Letter from the Producer LIVE XXI Summary

[Andromeda]

Coming out of France today, Yoshida livestreamed Heavensward content for the Letter from the Producer LIVE. An over 3 hour event, they showed off lots of new things to look forward to in the expansion. Starting out for the stream was the full length version of the theme song for Heavensward, Dragonsong. It was song by Susan Calloway and composed by Uematsu. Accompanying the song was a video holding cutscenes from the expansion. It does hold spoilers from 2.55 patch so if you have not completed the story yet it is best to hold off.



After the video, they started into the stream and began showing off the areas in expansion. It began in Ishgard and then moved around to the surrounding areas. They only briefly showed off areas and it still took up nearly an hour of the stream. It was confirmed that one of the areas of Coerthas lost after the Calamity is available again with old assets from the 1.0 version of the game returning for players that were around during that period. Yoshida also stated that the monsters in Heavensward are tougher than those in the existing area, noting that if two monsters of equal level to the player attacked it was likely going to mean a high risk of death. He said it would probably be a good idea to enlist help of others when traversing the areas.

To fly in the new areas, the player will need to find wind currents and collect all of them for an area before flying is possible. And chocobos will be an enemy type.

The second half of the stream focused on showing off the new job abilities coming in the expansion. They went through all of the jobs, though not all of the abilities were outlined leaving some still open to be discovered.



Black Mage new confirmed abilities are Ley Lines, Sharpcast and Enochian. Ley Lines placed a buffing AoE for the BLM that grants a 15% haste boost, but if the BLM steps out of it the AoE goes away. Sharpcast will force the next spell used to proc. Enochian unlocks the use of Fire IV and Blizzard IV while in Umbra Ice or Astral Fire stances. However neither spell grants stacks, so to maintain the stacks other spells will have to be used. Blizzard IV will increase the duration of Enochian with each increase being 5 seconds less than the last one until it no longer increases it.

Paladin has Divine Veil and an new unknown ability that affect shield swipe. Divine Veil that when the target is cured will spread the defense buff to surrounding party members. Paladin is also gaining more skills for their combos.

Warrior has Deliverance and Raw Intuition. Deliverance is an offensive stance that generates a different type of stacking buff called Abandon and Wraith stacks are maintained even when switching, the same for Abandon. Raw Intuition causes parries to happen when facing the enemy, but the enemy will crit when flanking.

Dark Knight has Darkside, Grit and Living Dead. Darkside is the offensive stance for Dark Knight that will consume MP and MP regenerating abilities will not be effective. Grit is the defensive stance and Living Dead is the all attack block move.

Dragoons get Blood of the Dragon which grants a 4th combo ability to Dragoons and Blood of the Dragon can be consumed for another action. Also the jump animation lock is being reduced.

Bards will have Wanderer's Minuet and Sidewinder. The Wanderer's Minuet grants an increase to damage, but all actions now have a cast timer on them. The sidewinder will increase the effect of DoTs on enemies.

Ninja will be getting new position dependent moves and Huton timer will be increased.

Monks will be able to use Greased Lightning stacks in combat. Chakra is being added as a new system that grants chakra stacks that can be consumed for a powerful attack, restore TP or force a stance.

Machinist have ammunition that grants buffs and Reload will give 5 stacks of ammunition. While their weaponskills will grant 50% chance for increased damage on the following skill.

Summoners are having Tri-Disaster renamed to Tribind and a new Tri-Disaster. The new Tri-Disaster will apply all three DoTs. There is also a Dreadwyrm Stance that where the first half is used for casting DoTs and the second half is for something else that they don't fully explain. The Dreadwyrm Stance does call on Bahamut and grant stacks of Bahamut Aether that can be spent for actions.

White Mages have Asylum, Assize Stone III and Aero III added. Asylum places a healing field down, while Assize can be used for attacking and healing. There will be new instant heal skills like Benediction. There is a new DoT as well. The Protect bonus of magic defense is now being granted to Scholar and Astrologian.

Scholar have Indomitability, Deployment Tactics, Emergency Tactics and Dissipation. Indomitability is a new healing action, Deployment Tactics will pass Adloqium and Eye for an Eye to nearby party members. Emergency Tactics will convert the barrier of Adloqium into more healing power. Dissipation dismisses the fairy to gain more power.

Astrologian two stances are Diurnal Stance and Nocturnal Stance, the healing and barrier stances. Drawing cards will grant buffs, the cards can be saved, used or consumed to increase the power of another card.

Also soon in the stream were a quick look at the dungeons and some of the bosses.



Source: Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XXI Digest Thread