As Final Fantasy XIV fans around the globe pulled up the official broadcast stream for Japan Fanfest 2024 this past weekend, of course the million dollar question on everyone’s mind was the grand reveal of the second new playable job for the upcoming expansion, Dawntrail.
Head developer Naoki Yoshida certainly knew that as well, as he put it at the very forefront of his grand keynote on Saturday.
He kicked things off with an expanded version of Dawntrail’s trailer, which notably showcased fan favorite Krile wielding a painter’s palette and a paintbrush the size of a staff weapon. Per classic FFXIV tradition, which has always had each of the Scions wielding the latest jobs in the game, it was immediately clear to vets that Krile had finally joined the club as the newest job mascot.
That in turn led to Yoshi-P giving everyone what they wanted as the very first topic of the keynote — the official job reveal. Needless to say, he did a very impressive job this time around throwing a good amount of people off the trail. Soon after the Fanfest London event last year, the biggest consensus at the time for a “magical ranged DPS” job amongst the community was Green Mage.
This was especially bolstered by the little green clover trinket that Krile was seen holding in the final cutscene of the last MSQ patch. However, given Green Mage’s inherently limited skill set in FF Tactics, and the fact that FFXIV already has a “limited” class in Blue Mage, it frankly would have seemed like a gimmicky and almost off-putting choice.
A job showcase trailer instead put the delightfully colorful strokes of the one and only Pictomancer on display, a worthy and absolutely fun-looking addition to the game alongside the dual-wielding Viper job. While the newest melee DPS is an homage to main protagonist Zidane Tribal in FF9, Pictomancer hearkens to Relm Arrowny from FF6, which Yoshi-P mentions shortly after the initial announcement.
Relm is one of the most memorable characters from the franchise’s sixth installment, which chronicled the epic journey of the insurgent group known as the Returners, whom vehemently opposed the brutish global takeover by the Geshtalian Empire.
While experiencing a fragmented and tragic childhood that saw her growing up with a friend of her deceased mother named Strago, Relm is described as a sassy young girl with a truly good heart. At just 10 years old, she proves to be exceptionally talented with a paintbrush and that is ultimately reflected in her primary ability in battle, which back then was known as ‘Sketch’.
Essentially, she’s able to draw literally any opponent she faces off against and use their likeness against them. Eventually she teams up with the Returners to help them defeat Kefka and rescue Strago from the brainwashed Cult of Kefka.
Ironically, Yoshi-P later revealed much later in the keynote that the next upcoming limited class in Dawntrail would be Beastmaster, much to the excitement of many whom have been wanting the iconic class to debut in XIV in some fashion for years. However, it also cleverly ties in with Relm’s Pictomancer, whose skillset also shares the Beastmaster ability ‘Control’ when she equips a certain relic in FF6.
In XIV, Pictomancer will function as a well-rounded magical DPS job in some variation between Black Mage and Red Mage. While it will have buffs to provide the party with, Yoshi-P did confirm that Pictomancer will not have a Revive ability. That’s likely for the best, as Red Mage would essentially be out of a job (aha) otherwise. It’s going to have enough competition as it is with another mage in the mix now, and it’ll definitely be entertaining to see Party Finder filled to the brim with brush-wielding Warriors of Light.
Overall, it’s absolutely exciting to see the most unique-looking magic dealer job to date debuting with XIV’s newest saga, and it’s clear that the job is taking full advantage of the huge graphic update coming in the new expansion as well. Pictomancer will get to weave all kinds of magical abilities in an entirely new aesthetic than we’ve seen before in the game, which will in turn set a new standard for future classes in XIV.
The Dawntrail expansion is set to release this upcoming Summer, likely in June or July, we’re estimating. Yoshi-P admitted at JP Fanfest that while they were still on schedule, they didn’t want to confirm a release date just yet until they’re truly ready and confident in it. That means we’ll have to wait a little longer for pre-order details as well. Either way, he said it would absolutely be the Summer, and to trust “XIV time” and not “Square Enix” time. We see what you did there, sir.
If you’d like to see the new, extended trailer for FFXIV’s Dawntrail expansion, feel free to check it out below.
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