FFXIV director “would like to have” 2 Ultimates in upcoming Endwalker expansion

Speaking to Trusted Reviews, Final Fantasy XIV director Naoki Yoshida has expanded upon what endgame content players can expect from the Endwalker expansion. 

It was recently announced that Shadowbringers, the previous expansion, would only have two Ultimate Raids, despite some players hoping for a third to be introduced before Endwalker’s coming arrival. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case. 

Endwalker is set to arrive for PC, PS4, and PS5 later this year, and will act as the final expansion in the Hydaelyn and Zodiark storyline which began with A Realm Reborn way back in 2013. It will be emotional to say goodbye to these characters, but we’ll have the endgame to delve into once the narrative concludes. 

Regarding Ultimate raids in Endwalker, Yoshida-san said he “would like to have 2” if the development schedule makes such a thing possible.

“At this present point in time I’d like to have 2 Ultimates but I’m unable to provide a clear answer as we’re currently reviewing the schedule for the 6.X series. It’s exactly as I mentioned previously but I really wanted to release the Dragonsong War (Ultimate) in Patch 5.55. Similar to the ones we’ve done in the past, the Ultimate trials don’t really exert much impact on the expansion or characters because there is a strong emphasis placed on a “what if…” scenario.”

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Yoshida-san continues by stating how much of an impact the pandemic has had on Endwalker’s development, having already pushed back the release date more than expected. Due to this, it seems Square Enix is keen to focus on the wider experience rather than hardcore endgame content. 

“As for why we made this decision for the postponement, as I mentioned in the PLL, it was a measure introduced in order to limit any direct impact as much as possible on Endwalker’s release schedule from the delays that we had experienced due to COVID-19. I am deeply sorry to all those players who were looking forward to this but it’d be appreciated if you can kindly allow us to prioritise Endwalker, which I’m sure our complete fanbase are eager to experience.

A number of details regarding Endwalker remain shrouded in mystery, and players can expect even more to be revealed at the Digital Fan Festival in May. The latest patch for FFXIV will arrive alongside the PS5 open beta on April 13, which will continue the narrative leading into the events of Endwalker. I’ve almost finished Shadowbringers, and cannot wait to catch up.

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