Dawntrail is the start of a brand new adventure for Final Fantasy XIV, taking the Warrior of Light to the uncharted lands of the continent of Tural, also known as the New World. Expansions are always major events for FFXIV, adding a lengthy new story, two new jobs, a wealth of quests, dungeons, equipment, and much more. With dozens of hours of adventuring awaiting eager players, you’ll want to know exactly when you can hit the road in Dawntrail. Here’s everything you need to know about the expansion’s release time and scheduled maintenance.
When Is FFXIV: Dawntrail’s Maintenance Period?
As with every expansion, Final Fantasy XIV will have an extended maintenance period before the launch of Dawntrail. This will last quite a bit longer than the usual patch maintenance periods, taking the game entirely offline for two days. The horror, I know. You’ll just have to find something else to play in that time, maybe beat a boss or two in Elden Ring.
Dawntrail’s 48-hour maintenance will begin on Wednesday, June 26. Here’s the exact time the maintenance will begin in each timezone.
- North America West Coast - 2am PT
- North America East Coast- 5am ET
- United Kingdom - 10am BST
- Europe - 11am CEST
- Japan - 6pm JST
- Australia - 7pm AEDT
Once the maintenance is done you’ll be able to log back into FFXIV. If you’ve pre-ordered Dawntrail the Early Access period will then begin, which we’ll get to next. Of course, if you don’t want to jump into Dawntrail yet, you can simply play the game as normal.
When Is the Dawntrail Early Access Release Time?
While Dawntrail officially releases on July 5, if you’ve pre-ordered the game anywhere you’ll be able to start playing when Early Access begins on June 28. An important note, pre-ordering the game will give you a bonus code you need to redeem on Mogstation. There are full instructions on how to do that on the official FFXIV website.
Below are the times Early Access will go live on June 28. Remember you’ll need to download the files for the expansion, so log in as early as possible after maintenance ends.
- North America West Coast - 2am PT
- North America East Coast- 5am ET
- United Kingdom - 10am BST
- Europe - 11am CEST
- Japan - 6pm JST
- Australia - 7pm AEDT
The Early Access period will end on July 5, at which point you’ll need to register your full release code for Dawntrail in order to keep playing.
Patch Notes and Changes In Dawntrail
Apart from all of the content in Dawntrail, version 7.0 is bringing a ton of changes to FFXIV as a whole. Among these are job overhauls for Dragoon, Monk, Ninja, Astrologian, and more. While we don’t have the full patch notes quite yet, Square Enix has released the preliminary patch notes for 7.0, showing dozens of additions and changes.
Interestingly, there are actually a ton of really great quality-of-life changes coming in 7.0, that should help streamline a lot. Here are a few of those highlights that aren’t Dawntrail-specific. You can view the full patch notes here.
- Players can now temporarily hide the display of nearby characters when interacting with quest-related NPCs of objects.
- Players can now select icons in the Duty List to carry out quest objectives such as using emotes or opening the Crafting Log.
- Players may not adjust auto-advance settings to apply only to voiced dialogue.
- The maximum store of bicolor gemstones has been increased from 1000 to 1500.
- Estate Holder Rights system has been implemented — players can now eject characters from their state hall or garden, and bar characters from entering their property.
- Duty Roulette: Level 50/60/70/80 Dungeons and Duty Roulette: Level 90 Dungeons have been combined into Duty Roulette: High-level Dungeons.
- Facewear, a new form of accessories for the head, separate from other equippable accessories, has been added.
- Up to two dyes can now be used on a single piece of gear — gear that allows more than one dye will display two separate dye tabs in the Item Dyeing window.
Expect more details when Square Enix releases the full patch notes closer to Dawntrail’s launch.
