Fans of the mega popular MMORPG were in for a treat when the Final Fantasy XIV Announcement Showcase streamed live. A new and exciting expansion named Endwalker is coming. Here are my thoughts on the showcase.

The Announcement Showcase started out the best way it can with a teaser trailer for the upcoming expansion, Endwalker. Watch the trailer below:

Luckily for us, this expansion is coming quite soon and is scheduled to be released in the Fall of 2021. Now this is just a teaser, and I’m sure we will be getting a longer trailer later in May.

Before I get into my thoughts on the trailer, can we just take a quick moment to comment on how awesome the trailer song is. It’s edgy and dark, but it also has an emotional layer to it as well. The music really captures the apocalyptic feel that is in this trailer. I absolutely loved the trailer music in this, and I can’t wait until it is available to buy.

Now onto my thoughts. My first take away from the trailer: we are going to the moon. Final Fantasy has always been unique and science fiction elements have been apart of the franchise for awhile. Going to space is not particularly new for Final Fantasy from Final Fantasy IV to Final Fantasy VIII. So I am excited to see where they take this aspect of the story.

One interesting thing I noticed in the trailer, which I may be reading too into, is the really cool way they showed the dichotomy between the Warrior of Light and Zenos. Here is what I mean. When Zenos is sitting on his throne, he has this spectacularly dark view of an airship on fire falling from the sky right in front of him. Instead of focusing on this though, he is looking up at the moon. Then it transitions from Zenos’s lifeless blue-gray eyes to the lifeless gray moon where the Warrior of Light is looking down at Hydaelyn and at Zenos. It is a nice way to represent the stand off between light and dark with the use of those transitions.

But the biggest reveal in this trailer, other than the moon bit, is that there will be a new Healer job. We see this demonstrated through Alphinaud as he uses what looks like flying daggers and then heals Alisaie. Fans have been clamoring for a new job for Healer for quite a bit. And if there is one thing the developers do well is that they listen to fan feedback.

New Jobs

Now this new Healer job is not the only job that will be coming with this new expansion, but it is the first to be revealed. The new job is called Sage. A Melee DPS job is going to be revealed on a later date in May. For now check out this cool video they dropped showing off the play style of the Sage:

The Sage will be a barrier class Healer. Sage will also be using a new weapon that is unique to Final Fantasy XIV, the Nouliths (the flying daggers). Check out this fun graphic they made giving a rundown of the new job:

It looks like they are going to really differentiate two types of Healers: the Pure Healers (White Mage and Astrologian) and the Barrier Healers (Scholars and Sage). This means they will be doing some reworking of the Astrologian class. This is discussed at around 39 minutes into the Announcement Showcase. Check out the full live stream Announcement Showcase below (Trailer starts at 20 mins. in and new jobs discussion starts at 31 mins. in):

Sage will only need two requirements to unlock: 1.) you will need a character class leveled to level 70 and 2.) you will have to have purchased the Endwalker expansion. The Sage class quest starts in Limsa Lominsa.

Story

Now onto what to expect story wise in this new expansion. As the title of the expansion suggests, this will be an ending of a kind. It will be the end of the long running Hydaelyn and Zodiark arc. It will be the end of an era, but not the final end. Patch 6.0 will complete the story of this arc and patch 6.1 will begin a new story.

For many fans this will be an emotional expansion because it will bring to an end a story that fans have been immersed in for so many years. But it is not the end of Final Fantasy XIV. A new story awaits. This is both exciting and scary to think of for many fans because so many people have become thoroughly invested in the story so far.

In my opinion, having a well thought out and complete story is so much better than having a story that is dragged out and repetitive. This may be a really good thing and a really good ending to a fantastic story. And they may have an even better story waiting on the horizon for fans. The developers have not let fans down in the story department yet from A Realm Reborn and onwards.

New Lands and tribes

As with every expansion, there are always new lands and new tribes and races introduced. The first smaller town announced is called Radz-At-Han. Check out the screenshots of it below:

This will be a subtropical new city that resides on the island of Thavnair. This looks exciting and unique with the beautiful colors and architecture. Radz-At-Han will be the smaller city in the new expansion. They will announce the larger city later in the year.

The Garlean Empire Garlemald

Now the Garlean Empire is not a new name to this story. The Garlean Empire has always been a threat throughout the story. We are finally going to the heart of the Garlean Empire, Garlemald. Check out the screenshots of this new land below:

The Garlean Empire is known for their advanced and shiny technology, but judging by the screenshots above, things have not been going well for the Garlean Empire. The expansion will go into how the Garlean Empire got to this state which will be interesting to play through.

New Tribes

The Arkasodora Matanga

The first tribe to be introduced is the Arkasodora Matanga tribe. As seen in the picture above, the Matanga are a group of Elephant like creatures. These creatures can be fierce combatants, but this tribe seems like it will be friendlier. These creatures will be on the island of Thavnair.

There will be more tribes introduced, but they will be introduced at a later date.

Extra Info

One of the bigger news (but expected news) is that the level cap is expanded from 80 to 90. There is also news that there will be a new high end raid for eight players called Pandemonium and will feature Lahabrea.

On top of the new raid, there will also be a new Alliance Raid. It will not be a crossover for this raid. There will also be a new Housing Area in Ishgard which will only go on sale with the release of patch 6.1.

So suffice to say there is a lot of exciting new content on the horizon as this epic saga comes to an end. I am excited to play this new expansion and to see what lies in the future for Final Fantasy XIV.