Final Fantasy XIV Heavensward
Heavensward is FFXIV's first expansion where the story continues and you can level past level 50 to 60. This expansion opens up Ishgard and several new areas. The biggest change is the ability to have flying mounts. These maps are also pretty big compared to ARR maps and have quite a lot of verticallity due to the ability to fly. You also get some new jobs!
The flying mounts are really neat and fun. But you have to unlock it before you can even fly. You do this by going through the main story quests and then you have to go around the maps to find aether currents and doing certain side quests that unlock other aether currents. But by the time you got them all the story would make you go to the next map. So you'd have to go through the story the slow way. The maps are somewhat annoying to deal with as quest destinations can take some time to find and get to with the hills and even cliffs to navigate through. But these new areas are really nice aesthetically. It really has a "fantasy" feel and look to them. Once you are able to fly its the best thing!
The dungeons and trails in this expansion are more difficult than ARR ones. I died quite a bit which is embarrassing. Mechanics can get a bit complex and a lot of things happening which I don't got the reaction time for. And for me I'm not well versed in mmo lingo so even when tips are given in chat I don't exactly know what they mean. So I definitely advised looking at guides and studying the mechanics before you go in. Also don't forget to do your job quests! You will get them every two levels so you will get some new skills. With more skills you may have to learn how to use them all effectively cause it can get complex and even confusing.
The story of Heavensward I've been actually invested and been paying attention to. It actually made me cry. I've skimmed the ARR story, but I was still able to get to like the characters though it did take awhile. In Heavensward there's quite a few new characters and the story is a nice change from ARR's. Luckily the story isn't as long as ARR's, but it also has an epilogue to connect it to the next expansion!
While this expansion covers levels 50-60 there's millions of experience points between the levels. I highly advise not skipping out on the leveling roulettes and side quests like I did. The main story quests have a decent amount of experience points for the first half, but later on it won't anymore. At this point in the game you would've unlocked more than one leveling roulette so you can get more experience. Trails are shorter but they don't give as much experience as a dungeon. If you're like me whose only done the majority of the dungeons once, doing the roulettes causes a bit of anxiety for me. Since you've done quite a number of dungeons and trails trying to remember the mechanics of all of them is a bit daunting. But you won't be the only one! Every party I've been in has been different. Some can carry you through it even if you die, and some others one or two may make mistakes or forget how a boss works. Then there are parties where you all struggle and have to do a boss more than a few times. I enjoy the 8 people ones as I feel less pressure to perform well. You can also do Palace of the Dead, but if your fail them you don't gain any experience so it can be a waste of time when that happens. For me this happens when we don't get paired with a healer.
Overall I highly enjoyed the story for this expansion! The dungeons stressed me out but at least my parties had carried me through them all. Since this expansion has been out for awhile it is included in the newest expansion! So if you haven't played past ARR I highly recommend coming back and play Heavensward.
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