I apologize if someone's mentioned this already, but I wanted to say, since I've gotten to the point where you talk about liking Count Edmont. When his voice actor, Stephen Critchlow, passed away in September of 2021, players all over the world on different data centers gathered outside Fortemps Manor to hold vigils for him. On my world in particular, folks formed a sort of giant long oval line along the walk in front of the manor, and I and many others walked the line giving out food and minions for people who wanted to come hang out for a while. There were even a couple people there even cosplaying as Haurchefant and even one as Aymeric, and it was funny at first, but they ended up in shout chat talking to a lot of people about their grief (since this was obviously in covid times, people ended up talking about other people they knew who'd passed away recently, so there were many condolences shared all around.) It was a really somber but heartwarming moment, I think I was there for about a week before people eventually went to play the game normally again.
Yeah, I've been noticing people in Twitch chat recently have been way less respectful of spoilers than chat seemed to be in the summer, when the first wave of WoW refugees started streaming (I've been watching PreachGaming's streams). Most FFXIV peeps respect the "spoiler free" experience so much, and I remember a lot of the WoW streamers being shocked at how well the community respected spoilers. I don't know if people are just more inconsiderate in the winter, or if the influx of WoW players who just aren't used to anyone caring are dropping spoiler bombs without realizing how big a deal it is.
Yes, Dragoons are dragon killing "specialists." The armor they wear also has lore behind it - all the spikes protruding are there to deter dragons from grabbing and eating them ;)
I was actually going to post this, but I guess you beat me to it! I love the lore implication that the spiky armor is so that if you get eaten, you'll tear the dragon up from the inside. XD
So it's like those coyote vests you can buy for small dogs? Or am I just a weirdo chihuahua owner with encyclopedic knowledge of how to keep my tiny dogs out of the mouths of predators?
@@Amovetv I'm not sure if it's canon or not, but the best way I've heard it explained is that the armor is spiky so that even if a dragoon gets eaten, they do as much damage as possible on the way "out"
The one thing I love about FF14's story, when it comes to spoilers, is that EVERYTHING is so damn well connected that you just don't know how to talk about something without MAYBE spoiling something else. Whenever someone asks you about the future and wants you to avoid spoilers, within like 3 seconds of hearing the question, your brain goes through hundreds of different ways to say it without spoiling and you immediately overdose and just go '' :) ''
The Warrior of Light has a theme job for each expansion. 1.0 Archer, ARR Warrior, Heavansward Dragoon, Stormblood Monk & Samurai, Shadowbringers Dark Knight, Endwalker Paladin. It doesn't have a whole lot of effect on your experience. If you come into Heavansward as a Dragoon you will already have been introduced to one character and one plot thread prior to the expansion, but it isn't necessary.
Dragoon is biased because if you don't pick up Lancer before Heavensward, it feels wrong because the Dragoon Level 30-50 quests introduce a major character as your enemy. Endwalker involves all of the characters you met in your job quests in some cutscene or another so while you can ignore the jobs, it feels less personal. ;)
I agree that it's not a big deal, but the only poster job I would genuinely recommend leveling & playing through its respective expansion would be dragoon. The job quests give quite a bit of background lore & characterization for that character, and there are a noticeable (though not significant) amount of dialogue changes if you play as one. But I'm also biased since I started my journey as one and stuck with it until Stormblood lol
The "problem" with Stormblood is it lies between Heavensward and Shadowbringers which are 2 AMAZING expansions in terms of story. Stormblood isn't "bad" per say, it's just nowhere near as good as Heavensward and Shadowbringers.
I enjoy stormblood but it's pacing is awful. Some parts manage to be too slow yet the build up for some characters wasn't enough. Also deus ex machina :((
Stormblood suffers because when they were going into it they realized that the original lore behind the Ascians and what they were trying to do wouldn't work so they spent time rewriting the entire trajectory of the story... and obviously that affected Stormblood itself
playing Heavensward now also gets all the benefits of later patches. Stormblood had so many gameplay improvements and general little things that got fixed up, but those aren't the story so you don't notice it playing now
Since the two of you, like me, were immediately taken by Count Edmont de Fortemps, I'd like to take a moment to pour one out for his voice actor, Stephen Critchlow. Taken WAY too early. That man brought a sense of gravitas to the character that set him apart. There's a moment in Heavensward that drives the Count to his knees in tears (not gonna spoil it, but _hamevin yavin_ ), and it was the first moment that REALLY made me cry in the game.
For the "hub city" question, kind of yes. Each expansion essentially has 2 hub cities; one big one at the very beginning with all the basic vendors and stuff, and one later one where they put the endgame stuff. Ishgard in particular is less crowded by far than Idyllshire, the other HW hub area, which has things like weekly crafting deliveries & the weekly journal turn-in, gear vendors, and things like that. Also most of the people who go to Ishgard in the endgame are going to a place called The Firmament that you probably haven't been to yet. This is a big crafting & gathering related area that's always at least somewhat populated. I think you have to beat HW before unlocking it.
