Square Enix just made the week for a lot of fans, particularly those who enjoy a good bit of MMO action in Final Fantasy XIV. Today, during a fan event for the game, Square Enix announced the latest expansion coming to the MMORPG, titled Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers.
The expansion will bring the game into the realm of the 5.X patch series, with a bunch of new content and gameplay changes. In addition to a new racial choice for players to fool around with, the level cap in Final Fantasy: Shadowbringers will be increased from 70 to 80. A huge new addition will come in the 4.5 patch ahead of Shadowbringers.
Square Enix is introducing a new magic/ranged hybrid class called Blue Mage. With an initial level cap of 50 for this class, Square Enix looks to be wanting to let players get used to the new gameplay mechanics before throwing the new class into the end-game deep end. Pretty cool, although no other details are available about how the class will play at this time.
The devs will even begin to implement basic cross-realm functionality to the MMORPG. Players will now be able to experience content in the game with their friends across different servers, as long as their in the same data center. This essentially translates to players within the same general regions being able to play together regardless of server.
In terms of other gameplay changes there’s actually quite a bit to encourage exploration by solo and group players. In addition to the massive revamps and grouping in previous expansions, Shadowbringers will introduce some new elements as well. There’s a “New Game Plus” mode that will allow players to experience older content with scaled-up difficulty, so that they can experience other elements of the massive story without steamrolling the fights themselves. There’s also a new system coming that will allow totally solo players to take on various quests and dungeons with NPC companions, making solo a much more viable approach to progressing the story.
Check out two new trailers for the expansion down below. One is just a basic teaser trailer, and the other reveals some details about the newest Job Class to come to the game. Check those out if you’re interested, or you can head over to the official site to keep an eye out for more info. Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers will be available sometime early in the summer of 2019.
