Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail release countdown: Exact start time and date

The Warrior of Light’s well-deserved summer adventure is just around the corner. With the official release of Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail on July 2, players don’t have to wait much longer to jump into a brand new journey with the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. 

Unlike many other live service games, FF14 doesn’t limit its preorder period, and there’s no such thing as being too late to get into early access. Even after the start of the early access period, you’ll still be able to “preorder” Dawntrail right up until July 2 and receive an early access registration code—meaning any player can jump into the game as soon as it goes live a few days before the “official” release. 

Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail early access release time and date

FF14: Dawntrail is scheduled to go live on June 28 after a 48-hour maintenance period that starts on June 26. Potential delays from technical issues or the recent spree of DDoS attacks notwithstanding, the maintenance will start at 4am CT on June 26 and last until 4am CT on June 28. Don’t worry about converting that to your timezone—here are handy timers that go down to the second for when FF14 goes down for maintenance and when Dawntrail goes live. 

Time until Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail 48-hour All-Worlds Maintenance:

Time until Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail Early Access

Since there’s a longer than usual pre-expansion maintenance period, make sure you’re all set for the game to go offline on June 26. Every Endwalker-specific feature will become obsolete as soon as the servers go down at 4am sharp—so grind up all your Tomestones of Causality and Comedy, make sure you have all the minions and weapons you want from the Yo-kai Watch event, and keep an eye out for when the expansion becomes available for download during the maintenance period.