In Final Fantasy XIV, the new expansion “Stormblood” will bring a new job with the Red Mage. The release date is also known.
At Christmas, most MMORPG studios are quiet and contemplative: the offices are closed, and there is hardly any news. Not so with Square Enix and Final Fantasy XIV. In Tokyo, the big fan convention, the Fan Festival, takes place. As expected, the expansion “Stormblood” was announced.
Release date for Stormblood announced
Stormblood will be released worldwide on June 20, 2017. This is the release date for the new expansion. From Square Enix’s perspective, the date is “pretty sure.” The work on the expansion has been going smoothly so far, so delays are not expected.
Stormblood will be available for PS4 and PC. The PS3 will no longer be supported.
First information about the new class Red Mage – with screenshots
The new class is the “Red Mage”, a mix of ranged and melee fighter. The Red Mage has appeared in other titles of the franchise and is considered one of the most popular classic jobs. Fans have been requesting it for a long time – even mastermind Naoki Yoshida is a fan of the class.
He will fight in Final Fantasy XIV with a rapier and a magical crystal. Both weapons can be combined into a kind of staff. It should be possible to chain spells together and then unleash them in melee. The Red Mage will start at level 50 – you won’t need to create a new class to play him.
He will have access to “red magic”, which is also intended to be a mix, this time of black and white magic.
FF XIV: Other classes are expected to come with Stormblood, maybe the Samurai?
The Red Mage will not be the only new class with Stormblood. But he is the only one that has been introduced so far.
Some observers believe that since the head of FF14, Naoki Yoshida, wore a “Spider-Man” T-shirt when it came to the new jobs, one could already guess. They believe that the “Samurai” will be another new class. However, that is somewhat far-fetched: the director of the Spider-Man films with Tobey Maguire (2002-2007) was “Sam Raimi.” His name is probably pronounced in Japanese in a way that sounds like “Samurai” – “Samuraimi.”
Yoshida likes to give such hints about new classes through T-shirts. He teased the Red Mage with a “Scarlet Witch,” another heroine from the Marvel Universe.
With Stormblood, it’s going underwater
While the last expansion “Heavensward” takes players to the skies, “Stormblood” will take them underwater. When players enter the water in Final Fantasy XIV with Stormblood, they will begin to swim – in a breaststroke style. If they sprint, their avatar will switch to freestyle in the water. However, the water must be deep enough for that. Underwater combat is not planned. There should also be the opportunity to dive, and gathering resources from underwater should be possible as well.
The new high-end raid is expected to be called “The Bend of Time – Omega” and will bring the Omega weapons to Final Fantasy XIV. The upcoming patch 3.5 should prepare the raid and the story of Stormblood.
In addition, the team also announced when patch 3.5 with part one should start. The first part will be released on January 17. The second part should arrive in March.
Final Fantasy XIV has developed into one of the largest subscription-based MMORPGs on the market since the reboot 'A Realm Reborn' over 8 years ago. It offers p...
