Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward has been announced!

But what does that mean? What type of features and content can we look forward to in FFXIV 3.0? Read on for all of the information that we’ve been able to put together so far!

Post updated with information from:

Las Vegas Fan Fest

London Fan Fest

Tokyo Fan Fest

The following information has been compiled from what was presented at the Las Vegas Fan Festival. More information will be added after the Fan Festival event in London on October 25th.

TRAILER

The keynote of the Las Vegas Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival this year premiered the first trailer for Heavensward, otherwise known as Final Fantasy XIV 3.0.

The trailer starts as we see a Warrior traveling through the snow in Coerthas. A long trail of imprints in the snow behind him as we get a closer look at his face. Covered in a brown robe, his Bravura wrapped in cloth, hunt over his shoulder by a large chain. This Warrior has clearly been traveling for a long time, no stranger to the harshness of the realm. The warrior stops as the winds dye down just enough for us to see what lies in front of him- The Gates of Judgment which leads to the Holy See of Ishgard.

As the Warrior walks past the gate, he comes to a scene of destruction on the bridge with flames and bodies strewn about.

Cut to a Dragoon high atop a tower and our Warrior being revealed as the Warrior of Light as he battles a large fire breathing dragon. We get an aerial view of Ishgard before cutting back to the Warrior of Light, parts of his Warrior armor falling to his feet.

Ishgardian soldiers are running from the swam of airborne dragons that are attacking.

We see the Warrior of Light walking again, this time however, it’s not the Warrior armor that he wears. He finishes donning this new armor, the spiked gauntlet wrapping around his arm as it fits into place. We come behind the Warrior of Light as he walks, the skies above him littered with Dravanian forces as we see that his new armor is that of a Dragoon. He stops as he joins a group of several Dragoons, complete with their armor and Gae Bolgs. He draws his lance as he lowers the visor of his helm.

FINAL FANTASY XIV: HEAVENSWARD

A new logo appears designed by Yoshitaka Amano. Spring 2015.

COLLECTOR’S EDITION

Final Fantasy XIV’s first expansion will have quite an extravagant Collector’s Edition, coming in a large box (featuring art by Yoshitaka Amano) that doubles as a display for one of the contents within, a figurine of a mount that is very important to the game’s storyline—a flying dragon. The name of this dragon cannot yet be revealed, but you may be introduced to it soon. Also included in the box will be an art book, as well as a video disc, though the contents have not been revealed.

In addition to these physical items, owners of the Collectors Edition will receive in-game items, as well. These include a flying griffin mount and two items inspired by Final Fantasy IV—a Dark Knight headpiece inspired by Cecil’s baron helm, as well as a Wind-up Kain minion. Yoshida warned that the price of the new Collector’s Edition will be a bit high, but that a digital-only version will of course be available.

MUSIC

Masayoshi Soken said that he would be working with Nobuo Uematsu on 3.0 during his music panel in Las Vegas and at the Tokyo Fan Fest it was revealed that Uematsu-san will be working on the main theme for Heavensward!

The trailer features a brand new track complete with lyrics. The first half of the (full) track features english lyrics while the later half contains lyrics in a Dravanian (dragon) language:

Beneath the gazing stars

veils deep and forests dark

betrayed by loyal hands her wrath stirred

bound fast unto our fate

one path, one burden great

yet ever do our aching souls point heavensward

and ever rings out our song



The next part is sung in dragonspeak:

Dys an sohm in

Rhos an kyn

Sah djahs afah an

Mah morn narr

Which translates into:

our slumber disturbed

my brothers wake

vengence will be ours

the saviors must perish

CONTENT AND FEATURES

After four long years, adventurers will finally be able to go to Ishgard.

Key plot point 1: The Dragonsong War, the 1000 year war between Ishgard and Dravania. We’ll see how you, the Warriors of Light are involved in the war and if you can help it come to an end.

Key plot point 2: The Wyrmking vs Thordan and his Knights Twelve, the King and his Dragoons who were teased to be the Knights of the Round.

Level cap increasing from 50 to 60 for all classes including Disciples of Hand and Land.

New gear and recipes to go with the level cap increase.

New dungeons. Not just three or four. Many new dungeons.

Massive new areas.

New Race: Au Ra

The Au Ra hail from the continent of Othard. This race has some reptilian qualities, but are still quite similar to the Hyur and Elezen. A pair of large, curved horns grow from the sides of their heads, and visible patches of scaled skin can be seen on certain parts of their bodies, including their long tails.

Yoshida stated that each race has its own dominion of style; Lalafell are cute, Roegadyn are burly, Miqo’te are sexy, Elezen are cool and dignified, and the Hyur are generic. The Au Ra will have a wide range of style from “cool” to “tough,” but overall the males sport muscular builds while the females are elegant and mysterious. There will be a variety of different horn styles to choose from, but specific details on clan differences and style options will be revealed in time. To show the new race in action, the job previews all sported Au Ra representatives.

