Nearly two years after Endwalker released, Square Enix announced the Final Fantasy XIV 7.0 expansion: Dawntrail. Naoki Yoshida, the MMO game’s director, made the announcement during the annual FF XIV Fanfest celebration alongside a new trailer and said the expansion will launch sometime in summer 2024.
Dawntrail is a pretty big deal for the long-running Final Fantasy XIV. Endwalker wrapped up the story that Square Enix started in 2013’s A Realm Reborn, so this new expansion is exploring uncharted territory – literally. Dawntrail will take the Warrior of Light to the New World, a location west of Eorzea that has, until now, just been mentioned in passing and is officially called Tural. At least, one part of it is.
They won’t go alone, either. The Dawntrail trailer showed several of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn along for the ride, including Y’shtola, G’raha Tia, and Thancred, along with Meteor Survivor sporting a very Pirates of the Caribbean look.
Yoshida described Dawntrail as “the perfect summer vacation,” one where the WoL and companions take part in determining Tural’s new leader. Tural is home to a new hub city with what Yoshida called a diverse population of people living in harmony with nature.
Dawntrail also introduces two new classes, a ranged DPS and a magic DPS. What they are remains to be seen, but as is tradition, Yoshida pointed to what he was wearing as a clue: a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles shirt.
The level cap will increase to 100, every job is getting new skills, and there’s a new dungeon and more “lifestyle” content alongside new gear, recipes, and enemies.
Yoshida briefly previewed the long-awaited new model and gear overhauls and said they’ll apply in 7.0, then go back and add them to 2.0 characters and work through older expansions from there. The lighting in particular is a significant update that finally washes away the game’s characteristically muddy, blurry appearance.
Expect more news on Final Fantasy XIV 7.0 Dawntrail in the coming months.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF