Final Fantasy XIV Patch 2.4 and Expansion

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn has been getting a lot of news lately as Square Enix is ramping up work on it as they prepare for an expansion pack and version 3.0 this spring. Bigger patches, more trailers, fan conventions and more seem to be coming.

Dreams of Ice - Patch 2.4

The first bit of news is the announcement of an upcoming gigantic patch that they are releasing. Patch 2.4, titled Dreams of Ice (named after the main scenario of the patch), and requires an 8 minute trailer for them to even go through all the planned updates with footage. So let’s dig in a bit here about what is coming out first before we discuss that upcoming expansion pack!

• Main Scenario – Dreams of Ice

As the wars between the nations of Ishgard and Dravanian hordes continue, a new threat has emerged in the icy peaks of Corethas. Alphinaud, Scion of the Seventh Dawn has founded the Crystal Braves, a free company, which has been formed to protect the world from future threats. The players ally with the Crystal Braves in investigating one such threat – the Ice Elemental Shiva who has been mysteriously summoned. Who, and why have called this primal elemental here, and what can be done to stop them?

• Side quest story – Hildibrand, Agent of Enquiry

Continue the story of Hildibrand and help him search for the phantom thief who has continually eluded his grasp. With a tournament being held in Ul’dah, it is almost certain that is where the thief will strike next. Join up with Hildibrand and attempt to thwart the thief’s latest scheme and see who will rise to claim the title of champion!

• Side quest – The Dragon's Neck

This one is pretty simple – fight in the Dragon’s Neck Coliseum. Now, coming back from originally FF VI, is Ultros and Typhon. Ultros who was originally a receptionist back in FF VI will be an opponent here as well as Typhon. How exactly it will work out is a mystery, aside from the fact that it is intertwined with Hildibrand’s story.

• The Final Coil of Bahamut

Finally, after the Binding Coil of Bahamut and the Second Foil of Bahamut, the raising of Bahamut is near. Gather a group of 8 friends and work with Alisaie to stop another Calamity and find out the truth behind the last one. This appears to be the conclusion of this story line and you’ll need to have completed the previous ones first and it is only for level 50 characters.

• New Class – Rogue

Rogue is a melee damage focused class that uses daggers, moves faster than other classes and can stealth which enables many of their special abilities. Lore wise they seem to be more modelled off of Robin Hood and vigilantes rather than thieves and con artists.

• New Job – Ninja

Ninja is a job that rogues evolve into, and are similarly melee damage focused. Dual wielding knives and daggers they attack from stealth and use poisons. Additionally they can use special hand signs to create Ninjutsu to create desired effects. Notably it appears players will be able to fail inputting these signs correctly.  The other class you need to have level 15 to take Ninja is not known at this time.

• 3 new dungeons in Snowcloak, Sastasha (hard), and The Sunken Temple of Qarn (hard)

Snowcloak takes you through a group of previously impassable tunnels that have mysteriously opened up. You and your party investigate and try to find who has opened these tunnels in the great ice wall while going through a difficult environment.

Sastasha takes you to a secret port deep inside the Sastasha Seagrot that was recently claimed by unknown forces who destroyed the occupying forces – are they pirates, fiends or something else entirely?

Last, the Sunken Temple of Qarn takes you to the eponymous temple as you explore this area, navigating the traps left by the ancient people of Qarn and whatever else may have come there.

That is most but not all that appears to be in the patch that does not have a release date yet. The trailer for Final Fantasy XIV Patch 2.4 is visible here:

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Heavensward Announced

The other news piece here is the expansion announced for this spring, Heavensward. This expansion has limited details on it so far but already it promises some changes with the information. There is of course the obvious of new dungeons, and raids that any expansion will feature with the story of the expansion focused on ending the 1000-year Dragonsong War, which seems to be in the background of the 2.4 patch events.

The level cap is, in good massively multiplayer online game tradition going to get raised by 10 levels up to 60. A new race is coming out, though there are no statements of which it will be. New Jobs, for upgrading classes and new Primals will also be part of this, as Heavensward is going to be part of the 3.0 update.

One of the biggest pieces of news is that it will introduce airships that free companies can build and use, presumably for traveling about.

Square Enix has promised more details to come out on the 25^th of October, but in the meantime watch the trailer below of Final Fantasy XIV's first expansion:

 

Sources (1)(2)