It has also been confirmed that Yugiri is an Au Ra and may reveal her face in Patch 2.5.

Flying Mounts

There are currently six flying mounts in development. One of which, a dragon, will play an important part in the story (think the Magitek from 2.0) and is featured in the Heavensward Collector’s Edition as a high quality figure. You will be able to take off and land anywhere in 3.0 areas.

The first flying mount that players will encounter is the Black Chocobo. A single-rider airship, a series first for Final Fantasy is also coming.

Jobs

(additionally, it was observed that we were told new jobs but no mention of new classes, we asked Yoshida about this)

Dark Knight: Tank

A Job that will yield a two-handed greatsword and the power of darkness that focuses on parrying and evasion for tanking. This Job requires no base class. Also of note was that just because the Dark Knight uses the “power of darkness” that doesn’t make him evil.

A new class or job was teased by Yoshida wearing a James Bond shirt and making gun motions with his hand. It was implied that the class or job will use a single gun.

Astrologian: Healer

The Astrologian harnesses the power of the stars to cast potent healing magicks while drawing energies for supporting magicks from constellation-based divining cards. These cards swirl around the star globe, the Astrologian’s main arm, and can be used in different combinations for different effects. Like the other jobs in Heavensward, no base class will be involved.

Machinist: DPS (ranged)

The Machinist is a physical, ranged DPS (the second in the game after Bard) that deals damage with a large firearm that is slung across the back when in a passive stance. But playing machinist will not be like playing any job before it, as the job’s efficiency will be partly determined by the successful deployment of mechanical turrets onto the battlefield to take down your enemies from multiple angles. This is a whole new dimension for this type of role, and the team hopes you find it refreshing.

Beast Tribes and Primals

(While talking with Koji Fox, he explained that while Ramuh was different from the Primals before him, Shiva will be even more different. The Primals in Heavensward will contrinue to stray from what we previously defined a Primal to be. It’s not as simple as a Primal for each element)

Vanu Vanu and Bismarck

Yoshida joked about maybe fighting Bismarck from an airship and then maybe the rails of that airship are broken and you can fall off.

The Gnath and Ravana

Ravana is an all new Primal created for Final Fantasy XIV.

The Goblins

While the Goblins are already featured in Final Fantasy XIV, they will play a slightly larger role in Heavensward in that they will reveal their primal Alexander, which leads us too….

New high-end raids

Alexander

Alexander is an enormous, long-abandoned mechanical fortress into which the Goblins have summoned a primal essence. Instead of fighting him directly, Alexander must be defeated from within. Similar to the Coils of Bahamut, Alexander will be a challenging, high-end raid at the endgame level. Unlike the Coil, however, it will come in two modes—”Normal,” which is rather like the echo-buffed Coils, and “Hard,” which is much more challenging. The development team hopes that this will make the content accessible to a wide variety of play-styles, and wants to assure players that completion of the Final Coil is not required to begin this new content. Specifics on loot distribution, lockouts, and differences between the modes have yet to be revealed.

Airships

Airships galore. New content where Free Companies will build their own airships. Plans to expand on this throughout the life of 3.0, 3.1 etc.

Locations

The Holy See of Ishgard

The Holy See of Ishgard is a holy city ruled by an archbiship and four noble houses. They god they believe in is Halone the fury.

The city is trapped in this war with the dragons of Dravnaia for the last 1000 years. You’ll see its very different from the other three city-states in that they’ve been constantly attacked during the war and they’re in a continuous state of building and repair.

Outsiders have previously been shunned, and that feeling will remain after finally being able to access the city. The residents will be cold and distant towards adventurers.

Foundation

The city is split into two levels with the poor/common folk living on the lower levels with the rich and privleged nobles on the upper levels.

The artstyle we’re going to be using will be different, aiming for a darker more mature look that focuses on light, darkness and the shadows.

There’s a lot of history in the architecture in Ishgard that’s represented through its arcitecture.

The Dravanian Forelands

There are trecherous mountains and the lands below and above those mountains that extend to the unexplored reaches of Eorzea.

Dravania and other beast tribe-ruled domains. Multiple beast tribes are in control of areas beyond Ishgard.

Forests beyond Ishgard have already been named- Chocobo Forest

There will be new plant life in these new areas.

Other New Areas

Areas connected to Coerthas Highlands will be accessible. You can already see where the areas will be on the existing Eorzea map. Not on the map are multiple floating landmasses that have yet to be explored. One of these may share a name from Final Fantasy VI: Floating Continent.