During the “Talking FINAL FANTASY XIV: Heavensward with Naoki Yoshida” panel at PAX East, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Director and Producer Naoki Yoshida has revealed the release date of the first expansion for the game, Heavensward. Initially slated for a Spring 2015 release date, the expansion will now launch on June 23, 2015, with early access beginning on June 19, 2015 for those who pre-order. Yoshida stated that it had been a difficult decision delaying the expansion, but that the team wanted to take the extra time to polish the content for players.

There will be three different editions available for Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward. A collector’s edition, including physical items such as a statue as well as exclusive in-game bonuses. There will also be an all-in-one edition, which will include the base game as well as the Heavensward expansion, and lastly there will be a standard Heavensward edition. Pre-orders for all versions will begin on March 16, 2015 with the benchmark software releasing next month, this will include the character creation for the new Au Ra race.

Additionally, a Mac version of Final Fantasy XIV has also been announced that will be released at the same time as Heavensward.

As previously announced, with the launch of the new expansion the level cap will be raised to level 60. A tier of new level 60 gear was showcased at PAX East, as well as more images and information on the new jobs that will be implemented with Heavensward. Astrologian will be able to switch between two stances, apparently the team struggled to find a weapon for the Astrologian, unlike the Dark Knight that had a smoother conception. The Dark Knight will reportedly have to manage MP carefully in battles. It was also revealed that when deciding on the new tank role, the choice was between Samurai and Dark Knight, with Dark Knight being the winner. While this doesn’t rule out Samurai for the future, we’ll have to be happy with our new tank for the time being. Gun attachments were considered for the Machinist job but were eventually were not included, however, the job is promised to have something pretty cool instead.

Other interesting details were also announced, such as a new loot system being implemented for the new Alexander raid. Disciples of the Hand will have a new system, tentatively called the “specialist” tier. Something similar will be released for Disciples of the Land too.

You can watch the full recording of the stream via Twitch, starting at the 48:00 mark. Square Enix also released a brand new trailer showcasing the Heavensward expansion that you can see just below:

Meg Pelliccio

Editor at Geeks Don't Lie

Meg appreciates gaming on all formats, but primarily spends her time achievement hunting to the extreme. Her passion for gaming began as a child, when first introduced to the Amstrad. A collector of gaming consoles past and present, Meg spends as much of her time rediscovering old classics as she does playing the latest releases.