FFXIV's next expansion to be revealed during October Fanfest

[Maril]

http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/24/final-fantasy-xivs-next-expansion-revealed-october-fan-festival/ 

 

 

 

Final Fantasy XIV producer Naoki Yoshida recently spoke to Game Watch about the future of Square Enix’s MMORPG title on what we can expect from Patch 3.4 and on revealing the next expansion.

 

During the interview, Game Watch pointed out how the story of Dragonsong War has concluded, and asked if that means the story will move on and focus on a different area other than Ishgard for 3.4

 

According to Yoshi-P, Ishgard is the fourth city-state that recently rejoined the Eorzean Alliance and just because the story of the Dragonsong War has ended, it doesn’t mean that Ishgard won’t be involved in Patch 3.4 and 3.5.

 

“If anything, I believe they [ishgard] will be more involved with the Warrior of Light and the Scions, who helped end the war,” said Yoshida.

 

When asked if that means 3.4 and 3.5’s story will take place in Ishgard, the producer said that it’s a bit of a sensitive topic, but it will be the opening to the next story, and we’ll see some pretty big changes.

 

“I believe that we’ll see the big changes starting with Patch 3.5,” elaborated Yoshida. “Similar to what we had in Patch 2.5 and 2.55, which I believe was a big pivot.”

 

Game Watch mentioned that we’ve seen the name “Patch 3.5” on several occasions already, and ask how long do they plan to keep the 3.x series going.

 

“We’ll definitely have up until Patch 3.5. I can’t say anymore than that,” Yoshida answered with a laugh.

 

On the subject of getting new content on odd-numbered patches and battle content such as the Alexander raids on the even-numbered patches, Yoshida said that content such as item level upgrades and the timing of high-difficulty raids won’t change its flow, but they will continue adding more content, such as casual content on the even-numbered patches, so there will always be something for everyone.

 

We’re getting closer to 4.0 and we have Fan Festivals that just got announced. The Heavensward expansion was announced  during a Fan Festival in October 2014, so fans have been wondering if we’ll get to see it at this year’s FanFes in October at Las Vegas. Game Watch said that it feels like we’re about to step into 4.x territory but since the 3.x series isn’t over yet, they ask Yoshida to share his input on the 3.x series.

 

“Since there’d be spoilers, I can’t say anything about the story, but we’ll see more on it during Fan Festival announcements, and in a way through the main story,” responded Yoshida.

 

He says that from here on, we’ll learn more about Patch 3.4’s story, followed by announcements from the North American Fan Festival, then Tokyo’s, and after that we’ll start seeing rapid developments for Patch 3.5, and finally a last announcement at the European Fan Festival.

 

Game Watch asked if that means to wait until the October Fan Festival for details on Patch 4.0.

 

“That’s right. This is a game that is supported by many players, so we’d like to share the biggest news together with the fans at the Fan Festival meetings,” said Yoshida.

 

Yoshi-P also mentions that they’ll use Tokyo Game Show 2016 as an occasion to talk about Patch 3.4’s content instead.

[ExAtomos]

Mah nerves can't take the wait... lol

[Virella]

Gdi, can SE continue to make me even more salty about this all ;_;

 

Well, I at least the good stuff in Germany by getting to see more in-depth looks ;___;

[Momo]

I was hoping they would just do a reveal with little else for us at the first one, and then feed up more detail with subsequent Fanfests, so that everyone feels like they got something special for their fanbase.

 

Throwing gil down on...Thavnaria ooooooor Ala Mhigo of course...guess it won't be too long to find out!

[Kellach Woods]

giev meh classes, i don't have enough 60s.

[Gabineaux]

What about mimic so I don't have to level anything else. Just let me copy everybody else's moves.

[Valence]

If we don't get to go to Ala-Migho and possibly then Garlemald or at least a heavy leaning on garlic society and how it's like in the Empire and all, i'm gonna be salty 

[Kellach Woods]

What about mimic so I don't have to level anything else. Just let me copy everybody else's moves.

 

you have NO IDEA how much I want Mime.