Very much this. Ishgard was only really very crowded for the first few days after Heavensward launched. There were certainly more people in Ishgard during the Heavensward era compared to now, but it was only by like a factor of two. But it was always much more empty than Idyllshire was, and it never really felt crowded, since the vast majority of players spent their time in Idyllshire once they got there. Which feels thematically appropriate for both cities. The market boards are less convenient than Limsa's, so people didn't really go there for that unless they were near by and wanted to save a few gil, and the Firmament also didn't exist until Shadowbringers, so there wasn't even that reason for people to go to Ishgard.
Yeah even by the time I started in 3.3 / 3.4 it was very much quiet, empty whatever. I think especially considering the EW hub city even vs the ShB hub, it very much had more to do with where the marketboard is in relation to the aetheryte, rather than where the newest city is. If you have to use the aethernet to get to the MB people are just gonna go back to Limsa
@@LovelyRitaholic people go for convenience 90% of the time. Then there are people like me rocking my Transmog in Ishguard because I like the aesthetic and music the most. Even craft there.
I would also say, the tome gear vendor in ishgard(next to the aetheryte after you finish 3.0) is much easier to navigate than the other city. They carry on with that in future expacs, so keep an eye out.
Keep your preferred teleport in Limsa (as it is the unofficial capital of FF14) and your homepoint at the expansions "end game" city. Then you are totally set.
Watched the ARR Supercut and immediately had to run to watch more of the journey recaps. Ishgard is my favorite city, this was such a special moment for me, so I'm so happy to rewatch y'all's journey 💕
About the how the story is been told in the expansions: Every expansion .0 has a satisfactory ending, however the true ending where all the major threads are resolved is the .3 patches, and .4 and .5 is the setup for the next expansion. You can definitely see this structure during your playthrough. The only exception is Endwalker where the big finale is 6.0.
Each expansion highlights one of the Jobs in FF and for HW, its Dragoon. In base expansion/ARR, the WoL is an archer/Warrior (Slight spoiler for the other expansion’s trailer) For Stormblood, The WoL plays Monk/Samurai For Shadowbringer, Dark Knight For EW, Paladin You can play Dragoon if you want and be immersed with the HW experience. :)
Heavensward is where they start giving you more context based dialogue and events. For instance there's a certain part of the story where you try to save an NPC to find out your healing magic doesn't work on them for plot reasons, so the outcome is the same regardless but it's a nice personal touch.
Every FFXIV expansion has a sort of poster job that's thematically related to the story. It's usually NOT one of the new classes. It is the job that the player insert character in the cinematics and trailers uses for the expansion. Stormblood was actually an exception because they added Samurai at the same time as they added the Asian allegory regions. ARR was Warrior, HW was Dragoon because Ishgard and fighting dragons, Samurai in Stormblood because weeb expansion, Dark Knight in Shadowbringers for reasons I won't explain, and Paladin in Endwalker as a sort of return to form for the conclusion of the big story arc.
@@Amovetv this is really my favourite expansion. Story, music, aesthetics are all my Jam. And I love the voice overs that are reminiscent to me of an old English epic.
What i really like about the heavensward story is how “intimate” it feels. Like you are only dealing with a handful of characters and you get to know them and their motivations.
After following you guys from shortly before this video, I just want to say that it's been amazing seeing your journey, and seeing your community grow. Jesse Cox was right, you guys really are the best FFXIV content producers out right now. I love these recap and analysis videos.
The best part of waking up on Wednesdays! Love watching your coverage, I hope you take the time to really appreciate this expansion! Don’t forget to find the Aether Currents while exploring the new zones! It’ll totally help progress later in the game!
I think a big thing i liked that was "small" and missable are the crafting and gathering jobs, especially Botanist and Fishing. It adds A LOT to the world building around Ishgard and the zones around it. Most people will miss this, but its really nice
My prediction: Garrett is going to end up loving Estinien's storyline. Also, having just gotten to the final zone of Endwalker (no spoilers), I can honestly say that whatever you think is coming next, you're wrong. Because while there were story beats I was able to predict, I did NOT see any of this coming. The voice actor changes are all pretty much drastic improvements. Raubahn's, in particular. Also, Stormblood is vastly underrated, in my opinion. It's not my favorite of the expansions, but it's still pretty dang awesome. But you can judge that for yourself once you make it through Heavensward. :)
The main expansion content from Stormblood wasn't great imo, not bad, but just not great. The patch content, however, is some of the best content in the entire game.
The greatest thing about watching other players go through older content is seeing what they pick up on that I completely missed the first time through.
Exciting things in Heavensward: -The MSQ, obviously, but the patch story is *leagues* better than the post ARR stuff and sets up later expansions like Shadowbringers. - The Alexander raids and the Shadow of Mhach alliance raids are incredible and worth doing before moving on to Stormblood. A lot of it even becomes relevant in the MSQ in later expansions. - The trials, especially the optional Warring Triad questline, are much improved from ARR, and "The Final Steps of Faith" stands out as my all time favorite Heavensward MSQ moment. - The Vault is also the best Heavensward dungeon.
