Square Enix streamed an announcement showcase for its MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV. The stream, which featured a live translation from Japanese to English, served as an announcement for a new Endwalker expansion pack which, among other things, will add new jobs to FFXIV like the Sage.
After showing the trailer for Endwalker, Producer Naoki Yoshida took to the stage wearing a graphic t-shirt that had the words “No Comment” written across the front. In the past, Yoshida has hinted at upcoming new FFXIV jobs through wardrobe choice.
Endwalker will add two new jobs to FFXIV. According to Yoshida, the development team received a lot of feedback from the player base suggesting that the game didn’t have enough healing jobs. As a result, one of the new jobs will be a healer, bringing the game’s total amount of healing options up to four. The second, meanwhile, will be a melee DPS. Yoshida also said that the team has been monitoring speculation online about what the jobs might be. According to him, the guesses have been predominantly “off.”
The official name for the new healer job is “Sage,” and it will use a weapon that is original to Final Fantasy XIV called Nouliths. This weapon appears to be a magically-controlled arsenal of floating swords. There is no specific job prerequisite for unlocking Sage, which will start at level 70. The only requirement is that the player own the new expansion and have at least one other job leveled to 70.
The Sage is described as a “barrier type healer,” meaning it will be geared toward mitigating damage like the Scholar job, rather than functioning like a “pure healer” like the White Mage job. The development team wants a clear difference between “pure healers” and “barrier healers,” so Astrologian, another existing healing job, will be altered to give it more definition as a pure healer. The game’s matchmaking system, “Duty Finder,” will make a distinction between the two types of healers going forward.
Yoshida went on to state that, in order to give the job a unique feel, Sages can “temporarily augment their magic abilities” to make them more powerful. The quest to unlock the job begins in one of the game’s starting cities, Limsa Lominsa. In terms of any comparisons people may have between the new job and Gundam, Yoshida has, “no comment.”
After showing a video of the new job in play for a second time, Yoshida returned to the stage wearing a different t-shirt. When asked, he jokingly suggested that the wardrobe change was merely because he was to warm. No other explanation was given.
Final Fantasy XIV is currently available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC. On February 2, 2021, new Relic Weapon quests, Blue Mage spells, and a mount were added to Final Fantasy XIV as part of the game’s 5.45 patch. The new expansion pack is currently slated for a Fall 2021 release. New information about Endwalker, including information about the second job, will be revealed in May 2021 at a digital Fan Festivals.
Published: Feb 5, 2021 10:50 pm