 

Mime means I'm not leveling anything else. Like, at all.

[Aldotsk]

SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI

 

.. What? I can dream, can't I? :C :C :C

[Seriphyn]

There's been a lot of Ala Mhigo foreshadowing, so hopefully it is that.

 

I look forward to a shades of grey story about how the current 20+ year old generation of Ala Mhigo are pro-Garlean vs the older Resistance.

 

Also means Flames might get a spot on the centre stage for this, which is purely selfish of me. Gives me more rp content woo. Hopefully Gridania too with the land border? Poor chaps don't get anything these days.

[Dravus]

If we do go to Ala Mhigo next - which seems very likely since it's the last major region left to explore in Eorzea - then I hope that they take a lot of inspiration from FFXII and how the developers of that game chose to portray The Archadian Empire.

 

I don't want Garlemald to be a generic evil force. It has the potential to be so much more - and previous Final Fantasy games had the protagonists ally with or redeem the antagonists so it's not as if there isn't a precedent for such a thing.

 

Or an even greater threat than Garlemald could be introduced to force us to work alongside the more moderate Garleans.

 

I just hope we don't get another Cid/Lucia who might as well not be Garlean at all due to turning their backs completely upon their homeland and people. Someone like Gabranth, Larsa or Drace from FFXII or Rufus or Reeve from FFVII would be incredible - especially if they remain loyal to their people and homeland above all else.

 

...but I could rant for ages about how much I loathe the 'defector' trope. It's often handled poorly with no focus on the simple fact that selling information to an enemy usually results in innocents being killed in the crossfire.

 

We also know that Ala Mhigans aren't particularly nice or stable people and almost conquered Eorzea themselves before Garlemald took over their homeland. Hopefully the developers won't paint the Ala Mhigans are purely good and righteous in favour of making everything related to Garlemald evil and horrid.

[Miah Gamduhla]

Whatever it ends up being, I'm going to be excited for it - I mean, I can't think of any location that would leave me feeling disappointed. I do feel as though we're going to go Ala Mhigo though, and that's wonderful - there are a lot of possibilities there.

[Virella]

Hopefully the developers won't paint the Ala Mhigans are purely good and righteous in favour of making everything related to Garlemald evil and horrid.

 

This! I want my Ala Mhigans to remain dickish.

[Momo]

I am sure we will have no shortage of RPers to help you with that desire haha.

 

http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/a/a9/Ala_Mhigo_FFXIV_Art_1.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20130901034308[/img]

 

This image, if followed, is a really interesting one. It has a mix of architectures in it, that create something really unique even among all the variations we have so far. Even with all we know of Ala Mhigo so far, it feels like when I look at this picture, there is much yet to learn. We will see!

[Miah Gamduhla]

Hopefully the developers won't paint the Ala Mhigans are purely good and righteous in favour of making everything related to Garlemald evil and horrid.

 

This! I want my Ala Mhigans to remain dickish.

 

I don't think that they will make the Ala Mhigans purely good and righteous. The people of Ishgard are pretty good examples that the devs take enough care in the population of their cities to not make them all the same or paint them with the same brush. There is a good deal of diversity within Ishgard, even though the city-state was insular (not a lot of foreign influence).

 

Ideally, I would like to see the same kind of stuff that Seriphyn talked about. Shades of grey, on both sides. I want to see the good, the not so good, and the bad that the Garlean Empire has done for Ala Mhigo. I want to see Ala Mhigans who support the Empire just as much as I want to see Ala Mhigans who are opposed and those that are neutral (the American Revolution, probably like many other revolutions was much the same). I suppose I just want the characters in the game to be as human as possible. Diverse.

[Teadrinker]

SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI

 

.. What? I can dream, can't I? :C :C :C

 

Samurai very much need to be this:

 

 

 

 

 

And not this:

 

 

My inner weeb is probably blatantly showing but a good friend of mine and I have this headcannon where the plot of the Samurai takes you through the war for Doma vs. The Garleans and it's super reminiscent of the conflict of the transfer to the Meiji era...

