For a limited time until May 8, Final Fantasy 14 owners on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC (Steam) can claim the second expansion, Stormblood, for free. Players who take advantage of this offer will be able to keep the expansion and access it at any time, even if they don't currently have a Full Service account.For the uninitiated, Final Fantasy 14 is currently available for free as the so-called Final Fantasy XIV: Online Starter Edition, which includes the base game (called A Realm Reborn) and the first expansion: Heavensword. This base version has a level cap of 60, and the three expansions, Stormblood, Shadowbringer, and Endwalker, have each raised the level cap by 10 levels, bringing the current level cap to 90.Producer Yoshi-P confirms that the upcoming 7.0 version of the game will raise this cap by another 10 levels, but after that, the developers want to do something new and different with player progression, although they are not sure how that will happen. Players who want to get into the game right away should know that the online Starter Edition comes with a 30-day free trial that allows them to enjoy the basic content, but with limited social restrictions.Those who wish to remove the social restrictions – or who have exhausted their 30-day trial period – will need to upgrade to a full standard account by paying a monthly subscription fee, which also allows them to be considered 'owners' who are eligible to claim and enjoy the Stormblood expansion. On PlayStation consoles, it is not necessary to redeem any codes to obtain the expansion, while on PC players will need to obtain a code and redeem it using the online Mog Station service.
Fortunately, players who already have a Full Service account but have not used it in a while (considered inactive players) will be able to return to the game for free during this period, but they will only be able to play for a total of 4 days or 96 hours. After that, players will still need to pay to continue playing the game.
Stormblood not only includes a new story, but also two new additional jobs for players to choose from: the Red Mage job and the Samurai job. There are also many new dungeons, tribes, and primals, as well as raids from the creators of Final Fantasy 12 and Final Fantasy Tactics, making it an attractive offering for both new players and old Final Fantasy veterans.