Final Fantasy 14's first expansion detailed

At the Fan Festival 2014 event in Tokyo, Final Fantasy director and producer Naoki Yoshida took to the stage and offered up the first concrete details about Heavensward, the first expansion for MMO Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn.

Set in the new landscape of the Holy See of Ishgard, and set during the 1000 year Dragonsong War, the headline news is that Heavensward will introduce a new playable race, known as the Au Ra. Despite being humanoid in appearance, the Au Ra are related to dragons, and will have scales and horns.

There will also be two new jobs added to the game. Astrologians are healers who channel celestial magicks through a star globe, and also use a divining deck of cards to play a support role in battle. Machinists, meanwhile, are a ranged combat class that uses firearms and can also deploy turrets.

Yoshida also revealed a new raid challenge will be included. The raid is set in the mechanical fortress Alexander, which is summoned by goblins. Alexander has been a recurring feature in Final Fantasy games dating back to 1994, and is usually a powerful summoned ally. This will be the first time players will be able explore inside the gigantic mobile creation.

Finally, it was confirmed that composer Nobuo Uematsu would return to create a new theme for Heavensward, and that there would be a physical Collector’s Edition of the expansion, containing a dragon statue, art book, bonus disc containing videos and trailers, and exclusive in-game items. It's not clear yet if Square Enix will be releasing the Collector’s Edition in the UK.

Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn is out now for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PC. Heavensward is currently slated for launch in Spring 2015.