Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Pictomancer Job revealed at Tokyo Fan Fest, Patch 6.55 coming in mid-January 2024
The Tokyo leg of Square Enix's Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest event series has just kicked off, and with it came a new reveal for Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail the game's next expansion. Producer Naoki Yoshida went onstage at the Tokyo Fan Fest to introduce fans to the game's next playable Job class: The Pictomancer. The other upcoming Dawntrail Job class, the Viper, was revealed at the London Fan Fest event in October 2023.
Check out a brief teaser trailer of some of the Pictomancer's abilities below:
The Pictomancer is a ranged magical DPS Job that uses a palette and brush wand as their main hand weapon. As detailed in their teaser trailer, they use the brush and palette to effectively paint magical effects into existence, using flourishes of paint to bring pictures to life and even summon creatures like Moogles as part of their repertoire. The Pictomancer is inspired by Relm from Final Fantasy VI, who could call on similar abilities in combat. Though Relm's abilities were based on drawing monsters and using their abilities (a bit like Strago, a Blue Mage), the FFXIV interpretation of the class also includes the ability to draw things like landscapes to expand their magical powers.
As for their combat role, Pictomancers aren't quite a fully offensive-focused caster DPS class the way a Black Mage might be. Pictomancers have some party support options to call on, though they aren't a full support class, either. Players will be able to unlock the Pictomancer Job at level 80, with their quest chain starting in the starter city of Gridania.
Square Enix also debuted a further-extended version of Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail opening movie. The new cut of the opening included a look at Scion member Krile Baldesion, who will show up in Dawntrail's story wielding Pictomancer powers (much in the way that other Scions adopted Jobs of their own). Characters like Erenville and a new female Hrothgar were also shown. Yoshida said that players will meet the female Hrothgar in a Main Scenario update that will launch with Patch 6.55 (also known as Patch 6.5 Part 2), dated for January 16, 2024.
Dawntrail will also debut a female gender option for the Hrothgar race. Hrothgar were one of the races, alongside Viera, that debuted in Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers. However, at the time, playable Hrothgar were exclusively male, while playable Viera were exclusively female. Over time, the development team added playable male Viera during Endwalker, while playable female Hrothgar will be available with Dawntrail.
Yoshida characterized Dawntrail's story as the "greatest summer vacation" imaginable for the Warrior of Light and the Scions. There they'll travel to Tural, a far western continent known to Eorzeans as "The New World", where a rite of succession is taking place. The female Hrothgar is the daughter of the current ruler, and the Warrior of Light and their friends will be involved in the succession dispute.
Tural itself is inspired by the Americas, and is divided into northern and southern sections, with a great bridge in the area of Tuliyollal connecting the two. Players will visit areas in both north and south Tural. These areas were teased in another preview video:
One area stands out: Solution 9, a futuristic-looking city that will serve as a player hub:
Previews of some of Dawntrail's new dungeons were also shown off, including one that takes place on a large raft floating down a Turali river.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail will launch in summer 2024. Square Enix has not yet specified a launch date. The latest expansion, Endwalker is available on PC, PS4, and PS5. An Xbox Series X|S version is in development.
During the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2024 in Tokyo, Square Enix announced that its critically acclaimed MMO Final Fantasy XIV Online has reached more than 30 million registered players globally and revealed new information about Dawntrail, the fifth and latest expansion pack, set to launch in summer 2024.
During the opening keynote, Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida revealed pictomancer as the second of two new jobs arriving in Dawntrail. Pictomancer is a magical ranged DPS job that works in the medium of mixed aether, wielding a specialized brush to render their imaginings reality. Yoshida also unveiled the female Hrothgar, a new playable race also arriving with the launch of the expansion.
The keynote also introduced the full-length trailer for Dawntrail.
Additionally, the keynote also featured a number of new additions coming in Dawntrail, such as a new city.
- New Job: Pictomancer – Works in the medium of mixed aether, wielding a specialized brush to render their imaginings reality. These creations include not only creatures and weapons, but landscapes as well. As evoking such wonders takes time, the Pictomancer also keeps instant-cast abilities and spells at the ready.
- New Playable Race: Female Hrothgar – The Hrothgar people hail from Ilsabard. A Turali people with shared ancestry, The Xbr’aal, call Yak T’el home.Females number relatively few among the population, but are readily identified by their lithe, muscular forms. Equally distinctive is their predisposition for leadership.
- New City: Solution Nine – A city of towering facades constructed by an entirely different civilization than that of Tuliyollal.
- New Area: Heritage Found – In this region overflowing with lightning energies, thick thunderclouds blot out the sun, while streaks of purple levin illuminate the land day and night.
- New Raid Series: The Arcadion
- A New Ultimate Raid: Futures Rewritten (Ultimate)
- New dungeons
- Expansive New Lifestyle Content: Cosmic Exploration
- New Field Operations – New field operations akin to “The Forbidden Land, Eureka” and “Save the Queen” will arrive in Dawntrail.
- A New Limited Job: Beastmaster
Revealed at the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival 2023 in London, a crossover questline with Final Fantasy XIV XVI titled “The Path Infernal” is now set to release in early April of this year.
Prior to its official launch in spring 2024, the Open Beta Test of the Xbox Series X|S version of the game will begin in February, allowing players on the Xbox family of consoles to join the Warriors of Light in Eorzea and beyond!
Releasing on Tuesday, January 16, Patch 6.55 includes a number of updates, including the continuation of the main scenario in Growing Light – Part 2, the next instalment of Somehow Further Hildibrand Adventures and a new trial titled The Gilded Araya as we begin the journey to the release of Dawntrail in Summer 2024.
For a full roundup of announcements, please visit the Dawntrail special site, here: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/dawntrail/
In addition to these features, the game’s first graphical update for character and world visuals is set to release alongside Dawntrail, including:
- Improvements to screen-wide aesthetic appeal
- Higher resolution textures and shadows
- Improved material qualities
With more than 30 million total registered players, there has never been a better time for newcomers to begin their adventures in the critically acclaimed Final Fantasy XIV Online saga. The even further expanded Free Trial now includes all content from A Realm Reborn, the Heavensward expansion and the Stormblood expansion (and updates through Patch 4.58), including an additional playable race (Au Ra) and five additional playable jobs (Dark Knight, Astrologian, Machinist, Red Mage and Samurai). Free Trial players can enjoy hundreds of hours of award-winning gameplay and story experiences equivalent to three full Final Fantasy titles, without limit on playtime.
