Are you ready to lose a large chunk of your life? Final Fantasy XIV has been a ridiculously rewarding time-sink since A Realm Reborn revitalised the MMORPG in 2013, and Naoki Yoshida and his team seem to have designs on a few more hundred hours of your time with the upcoming Dawntrail expansion, due to arrive this summer. As we make our way towards that hot and humid time of year, Square Enix are dripfeeding us with information to keep us slavering at our screens, and this weekend’s announcement showcases the all-new Pictomancer job class. In keeping with the vibrant reveal, the Pictomancer is a magical ranged DPS job that works in the medium of mixed aether, wielding a specialised brush to render their imaginings reality. So they’re painting their way to maximum damage, which sounds pretty awesome.
It’s definitely pretty unique, and you can see the Pictomancer in full effect in the gameplay video below. There’s a hint of Epic Mickey, a splash of Splatoon and more thant a little bit of Okami in the way that the Pictomancer’s attacks land, generating images before wrapping up their foes in painful paint. It’s like GCSE art, but you get EXP.
Alongside the Pictomancer, Yoshida used this weekend’s keynote to provide more details for Dawntrail, including the arrival of a new playable race, the Female Hrothgar. The Hrothgar people hail from Ilsabard, and there are very few women. They are readily identified by their lithe, muscular forms and their predisposition for leadership.
There’s also an all-new city called Solution Nine, a place of towering facades constructed by an entirely different civilization than that of Tuliyollal. It’s definitely got more than a hint of Cyberpunk in its neon-infused skyscrapers, and it’s instantly different to what we’ve seen before in the game, expanding the world’s reach even further.
Alongside these key announcements, Dawntrail will also bring the following to Final Fantasy XIV, keeping both fans and newcomers busy for months to come.
- 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 – A walkthrough video featuring some of the new dungeons coming in Dawntrail can be seen here: https://youtu.be/DWCU9pRrfOQ
- 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
While PC and PlayStation players have been enjoying the delights of Final Fantasy XIV for many years, it’s finally the turn for Xbox owners, with an open beta tasking place in February prior to the game full launch this spring. Just in time for Dawntrail. Xbox players may have a little catching up to do…
