In tonight’s Announcement Showcase, Final Fantasy XIV‘s fourth expansion Endwalker was revealed.

It continues after the events of the Shadowbringers expansion, and will feature two new jobs — one of which being a new healer: Sage. Massive new areas will be added, including what appear to be the ruins of Garlemald and the island of Thavnair which seats the city of Radz-at-Han.

Additionally, a PlayStation 5 version will commence beta testing on April 13th, and there will be no additional charge to upgrade to the PlayStation 4 version other than buying a PlayStation 5.

Let’s break down the major details in the following summary!

‘ENDWALKER’ TRAILER

THE STORY OF ENDWALKER

Up until this point, each expansion including the base game A Realm Reborn, represented a different time of day. Yoshida described the “sunrise over A Realm Reborn,” a “cold blue sky” of Heavensward, a “crimson twilight” of Stormblood, and the “black of night” in Shadowbringers. Endwalker will represent “a new dawn.”

While the Shadowbringers scenario concluded in Patch 5.3, beyond the base expansion, Endwalker’s scenario will conclude in Patch 6.0. That’s not to say that the story won’t continue, but that it will depart from the scenario established in the base expansion.

The story will investigate the Final Days that brought the Ancient civilization to its knees. In an attempt to uncover more secrets involving Hydaelyn, Zodiark, and even deeper mysteries, the Warrior of Light will travel to the Moon. This chapter will be the conclusion to the “tale of gods light and dark.” Endwalker will also delve into the Garlean Empire’s fate, Zenos and Fandaniel’s aim, and what is to be found on the Moon.

Key characters include: Alphinaud Leveilleur and Alisaie Leveilleur. The former has changed his job to Sage, and his appearance is a modified version of the artifact gear. Alisaie remains a Red Mage, but has gotten her much-wanted costume change.

Fandaniel, a recently-revealed character in the post-Shadowbringers arc, schemes with Zenos yae Galvus, though it is unclear what their intentions are. Fandaniel has a big secret, but of course the nature of that secret can’t be revealed now. Yoshida says the story will be “complex and intricate and will bring a lot of excitement.”

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Content & Features

• The level cap will increase from 80 to 90.

• Two new jobs will be added. One is Sage (more below) and the other is a melee DPS.

• Massive new areas, similar in scope to previous expansions, will be added.

• Radz-at-Han, pictured below as a towering city above a forest and river, is located on the island of Thavnair, which will also be explorable.

• Garlemald, the Imperial capitol, will also be a new area — though it seems it is in ruin.

• A new tribe, the Matanga of Arkasodara, will be added. You may have seen a more similar, yet hostile tribe in the Azim Steppe, but they will be one of several tribes added in the game. One may be on the Moon…

• Anima appears as a new threat in Endwalker. The artist that originally designed Anima now works as part of the Final Fantasy XIV team and created a new version for the game.

• New dungeons will be added and reflect a wide variety of styles from modern to high fantasy.

• High-end Raid: Pandæmonium will be an eight-person raid in the vein of raids like Eden and Omega. It seems Lahabrea will make an appearance.

• A new 24-person Alliance Raid will be added, that’s similar to YoRHa Dark Apocalypse or Crystal Tower. This raid will not be a collaboration with another property.

• Small-scale PvP content is in the works. The plan is to create more casual small-scale PvP content by removing role restrictions, making maching easier. Casual, yet immersive in its gameplay. A new type of reward system will be devised for this content that won’t involve just gear.

• New side quests, role quests, crafter & gatherer quests will be added. The format from Shadowbringers will preserve, but with one change. In SHB there were 4 roles, but now there will be 5. Tank, healer, melee DPS, ranged DPS, caster DPS.

• New gear and recipes will be added.

• Estinien will be added to Trust, but the reason why is still a secret. He will fulfill a melee DPS role as a Dragoon. The system will also get an update in Endwalker including new characters and features.

• Gold Saucer will get a major new attraction, but the details are still secret.

• Island Sanctuary is a new type of content where players can enjoy a “slow living” style of play. It’s not limited to just crafters and gatherers, anyone can participate, but crafting and gathering will have its role to play. Some of the content hinted included raising animals or cultivating a deserted island, letting your minions roam around.

• Ishgard‘s Firmament will be added as a new residential district. In 6.0 you’ll be able to walk around these districts and scope out a plot, but the actual buying won’t commence until patch 6.1.

• Belts will be removed as an equip-able slot, as their stats are generally negligible and they take up a lot of inventory space as well as being invisible on your character. Said space will be redistributed to primary weapon/tool and ring slots. Belts will no longer drop in duties or be exchangeable with tomestones.

• Damage calculations will be crunched between Level 51-80. Yoshida stated there were many reasons why this needed to be performed, one of which being a long-term necessity to keep upward character progression without breaking the game. Currently damage trajectory is causing in-game issues from a display level to overflow bugs. He went to great pains to stress that while the damage output may be scaled down, it doesn’t mean your character is getting weaker. The sole exception may be in undersized groups when you attempt older content — where you might not output as much damage comparatively to now.

• Data Center Travel is in the works, but may require a different method to execute than the World Visit system, which allows you to travel to different Worlds in your cluster.

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NEW JOB: SAGE

The Sage is a new healing job that uses aetherically-charged nouliths. They are a “barrier-type” healer. In this expansion there will be a distinction between a “pure” and a “barrier” type healer and each healing job will be adjusted to conform to that distinction. They will even have two different delineations in the duty/raid finder.

There are no required classes to start Sage, but you will need the Endwalker expansion and at least one other Level 70 job. The quest to become a Sage will start in Limsa Lominsa.

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Announcements

A dedicated PlayStation 5 version of the game was announced, with an open beta beginning Tuesday, April 13th. This version will include a 4K resolution mode, shortened loading times, and improved framerates.

A digital Fan Festival will be held on May 15th and 16th. You can watch for free, but a paid version will score you an eight-person Lunar Whale mount, and minions will be available to purchase based on Final Fantasy IV‘s Edge, Rydia, and Rosa.

Endwalker artwork by Yoshitaka Amano