Naoki Yoshida Details FFXIV Bastion Tank Job in Berlin

Final Fantasy XIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida used the latest fan festival keynote to lay out fresh details for the next expansion’s setting, job additions, and several major system changes—alongside a busy calendar of collaborations, raid updates, and even a Nintendo Switch 2 launch date and collector’s edition contents.

Bastion tank revealed; Realmships and new zones previewed

Yoshida began by expanding on a new teaser that introduced the expansion’s setting and highlighted focus areas for upcoming reveals. He explained that the airships shown in prior material are “Realmships,” with the expansion set largely across five of them collectively called the Five Firmaments. Two named Realmships were highlighted: Naglfar (Realmship of Water) and Hringhorni (Realmship of Fire).

The new tank job is Bastion, a main tank available in Evolved mode. It starts at level 90 and is unlocked in Limsa Lominsa. Yoshida also clarified the look of the job’s paired shields, noting that while players have long called them “gunshields,” they are officially “skyltborgs,” with the equipment flipping between a punch-focused portion and a gun-focused portion.

Bastion is tied to Aerslant, described as the far-north archipelago associated with Roegadyn origins. The job’s martial techniques are traced to the archipelago’s rulers, featuring support for allies and offensive options using aetherial artillery to stop raiders. A video demonstrating the job in action was shown during the presentation.

Patch and MSQ timing: part two lands Sept. 8; next job reveal in October

More story details are planned for the second part of the MSQ with patch 7.56, scheduled to release on September 8. Yoshida also confirmed that the next job reveal will come from the final fan festival in October.

What changed: expansion systems, raids, character creation, and world content

Branching main scenario is expanding with “Evercold,” aiming for a broader variety of field areas and dungeons during an early quest run.
An auto content balancing system is being added for select dungeons and field areas, focused on MSQ routing (not a full open-world level scaling system).
Character animation overrides are expanding: emotes and general actions can be overridden, with multiple teleport animation examples shown.
Animation override rollout plan: general action skins begin in 8.0, with job-action skins following in 8.1.
Character creation updates in 8.1 include a toggle to darken Viera and Lalafell noses and additional Miqo’te face paint options.
Au Ra horns will be separated from face style in 8.1.
Working-title “world raids” are planned for field areas to bring more field-operation-style content to the open world.
Automatic movement for quest objectives is planned.
A new raid difficulty sits between Normal and Savage, targeting around the Extreme range and offering “season” gear as an in-between step.
Same-region matching for Party Finder and queues will begin in Japan on October 12 for testing before expanding to other regions.
Chocobo overhaul in 8.1: players can duo a dungeon with two players and two chocobos, including changes to abilities, summoning, and chocobo breeding.
Alliance raid gets an Evangelion collaboration with Mahiro Maeda as a guest designer.
Normal raid is also a crossover: “Beyond the Lifestream,” a Final Fantasy VII–inspired raid series across three tiers tied to the third FFVII remake title.

Platforms, Gold Saucer, and Switch 2 launch details

The presentation also covered non-expansion updates that affect live players. Gold Saucer content tied to the Final Fantasy VII collaboration was revealed as Keybound Brawler, a typing game that will debut with FFVII collaboration rewards for Barrett and Tifa outfits. The Gold Saucer experience is positioned as an FFVII-themed version of the attraction.

Hardware and subscription-related news also appeared: Nintendo Switch 2 launches on August 4, with the first month free for testing before standard subscription fees apply thereafter. A collector’s edition preview detailed physical and in-game bonuses, including a Reaper sculpture, an Ethos-inspired keychain, a mini-tapestry based on teaser trailer embroidery, and a charm doll modeled after the bearded cats named the Köttr. In-game items include crystal-themed skyltborg gear (“Entreat (Crystal)” emote included) and a transforming mount based on Final Fantasy XIII’s Odin, dubbed Valhallar Odin.

What comes next

Yoshida said additional details will follow after the last fan festival and in the run-up to later live events, including a live letter later the same day and further reaction coverage planned for Monday. In the meantime, players can look ahead to patch 7.56’s September 8 MSQ part two, the October fan festival for the next job reveal, and the Japan test window starting October 12 for same-region queue matching.