Square-Enix announced at the "Final Fantasy XIV" Fan Festival in Tokyo, Japan that the upcoming "Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood" expansion will be launched on June 20, 2017. The developers also unveiled a special Collector's Edition and showcased the contents of the special edition.
This Collector's Edition will contain special packaging that features art from series veteran artist Yoshitaka Amano, an exclusive Zenos figure, the official "Stormblood" art book, a cloth map of the world of Eorzea, and decal. It will also contain unique in-game items such as the Syldra Mount, a Wind-up Bartz Minion and the Chicken Knife Red Mage Main Arm.
The starting level of the Red Mage is at 50 and it has no associated class, Gematsu reported. The character class is also described as a unique blend of melee expertise with a rapier and with ranged magic spell casting. Just like in other "Final Fantasy" games, the Red Mage uses a blend of Black and White Magic spells.
"Stormblood" will also add the ability to swim and dive but only in select bodies of water. Characters will automatically switch to swim mode once they have entered a compatible body of water. It is noted that diving is only available in 4.0 areas and only flying mounts can swim and dive.
Two new raids have also been confirmed for the expansion. The first is titled "The Bend of Time - Omega" and will feature the secret boss, Omega. This creature had already been mentioned multiple times in the main story campaign of the game.
"Return to Ivalice" will be the second new raid and it is being written by Yasumi Matsuno, who worked on both "Final Fantasy Tactics" and "Final Fantasy XII." This raid will also feature illustrations and a boss character design by Keita Amemiya.
The expansion will also increase the level cap in the game from 60 to 70, IGN reported. The previous expansion, "Heavensward," increased the level cap from 50 to 60 and it introduced three new job classes: the dark knight, the machinist and the astrologian.
The official announcement trailer can be viewed below: