Analysis: What could Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail’s new Job classes be?

After concluding a ten-year-long story arc in Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, Final Fantasy XIV is set to begin a new chapter with Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail. This upcoming expansion to Square Enix’s long-running MMORPG will take players on a grand adventure where they explore a new continent called Tural, challenge new bosses and raid dungeons, learn new Jobs to help players succeed in battle, and much more.

In addition, Xbox fans will be joining PC gamers on this endeavor as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn and all its expansions are finally coming to Xbox. 

Naoki Yoshida (a.k.a. Yoshi-P), the director of FFXIV, stated during the FFXIV Fan Festival that there would be two new Jobs introduced in Dawntrail — a Melee DPS Job and a Ranged Magic DPS Job. Since then, fans have begun speculating what these new Jobs could be from hints provided by the FFXIV: Dawntrail reveal trailer and from Yoshi-P himself.

Here some are ideas from FFXIV fans and from us at Windows Central as to what these Jobs may be.

The new Melee DPS Job for FFXIV: Dawntrail

The Youtuber, “Quazli FFXIV”, did a deep dive analysis of the cinematic reveal for Dawntrail and noticed some hidden details that may hint at what the new Melee DPS Job could be. In the trailer, the Warrior of Light (the player character) is seen wearing a robe and brandishing a medieval-style long sword in one hand.

During a fight with Gulool Ja Ja, a two-headed Mamool Ja that will be crucial to Dawntrail’s plot, the Warrior of Light gets knocked back and his robe is pulled slightly to reveal an outfit that looks like something a pirate would wear. Quazli then upscaled and brightened this scene and spotted an object hanging by the Warrior of Light’s waist which looks to be a pistol of some kind.

Then in another scene at the end of the trailer, Quazli notices that the Warrior of Light is holding objects that aren’t actually there (the objects are probably hidden on purpose by developers to conceal the Job until the full trailer is released). The Warrior of Light is positioning his left hand in the air as if he’s gripping the hilt of a sword and his right hand is slightly gripping an object while keeping his index finger straight as if he’d holding a gun while keeping his finger off the trigger.

Given these hints, it is highly likely the new Melee DPS will be a pirate-themed Job. In the Final Fantasy franchise, there have been two Jobs that could fit the bill for what we are seeing in Dawntrail. The first is the Cannoneer, a Job introduced in Final Fantasy V: Advance where a player character dons a privateer outfit that attacks their enemies with knives, swords, and cannons. 

The other potential Job could be the Corsair, a Job introduced in Final Fantasy XI. This is another pirate-themed Job where a player character fights with knives, swords, and a special six-barreled revolver called a Hexagun. In addition, Corsairs have a unique ability where they provide positive buffs to party members by rolling dice and drawing playing cards.

Whether it is a newly-named Job or the returning Cannoneer or Corsair, a pirate-themed Job is certainly a novel idea for FFXIV. Not to mention, it would fit easily into the lore of FFXIV as one of the starting hub areas, Limsa Lominsa, is a town founded by reformed pirates. There are a few characters there I can imagine who could teach Warrior of Light this pirate-themed Job like Eynzahr Slafyrsyn or even Merlwyb Bloefhiswyn.

The new Ranged Magical DPS Job for FFXIV: Dawntrail

For the Ranged Magical DPS Job, guessing what it could be is a lot more tricky. All we have to go on at the moment is a hint from Yoshi-P is a shirt of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles he wore during the FFXIV Fan Festival. At first glance many players, including myself thought “Wait a minute. We already have a Ninja Job in Final Fantasy XIV. This doesn’t make any sense.”

However, some fans on Twitter like URAunitB have been thinking outside the box and come up with a startling revelation. 

URAunitB reasons that since the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are named after Renaissance painters, this could imply that the hint given by Yoshi-P is that the new Ranged Magical DPS Job will be a painter-themed/Pictomancer Job. A painter-themed Job may sound ridiculous but it does exist in various JRPGs created by Square Enix. 

In Final Fantasy VI, there is a playable character called Relm who is a magic-user that has the unique ability to sketch paintings of monsters and have them come to life to attack enemies.

In Bravely Default 2, there is a Job called the Pictomancer. Their main game plan is to create paintings that debuff enemies or buff party members. However, some drawings Pictomancers create can deal damage to enemies. A painter-themed Job is unorthodox say the least and how such a Job will be integrated into Final Fantasy XIV and who will teach the players the Job is anybody’s guess at the moment.

Still, the idea of a Pictomancer in Final Fantasy XIV sounds like a neat idea. Creating monsters through sketches and weakening enemies through paintings would be an interesting and quirky playstyle to balance out the more-destructive Magical Ranged DPS Jobs like Black Mage and Summoner.

New adventures and Jobs await us in The New World

As you can see, there are all sorts of possibilities as to what these new Jobs could be. An MMORPG with a community as passionate and creative as this is one of the reasons why Final Fantasy XIV is one of the best multiplayer games on PC.

What do you personally think? Do you agree with these fan predictions that we could see pirate and painter Jobs added into Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail or do you have different ideas on what the new Jobs could be? If you have a different prediction, say your piece in the Windows Central Discord forum and we’ll highlight it.

In the meantime, we will find out the true answer in the coming months as more information on this upcoming title for both PC and Xbox will be unveiled at the next Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festivals in London on October 2023 and Tokyo on January 2024.