Today, in the 35th Letter from the Producer Live, Final Fantasy XIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida shared with us new details about the upcoming Stormblood expansion — set to release on June 20th 2017.

The team shared a new benchmark trailer, which you can download for yourself today.

Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood — Key Characters

Lyse
A young fighter of surpassing skill, Lyse yearns to bring freedom to her homeland of Ala Mhigo, which fell to the Empire when she was but a child. Her brash, impulsive ways often result in her biting off more than she can chew. Yet the time may come when she must rise to the occasion and become a leader of men…

Gosetsu
Hailing from the Far Eastern land of Doma, Gosetsu has long served Doma and her sovereign, and fought valiantly to defend them from the Garlean Empire twenty-five years ago. Though Doma fell in the end, the samurai has since labored tirelessly to see her rebuilt. Renowned as a peerless warrior, this loyal retainer dreams of a day when the shadow of Garlemald no longer darkens his homeland.

Yugiri
A shinobi in service to the Far Eastern land of Doma, Yugiri took part in the nation’s failed rebellion against the Garlean Empire. When all was lost, her liege bade her take to the sea, along with many of Doma’s people, and seek sanctuary in the western lands of Eorzea. Her calm, collected demeanor belies a burning desire to face the imperials in battle once more, and redeem the failures of her past.

Hien
The young heir to the throne of Doma, Hien is a charismatic leader beloved of his people. Together with Gosetsu and Yugiri, he spurred his countrymen to rise up against their Garlean oppressors. But when the rebellion was crushed, Lord Hien vanished without a trace…

Zenos yae Galvus
Leader of the XIIth Legion and crown prince of the Garlean Empire, Zenos is possessed of but a single passion: to stand on the front lines, blade in hand, and dance with death. He regards friend and foe alike with contempt, and tales of his brutality against both have spread far and wide. While crushing the rebellion of yesteryear in Doma, he took a liking to Far Eastern katana, which have since become his weapons of choice.

Yotsuyu
The acting imperial viceroy of Doma, Yotsuyu’s grace and beauty belie a heart of stone. A cruel, sadistic ruler, she harbors a deep hatred for Domans. Under the pretext of purging radical elements, she has perpetrated numerous atrocities against her own people. Yet all are the hero of their own story…

Fordola
A young soldier born and raised during the imperial occupation of Ala Mhigo, Fordola was promised the world─education, training, citizenship─in exchange for service. Scorned as traitors by their people and savages by their Garlean masters, she and others like her struggle to forge their own path in an unforgiving world.

Raubahn
There will be a story about Raubahn’s past, and Pipin will also be making an appearance.

Final Fantasy XIV Stormblood — New Information

Exploration
Areas in Stormblood will be roughly the same size as Heavensward, and you’ll need to collect Aether Currents to be able to fly. There will be a time zone difference as you travel between Eorzea and the East, so it’ll feel like real life. A few new mounts were shown off, including Wedge riding an Ironworks “Falcon” submarine-like machine, and a tiger that can swim (and fly apparently.) You’ll be able to undertake quests to increase the ground mount speed, and changing Jobs in the world will no longer result in a long ability cooldown timer. Sprint will no longer consume TP. [It will likely still have a cooldown timer]. Tanks and damage dealers can use it now like casters can in raids. There’s a slight distortion effect when you’re underwater. You’ll see more children as NPCs at the Azim Steppe.

Raiding
For equipment there will be manifestos (pages) for raid drops, details about the new raid (The Bend of Time – Omega) will come later, but Yoshida shared that the first one will be rolled out with similar timing as Alexander. This is done so that players can enjoy all of the expansion content including the story without worrying about raid progression right off the bat. First will come the Stormblood launch, then the story version of Omega, then two weeks later the Savage difficulty version will go live. You will also be able to unsync alliance raids in Patch 4.0.

Jobs
Samurai was decided first because we would be traveling to the Far East, despite Red Mage being revealed first. They saw Stormblood as the best time to add Red Mage. Yoshida got yelled at by the game’s project manager for hinting at it in the Eighteenth Floor. There was already three tanks and three healers, so they wanted to add a INT and STR-based damage dealer for balance. Samurai’s limit break will end when they sheathe their weapon.

