Dawntrail, the fifth expansion for Final Fantasy XIV, launches this summer on July 2. The announcement came during the PAX FFXIV Tenth Anniversary panel hosted by director and producer Naoki Yoshida. The Final Fantasy XVI crossover event is also on the way, launching April 2.
As always, you’ll be able to play a few days early if you preorder FFXIV Dawntrail, and the Version 7.0 Early Access period begins on June 28. There’s also a Dawntrail Collector’s Edition on the way, which includes a digital-only or physical version. Either way, you get Cruise Chaser’s big brother with a new Ark mount. Pre-orders for FFXIV Version 7.0 begin next week, March 26, 2024. Early purchases net you the Wind-up Zidane minion and Azeyma’s Earrings.
Perhaps the most important news of the day, though, is that Yoshida and the team wanted to announce Dawntrail for the week earlier, but the Elden Ring DLC happened. He says he’ll give us one week to enjoy ourselves in FromSoftware’s next hellish addition, then it’s FFXIV time. Anyway, there’s evidence:
While this is the planned release date, there may yet be delays, as happened prior to the release of Endwalker, which was delayed by two weeks, very close to the initially planned release. Still, this is a much more concrete date to look forward to than we previously had.
And what about the very good boy Torgal mount?
Torgal is on the way still, don’t you worry. The Path to Infernal, the Final Fantasy XVI crossover event with FFXIV, heads to the realm on April 2. There’s the big boy version, an actual Torgal mount, then the adorable puppy version we see early on in FFXVI gets its own minion.
During the Panel, Yoshida promised a ‘more fulfilling gaming experience’, along with a new large-scale combat scenario akin to the Bozjan Southern Front or Eureka. Yoshi-P also acknowledged some frustrations players have with the current difficulty we’ve seen in Endwalker and even prior, or lack thereof. The director noted that he’s even a little bored with some battles, and would like to adjust the content to feel a little less predictable.
It has also been revealed that players are likely to see a significant increase in the number of rewards going into Dawntrail, though Yoshida was pretty vague about where these rewards would come from. As for the graphic updates headed to Final Fantasy XIV, just make sure your PCs are up to date. The system requirements will bump up yet again.
