Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail is the next expansion coming to the incredibly popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). Since its official announcement back in July 2023, details have been drip-fed from developer Creative Studio 3 and the game’s in-person Fan Festival events in Las Vegas, London, and, most recently, Tokyo.
There’s plenty we now know about Dawntrail, including its tentative release window as well as its new jobs (classes), main story, and raid content. What's more, TechRadar Gaming recently had the chance to preview the expansion at the European Media Tour. Here, we got to explore all new areas, check out the two new jobs and even experience the expansion's opening dungeon.
Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail - cut to the chase
- What is it? The next major expansion for Final Fantasy 14 Online
- When does it come out? July 2 (June 28 early access for pre-orders)
- What can I play it on? PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, PC
- Who’s making it? Square Enix’s in-house Creative Studio 3 development team
Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail trailer
The full cinematic trailer for Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail was revealed at the beginning of the Tokyo Fan Festival’s keynote speech in January 2024. Before that, the initial teaser trailer debuted in July 2023 during the Las Vegas Fan Festival, and an extended trailer was shown at October’s London Fan Festival.
The full cinematic trailer for Dawntrail clocks in at just shy of six minutes long, and is the complete version of the teases we’d received prior. The full trailer showcases the new hub city of Tuliyollal, situated on the continent of Tural, which players previously knew only as the ‘New World.’
The full trailer also showcases Dawntrail’s two new jobs. The first, Viper, is the poster job for the expansion. Here, we see it taken up by Meteor (the promotional stand-in for the player character). Additionally, the cinematic trailer debuted the Pictomancer job, which the popular character Krile will be assuming the role of in the expansion.
Lastly, the trailer reveals a ‘Summer 2024’ release window, meaning the expansion is likely to arrive between June and September. Director and producer Naoki Yoshida has confirmed that the team does have a date set internally, but he doesn’t want to reveal it until he’s confident the team can meet that deadline and avoid disappointing fans who were let down by Endwalker’s two-week delay back in 2021.
Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail jobs
Two new jobs (the game’s terminology for classes) will be added to the game when Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail releases. The first to be announced was Viper, a melee DPS (damage-per-second) class that, alongside Ninja, will find itself in the Scouting subcategory.
Vipers fight with dual swords that can be combined into a single twinblade. Trying out the job at the Media Tour, we learned the Viper has access to several combo finishers that grant buffs. Players are encouraged to keep these buffs active at all times for the most efficient damage output. When the blades are combined, access to another three-hit combo is enabled. Finally, when the Viper has enough in their Serpent's Ire gauge (which accumulates by using standard weaponskills) they'll gain access to a powerful combo that finishes off the rotation.
The second Dawntrail job that‘s coming with the expansion is the Pictomancer. This job is a ranged caster DPS, sharing the role with Black Mage, Red Mage, and Summoner. However, Pictomancer differs in that it uses a brush and palette to effectively paint spells, support buffs, and even creatures like a Moogle into existence. During the Tokyo Fan Fest keynote, director and producer Naoki Yoshida hinted that Pictomancer isn’t a full support class, but also won’t be as damage-focused as the heavy-hitting Black Mage.
We now know that Pictomancer's bread-and-butter combos come in the form of Aetherhue spells, which alternate between elements. Furthermore, Pictomancers can paint various Motifs that grant access to even more potent spells or party-wide buffs and heals.
Also teased was a brand new ‘limited’ job coming in Dawntrail: the Beastmaster. Following in the footsteps of Blue Mage, Beastmaster will likely differ in that it has its own set of unique mechanics and separate progression. We don’t know anything about Beastmaster beyond its name, but fans are speculating that they’ll be able to tame monsters and command them as their own.
Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail story and locations
Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail takes the Warrior of Light and their comrades to the continent of Tural. Previously referred to as the New World and situated in the far west of the planet, Tural looks to be a world apart from the existing continents of Eorzea, Othard, and Ilsabard.
Official story details are thin on the ground at present. However, we know that we’re being summoned to Tural to help resolve a rite of succession that will determine the next ruler of the continent. However, it seems that there’s going to be much more at stake, as Square Enix has teased that the rite of succession will sow division among our comrades. This may have something to do with the fabled ‘City of Gold,’ which, apparently, the contest is said to shed some light on.
