Final Fantasy XIV’s third expansion ‘Shadowbringers’ announced, ‘Blue Mage’ job revealed
During today's Fan Festival event in Las Vegas, Naoki Yoshida took the stage to reveal the next major expansion to Final Fantasy XIV. Titled Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers, it is scheduled to release in early summer 2019. As Square Enix puts it, this 5.0 expansion will 'take players on new adventures to battle against the threats to the realm as they become Warriors of Darkness.'
Alongside the expansion announcement, Yoshida also revealed a new class to be added in the upcoming Patch 4.5 update to the game. Blue Mage is a 'Limited Job' where players can learn abilities from monsters through specific Blue Mage content. More content for Blue Mage will be added after Patch 4.5.
Find trailers, an overview, screenshots, and artwork all below. For a thorough run-down of all the details revealed at the keynote, check out this summary by Nova Crystallis.
Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers Teaser Trailer
Blue Mage Reveal Trailer
The new expansion will bring an abundance of new content, including a new player race, multiple new jobs, an increased level cap up, sprawling new areas, adjustments to the battle system, as well as a variety of new battle, crafter and gatherer content. In addition to these core features, a number of new systems will be introduced with Shadowbringers.
- NPC “Trust” System – Players will now be able to fight alongside familiar NPCs.
- New Game+ Feature – A feature that allows players to “replay” the FINAL FANTASY XIV main scenario stories.
- World Visit System – Players will be able to travel to other servers on the same data center and interact with more players than ever before.
As a surprise announcement, Yoshida also revealed the addition of blue mage to FINAL FANTASY XIV Online at the release of Patch 4.5. Blue mage will be available to all players that own A Realm Reborn, have reached level 50 as a Disciple of War or Magic, and have completed the 2.0 main scenario. Taking inspiration from previous FINAL FANTASY titles, the blue mage job will provide a unique solo gameplay experience in which players will learn monster actions and advance through blue mage-specific content. Blue mage will begin with a level cap of 50, and increase in the future with the addition of new content for the job.
