There’s been a lot of excitement around Final Fantasy 14’s upcoming new classes, Viper and Pictomancer, that will be released in Dawntrail. Now thanks to a Job Action-focused Letter from the Producer Live, known as a “Live Letter,” we have an in-depth preview of both of these classes.
Viper’s rotation has abilities for both dual-wielding and dual-blade modes, which have unique abilities each. Both include a series of proc’d and combo actions, which appear as gauges are filled and are replaced in the hotbar automatically as the sequence continues. A “reawaken” mode is activated eventually, letting you return to double-blade for a flurry of attacks on the target.
Pictomancer is a lot fancier in its appearances. You’re asked to “paint” three different “motifs:” a creature, weapon, and landscape, represented by “canvases.” Each motif is eventually “rendered” in order to create a real-life attack, moving from canvas to reality. There’s also a gauge that shows Light and Dark “aether hues,” indicating what kind of combo-able spell you’re going to cast, and a “palette gauge” that shows your accumulation for more powerful spells.
Director and producer Naoki Yoshida, as a Black Mage main, also points out that cast times are long, but you can occupy your fingers for those whole awful 2.3 seconds before recast by weaving in other attacks.
Speaking of Black Mages, we get to pick up and move our Leylines in Dawntrail. Just saying. That’s both good and insanely funny.
If you want to see these in action briefly, including all the other Job Action changes, you can watch the Live Letter VOD, which is thankfully timestamped out on YouTube. It also addressed the ongoing DDoS attacks and the upcoming Benchmark replacement—which is looking fantastic, by the way.
Both new classes will be acquirable at Level 80 upon Dawntrail's launch and require purchase of the expansion, following other expansions' precedent.
