Samurai is The Next (and Final) New Job
FFXIV: Stormblood Fan Fest News
Samurai being revealed this weekend was huge news, and not necessarily for the reasons you might expect. While many had predicted that Samurai would be the next job, fewer thought it would be another DPS job (in addition to already announced Red Mage) and even fewer would couple that with the additional news that Samurai would be the last job to be added alongside the Stormblood expansion.
The assumption for some was that Samurai would be a tank job instead, and there would be another healer added later on, giving Stormblood one new job for each archetype, just like Heavensward did. However, the development team opted to focus on further balancing the current healers and tanks, rather than tack on new ones.
Whether or not that ends up the right move, or a popular one, remains to be seen but one thing is for certain: DPS Queue times at launch are going to be hell. Pour one out for our DPS friends and the horrors they will undoubtedly endure this summer.
The Expansion Isn’t Just About Ala’Mihgo… We’re Going to Doma Too!
FFXIV: Stormblood Fan Fest News
This was honestly surprising. While Doma is definitely on everyone’s radars thanks to Yugiri’s role in the main story, many (including myself) thought it to be a location that players would visit down the line, perhaps in a future expansion. It certainly has the lore to make it interesting on its own… but that’s not the case! Doma will be fully fleshed out in Stormblood.
Ala’Mihgo isn’t the only place on the liberation list this summer, as Doma will also be a battleground. Honestly, the Domans have done a ton to earn the adventurer’s respect and help, perhaps even more than the Ala’Mighans. If you’re up on your FFXIV lore, you would know that the Ala’Mighans were kind of jerks anyway before the Garleans just straight up conquered them. So while I’m sure most will be happy to rescue both Doma and Ala’Migho, Doma might get priority if push comes to shove…
In addition to the Doma reveal, we also saw a bunch of screenshots of some of the new places we’ll go in Stormblood, including a new dungeon that has that Final Fantasy XI Arrapago Reef vibe down. There’s also The Azim Steppes, which looks eerily similar to Final Fantasy XIII’s Gran Pulse plains area.
Silconera has a sweet screenshot gallery for you to peruse if you want to check all of that out.
A New Housing Area: Shirogane
FFXIV: Stormblood Fan Fest News
With the reveal of Doma, this one seemed like a given. East Asia themed architecture and housing are among the most revered in the world, so with Doma obviously taking a queue from that, it’s natural that FFXIV would add a housing distract for everyone wanting to go all-in on living out that Samurai lifestyle.
Now, that’s the good news. The bad news is that the FFXIV development team does has a penchant for dragging their feet a bit when it comes to expansion of housing and adding new residential areas. The new district will be accessible at launch, but houses won’t be immediately able for purchase. So, save up some Gil, and prepare yourself for the bloodbath that will be the process for being one of the first people/FCs to move to Shirogane.
Still though, at the end of the day, fans are getting an awesome-looking new housing district in Stormblood. It’s just another thing for all of us to dream about…
New Beast Tribe and Their Primal
FFXIV: Stormblood Fan Fest News
While it’s no secret that Stormblood would be adding new beast tribes and primals to go with it, at the fan fest this weekend we got our first look at the Kojin and their god Susano. The Koijin are a group of turtle-like traders that live in or near water and have settlements under the sea. They seem to have a Gnath like vibe, at least when it comes to the whole trading aspect of them.
We don’t know too much about Susano though. It’s the second primal to not be inspired by any past Final Fantasy enemies after Ravana (another thing that makes them similar to the Gnath). It also looks like a cross between Bahamut and Thordan, which is about as bad ass a combo that anyone could dream of. We’ll likely find out more about the Koijin, and their boss-looking god when it gets closer to Stormblood’s June 20 release.
Battle System Overhaul Information Is Coming Later
FFXIV: Stormblood Fan Fest News
This is more non-news than actual news, but it’s still significant and note-worthy nonetheless. It was confirmed over the weekend that the FFXIV team was not prepared to share yet what they have in store for the major combat/ability overhaul that is coming with the launch of Stormblood. A Redditor over at the FFXIV Reddit shared the transcript of a question answered by Yoshida during a fan festival live Q&A.
According to the transcript, Yoshida reaffirmed that the revamp isn’t going to be a complete overhaul, but rather they just want to cut down on the number of actions, which has started to get a bit out of hand with the addition of new abilities that Heavensward brought in. Rather than tack on yet another new set of skills on top of the already increasingly complex rotations used by many jobs, Â Yoshida wants to combine and remove some to streamline the gameplay, especially for the PS4 controller crowd.
However, Yoshida maintained that they probably wouldn’t be ready to show anything until May.
That’s the biggest news from the final Final Fantasy XIV fan fest this year. What about Stormblood has you most excited? Let us know in the comments.
Published: Feb 20, 2017 02:33 pm