Stormblood, the latest expansion for Final Fantasy XIV, was announced at the FFXIV fanfest just this past weekend. As expected, patch 4.0 is going to bring in a lot of new additions, changes, and the expansion will also comes with tons of main story quests to attempt, as well as some new classes to check out. A new teaser trailer was also released during the announcement keynote of the expansion, and it features our Warrior of Light (who’s switched classes once again because he got bored of the previous one) facing off against a woman in red. You can check out the trailer down below.
Here’s everything we know about Stormblood so far.
What is Stormblood?
First off, the story of the Stormblood expansion will place us primarily in Ala Mhigo, where our adventurers will ally with a resistance group to take Ala Mhigo back from the Garlean Empire. Of course, the story will take place in an entirely new area of the region, complete with a brand new social hub for us to explore, quests to take on, and NPCs to get to know.
Legatus Zenos yae Galvus of the XIIth Legion was also revealed as the current ruler of Ala Mhigo, and he’ll be one of the main adversaries that we face off against in the main story. Another interesting thing to note is that while last year’s Heavensward expansion focused on the Dragoon class, Stormblood will be focusing on the Monk class this time round.
That’s all we know about the main story of the expansion so far. However, director Naoki Yoshida has also announced a few important changes and additions that will be coming to Eorzea soon.
All the New Stuff
New jobs: Do note that Yoshida hasn’t actually confirmed the new jobs that will be coming with this expansion. However, there are a few hints that lead us to believe that we’ll be getting a Red Mage, Samurai, and Dancer in Stormblood. Just as Yoshida’s Batman t-shirt from the previous announcement was a hint to the Dark Knight class in Heavensward, his new Scarlet Witch t-shirt suggests to many that the Red Mage will be coming up in Stormblood. The trailer also showed off a dancing woman, which could be a hint to the Dancer class. As for the Samurai class, well, there’s not much to go on here, but Zenos is dressed very much like a Samurai, and this is also one of the most fan-requested classes in Final Fantasy XIV. So I wouldn’t rule it out just yet.
More inventory space: This is a pretty big one. Even if you’re just starting out as an adventurer in Eorzea, it won’t be long before your inventory slots get quickly filled up with all your crafting materials and loot gathered from slain monsters. The Stormblood expansion will remedy that problem, and increase your inventory space.
End of PS3 support: Unfortunately, PS3 players will not get to enjoy the new content, as Final Fantasy XIV marches onwards and moves away from the last-gen console. However, PS3 users will get to upgrade to the PS4 version for free via an upgrade campaign.
Along with that, Yoshida also confirmed that there will, of course, be new alliance raids, dungeons, and gear for players to explore and experiment with. A new residential area was also teased during the keynote, but Yoshida declined to comment any further on that. However, there will be more FFXIV-related events to look forward to, and more information about the expansion will be released then.
Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood is currently slated for a summer 2017 release.
