Will the next extension be the last one ?

[Syln]

No, 10 more years are confirmed.
Every 2,5 years a new expansion makes a total of at least 4 more.

Edit.
Also, they are working already on the next expansion.
And they definitely have plans and resources confirmed for the one after.

The last two could be questionable due to possible unexpected circumstances.

Let's update this, it's 9 years and less than a half now :3

Time is flying away really fast !

[DPZ2]

At a guess, if there are 4 more expansion for this game, I expect to end my leveling experience at 130. There is not any real reason to change the numbering. The 'stat squish' has already happened, and there is plenty of room to get to iLevel 1000+ gear in 4 expansions as that is also just a number.

The important piece to consider: Do you become more powerful over the next expansion or not? The actual numbers are meaningless.

[Wanzzo]

Though I still pipe dream about a new FF MMO here and there though just given the nature of some things I wished to see which seem a bit impractical here.. Like core chocobo, moogle, airship (though they have introduced airship into MSQ a few times, just that's about as core as they can get given their content design- mostly I dream about owning my own like a classic FF moment in the single players), more fluid combat and movement (inspiring from GW2, and MOBAs, perhaps in some sense), design assisted by powerful movement (so large and vertical spaces, but also designed as a sort of gameplay of on movement including mounts - GW2 has a great example, though looks like WoW is taking a hint), significantly improved memory tools (account bound, glamour log, instanced house content), improved gameplay assisted roleplay (WoW does generally quite well here, FFXIV has almost none).

Technically most of that could be done here, just some of it feels impractical.

Sometimes, my mind goes in a same way trip as this. Like a "FFXIV - part II" or just FFXVII MMORPG.
They could use the same world and environments of XIV, but with an updated engine to do everything we see today in Eorzea with revised and improved combat, world aspects, storytelling, etc. They should do it in a future moment (maybe, 100 years later XIV or so) with another bunch of characters but considering in it's lore all that the WoL did in the past.

Or, just a brand-new game in a brand-new world like each FF game.

I really think SE won't stop doing MMOs in FFXIV... They will use it's success to make at least another one after or alongisde XIV.

[Izar_Chillen]

or do a level squish (probably reduce ARR to level 30).

From a design point of view this is the most likely possibility

[Bravura]

I think that with Endwalker they have already started preparing for the level cap of 99 - as we currently (and uniquely) get our AF armor at lvl 89. I would be surprised if they'd surpass the lvl 99 marker - has this ever happened in a Final Fantasy game? Probably they will continue with: a) a new system (like in Bozja), b) a compression, c) start over at level 1 in a new world (like in Eureka).

EDIT: another option, d) they will stay at lvl 90 or lvl 99, as is the case in FFXI (lvl 75 previously, lvl 99 now) and focus simply on a (more) diverse amount of content. Yet another option would be, e) the next increment will be only 5 levels, or alternatively 2 for example.

[Lustre]

No, but I cant see this game lasting beyond whatever the next story arc is. I expect the final expansion of the next arc will be the "last" piece of focused content for the game and anything that comes after will be done on a skeleton crew, once in a blue moon. I take some of these predictions based on what happened with FF11. So yeah, two or three expansions before this game starts entering maintenence mode in my opinion. We can see them making adjustments for this now (focus on single player/trust/story content, futureproofing for when player counts drop.) Itll never be offline, but it will probably be in suspended animation like ff11 is.

[Kazhar]

I think that with Endwalker they have already started preparing for the level cap of 99 - as we currently (and uniquely) get our AF armor at lvl 89. I would be surprised if they'd surpass the lvl 99 marker - has this ever happened in a Final Fantasy game?

FFVIII has a lvl cap of 100.

[Mikey_R]

FFVIII has a lvl cap of 100.

You can add FFXV to the list, I think the cap there is 120.

[Jeeqbit]

I expect the final expansion of the next arc will be the "last" piece of focused content for the game and anything that comes after will be done on a skeleton crew, once in a blue moon.

That will happen if the active population is lower than what it was in Heavensward, which doesn't look like will happen any time soon because we are many times that. SE might make another MMO, but I expect only if they can't upgrade this one.

The problem with FF11 is that it wasn't deemed salvageable as early as 2005, so they started making a new one. This one is designed with the future in mind so they can upgrade it. We have already had ARR texture up-scaling with the flight changes, UI up-scaling for the release of PS5, mount speed increases and noticeable increases in resolution and environment detail since Stormblood. It's normal for dungeons to have npcs in the background now. We have a graphics overhaul on the way and we have been told that the bone detail can be increased over time.

These sort of changes didn't seem to happen in FF11 and they didn't seem able to keep up with their competitors because of the way they designed it (for controllers). If you play it now, it suffers from a lot of the same problems as 1.0.

[Canadane]

No, but I cant see this game lasting beyond whatever the next story arc is. I expect the final expansion of the next arc will be the "last" piece of focused content for the game and anything that comes after will be done on a skeleton crew, once in a blue moon. I take some of these predictions based on what happened with FF11. So yeah, two or three expansions before this game starts entering maintenence mode in my opinion. We can see them making adjustments for this now (focus on single player/trust/story content, futureproofing for when player counts drop.) Itll never be offline, but it will probably be in suspended animation like ff11 is.

11 still gets updates.
It isn't as dead as people think.