We’ll likely begin the expansion in Tural’s capital city of Tuliyollal, which we’ll reach by sea from the port of Old Sharlayan, Endwalker’s hub city. Surrounding areas include Kozama’uka, a tropical region to the south of the city, and Shaaloani, an arid region situated in central Tural.
The Tokyo keynote also teased a hyper-futuristic city named Solution Nine. Sharing its name with a Trance ability from Final Fantasy 9, this cyberpunk-style locale really is unlike anything we’ve seen in Final Fantasy 14 so far.
Again, not much is known about Solution Nine beyond its science-fiction aesthetic. However, going off its official description of “a city of towering facades constructed by an entirely different civilization,” fans are theorizing that Solution Nine is a virtual space. Perhaps created to digitally safeguard something from the threat of The Final Days, which we dealt with during the events of Endwalker.
Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail raids and content
As with every other Final Fantasy 14 expansion, Dawntrail will feature challenging raid content for players to engage in with others. This expansion’s 24-player raid is known as Echoes of Vana’diel and acts as a collaboration with sister MMORPG Final Fantasy 11.
During the Tokyo Fan Fest keynote, the expansion’s eight-man raid series was revealed to be The Arcadion. Yoshida described the Arcadion as a wholly original story, not pulling from prior Final Fantasy games like we’re used to with older eight-man raid content. All we know about The Arcadion is its futuristic aesthetic, which has led fans to believe it’s tied to the city of Solution Nine, as described above.
Lastly, Dawntrail will still receive Ultimate raids as semi-frequent content. During the Tokyo keynote, Yoshida confirmed the first Dawntrail Ultimate raid to be ‘Futures Rewritten.’ This uses Shadowbringers’ Eden raids as inspiration. As a result, players brave enough to take on this hellishly difficult encounter can likely expect to cross blades (or books) with iconic bosses like Shiva, Fatebreaker, Eden’s Promise, and The Oracle of Darkness all within the same fight.
As for non-raid content, it appears that players will be well-served across Dawntrail’s patch cycle. We’ll be getting an all-new lifestyle content mode: Cosmic Exploration. Yoshida described it as an effort to restore civilizations across distant planets. Again, possibly in response to the galactic devastation that was The Final Days. Yoshida also confirmed new Field Operations content, which will be similar to the open-ended combat zones of Eureka from Stormblood and The Bozjan Southern Front from Shadowbringers.
Further updates include new Variant and Criterion dungeons, updates to Deep Dungeon content, new Unreal trials, and more that are listed on Dawntrail’s official landing page. We should also expect the usual additions of more dungeons and trials as the patch cycle continues over the next few years, assuming Creative Studio 3 is keeping the formula of one of each per major patch.
Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail news
Naoki Yoshida recommends...
At the Dawntrail Media Tour, TechRadar Gaming asked director and producer Naoki Yoshida if there's any existing content players should check out before diving into Dawntrail's main scenario.
"There is one piece of content that I would recommend that would provide insights into the lore of the world, and would connect to what would happen in Dawntrail," says Yoshida. "That would be Aloalo Island from the Variant Dungeon series. But apart from that, if I say too much, you'll get spoilers!"
Major graphical update incoming
The launch of Dawntrail will bring with it a graphical overhaul that updates much of Final Fantasy 14 Online’s textures and lighting. The new look isn’t dramatically different from what we have now, but the improvements to lighting especially appear to be quite transformative, including more reflective surfaces and more realistic details on characters and objects.
Female Hrothgar
Dawntrail will see the female variant of the Hrothgar race finally added to the game. Hrothgar were initially brought to Final Fantasy 14 Online in the Shadowbringers expansion, but only as a male character. Now, the addition of female Hrothgar rounds off the game’s selection of races. During the Tokyo keynote, Yoshida stated that female Hrothgar “will be the last one,” though he cheekily hinted that perhaps he can’t say that definitely, as it’ll depend on demand from the player base.
Final Fantasy 14 is coming to Xbox Series consoles
After years of promises and waiting, it has been confirmed that Final Fantasy 14 is finally coming to Xbox Series X|S consoles. An open beta will arrive sometime in late February (Square Enix has earmarked February 21, but has stressed this is subject to change), and the full game will likely be ready for Dawntrail’s release.
