Sky’s the limit.
This is just the beginning, Adventurer.
Since its successful re-launch in August 2013, the game has provided players a Final Fantasy experience with multiplayer online features – you can even own a living space and marry someone through the Ceremony of Eternal Bonding. After gathering what fans and players think about the game, Square Enix has announced the upcoming release of FF 14’s first expansion pack titled Final Fantasy 14: Heavensward in June 2015. If you have heard about or played A Realm Reborn, here are five new things that you’ll love about the expansion:
1. Explore Ishgard, the city-state in the north
Reach new heights and explore Ishgard - a highland city-state of Eorzea. Oh, and no plane tickets necessary.
The lore mentioned it several times in passing, and soon, Ishgard will be open to Adventurers. Towering spires and long flights of stairs dominate the highland city-state, giving it a “gothic high fantasy” feel as Naoki Yoshida, the game’s director, stated in an interview. It has an avant-garde air to it, for its walkways and plazas are wider as compared to other accessible city-states. This surely will be a welcome addition to the plethora of places you can visit in Eorzea. Perhaps we’ll be visiting the other highland city-state Ala Mhigo sooner or later.
2. New fields to roam, new raids to tackle
Great! New hunting grounds!
With the new accessible city, Adventurers can test out their abilities in the vast fields surrounding Ishgard, and new raids will translate to new challenges for your party – the locations will be 50%-100% bigger than the previous fields, so walking might be a chore. Zoom through the Sea of Clouds or brave the Churning Mists with the power of flight. Yes, Adventurers will be able to fly.
3. Flying mounts galore
Kweh.
Chocobos don’t fly. Well, they actually do, just for a tiny bit though. However, it’s a different story if it’s a black one. In Heavensward, the new field areas will support flying mounts; Adventurers may choose among personal-sized airships, a black chocobo, a dragon if the storyline permits, and if you purchased Final Fantasy 14: Heavensward Collector’s Edition, you’d get an exclusive griffin along with other cool goodies.
Now that’s neat.
Oh, if you’re a member of a Free Company (FF 14’s take on an MMO ‘guild’), it’s nice to know that the expansion will allow your ‘guild’ to create its own airship. To what extent can one personalize it, nobody knows yet.
4. Level cap increase, new quests, class-specific Limit Breaks
My body is ready.
Yes, you got that right.
The expansion automatically unlocks level 60 as the new cap for all disciplines, along with new quests for the existing jobs. With the level increase, changes in job abilities were revealed and were assumed to take effect when the game expansion goes live.
Limit Breaks will now become class-specific, meaning there will be more devastating attacks or clutch-save skills that will add variety to the existing party setups.
5. Three new jobs, a new draconic race
What role will you play today, Adventurer?
One thing peculiar about the new jobs is that they will have no base class, meaning upon reaching level 30, an Adventurer can choose to be a Dark Knight, a Machinist, or an Astrologian.
Dark Knights are designated to do the tanking role, very much like Paladins and Warriors. They prefer using greatswords, and they enchant their blade with magic to protect their allies and smite down their foes.
Astrologians fit the healing role, using the power of the stars and constellation-based cards to aid their allies in battle. Not much is known about the star watchers, but the class’ Limit Break seemed to be similar to a Stop spell, halting the flow of time.
Machinists are ranged specialists, wielding guns in battle. The namesake comes from their ability to deploy turrets and use enhanced firearms to sweep the battlefield clean. Information is scarce when it comes to their battle capabilities, but we know that they can bring flying drones to the fray.
Scales and horns are the new bling.
Au Ra, a draconic (or maybe not, like Eorzean scholars believe) humanoid race will be available for character creation. Their scales define who they are, and their horns enhance their hearing and awareness. An interesting fact: the race’s males tend to be very tall, while females are on the shorter side of the spectrum.
That’s just a gist of what Final Fantasy 14: Heavensward has to offer, and we’ll hear more as Square Enix rolls out more information in the coming days. If you haven’t played Final Fantasy 14 yet, try it out and experience what 4 million people has been talking about. Ready to test your wings, Adventurer?