 

...

 

WHAT IT SOUNDS COOL LEMMIE ALONE.

[ZephyoFire]

SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI

 

.. What? I can dream, can't I? :C :C :C

Samurai would be nice, bu-

RED MAGE RED MAGE RED MAGE REDMAGE REDMAGEREDMAGE

 

*reverently foams at the mouth*

[Meishali]

SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI SAMURAI

 

.. What? I can dream, can't I? :C :C :C

Samurai would be nice, bu-

RED MAGE RED MAGE RED MAGE REDMAGE REDMAGEREDMAGE

 

*reverently foams at the mouth*

 

I was about to post AGGRESSIVELY about the fact that I COULDN'T BE THE ONLY ONE ROOTING FOR RDM AS THE NEXT CLASS.

 

Think about it! Some kind... of... Melee bard... With... A rapier(?).

[ZephyoFire]

I was about to post AGGRESSIVELY about the fact that I COULDN'T BE THE ONLY ONE ROOTING FOR RDM AS THE NEXT CLASS.

 

Think about it! Some kind... of... Melee bard... With... A rapier(?).

Hm...I don't know all the classes through and through, so I can't really recommend game mechanics.  But it'd probably work best as an extra class, like DRK. Given the classic vibe of the red (rad) mage, maybe it could be a multi-role class that could Paradigm Shift between roles.

[Meishali]

I was about to post AGGRESSIVELY about the fact that I COULDN'T BE THE ONLY ONE ROOTING FOR RDM AS THE NEXT CLASS.

 

Think about it! Some kind... of... Melee bard... With... A rapier(?).

Hm...I don't know all the classes through and through, so I can't really recommend game mechanics.  But it'd probably work best as an extra class, like DRK. Given the classic vibe of the red (rad) mage, maybe it could be a multi-role class that could Paradigm Shift between roles.

 

I was definitely suggesting it as an extra class. Red mage GO!

 

I'm mostly concerned about the potential, new abilities we might get for ourselves. My hotbar is already packed, no matter the class. Perhaps we will get 'specializations' that will change some of our spells (and rotations in the process)?

[Gabineaux]

So.. so what's the new race gonna be if we just go to Ala Mhigo?

 

 

 

...BIGGER.. BETTER.. MORE HAIRY HIGHLANDERS? 

[Maril]

So.. so what's the new race gonna be if we just go to Ala Mhigo?

 

 

 

...BIGGER.. BETTER.. MORE HAIRY HIGHLANDERS? 

 

Patch Notes for 4.0: 

 

* Highlander male model now has 4 different eyebrows to choose from. All existing Highlander males get a fantasia for free so they can have eyebrows. We're sorry.

[Pascaleret]

So.. so what's the new race gonna be if we just go to Ala Mhigo?

 

 

 

...BIGGER.. BETTER.. MORE HAIRY HIGHLANDERS? 

 

Miqo'te with bunny ears slapped on, obviously

[Gabineaux]

So.. so what's the new race gonna be if we just go to Ala Mhigo?

 

 

 

...BIGGER.. BETTER.. MORE HAIRY HIGHLANDERS? 

 

Patch Notes for 4.0: 

 

* Highlander male model now has 4 different eyebrows to choose from. All existing Highlander males get a fantasia for free so they can have eyebrows. We're sorry.

 

We can only hope.

 

So.. so what's the new race gonna be if we just go to Ala Mhigo?

 

 

 

...BIGGER.. BETTER.. MORE HAIRY HIGHLANDERS? 

 

Miqo'te with bunny ears slapped on, obviously

 

If they're tall and creaturelike I'm good with it.

[Kellach Woods]

We also know that Ala Mhigans aren't particularly nice or stable people and almost conquered Eorzea themselves before Garlemald took over their homeland. Hopefully the developers won't paint the Ala Mhigans are purely good and righteous in favour of making everything related to Garlemald evil and horrid.

 

This is incredibly selfish of me but please ruin Ala Mhigo.

 

I don't care how, just do it.

 

This thread is a great example why it needs to be done.