Home Archive Top 8 things to look forward to in FFXIV: Expansion, New Jobs, and More!

Top 8 things to look forward to in FFXIV: Expansion, New Jobs, and More!

by GH Staff
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn being hit by DDoS attacks 2

 

Final Fantasy XIV fans have had quite a bit to do recently with the addition of patch 2.3. Whether you’re staying up late to catch S rank hunting marks, powering through Syrcus tower for gear, bashing your head against Ramuh Extreme mode, or queuing for pvp in frontlines all hours of the day, there seems to be content for everyone keeping them excited. Even though patch 2.3 has only been out for a little while, there are still many more upcoming features and content to keep the hype train going strong. Every three months or so, Square Enix puts out a fresh new patch of content for FFXIV, some building on existing content, and others adding entirely new fights, areas, and systems, with smaller patches in between. Although the focus has been on content in 2.3 recently, I’m here to remind old and new players alike that the future of FFXIV only gets more exciting. Here are my top 8 things to look forward to in the upcoming patches and content.

 

 

8. New System: Marriage

As many of you are probably already aware, the original Final Fantasy XIV Online was a failure. Its systems were cumbersome, and not very intuitive. There wasn’t much content to keep anyone excited, and there didn’t seem to be much Square Enix could do to give it any sort of life. Many expected FFXIV to shut down, or become FTP. That, however, did not happen. Square, instead, changed out almost all of the staff involved with the original FFXIV, and appointed Naoki Yoshida as the new producer and director of the game. They began work to relaunch FFXIV as an almost entirely new game. After quite a bit of time and work, FFXIV: A Realm Reborn arrived and surprised everyone with how great and successful it was. This, of course, was due largely to the fact that the newly appointed staff listened very carefully to the community, and has continued to do so to this day. That kind of developer response has made FFXIV a very unique MMO, in that many of the game’s current and planned systems, content, and updates are inspired by what the community wants. New systems are constantly being introduced and announced.

With patch 2.3, new systems were introduced such as the hunt, Chocobo raising, and desynthesis to name a few. It doesn’t stop there however, as more systems, even sooner than the next patch, are already being developed, such as in game marriage.

FFXIV - Wedding

Wedding outfits for FFXIV – Courtesy of SE Forums

 

One of the upcoming systems that garnered a lot of attention recently is the Marriage System. Square Enix will be allowing players to marry other in game players, with a ceremony and all. While news of this at E3 was already interesting to most, they continued the excitement by announcing that they will be allowing same-sex marriage as well, something not very many people expected.

 

7. Personal Housing

FFXIV - Housing

The Mist housing ward

Free company housing has been out since patch 2.1. With the release of 2.3, we saw personal rooms become available in FC housing as well. However, Square will be releasing full on personal housing too, currently slated for an in-between patch of 2.38. With the hundreds of different decorations, and variations, many people will undoubtedly spend many hours customizing their in-game flat.

 

6. Custom Chocobos!

FFXIV - Chocobo

KWEH!

Alongside the other Chocobo systems introduced, there will soon be a dyeing system as well! Chocobos will regrow their feathers, with as many options as there are currently dyes in the game.

 

 

5. The Gold Saucer

FFXIV - Gold Saucer

Very Gold. Much Saucer.

Fans of Final Fantasy VII will remember the iconic gold saucer from the beloved title. It was a home for mini-games, and of course the addictive Chocobo racing. Yoshida says he can’t comment on exactly what will be included with the Gold Saucer, other than Chocobo racing, but assures us that it will be substantial as to not disappoint the fans. Current players will know that Square is no stranger to including all sorts of content from previous titles into FFXIV, such as Costa Del Sol from FFVII, Doma from FFIV, and the Crystal Tower from FFIII.

 

 

4. New Races, New Jobs

FFXIV - Yugiri

Yugiri – New race, new job

When patch 2.2 was released, we got our first little tease at two of the most exciting updates that will be coming soon. Yugiri, a new character, was introduced into the game as part of the main story, not only as a mysterious new race, but also possessing a mysterious new Job. Though so far, we can only speculate on her race, her job was confirmed to be Ninja at E3 this year. Yoshida has stated in the past that he would only add a new job into the game if he felt it added something unique. Ninja is said to be a combo based melee DPS, with poisons and stealth abilities. The new job has been confirmed to be coming in patch 2.4, however the new race’s release has not yet been announced. Many speculate that it will be coming with the expansion.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHye3NcO2hU]

 

 

3. Primals!

FFXIV - Titan

Bow down overdweller, TITAN!

Primals have been a huge part of FFXIV, with new ones coming in nearly every patch. Primals, also known as summons, aoens, etc. in other games, have been some of the most popular and challenging content for end game since its relaunch, a driving force for the game’s main storyline, and money making. There used to be a time when you could tell if a player was decent just by running titan hard mode with them, and after that, the same could be said for the later added Titan extreme mode. Primal fights are added quite regularly, such as Good King Moogle Mog, Leviathan, and most recently with 2.3, Ramuh. They continue to be popular due to their often fun mechanics, difficulty, and incredible soundtracks composed by the game’s composer, Masayoshi Soken. More adept players can also make quite a bit of gil selling runs to more casual players. Currently, Shiva has been announced as the next primal to make her way into FFXIV, but there are so many more, one can only imagine who will make it into the game next.

 

2. Continuation of The Binding Coil of Bahamut

FFXIV - Binding Coil of Bahamut

The Binding Coil is currently the end game content for FFXIV. The first Binding Coil launched with the rereleased game and was noted for its difficulty. The second Binding Coil was released with patch 2.2 and once again proved to be challenging, and unique to keep the end game raiders coming back. The current schedule for coil is every other big patch, meaning that the third Binding Coil will be slated to release in 2.4, the next patch. The third Binding Coil is speculated to be the last, as Yoshida has mentioned that there are only three binding coils, though certainly another raid will take its place in the future if so. 2.3 also saw the release of Savage Mode Coil, which takes the second coil and makes it insanely more difficult. Whether or not Savage Coil becomes a standard is yet to be seen, but the staff has shown great interest in bringing in content for the most hardcore of the community, as well as more casual players.

 

1.  FFXIV Expansion: Ishgard

FFXIV - Ishgard

Something that has been getting a bit more attention lately is the upcoming expansion. Much of the details of the new expansion have been kept secret, however, there are quite a few items that we know, and a few more that we can assume with certainty. The expansion almost certainly takes place in Ishgard, a city in Coerthas, Eorzea’s snowiest area. While it hasn’t been confirmed entirely, at this point, it would really be a curveball if it didn’t take place there. When asked for details about the expansion during one of the regular live letters, which are video updates on content to the players, fans were told to look to the skies, and that it would deal with a war that’s been going on for a long time. Shortly after, during E3, Yoshida mentioned that his team had two options they would want to explore for an expansion, either swimming or flying, and they went with flying. This is important because the Ishgardians are locked in an ancient war with dragons, as noted throughout the story. Finally the biggest nod to Ishgard comes from the latest trailer for 2.3, that has an extra scene after the trailer is finished, showing a large group of Ishgardian soldiers with their leader in the Ishgardian city. New jobs, races, and areas will be introduced in the expansion, and Yoshida has stated that the amount of content introduced with it will be about the same amount of content FFXIV relaunched with. FFXIV continues to grow, and with the sheer amount of content that is introduced every patch, I can only imagine how large the expansion will be.

 

What upcoming content are you most looking forward to? What kind of content would you like to see in the future? Comment, and let us know!