It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Two years ago I dived into Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn not knowing what to expect. Turns out the game had gone through a complete revamp and it made great use of a proverbial phoenix down that are prevalent in the Final Fantasy series. You can read the 2.0 review here. If you are a masochist and want to relive how bad 1.0 truly was you can take a look at that boondoggle’s review here. The biggest difference between going into the review of Heavensward as opposed to A Realm Reborn is now the bar is raised. Can Heavensward keep the momentum going for FFXIV?
Read more of Rob Lashley's Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward Review in Progress #1.
Comments
As someone who loves the game, I hated that shit.
Teleport > talk to someone > Teleport, run 20 yards > Talk to someone > Teleport > Kill 6 bad guys > Teleport > and on and on.
It was, as you say, a real chore. I am glad to say that it seems they're delivering the story in a slightly different manner in the expansion. So far, I really like the feel. I hope you do too.
3.0 is a good storyline, as was the Dark Knight job quest 30-60. The 50-56 part of the DRK quest is a little slow but the end made it worth it.
Overall I would say SE has another winner with Heavensward, though if four looking for anything other than a 100% themepark experience you should probably look elsewhere.
I managed to get from 26 to 34 without having to do a single non-story quest. I finally now have to do some other questing and dungeons to get to the next story quest. But the ease of leveling to 50 is much appreciated. I hated the leve-quest grind before.
Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.
My Review Manifesto
Follow me on Twitter if you dare.
"What started off as a daunting task of being “stuck” playing content I had no desire to play and I view as nothing more than a chore and part of my job actually became a joy. I watched as the team behind FF XIV honed their storytelling craft and stopped having you run willy nilly around the world to conveying a more cohesive and intriguing story while having you run around the world a little less willy nilly. I ended up completing the last quest in patch 2.55 right as they closed the servers down on Tuesday night to perform the final maintenance as head start ended and the official launch began. So yes I did spend the entirety of head start doing the old content but I had a lot more fun than I thought I would along the way."
=================================
This + 1
I like this.
I was close minded like you. See, what I didnt know is the guy you 'brought groceries' to is probably, more than likely be an npc you'll rely on.
[mod edit - light spoilers removed]
So pay attention, these fetch npc's have great stories, you just are unlocking the pre req. I mean how can an npc know you if you never helped them at least once. Makes sense to me at least.
"On Cactaur I have been lucky and have dealt with limited queues and nothing that has extended past ten minutes. On the grand scheme of things while these service interruptions have made an impact, those impacts seem to be minimal."
======================
I'm on Cactuar too !! Look : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HL4d8cXn-Q
What FC are you in? Hell, we might be partner FC's LOL.
Twitter Facebook RantOnRob Youtube
"Yoshi P has stated in a recent interview with MMORPG Editor in Chief Bill Murphy that you will earn enough experience from just doing the main story quests to get from 1 to 50."
As a level 42 Warrior I hit level 43 during head start, did the MSQs for Level 43 and only got 1/3 of a level (ironically as Robert said with the Level 50+ quests). I did the measly one or two level 43 side-quests which did not help much at all. Now I'm back to leve-quests, duty roulette, fates, rinse and repeat. So I'm not sure what Yoshi-P was talking about exactly.
I know exactly what you mean. Often I would find myself at least a FULL level behind the MSQ and could not progress until I grinded out leve's/fates for a full level since I had already completed all the possible sidequest. I was kind of pissed off actually that I was not able to get at least to 50 during the headstart starting from 35 so that I could of then maybe tried one of the new classes on release day for everyone else and hit that fate group grind.
Tell me all you want "oh you knew the expac was comming so you had plenty of time to prepare" but I didn't, and I took what the dev's said that leveling was going to be made easier/faster as truth but for me it didn't happen. Always stuck grinding in some way just like before the expac released.
Anyways I can't wait to get into the new content and eventually try a new class.
