Producer/Director Naoki Yoshida took a trip to Paris, France this weekend to talk about the future of FFXIV at Japan Expo. Yoshida talked a great deal about the ongoing 2.0 initiative, although much of it happened to be things we already know. This included promises of faster and more intense battles, dungeons populated by monsters known from the series, and PVP.

But it wasn’t all old news. According to Final Fantasy World, Yoshida showed off some new concept art, namely what looks to be the race specific armor hinted at in earlier interviews, as well as a zone map and concept art of a brand new area not yet revealed in any previous media. The area appears to be located in a snowy region, something lacking in the current 1.0 version of the game. There was also an autograph session, where Yoshida revealed brand new artwork of a male Miqo’te along with his chocobo crew. We got a glimpse of that artwork courtesy of @ffring

Interestingly enough, Japan Expo visitors seem to have hit the jackpot regarding the upcoming beta test of the game. Attendees were given the opportunity to sign up for the beta test at the Square Enix booth well ahead of the release date. Yoshida also announced that a cosplay contest was being planned in the near future. The contest will be launched on the official FFXIV website and the official Final Fantasy XIV Facebook page. Images provided courtesy of Final Fantasy World.

UPDATE: A kind soul has decided to post the entirety of Yoshida’s FFXIV presentation on Youtube. You can take a look at it right here.