Stormblood

Introduction

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Stormblood Trailer

Stormblood (considered version 4.0 of the game) is the upcoming second expansion for Final Fantasy XIV, after Heavensward. It is expected to release on June 20, 2017 with pre-orders starting on January 24, 2017.

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Story

• Stormblood will take players to both Ala Mhigo and Doma.
• The main focus is to regain control of Ala Mhigo from the Garlean Empire.
• The Garlean Empire has been controlling Ala Mhigo for 20 years.
• The main antagonist will be Zenos Yae Galvus, XIIth Legion Legatus and de facto ruler of occupied Ala Mhigo.
• The main city in Stormblood is Rhaelgr's Reach, the headquarters of Ala Mhigan resistance.
• The Warrior of Light's main job in Stormblood is Monk, similar to how it was Dragoon in Heavensward.
• A new residential area called Shirogane, located in Doma.
• Ala Mhigo is entered via crossing Baelsar's Wall in The Black Shroud, as shown in Patch 3.5.
• Ala Mhigo will not be just deserts and wasteland, forests will also be a part of it.

Features

• Level cap is increased from 60 to 70.
• New Job: Red Mage (Ranged DPS) and Samurai (Melee DPS).
• End of PlayStation 3 support.
• More actions for each job to go with new level cap.
• Overhaul of the battle system. Exact details unknown as of yet, but Accuracy is being removed as an idea of what to expect from this overhaul.
• Additional Skill System to be overhauled, with skills shared by roles instead of jobs, and can choose from shared role ability options.
• Reassessment of unused/ineffective actions.
• Adding new UI elements for Jobs.
  • Example used is Dragoon's Blood of the Dragoon buff, where in Stormblood an icon/gauge showing how much time is left will be better visible on screen.
• New Areas to be introduced, comparable in size to Heavensward areas.
• Like Heavensward, Stormblood will be a full standalone game's worth of content.
• Swimming and Diving are added.
• New Beastmen Tribes such as The Ananta who worships Lakshmi, the Lady of Bliss.
• New Primals to be introduced, including known names and all-new original-to-FF14 ones.
• New Dungeons to be introduced with new battle and dungeon concepts to be introduced.
• New High-end raid The Bend of Time where players battle Omega. It has different story depending on difficulty, with normal on odd patches, savage on even.
• New 24-player raid is called Return to Ivalice. Ivalice is the setting of the sub-series Ivalice Alliance, which includes Final Fantasy XII and the Final Fantasy Tactics games.
• Expanded form of Exploration to be introduced: The Forbidden Land of Eureka, something different from Diadem and will expand its own entire area, unique to Stormblood. Examples of what might be in here: Notorious Monsters that could only appear once every 72 hours, and the Stormblood "Relic Weapon" quests taking place here as well.
• New Gear and Recipes, including winners of the Fan Gear Design Contest.
• Item Inventory Expansion, looking to increase "as much as humanly possible."
• All areas of Stormblood will be accessible by flying mounts, but there was an indication that it will again by quest-based like in Heavensward.
• Changes to Windows version Minimum Specs requirements; Current minimum specs are geared towards components you can't even buy anymore. "If possible, please upgrade to a 64-bit OS" but they will still support 32-bit. They just suggest 64-bit will be best gaming experience.
• They've been examining numbers and have seen a large migration of PS3 to PS4 so they have decided it is the right time to end PS3 support. To show appreciation to their PS3 fans that helped them get to where they are now, there will be a special FREE upgrade campaign for players who own the game on PS3, so they can get the game for free on PS4.
• 2017's Frankfurt Fan Festival introduced two new major towns. A new player hub: the port city of Kugane and the town of Doma

Pre-order Bonuses

• Wind-up Red Mage Minion
• Ala Mhigan Earrings - Increases EXP earned by 30% when level 50 and below.
• Access Stormblood from Friday, June 16, a few days before official release
• PlayStation®Store Themes featuring Stormblood characters

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• Ala mhigan earrings2.png
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Theme Song

The theme song for Stormblood is called Revolutions and it is composed by Nobuo Uematsu and features vocals by Susan Calloway, similarly to Heavensward's theme song.

Concept Art

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