So much that the next patch cycle, titled "Before the Fall," is being broken up into three distinct sections. Providing a precursor to the upcoming "Heavensward" expansion, the first part of Before the Fall will give the player roughly two-thirds of the final scenario's quests, along with three new dungeons to explore, and the conclusion of the Crystal Tower and World of Darkness questlines.

Before deluging you with an immense content drop of questlines and story events however, the team working on A Realm Reborn are going to splice the two halves of 2.5 with the addition of the Gold Saucer, a sort of casino-esque area with chocobo racing, the return of the "Triple Triad" card game from Final Fantasy VIII, and a number of other opportunities of enjoyment.

Lastly, the second half of story content available in Before the Fall will introduce the player to the realm of Ishgard and why exactly, after all these years, travel is being opened up to the region. This update in particular marks the end of the 2.x story content, and closes out the story on the rebirth of Eorzea. The first part of the patch is set for sometime before the end of this month, with 2.51, containing the Gold Saucer presumably coming sometime in February, and the final installment of Before the Fall releasing sometime in late March, before the release of Heavensward.