Final Fantasy XIV’s last live letter before Dawntrail’s launch revealed a new trailer along with an extraordinary amount of new content for players to look forward to. Everything from new gear to mounts, minions, boss gameplay, more detailed looks at Tural’s new areas and new system features, there’s a lot of goodies to unpack.
First FFXIV Dawntrail trial mount teased
Well in the Live Letter broadcast, FFXIV director Naoki (“Yoshi-P”) Yoshida took the time to reveal a handful of new mounts that players can expect to receive during their journey through Dawntrail. One we didn’t necessarily expect to see so soon, however, was the first official test build for 7.0, and it’s an exceptionally happy surprise.
As Yoshi-P points out, the mountain itself is a set of wings that attach to the player’s back, allowing them to essentially “be” the mountain. Many players have actually been begging for this type of mount since it was first teased in the early days of Endwalker with winged fashion accessories and the winged transport in The Excitatron Treasure Dungeon.
So, every trial mount released throughout 7.0 will be a different set of wings that players can bend in every sense of the word. We can only imagine what the final mountain will look like after collecting them all.
Other adorable mounts such as Alpaca and Sugar Glider (seen above) have also been delightfully teased, with the latter demonstrating good use of Dawntrail’s new ‘mountain tilted’ navigation feature. Dawntrail is definitely ready for some serious “mountain drop” that players will be scrambling to get their hands on.
Various adorable minions of Dawntrail
Along with plenty of mounts to show off, Yoshi-P had several minions to reveal as well, which will likely drop from various types of content across Dawntrail. Included were a hilarious-looking lizard (apparently an homage to the Chupacabra), a Leopard kid, a baby Mamolja, a miniature version of the buff new Cactuar enemy, an adorable gray house cat, and, of course, a miniature Alpaca.
Eccentric role and (raid?) gearsets revealed
There were also some new looks for Yoshi-P to show off in his usual visual print fashion, and he started off with the very… well, hardcore role-playing gear for all DoW and DoM classes that players can expect to receive after completing Dawntrail. new character questlines. Until now, the FFXIV community has been very open about its visual connections to influences like Fist of the North Star and even the Mad Max feature films.
He also revealed some aspects of the new tomestone gear, which players will be able to exchange for Dawntrail’s new tomestone currency, Allagan Tomestones of Aesthetics and Heliometry. The latter tombstones will not become available until patch 7.05. While the glimpse was brief, Yoshi-P did make sure to show the appearance of Pictomancer (seen above), one of Dawntrail’s new battleworks.
The most eccentric-looking gear, however, is the hyper-futuristic looks, which range from bodysuits to other tech-heavy aspects. Yoshi-P was careful not to show them all or spoil where these sets can be obtained, but from their general appearance, we can assume that this is probably the first set of Arcadion raid gear. The Arcadion raids (normal difficulty) will be available in patch 7.01, which is coming on July 16th, and the wild version of the level will drop later in patch 7.05 on July 30th.
A closer look at various Dawntrail areas
As the release of Dawntrail gets closer and closer, Yoshi-P has taken care to give even closer looks at various areas in Dawntrail, including some new ones, although he explains that this is not all of them yet.
However, we got the finalized version of the port city of Tulliollal, where we will first arrive in the expansion. We also got a shot of a never-before-seen hub named Shaaloani, which gives off some very charming Wild West vibes in the middle of a desert region.
Other areas shown include a village entrance in the vibrantly colorful Kozama’uka, where the iconic jagged waterfalls are located, along with two contrasting areas of Yak’Tel, another tropical region. While one is bright and lush in the sunlight, another part of the region is hidden under a canopy of trees so thick it looks like night beneath it, with some pretty foliage to boot.
There are also shots of Mount Urqopacha, which Yoshi-P noted will be very passable. In other words, the mountainscapes are not just for scenery. Two shots from Legacy Found include a look at an ominous, deserted city, and we also get a deeper look at Solution Nine, Dawntrail’s highly-anticipated hyper-futuristic hub, which has received its own grand concept art (and some possible glam teases).
Yoshi-P also provided some first-hand footage of two major boss battles that can be encountered in Dawntrail. The first shown is the judicial boss fight against Valigarmanda, a major opponent and plot point in the expansion. Yoshi-P is careful not to show much at all in terms of mechanics, but the battle takes place on a giant stone pillar towering in the clouds of what is probably above Tulliollal or somewhere nearby. The first winged test mount teased later in the livestream apparently falls from this battle.
The other major battle shown was one of the raid bosses from The Arcadion 8-man raid series, which takes place in a polar opposite setting. Clearly in the depths of Solution Nine — players will encounter a variety of enemies in an animated arena, with NPCs filling the stands and an announcer narrating the battle itself, which is an absolute first for FFXIV. Little has been revealed about the identity of the boss itself, but the Japanese above its health bar translates to “Black Cat,” so we have that, at least.
A new launch trailer reveals subtle plot hints and a mysterious maiden
To coincide with Dawntrail’s imminent launch, a brand new trailer was also shown with plenty of new visual plot hints to look at and ponder. While Yoshi-P gave away next to nothing about what players can expect with the story, despite their extremely contrasting aesthetics, it looks like the futuristic worlds of Solution Nine and Heritage Found will clash with Tulliyolal in some way.
How exactly remains to be seen, but it could certainly go down a variety of paths. Although it sounds like a big stretch, some parts of the FFXIV community have even thrown out hints to The Matrix regarding how the areas are connected. Either way, it looks like Wuk Lamat will have to protect her homeland from Tural even longer and further prove her ability to ascend to her father’s throne.
Other subtle hints include a goblet-shaped object that seems to be incredibly important in some way, and our Scions going through an extremely yellow portal somewhere. All in all, this brand new storyline is set to a fascinating start with Dawntrail.
FFXIV x Gong Cha boba collaboration event launches in July
Image via Square Enix
The comprehensive Life Letter ended with various product promotions, including another collaboration-related beverage set to pick up the proverbial baton after the A Mountain Dew collaboration event is currently underway.
The FFXIV x Gong Cha collaboration event starts on July 17th and ends on August 28th. Players can participate by purchasing at least 3 drinks in one transaction from any participating Gong Cha store in North America, Europe and Oceania regions. Probably similar to the Butterfinger collaboration event from a few years ago, players should keep their receipts as they will likely be used to redeem for the Porxie King Mount, a royal variant of the existing Porxie mount from the Shadowbringers animal tribe quest line.
More details will likely follow at Dawntrail’s launch, including how to properly redeem your transactions.
Be sure to check out all our latest Final Fantasy XIV guides and news at Pro Game Guides, like All unlockable hairstyles in FFXIV.
