As some of you may know, I'm kind of a big fan of Final Fantasy XIV. The amount of time that I poured into A Realm Reborn is disgusting, so it was only a matter of time before I got around to playing the expansion. I wasn't there for the early bird pre-order stuff, instead opting to wait a couple of weeks and then hopping in so I could enjoy the game without it being a mad house of people running around everywhere. So far it's been a lot of fun. Square-Enix have done a lot of things with the new content that has improved on the original game, there are some massive zones, and some new features that I've been enjoying. That isn't to say it's all smiles and sunshine. There are a few elements of the game that have me concerned, but those have been far outweighed by all of the good stuff.
Players need to take their characters through the main scenario quests via a combat job if they want to get anywhere in the game. A big reason for this is that all of the new zones allow for flying mounts but in order to do so you need to unlock aether currents. Some of these can be found via a compass that you're given early on, but each zone has five currents that can only be unlocked through completing quests, some of which are part of the main quest line. I was a tad disappointed by this, as I was hoping to level my crafting and gathering jobs first, but at the same time this approach does make sense. It's just like what Blizzard has been doing with many of their expansions for World of Warcraft where players are forced to use land mounts when first questing through the new content before being granted flight at or near the new level cap.
Thankfully, the story has been pretty good so far. One thing that I didn't like about the main quest line in A Realm Reborn was that there was a lot of filler in it resulting in several quests that felt like a chore. A lot of the fluff has been removed in Heavensward with the story marching along at a much better pace. I was pleasantly surprised to see Ysayle play a big role in the first half of the adventure. She was by my side for much of the ride from level 50 to 55. I'd thought she would just be around for the Shiva arch earlier in the game, but apparently not. I actually don't mind that there isn't much in the way of Scions in the expansion either. None of them really appealed to me except maybe Yda. I'm assuming that they'll be back at some point as I get closer to level 60, but thus far they haven't been missed.It is a bit worrisome, though, that new players will be forced to play through all of the content from A Realm Reborn before they can touch Heavensward. The only exception to this is the ability to make an Au Ra in the character creation. If you want to go straight to Ishgard or play as an Astrologian, Dark Knight, or Machinist, too bad. You'll have to get through all of the other content first. There has been a lot of debate about this already, as this can be a very daunting task that becomes all the more annoying for a new player trying to catch up so that they can play with friends in the new areas. A new player is probably looking at about a month of solid play to get through everything from A Realm Reborn and that's a pretty tall order. If this sort of gating continues into future expansions, I could see it being a huge turn off for potential new players and it could well cause subscription numbers to suffer.
For my first job that I'm taking to 60 I've stuck with warrior. In every other MMORPG that I've ever played, healer was the role that I gravitated to. However, with FFXIV I decided to change things up and go with a tank. It was a nice change of pace and something that I want to continue in Heavensward. Going through dungeons, the mechanics haven't been too hard thus far. I'm about five dungeons in so far having cleared The Vault the other day and they don't really throw too many curve balls.
One thing that has bothered me is that I seem to have terrible luck in finding decent healers. In FFXIV, a lot of healers try to pump out DPS when they have time. This I have no problem with. However, when one is not up to the task and people start dying as a result, I begin to get annoyed. I've probably done about 30-40 dungeon runs in the new areas so far and maybe 10-20% of the healers I've gotten have been competent. The rest just toss a HoT on me as I run into a pack of mobs to scoop them up, then expect it to be enough while they switch to Cleric Stance and DPS. First of all, don't toss a HoT on a tank when they're running in to grab a pack. Once that thing ticks, they're going to dog pile on the healer and the tank has to go out of his or her way to scoop them up again. Second, when picking up large packs the tank is going to take a lot of incoming damage. Why not actually heal during this time? Yes, we have a good amount of cooldowns we can blow through to mitigate it, but that only goes so far. Start the pull focusing on heals, and then as things get under control start DPSing to help clean up. Third, don't DPS if you're just going to tunnel vision on that, consequently forgetting to heal, failing to notice that you're standing in bad stuff and dying as a result. It's nice if a healer can DPS while in a dungeon, but not a necessity. Pay attention to how well you're performing and be honest with yourself. If you're DPSing and as a result doing a sub par job of healing, just stop DPSing. If you want to DPS so bad, level an actual DPS job.
Music has been pretty good so far as well. The soundtrack has always been a highlight of FFXIV, and that continues here. There aren't too many songs with cheesy lyrics in them. Ravana's battle was a bit bad for this, but on the whole it's more instrumental stuff. Again, I like the songs for Ishgard here and The Sea of Clouds' music sounds like something from a 16-bit platformer. I almost expect to see Sonic the Hedgehog run by when I'm in that zone.
So yeah, it's been a lot of fun for the most part. Healers are a pain, and I'm half tempted to level my scholar after capping warrior so I can be part of the solution on that front. For now, though, I'll focus on getting warrior to 60 and spending a lot of time crafting and gathering after that. There's still a ton to do and a content patch just around the corner, so I have a feeling Heavensward will be keeping me busy for a while.
