For Final Fantasy 14 fans, the news of a brand new expansion had been delayed longer than usual due to the ongoing pandemic. Usually, this information is announced at the Final Fantasy 14 Fan Fests, but Square Enix decided to cancel the events this year and host special online events instead. At the most recent event, Square Enix and director Naoki Yoshida finally revealed information about Final Fantasy 14's fourth expansion, Endwalker, and talked about a number of upcoming changes in the expansion.
Endwalker promises to serve as a conclusion for the current Final Fantasy 14 story arc along with a massive amount of changes, new jobs, overhauls, raids, dungeons, quests, and more. Although some information won't be revealed until the digital Fan Fest in May, Final Fantasy 14 players will be excited to see the conclusion of the main story arc when Endwalker releases sometime in Fall 2021.
New Jobs
Every expansion in Final Fantasy 14 comes the excitement of new jobs, and Endwalker is no different. Yoshida revealed that two new jobs were coming with Endwalker: one healing job and another melee DPS job to be revealed in May. The job revealed at the event was called Sage, a high-tech healing class that uses aether-imbued weapons called Nouliths which look like floating swords. Sages will also focus on barrier healing much like the current Scholar job. In order to give the Sages a different feel from other jobs, players will have the ability to temporarily augment their magical abilities as well.
As Yoshida mentioned in the event, the introduction of Sage brings the total number of healer jobs to four, and there will be some changes in order to balance the metagame. Historically, the White Mage job in Final Fantasy 14 focused on pure healing, the Scholar job focused on barriers, and the Astrologian class was a mix between the two. However, the introduction of Sage will also bring along a clear distinction between barrier healing and pure healing, so it appears that Astrologian will also receive some changes.
Sages can be unlocked in a similar fashion to previous Final Fantasy 14 expansions as they will be available in the starting area Limsa Lominsa as long as players have one other job at level 70 and own the Endwalker expansion. There will also be no prerequisite class to the Sage and they will start out at level 70. Although fan speculation seemed mostly off the mark for Sage, players should be excited to finally get another healer job.
Conclusion of the Main Story Arc
While two new jobs are an exciting prospect for Final Fantasy 14 fans, Endwalker will also feature the conclusion of the current main story arc. However, Yoshida also ensured fans that Final Fantasy 14 wouldn't be ending anytime soon, and while Endwalker is the finale for the current Hydaelyn and Zodiark arc that began in A Realm Reborn, a new story will continue afterwards. The trailer for Endwalker contained a number of interesting details as it appears that players will be travelling to the moon as the Warrior of Light. Yoshida also promises that Endwalker will address the questions of the Scions fate, the Garlean Empire, what brought about the final days, and the aim of the main antagonist, Zenos.
Final Fantasy 14 has also historically introduced huge content updates with expansions and it appears that Endwalker will be no different. A number of new areas have been announced, and the event revealed Radz-At-Han, a sub-tropical city state on the island of Thavnair. Likely functioning as Eulmore did in Shadowbringers, Radz-At-Han appears to be a bustling city state reminiscent of Final Fantasy 10. Yoshida also revealed some concept art for Garlemald which appears to be in ruins and players are left to guess how the Garlean Empire has ended up this way.
Much like previous expansions for Final Fantasy 14, Endwalker will also feature new dungeons, a high-end raid called Pandaemonium, a new Alliance raid, and a new small-scale PVP mode. Although information regarding the new dungeons and Pandaemonium were scarce, Yoshida revealed that the new Alliance raid will be based in Eorzean lore instead of a crossover like the YoRHa raids. Yoshida also mentioned how the PVP mode was unappealing to newer players, and the reward system wasn't exciting. Thus, the Endwalker expansion will also feature a new PVP mode that's more casual with role restrictions being removed.
New Quests, PS5 Beta, and Miscellaneous Changes
Yoshida also mentioned the inclusion of a number of different quests, minor features, and miscellaneous changes coming to Final Fantasy 14. As expected from a new expansion, there will be a number of new sidequests, role quests, and crafter/gatherer quests included in Endwalker. The Trust System, which allows players to team up with NPCs to complete dungeons, will also feature Estinien Wyrmblood as a playable character. A new feature known as the Island Sanctuary was announced with gameplay similar to Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley as players tend to crops and raise animals.
Players who have been worried about the scaling of the battle system will be relieved to hear that Final Fantasy 14 will make adjustments so that damage values are downscaled. Similarly, enemies and bosses will also have their numbers tweaked so that the player experience isn't negatively affected. With this change, Yoshida also announced that belts would be removed in Endwalker and can no longer be equipped. As they don't appear visually on characters and their stat values are negligible, players are usually annoyed to get them as drops. Instead, the 35 slots for belts in a player's Armory Chest will be allocated elsewhere.
Another big QoL change that's coming to Final Fantasy 14 is the Data Center Travel system. Although Final Fantasy 14 currently allows players to travel between worlds, they are unable to travel to different Data Centers meaning they can't play with friends from different regions. This announcement helps make the game accessible for newer players, and allows players to play with anyone around the world. The event concluded with Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda making an appearance and officially announcing a PS5 version for Final Fantasy 14. Featuring 4K resolution, faster load speeds, and better FPS, the PS5 open beta will begin on April 13, 2021. Players who have a license for Final Fantasy 14 on the PS4 will be able to upgrade to the PS5 version at no extra cost.
Although Square Enix and Yoshida won't reveal more about Final Fantasy 14's Endwalker expansion until the digital Fan Fest on the weekend of May 14, players have plenty of content to look forward to already. With a brand new job reveal, new content and storyline features, 2021 is shaping up to be a fantastic year for Final Fantasy 14 and its fans.
Final Fantasy 14 is currently available on PC and PS4, with PS5 support coming later in 2021. Endwalker will release in Fall 2021.