Stormblood
This article is about the expansion. For the Main Scenario Quest, see Stormblood (Quest).
- See also: Heavensward and Shadowbringers
Join the fight for freedom!
Introduction
Stormblood (considered version 4.0 of the game) is the second expansion for Final Fantasy XIV, after Heavensward. It was released on June 20, 2017 with early access started on June 16th.
With the release of Endwalker Patch 6.5, Stormblood is no longer sold on its own, but is included in the Free Trial or with the purchase of Starter Edition.
Story
New tales of daring and adventure await as the Warrior of Light prepares for a journey beyond the borders of Aldenard. Yet what new dangers await in Gyr Abania and Othard in the Far East? Behold the beauty of these distant lands and the beastmen and primals that threaten to plunge them into chaos.
Having brought an end to the thousand-year conflict between dragon and man in the north, the Warrior of Light and his comrades prepare to liberate Ala Mhigo, a land conquered by the Garlean Empire twenty years ago. Meanwhile, in the Far East, the freedom fighters of the fallen nation of Doma struggle to rekindle the fires of hope in their countrymen.
The time has come to embark upon a new adventure to realms near and far─to rise up with the people of Eorzea and the Far East, and cast down the curs of Garlemald!
Features
- Level cap is increased from 60 to 70.
- New Jobs: Red Mage (Ranged DPS) and Samurai (Melee DPS).
- Access to the new jobs requires at least level 50 in any Disciple of War/Magic class, but does not require completion of The Far Edge of Fate MSQ.
- End of PlayStation 3 support.
- More actions for each job to go with new level cap.
- Overhaul of the battle system.
- Chance to hit will be 100% on front hits when Character Level = Target Level, 110% on flank hits, and 120% on rear hits.
- Accuracy stat replaced with Direct Hit Rate. Direct Hits deal more damage than regular hits, though not as much as Critical Hits, and can stack with Critical Hits for even more damage.
- Parry stat replaced with Tenacity for Tank classes. Tenacity increases outgoing damage and decreases incoming damage. Parry of incoming attacks can still occur, but it is not a gear stat any more.
- Additional Skill System to be overhauled, with skills shared by roles instead of jobs, and can choose from shared role ability options, e.g.;
- All 'Tank' roles (e.g. Warrior, Paladin, Dark Knight) will have automatic access to Provoke, with no GLD/PLD levelling required.
- Reassessment of unused/ineffective actions, adjustment to 'tiered' actions;
- Adding new UI elements for Jobs. Each Class/Job has a unique display for its mechanic, and gains new mechanics, such as;
- Example used is Dragoon's Blood of the Dragoon buff, where in Stormblood an icon/gauge showing how much time is left will be better visible on screen.
- Thaumaturge and Black Mage receive a dial that displays Umbral Ice/Astral Fire status, along with duration of other effects such as Enochian.
- Machinist must balance Heat when using the Gauss Barrel. Within a certain range, Heat causes increased damage for weaponskills, but Overheating removes Gauss Barrel.
- Tank Job gauges will reflect current stance (e.g. Shield Oath or Sword Oath for Paladin) and a class-specific meter. Paladin builds Oath to use Sheltron, Warrior builds Wrath to use Fell Cleave, etc.
- New Areas to be introduced, comparable in size to Heavensward areas.
- Gyr Abania: Rhalgr's Reach (minor city), The Fringes, The Peaks, and The Lochs
- Othard: The Azim Steppe, The Ruby Sea, Yanxia, and The Doman Enclave
- Hingashi: Kugane (major city) and Shirogane (Residential District)
- Like Heavensward, Stormblood will be a full standalone game's worth of content.
- Swimming and Diving are added. Flying mounts can also swim.
- New Beastmen Tribes such as The Ananta who worships Lakshmi, the Lady of Bliss.
- New Primals to be introduced, including known names and all-new original-to-FF14 ones.
- New Dungeons to be introduced with new battle and dungeon concepts to be introduced.
- New High-end raid The Bend of Time where players battle Omega.
- New 24-player raid is called Return to Ivalice. Ivalice is the setting of the sub-series Ivalice Alliance, which includes Final Fantasy XII and the Final Fantasy Tactics games.
- Expanded form of Exploration to be introduced: The Forbidden Land, Eureka, something different from The Diadem and will expand its own entire area, unique to Stormblood. Examples of what might be in here: Notorious Monsters that could only appear once every 72 hours, and the Stormblood "Relic Weapon" quests taking place here as well.
- New Gear and Recipes, including winners of the Fan Gear Design Contest.
- Item Inventory Expansion, looking to increase "as much as humanly possible."
- All areas of Stormblood will be accessible by flying mounts, but there was an indication that it will again by quest-based like in Heavensward and that the Aether Compass will still be useful.
- Flying will not be added to ARR/HW zones, but mount speedboosts will be available via quests and will apply in all zones (including ARR and HW).
- Changes to Windows version Minimum Specs requirements; Current minimum specs are geared towards components you can't even buy anymore. "If possible, please upgrade to a 64-bit OS" but they will still support 32-bit. They just suggest 64-bit will be best gaming experience.
- They've been examining numbers and have seen a large migration of PS3 to PS4 so they have decided it is the right time to end PS3 support. To show appreciation to their PS3 fans that helped them get to where they are now, there will be a special FREE upgrade campaign for players who own the game on PS3, so they can get the game for free on PS4.
- 2017's Frankfurt Fan Festival introduced two new major towns. A new player hub: the port city of Kugane and the town of Doma
Pre-order Bonuses
Wind-up Red Mage Minion
Ala Mhigan Earrings - Increases EXP earned by 30% when level 50 and below.
Collector's Edition
Chicken Knife Rapier
Wind-up Bartz Minion
Syldra Mount
Theme Song
The theme song for Stormblood is called Revolutions and it is composed by Nobuo Uematsu and features vocals by Susan Calloway, similarly to Heavensward's theme song.
Concept Art
Artwork by Yoshitaka Amano
