FF14 first trial mount for 7.0 teased, plus tons more Dawntrail goodies

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 sets to mounts, minions, boss gameplay, more detailed looks at Tural's new areas, and new system features, there are plenty of goodies to unpack.

First FFXIV Dawntrail trial mount teased

Well into 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 get during their journey through Dawntrail. One that we didn't necessarily expect to see so soon, however, was the first official trial mount for 7.0, and it's an exceptionally happy surprise.

As Yoshi-P demonstrates, the mount itself is a set of wings that attach to the player's back, allowing them to essentially "be" the mount. Many players have actually been begging for this type of mount since it was first teased in the early days of Endwalker with wing fashion accessories and the winged transport in The Excitatron Treasure Dungeon.

So, each trial mount released throughout 7.0 will be a different-looking set of wings that players can flex in every sense of the word. We can only imagine what the final mount will look like after collecting them all.

Other adorable mounts such as an Alpaca and Sugar Glider (seen above) were also delightfully teased, and the latter demonstrates good use of Dawntrail's new "mount leaning" navigation feature. Dawntrail is definitely set for some serious "mount drip" that players will be striving to get their hands on.

Various adorable Dawntrail minions

Along with plenty of mounts to show off, Yoshi-P had several minions to reveal as well that likely will drop from a variety of types of content throughout Dawntrail. Included were a hilarious-looking lizard (apparently an homage to the Chupacabra), a Leopard cub, a baby Mamoolja, a miniature version of the buff new Cactuar enemy, a charming grey housecat, and, of course, a miniature Alpaca.

Eccentric role and (raid?) gearsets revealed

There were also some new gearset looks for Yoshi-P to show off in his usual visual printout fashion, and he started with the very...well, hardcore role gear for all DoW and DoM classes that players can expect to get after finishing Dawntrail's new role questlines. So far, the FFXIV community has been very outspoken about its visual ties to influences like Fist of the North Star and even the Mad Max feature films.

He also revealed a couple of looks from the new tomestone gear that players will be able to exchange for Dawntrail's new tomestone currency, Allagan Tomestones of Aesthetics and Heliometry. The latter tomestones won't become available until Patch 7.05. While the glimpse was brief, Yoshi-P did take care to show the look for Pictomancer (seen above), one of Dawntrail's new combat jobs.

The most eccentric-looking gear by far, however, is the hyper-futuristic looks, which range from body suits to other tech-heavy looks. Yoshi-P took care not to show them all or spoil where these sets can be obtained from, but given their overall look, we can surmise that this likely is the first set of Arcadion raid gear. The Arcadion raids (normal difficulty) will be available in patch 7.01, which comes on July 16, and the savage version of the tier will drop later in Patch 7.05 on July 30.

Closer looks at various Dawntrail areas

As the release of Dawntrail gets ever closer, Yoshi-P took care to give even closer looks at various areas in Dawntrail, including some new ones, though he clarifies that this still isn't all of them.

Nonetheless, we got the finalized version of Tulliyollal's dock city, where we'll first be arriving in the expansion. We also got a shot of a never-before-seen hub called 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 under the sunlight, another part of the region is hidden under a tree canopy so thick that it resembles nighttime beneath it, with some beautiful foliage to boot.

There are also shots of mountainous Urqopacha, which Yoshi-P noted will be very traversable. In other words, the mountainscapes aren't just for scenery. Two shots of Heritage 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 that got its very own grand concept art (and some potential glam teases).

Brief footage of boss fights including Arcadion

Yoshi-P also provided some first-hand footage of two major boss fights that can be encountered in Dawntrail. The first shown is the trial boss fight against Valigarmanda, a major adversary and plot point in the expansion. Yoshi-P takes care not to show much at all in terms of mechanics, but the fight takes place on a giant stone pillar towering in the clouds of what is probably over Tulliyollal or somewhere nearby. The first winged trial mount teased later in the livestream apparently drops from this fight.

The other major battle shown off was one of the raid bosses from The Arcadion 8-man raid series, which takes place in a polar opposite setting. Set clearly in the depths of Solution Nine—players will face off against various foes in a vibrant arena setting, with NPCs filling the stands and an announcer narrating the fight itself, which is an absolute first for FFXIV. Little was revealed about the identity of the boss itself, but the Japanese over its health bar translates to "Black Cat," so we have that, at least.

New launch trailer reveals subtle plot hints and a mysterious maiden

To coincide with the imminent launch of Dawntrail, a brand-new trailer was also shown with plenty of new visual plot hints to stare at and ponder. While Yoshi-P gave virtually nothing away about what players can expect with the story, despite their extremely contrasting aesthetics, it looks like the futuristic world of Solution Nine will clash with Tulliyollal and its surrounding regions.

How exactly remains to be seen, but it seems that the fabled City of Gold written in the annals of Tural's history actually alludes to the world of Solution Nine. Either way, it looks like Wuk Lamat will have to go to even greater lengths to protect her homeland of Tural and further prove her ability to ascend to her father's throne.

Other subtle hints include a chalice-shaped object that seems to be incredibly important in some way and our Scions stepping through an extremely yellow portal somewhere. All in all, this entirely new storyline is set to get off to a fascinating start with Dawntrail.

FFXIV x Gong Cha boba collaboration event launches in July

The extensive Live Letter concluded with various product promotions, including yet another drink-related collaboration event set to take the proverbial baton after the Mountain Dew collab event currently going on.

The FFXIV x Gong Cha collaboration event kicks off on July 17 and ends on August 28. Players can participate by purchasing at least 3 drinks in one transaction from any participating Gong Cha shop in North America, Europe, and Oceania regions. Likely 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 Shadowbringers' beast tribe questline.

Further details will probably follow up at Dawntrail's launch, including how exactly to redeem your transactions.

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