In Square Enix’s latest Letter from the Producer Live, Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn producer Naoki Yoshida shared the latest on what to expect from the Heavensward expansion, starting with a look at some of the new areas of the Ishgard region.
During the footage, Yoshida walked around Ishgard with his level 60 Black Mage, that happened to have 9,864HP and 11,346MP, which is quite a boost in just 10 levels, plus whatever gear he may have been equipped with at the time.
Once you get into Ishgard, there will be various quests to help you get familiar with the city, along with Aetherite Crystals that you’ll need to attune yourself to.
The above is a look at the bar that indicates when you’ll get to use a flying mount.
We also got a look at a cathedral of Ishgard, which will be a point of interest in the new city-state.
Coerthas Western Highlands was previously accessible in Final Fantasy XIV 1.0, and players will get to check it out in 3.0. There are similar names and areas that haven’t changed at all from the original version, so some fans might see several familiar places.
The flying mounts will be available at an early point in the new story, but you won’t be able to fly them right away, as there’s something to the effect of a “wind current” that’s particular to each region, and you’ll need to locate sources of these wind currents in various parts of the areas before being able to fly.
In the next area, Yoshi-P showed how you’ll find some Wild Chocobos in some of the new areas. These ones are level 52, so if you approach them thinking they’re your cute regular Chocobos, you’ll be in for a painful surprise.
Yoshida reiterates that the new areas will be anywhere between 50% to 100% larger than the pre-3.0 areas, so there will be plenty to explore.
Some players felt that monsters out on the fields were too weak, so Square Enix decided to beef them up, to the point where if you run into two of them, you’ll need to prepare to die, escape, or get all your buffs together and put up your best fight. If you’re careful, it shouldn’t be too dangerous, but making a run through several monsters might cost you.
Here’s a look at some other parts of Ishgard. Yoshi-P joked about how he’s been feeling a little nervous to not show any parts that aren’t allowed to be shown yet, so he’s been using different angles to avoid doing so.
Finally, the above is a glimpse at the new Primal, Ravana. You’ll fight him as part of the main story in Heavensward. The party is synced at level 54, so it seems like it will be one of the earlier fights.
Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn’s Heavensward expansion will release on June 23, 2015 with an early-access on June 19th for preorders.
