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Endwalker is the next Final Fantasy 14 Online expansion

Final Fantasy 14 Online is getting a brand new expansion called Endwalker, which will be released this fall.

Ozzie Mejia

February 5, 2021 5:36 PM

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The Final Fantasy 14 Online Announcement Showcase aired on Friday evening, promising to reveal the future of Square Enix's long-running MMORPG. And that's just what Square delivered, opening the presentation with a trailer for the game's next big expansion. Final Fantasy 14 is passing through realms of light, darkness, magic, and dinosaurs for the next expansion called Endwalker and it's set to release this fall.

Game Director Naoki Yoshida took the stage for what would normally be the Final Fantasy 14 Fan Festival (canceled due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic) to reveal more details about the game's upcoming expansion. Endwalker, which will release alongside Final Fantasy 14's 6.0 patch, is teasing "the final days," which threaten to bring an end to the world. It's up to Final Fantasy 14's warriors and scions to prevent the final days from dawning by warding off the forces of darkness. Yes, this expansion is emphasizing the "Final" in "Final Fantasy," as Endwalker will seek to wrap up the decade-long saga of Hydaelyn and Zodiark and introduce a new era for the game. Unlike previous expansions, where their narratives ended with post-release patches, Endwalker's narrative will play out in its entirety with the 6.0 patch and will set the stage for an all-new journey that takes the Warrior of Light to the moon. That's right, Final Fantasy 14 is aiming for the moon!

Endwalker will introduce two brand new jobs. One of them is the Sage, focused on healing. This class carries a series of kinetic ether-imbued Noulith blades, which can aid allies in battle both physically and also through barrier healing. It will be the game's fourth healer class behind the White Mage, Scholar, and Astrologian. FF14 players can begin their Sage path at Level 7 if they already have another job and own the Endwalker expansion. In an effort to make room for the Sage, the Astrologian will be retooled with the 6.0 patch to make it more of a pure healer.

The second new job will be revealed at the upcoming Final Fantasy 14 Digital Fan Festival on May 15. Not much is known about this, other than it will focus on melee DPS. Yoshida also made sure to note that the community has yet to correctly guess the next job.

Other features that Final Fantasy 14 Online players can look forward to include a new level cap that maxes out at 90. Players can also look forward to exploring a new utopic town in the sky called Radz-At-Han, located high above the region of Thavnair. Players will also explore the capital of the Garlean Empire, Garlemald, which is noticeably dilapidated. One of the mysteries that players will explore involves how Garlemald ended up in this broken-down state. Players will also meet new tribes, new enemies, and explore brand new dungeons and a challenging new raid series called Pandaemonium. And look for a new addition to the Trust NPC roster in the form of fan-favorite character Estinien Wyrmblood, the Azure Dragoon.

If you're looking to relax a little more and reduce the stress of combat, you'll be happy to hear that 6.0 will add a new Island Sanctuary feature. On the Island Sanctuary, players can cultivate farms, raise animals, and sell the fruits of their labor. This feature will be gradually updated over the course of the 6.x series of patches.

There are going to be adjustments to damage values across the board for both heroes and enemies. And one piece of inventory is going away for good: belts. Belts will be removed from the game starting with the 6.0 patch and the 35 slots currently assigned to belts will be reallocated to primary weapons and rings.

Square Enix is working on a new Data Center Travel system, which is aimed at players who travel between worlds. This will allow players to move more freely to other worlds in an effort to help them go on adventures with friends. However, there is a warning that it may prove more restrictive than the previous system. The development team will monitor the Data Center Travel system and look to refine it over time.

Yoshida assured the fanbase that Final Fantasy 14 Online will not end with Endwalker. While this will spell the end for the current saga and the story as everyone knows it, an entirely new saga will begin after Endwalker separate from the current storyline. He also assured fans that he will stay with the project for the foreseeable future. There's more to reveal about this expansion, so look for new information to come in over the next few months. Final Fantasy 14 Online's Endwalker expansion is scheduled to release in Fall 2021 on PC and PlayStation 4.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?