Dragons, Dragoons, and Deceit... Oh My...
For the longest time, Heavensward was a name that held this air of mystery to it. It sounded elegant and enticing, but also seemed so out of reach (hah, get it?), for even years before I properly attempted to get into FF14, I was aware that this first expansion is where a lot of the community promised the game would get good. And look, I liked ARR. Sure, it was very slow at times, but it had some genuinely good story beats and did a good enough job at introducing the world of Eorzea and its gameplay mechanics. Of course, I still had those higher expectations going into HW, but a lot of people were hyping it up as a 10/10 masterpiece, and I guess if you didn't like ARR, it very well could be, but that wasn't the case for me.
But hey, for what it's worth, HW is definitely a strong improvement over ARR, with much better pacing, a more intriguing story, stronger character moments, and less filler quests (though, in an MMO, that's still going to be a thing). And I'll be honest, despite this first expansion being more interesting from the get-go, it still took me quite a while to reach that "Eureka!" moment. Because for as much as I enjoyed this expansion, I still felt like a dog searching for scraps. The incredible moments of explosive plot development and hard-hitting emotional beats are few and far between, and the story doesn't really start to pick up until the level 57 quests. All that to say that, again, a masterpiece this is not, but I can easily see why it is regarded as such by many. I don't doubt that the Stockholm Syndrome theory surely applies to quite a few players.
But lest I start to sound like I'm just bashing on it, Heavensward felt geuinely rewarding to go through, even as someone who still enjoyed ARR quite a bit. With how stagnant a lot of ARR's story felt, it was great to see how some its more ambitious writing, mainly found in the later post-game patches, flowed into this expansion and kept a satisfying consistency. In fact, this is where the game started feeling less like an MMO and more like a single-player experience with mostly optional multiplayer content. As someone who mainly started playing for the story, this is a big plus, but I'm also happy to say that the game has hooked me in sufficiently with its gameplay systems that I am now looking forward to going through harder optional content in the future. Yes guys, I'm actually trying to learn how to play my class, and I will do so for every other class eventually.
By the way, on the subject of aether currents, it's so funny to see other new players complaining about them when they could just automatically fly after finishing ARR. What many don't realize is that ARR flight was added in a patch much later. Personally, I think the aether system is a bit inconvenient, sure, but it's a logical system, and it doesn't require that much time to find and complete their relevant quests.
My thoughts on the post-game patches:
Patch 3.1 - As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness
Patch 3.2 - The Gears of Change
Patch 3.3 - Revenge of the Horde
Patch 3.4 - Soul Survivor
Patch 3.5 - The Far Edge of Fate
Without Post-Game Patches: Decent 8/10
With Post-Game Patches: Strong 8/10
For the longest time, Heavensward was a name that held this air of mystery to it. It sounded elegant and enticing, but also seemed so out of reach (hah, get it?), for even years before I properly attempted to get into FF14, I was aware that this first expansion is where a lot of the community promised the game would get good. And look, I liked ARR. Sure, it was very slow at times, but it had some genuinely good story beats and did a good enough job at introducing the world of Eorzea and its gameplay mechanics. Of course, I still had those higher expectations going into HW, but a lot of people were hyping it up as a 10/10 masterpiece, and I guess if you didn't like ARR, it very well could be, but that wasn't the case for me.
But hey, for what it's worth, HW is definitely a strong improvement over ARR, with much better pacing, a more intriguing story, stronger character moments, and less filler quests (though, in an MMO, that's still going to be a thing). And I'll be honest, despite this first expansion being more interesting from the get-go, it still took me quite a while to reach that "Eureka!" moment. Because for as much as I enjoyed this expansion, I still felt like a dog searching for scraps. The incredible moments of explosive plot development and hard-hitting emotional beats are few and far between, and the story doesn't really start to pick up until the level 57 quests. All that to say that, again, a masterpiece this is not, but I can easily see why it is regarded as such by many. I don't doubt that the Stockholm Syndrome theory surely applies to quite a few players.
But lest I start to sound like I'm just bashing on it, Heavensward felt geuinely rewarding to go through, even as someone who still enjoyed ARR quite a bit. With how stagnant a lot of ARR's story felt, it was great to see how some its more ambitious writing, mainly found in the later post-game patches, flowed into this expansion and kept a satisfying consistency. In fact, this is where the game started feeling less like an MMO and more like a single-player experience with mostly optional multiplayer content. As someone who mainly started playing for the story, this is a big plus, but I'm also happy to say that the game has hooked me in sufficiently with its gameplay systems that I am now looking forward to going through harder optional content in the future. Yes guys, I'm actually trying to learn how to play my class, and I will do so for every other class eventually.
By the way, on the subject of aether currents, it's so funny to see other new players complaining about them when they could just automatically fly after finishing ARR. What many don't realize is that ARR flight was added in a patch much later. Personally, I think the aether system is a bit inconvenient, sure, but it's a logical system, and it doesn't require that much time to find and complete their relevant quests.
My thoughts on the post-game patches:
Patch 3.1 - As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness
Patch 3.2 - The Gears of Change
Patch 3.3 - Revenge of the Horde
Patch 3.4 - Soul Survivor
Patch 3.5 - The Far Edge of Fate
Without Post-Game Patches: Decent 8/10
With Post-Game Patches: Strong 8/10