"Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood" Expansion Will Launch June 20

Square Enix announced at Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2016 in Tokyo that "Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood", which was officially announced last October as the expansion to Square Enix's multiplayer online RPG, will launch simultaneously across Europe, North America, and Japan on June 20, 2017.

A collector's edition will also be available, it include: A special package featuring original art by Yoshitaka Amano, Stormblood art book, Exclusive high-quality Zenos figure, Cloth map of Eorzea, Syldra Mount, Original decal, In-game items, Wind-up Bartz Minion and Red Mage Main Arm: Chicken Knife, according to Square Enix.

The "Red Mage" is a brand new job that will appear in Stormblood - a ranged DPS role that uses rapiers and magicked crystal mediums. It's ranged attacks uses magic while its melee attacks use the rapier.

It is a hybrid ranged and melee style achieved through high speed positioning that can wreck massive damage by linking multiple spells with chain spell and then following them up with melee attacks. Its starting level is 50 and does not have an associated class.

It will also feature a new beast tribe called "The Ananta" - The inhabitants of the mountains near Ala Mhigo and made up of females only. They have existed since the time of the Allagans and are oppressed by the Garleans. The Ananta are popularly known for their skills in spell and gemcraft. They believe in the goddess "Lakshmi" (the Lady of Bliss), According to Gematsu.

Additionally, new swimming actions were announced, although not all water bodies will be accessible for swimming. The characters will have to auto-switch to swim mode upon entering an accessible body of water, where walk button becomes a breast stroke and the sprint becomes crawl, but movement is not as fast as walking and running.

There will be no combat while swimming or loading times when switching to swim mode. As for mounts, only the characters that are able to fly can swim.

Diving is also allowed in selected bodies of water, and there will be no loading times when moving from swim to dive mode, nor a need to worry about drowning as endless diving is magically enabled.

NPC interactions and gatherings will also be possible, with new gathering locations. All flying mounts can dive, and diving will only be available in 4.0 areas, which can only be unlocked through a special quest.

Two new high-end raids will also be available. In "The Bend of Time: Omega," Omega is a monster buried beneath the Carteneau Flats and a captive of Bahamut according to Allagan literature.

The second high-end raid is "Return to Ivalice," which is being penned by Yasumi Matsuno - "Final Fantasy XII" and "Final Fantasy" Tactics creator, while the illustrations will be by Keita Amemiya. Pre-orders will be available January 24, 2017.