I'm glad you mentioned how important and fun that level 50 story quest series is. I had not done *any* of those level 50 story quests ever. I hit 50 and promptly forgot about them and never realized there were so many benefits to doing them (XP, loot, story), so when the expac came out and I realized exactly how many quests I had to do, I knew it'd take a while. Here's the insanely long list for anyone wondering. It took me 4 days, although I could have spent more time on the game Weds/Thurs and done it in three. But that would require all night grinding. But I'm used to grinds and have a lot I want to do in the expact, so I juts buckled down and didn't get upset about it. However going from 2.1 to 2.55 quests (aka all of them) along with the guild XP boost buff, I actually got at least 3/4 of the way to 51. I'm not sure how you got so little XP, but doing only the story quests and associated dungeons, got me nearly all the way to 51.
But, and this is a big but, I ended up loving it in the end. It's a truly epic story and I didn't even pay attention to every bit of text and every cutscene, because I did want to get through it fast. But I payed attention to enough that I understood and enjoyed the story quite a bit. Like someone on Reddit commented, it's the type of quality storytelling you expect from a single player RPG, not an MMORPG. It's a nice change of pace - and I haven't played previous FF games before this so I didn't have particularly big expectations.
Beyond that, I'm glad that SE is making so many efforts to preserve the level 50 content. Too many games make all previous content obsolete and rush players to max, but I like that all the dungeons and other content are still relevant, and that you have to spend so much time at 50 going through the story. It gives people more content to do which means they don't get bored with the game quickly, but it also nicely highlights the fact that the game was at 50 for a while, and forcing players to slow down a bit and actually consume some of that previous content is a great idea that I think more MMORPG's should learn from.
As for any server issues, I haven't seen any at all. Nor are queues an issue. I play on Leviathan which is a well populated server, but queues are never more than a few seconds at most and during EST prime time when I play, I have not crashed once nor has my server gone down. So while some players have issues, it is by no means everybody.
No issues with drg here so far at level 57. No problems keeping up Blood Of The Dragon and Fang And Claw. I got it to 60 seconds on my FC dummy.
ONE thing I DO hate is positional. Flank, behind, etc.
I have deleted out the spoilers in this but you REALLY need to edit that out. There are going to be people reading this comment thread that have not yet done the story and that's sort of a big surprise at the end, so it'd be really shitty if you spoiled it for them. Or maybe one of the MMORPG.com moderators can edit that for us?
Someone already edited it lol. Just had to make the point, just didnt know which one to use.
Healers and tanks have always had a lot on their plates so I don't really see it as a big deal that now the dps do too.
Yay, bueno lol! It is a good point, but I'm actually glad I didn't realize it until the story was over. It was a big "OMG they're genius" moment that made me appreciate the entire 1-50 story experience thus far.
If you not like story, FFXIV is not your game. I love ingame story progression, so have no problem with this. For me leveling is all about the road to and not the end. And if some players having problems with watching the story, they will not like 3.0. Much more stories and unlocking all air points will take you wandering around and around on the map
And for those wanting to play 3.0 with the new class and are new. Look for the old classes new jobs benefits from and level one from those to 2.55, unlock the new jobs in 3.0 city Ish Gard. Then start playing with the new job you like. There will be enough side quests, dungeons, leves and some fates to get tthe new job to 50 also and start the 3.0 story with the new job.
Do not forget to give the 2nd old class also some level love
I am close to the end, did yesterday lvl 59 dungeon Library and in my group there was a Dark Night and a Machinist.
I only recently started doing the 2.1-2.5 storyline and I am halfway through 2.3 and the story is awesome and leaves you wanting to find what comes next. The actual quest gameplay is your standard mmo affair but the story is amazing and the continuity is great.
i probably won't get to finish it the story by the end of the month as I am off on holiday but can't wait to see how the story develops.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
For my play through I rolled a healer and just spammed ddungeons and the main storyline. As I play very casually I always get rested experience bonus. That's before the buff. I am guessing now it will be easier as quests give more xp and dungeons pop instantly even for dps.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.