Gear
The new Level 70 Job gear will be obtained through the new Job quests. It was also decided that Allagan Tomestones of Poetics would remain in the game for players who wish to collect gear from A Realm Reborn and its subsequent patches. Samurai and Red Mage weapons will be added to dungeons, and primal-themed weapons will be added to Ifrit through Zurvan. Both Jobs will also see equipment added to each tier of Alexander, but there will be no Anima Weapon nor weapons from the Binding Coil of Bahamut. The winner of the Tank Gear Design Contest will be added as a tomestone gear. In 4.0 dungeons, the team made it so players can obtain the gear for their role after defeating the last boss in that dungeon.

Housing
You’ll be able to move your house, but not at the start of Stormblood. A new Carbuncle-themed house was shown. Apartments for the Shirogane housing zone will be available when the area opens.

Inventory
Your inventory has been increased to 140 slots, and the armoury chest has been increased to 35 slots (per tab.) This is the first expansion, and more is planned for the future. Yoshida notes that it’s not a “PS3 limitation” but a bandwidth limitation. There are no plans for retainer inventories to increase, but if it’s highly demanded they will consider it.

Crafting & Gathering:
There will be major changes for crafting in Stormblood, and specialist actions will be revised. GP (Gathering Point) recovery speed will remain the same, but there will be new traits available from Level 61 that will increase it; the same is planned for crafters and CP. It’ll be obtained through completion of quest. Fishers will be able to spearfish underwater. More information on airship and free company crafting will come in the future. Blue scrips will be retired, red scrips will remain with no weekly cap, and a new “yellow scrip” will be introduced and will also have no weekly cap.

Squadrons
You’ll be able to take your adventurer squadron into dungeons; this is planned for Patch 4.1. Yoshida explained that it’s a lot of work to get this feature right, so they don’t want to rush it out — this is why it’s scheduled for a post-game patch.

Vanity
There will be two new hairstyles for Patch 4.0.

Miscellany
— PlayStation 4 Pro support will be available in Stormblood (4.0.) It will have options to optimize the framerate, amongst others.
— 100 macro slots will be added in Stormblood (4.0) which will also be account-wide.
— Your chocobo companion will be able to level up to 70 along with you.
— The extreme version Lakshmi’s trial has finished testing; the lead wants them to polish the model.
— Grade VI materia will be extremely strong, so much so you will only be allowed to have one melded.
— New features for /gpose and the idling camera are coming, such as the ability to use abilities during them.
— Eastern-style emotes will be added, such as “paying respect.”
— 4.0 area FATEs will have a bonus EXP modifier to make them easier to level up.
— Rowena may return for the next tier of weapon quests… Gerolt may have other plans.
— An aetheryte will be added to the Ul’dah markets.
— 20+ new minions are planned for Stormblood
— Another EU data center is under consideration, as adding more than 8 worlds to the current one may be problematic. The team is currently thinking about incentives to move, such as removing the gil restriction.
— An app for chatting with your linkshell and free company is progressing, the team wants the ability to access the market board and retainer management as well. They want it out this year, but it make come out early next year.
— An in-game event is planned to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Final Fantasy franchise.

Events & Merchandise
— New PS4 dynamic themes will be available for those who preorder Stormblood.
— The Square Enix Cafe in Akihabara will collaborate with Final Fantasy XIV starting May 20th.
— The Far Edge of Fate: Final Fantasy XIV Original Soundtrack releases on June 7th 2017. Includes Wind-up Nidhogg minion and live footage from the FanFest Tokyo 2016 performance.
— Final Fantasy XIV “Projection Mapping” event is planned in Yokohama, Japan. “Minato Mirai turns into Final Fantasy.”
— Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary cake and wine was shown off.
— Final Fantasy XIV Orchestra Concert 2017 -Eorzean Symphony- will be held in September 23-24 with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra.
— The “Daddy of Light” television drama based on a real-life FFXIV story has been well-received and has garnered “good ratings.”