Final Fantasy 14 fans received exciting news at the Tokyo Fan Festival as Square Enix unveiled details about the upcoming expansion, “Dawntrail.” While the release date remains undisclosed, the event introduced a new job, the Pictomancer, along with several other updates and improvements to the game.
Pictomancer: A new ranged, magical DPS job
One of the event’s highlights was the revelation of the Pictomancer, a new job added to the Final Fantasy 14 universe. This ranged, magical DPS job wields a paintbrush and palette, drawing inspiration from Final Fantasy 6’s character, Relm.
Pictomancers can paint creatures, weapons, and landscapes in the game, showcasing various colorful and visually appealing abilities. The Pictomancer can also buff the party, making it a versatile addition to the game’s job roster. The Lalafell Krile will represent the Pictomancer in the game’s story and join in Duty Support.
Notably, the Pictomancer job doesn’t require a specific class, starting at level 80 in Gridania. Players do not need artistic skills to excel in this unique role.
With the upcoming “Dawntrail” expansion, Final Fantasy 14 will receive its first-ever graphical update in Update 7.0. These improvements include more detailed textures, enhanced lighting, shadow effects, and muscle definition for playable races.
Notably, darker skin tones will look more natural and better illuminated, providing a more immersive gaming experience. Players will also have the option to customize their character’s appearance further, as armors will feature two dye channels.
Furthermore, players can create female Hrothgar characters, marking a significant addition to the game’s customization options. These lioness women will be introduced through a new NPC in Patch 6.55, part two, scheduled for release on January 16th.
Exploring the vast world of Tural
“Dawntrail” will transport players to the western region of Tural, a vibrant and diverse land reminiscent of North and South America. The expansion will encompass northern and southern parts of Tural, with two story arcs occurring across these areas.
Tural boasts a variety of environments, including tribal settlements, tropical jungles, luminescent forests, and even a Wild West-inspired mining town. Additionally, players can look forward to exploring Solution Nine, a futuristic cyberpunk city, and Heritage Found, a city filled with lightning energy and striking visuals.
Apart from the Pictomancer and graphical enhancements, the Tokyo Fan Festival unveiled several key updates. The 7.X series of patches will bring updates to the Blue Mage Job, more Hildibrand adventures, new plans for Deep Dungeons, a Gold Saucer update, and enhancements to PvP.
Additionally, players can anticipate a new limited Job, the Beastmaster, in the latter part of 7.X, complementing the Blue Mage with a unique beast collection feature.
A new lifestyle content feature, Cosmic Exploration, will allow players to explore different planets either solo or cooperatively. While details about the planets remain scarce, this feature appears to expand upon the Island Sanctuary introduced in “Endwalker.”
Fans of Final Fantasy 11 will be delighted to hear that an Alliance Raid inspired by the game will arrive in Patch 7.1, featuring The Shadow Lord. Additionally, a new 8-player raid, The Arcadion, will debut one month after the release of “Dawntrail,” offering an inside look into a futuristic GPU. The Ultimate Raid, Futures Unwritten, will also be introduced in Patch 7.1.
Furthermore, an open beta for Final Fantasy 14 on Xbox will begin around February 21st, and players can anticipate The Path Infernal, a crossover questline with Final Fantasy 16, in early April.
