Pictomancer Class, Female Hrothgar, And More Revealed At Final Fantasy XIV Tokyo Fan Fest

This is it – or mostly it. Yesterday, during the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Fest keynote in Tokyo, Yoshi-P revealed a whole bunch of new things coming when Dawntrail drops this Summer. We know you’re going to ask, so we’ll tell you now. No. He did not reveal the launch date, although he did guarantee the Summer window. When he brought the topic of the date up, Yoshi-P noted that the team is adjusting the date as they go along in order to allow themselves time to ensure everything is the way it should be – without delaying the release like they had to do with Endwalker. Even if it were just for a week or two, Yoshi-P views another delay as a terrible thing.

So, at the moment, we have a three-month window. They do promise to let us know when things are more set in stone.

With that out of the way. There were plenty of interesting reveals during yesterday’s stream. The first would be that Krile finally has a combat job of her own – and we finally know what that job is. Sorry Green Mage fans, the second class coming in Dawntrail is the Pictomancer. This job is pulled from Final Fantasy VI, but it’s modified. Rather than simply replicating monsters, XIV’s Pictomancer can paint all kinds of things, including landscapes. They’re a ranged magical DPS, and they’re very stylish.

If you’re a German player, you’ll notice that the translated name for this job is different from the original Duplikant. This is because the job no longer just duplicates monsters. So, going forward – even in future standalone games – the German translation will be Piktomant.

Speaking of jobs, a limited job was revealed later in the Keynote. For the people who were guessing we’d be getting a Beastmaster job, you were right. There’s no image for this job yet. As with a lot of the side content, we’ll probably begin finding out more about it once the main content is taken care of.

And yes, to go along with that is the newest (and last – unless we really want another one) race. The Hrothgar female was shown in the trailer, but Yoshi-P waited until the very end to acknowledge her. The trailer rep for this job is the daughter of the current ruler of Tural – and the one who requested the WoL’s assistance. We’ll meet her officially in Patch 6.55 Part 2 on January 16. (Side note: Server downtime for this patch will be 24 hours as the devs are replacing server equipment on the Japanese Data Center.)

During this stream, we also got a full look at what the map will be after 7.0 drops. Let’s just say the Tural is a big place. And it’s varied. By this point, we’ve all seen the Central/South America-inspired scenery and buildings, including the jungles. But that’s not all that’s there. Yoshi also showed us what looks like an Old West-themed village, and an area that looks like they pulled it right out of a cyberpunk movie named Solution 9. This is an actual world area and not a dungeon. Although, there is a raid with the same theme.

In addition, another area named Heritage Found, combines structures that appear to come from two different societies. This area is full of lightning energy and thick clouds cover the sun. And for some reason, there’s a carousel.

As noted, we were offered some information about Dawntrail’s eight-man raid. We got an image, and a title. And yes, The Arcadion is very much like it’s probably located somewhere in Solution 9. It will have a normal and savage mode as always and will roll out a bit after Dawntrail drops – to give everyone time to get other things done.

If you haven’t completed the current Ultimates, you probably have somewhere between six and eight months to get it done before everyone gets distracted by the new big shiny. And considering this one features Rhyn and Gaia, it’s sure to distract. Yes, the new Ultimate is based on the Eden content and is titled Futures Rewritten. It will drop in Patch 7.1

Oh, yes, and that Final Fantasy XI-based Alliance Raid? They offered a bit of a hint by way of an image of The Shadowlord. Do with that what you will, XI fans. The other crossover, the Final Fantasy XVI event should arrive sometime in April. But that is subject to change.

For those of us who enjoy the crafting life, Yoshi-P teased something called Cosmic Exploration. It will take us back to the stars as we visit different planets, and as we do our thing the planets (or at least the area of the planet) we visit will change. He notes that this content can be done solo, but is intended to be worked on together. So, it sounds like the Firmament, but in space.

As for the rest of the stream, a good bit of time was spent highlighting the graphical upgrades to characters. We have to say, there are some definite differences and darker-skinned characters should really benefit from what they’ve done. When Dawntrail drops, players will get a free Fantasia so that they can make adjustments to their character – if they’re not entirely satisfied with what the game did on its own.

New mobs and tribes were revealed. And new gear and recipes were promised. Oh yes, and the new two-dye system for dying gear was demonstrated. For a glimpse of all of that, you can watch the Keynote below.