Well, I guess my theory on at least one thing last week came true... Dark Knight will officially be making an entrance to Eorzea as part of the Heavensward Expansion next spring. Yoshi-P has revealed lots of information at the London Fan Festival this weekend. As well as Dark Knights, you can look forward to flying mounts and some all new Primals EXCLUSIVE to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn!
So, the Dark Knight is going to be the next Tanking class in ARR, what's strange about this though, is that there is no base class for Dark Knight. Probably because they're too badass for that. I'm really looking forward to this one, probably more than I am looking forward to Rogue/Ninja. We've had hints at a new healing class too, but it has yet to be revealed.
Just one of the new beast tribes for Heavensward is the Vanu Vanu. They are said to be a birdmen beast tribe which ties in nicely with the 'take to the skies' theme of the expansion. Their deity is Bismarck, who of course is a recurring creature throughout Fina Fantasy. He is always pictured as a whale-like creature, but in ARR, he has been re-imagined as a sky-whale covered in feathers. He sounds like a crossbreed of Sin and Bismarck!
The second beast tribe are the Gnaths! An insect-like race. Just what I wanted, ugly bugs trying to kill me in this game. They give me the creeps. The primal to accompany the Gnath is the insect king, Ravana. This is the first brand-new primal to be added to the game, however some of you Square mega fans might recognise the name Ravana... Originally he was a demon king in Vagrant Story. The Ravana of Vagrant story is not the same as the one that will be appearing in ARR.
Last but not least, we have our brand new flying mounts! We will be getting Black Chocobos which can fly, and also Single-Rider Airships. Ooooh! My guess is that these mounts will be used to reach previously off limits areas, and new lands that are up in mountains or just floating around in the sky!
Look at these gorgeous new locations! They definitely appear to be up in the sky, and they are just stunning. It's not completely unusual for Final Fantasy to use this concept, so I'm excited to see how it will tie in with Eorzean lore.
And this picture is just a bonus from the festival; Yoshi-P is definitely down with cosplay! (As if we needed more reasons to be just a little bit in love with him!) You can check out a full album of the keynotes from the Fan Festival here.