening speech, those who were lucky enough to snatch one of the 500 coveted tickets partied the night away!

) Alevercey: Being among everyone to party and have so much fun was truly heartwarming!

Between /dance and /toast, our Warriors of Lights made new friends in Eorzea and beyond by filling out and swapping details using their handy adventure passes.

As with our previous Fan Gatherings this year, players left funny, adorable and cheeky messages on our message board.

) Chesskyth: I really enjoyed looking at the drawings as well - clearly we have a lot of Pictomancer mains this expansion!

We can't wait to see you all again, and after all this, what's left to say but:

DANKESCHÖN, COLOGNE!