The greatest thing about Heavensward are the MSQ and the Sky Pirates story line. There is also the Raid story line, that starts kinda cool, but the characters are a bit stock, but then THAT cutscene happens and the story makes 180 turns, so experiencing that will be fun. Also heads up. Heavensward adds whole new series of beast tribe quests. And just like the ARR beast tribe quests, they are really fun and have unique stories, characters and cutscenes. A lot of people skip them because they are used to the grindy reputation quests in WoW. Finishing all the ARR beast tribes quests unlock a incredible story line with one hell of an ending. Also Heavensward adds new Hildibrand quest line.
"What do you think is hype-worthy in Heavensward?" Hmm... 1) Alphinaud becoming a good NPC 2) The new zones (especially the last one IMO) 3) The trials (the first one not so much, but the others are FANTASTIC) 4) The 8 man raids!
As someone who lives in a country, and an specific part of it, where it only snowed twice in a century... I fully agree with Garrett. If it has snow, it has my attention (reason why I was into Heavensward right away and before that, loved seeing Coerthas for the first time), and it has the potential of becoming my favorite zone/city (Of course it's Ishgard). As for things to experience... I'm not sure how far into it you are, but rather than something from the MSQ, one thing I absolutely adored and recommend to do, after the incredible main quests, at level 60 and kind of into the transition to Stormblood, it's a side quest called "The paths we walk". It required a lot of traveling, but it's absolutely worth it. I doubt you guys will remember since it does seem like you're at the start, but yeah, I thought Heavensward was impressive, and still holds up so well, but that quest chain in particular... that is something I'll keep in my heart forever.
You're gonna hear this a hundred times but as you do Dark Knight quests, read your quest journal. The DRK, MCH, and AST quests overall are unique. While they're very derivative of Ishgard, they're the only jobs in the game you don't pick up in one of the 3 initial cities. They also have a lower relative starting level than future new jobs. It's a holdover from the way the job system used to work.
A huge change in HW from ARR is that the raid post the MSQ is fully populated with party finder unlike coils. You'll easily be able to go through it and experience it, kind of realistically.
This the point where the game steadily gets better and better as you go through it. It builds and builds and twists and turns. If you play a Dragoon in heavensward you get some extra dialog stuff which is very cool but doesn't materially affect the MSQ,
Now that you both finished ARR, I highly recommend watching Preach and Nobbel's video where they talk about their journey through ARR. Of course, they only focus on ARR so no spoilers there, but it's a 2 hours long video that basically encapsulates the WoW player transitioning into FF14 experience. And they also go on long tangents regarding the world building, the community driven gameplay, etc. There are so, sooo, SO many things around the world that one might find out, but another might miss. Things like evolving dialogue every single new MSQ and, unless you go out of your way to look for it, you'll miss it. Special cutscenes for people who did certain quests. Background characters with their own stories that aren't told through any NPC dialogue, but through them talking to each other in the world and so much more. This is one of the main reasons I absolutely adore watching these kinds of videos. Sometimes, I stumble upon something I never saw before or hear a point of view that I never considered regarding the story. Since you're both going through the exact same thing, I simply felt like you might enjoy it. It might also give you guys ideas to talk about for your next episode as well. It's just so nice to see everyone go through the game and discussing their experiences. It's like watching Game of Thrones all over again and talking about it. Except that it continues to be better all the way to the end and finishes in a glorious satisfying conclusion for this current overarching story.
Stormblood is a solid 8/10 Expansion; it just gets hurt being between HW and Shadowbringers. Slight pacing concerns hurt it but so still really enjoyed it for being more FF 6 than others.
Got my sub with this video. Hope you enjoy the game I have loved for over 5years now. No spoilers from me. Just enjoy the new zones and talk to npcs around msq npc's for little extra lore. Heavesward is award winning for a reason. Just take it in and enjoy!
Love the new focus on FF content from you guys! The best part of Heavensward is in the Dark Knight job quest. Specifically the quest log summaries for the questline are all incredibly unique and cool in that they are written from a specific character point of view. Genuinely the best written job quest by a mile and one of the best stories in all of FFXIV in that it improves literally the entirety of the game after playing through it all. The writer of the Dark knight quest went on to write the best quests in all of Stormblood and was made lead writer for Shadowbringer and Endwalker which have phenomenal writing. The themes explored by the Dark knight job quests are central to FFXIV and while you wont miss anything by not doing it, you will have a blast if you make time to at least get through the level 70 job quests.
Dragoon is the poster job for HW, and depending on how far you are in the ARR DRG job quests there are characters and dialogue choices that change based off your progression there. Nothing significant but some decent flavor. There are 3 tiers: Not a Dragoon A Dragoon who didn't complete ARR job quest A DRG who completed quest Again nothing significant changes as a result but characters you met . . .will remember and reference your exploits in ARR quest
The hw raid, man it’s just so freaking cool, on top of having an normal mode that you can run duty finder for so anyone can experience the fights/story.
So one thing to keep in mind, is alot and I mean ALOT of the sidequests have lore attached to them that enhances you understanding of either the past of the world, or the current level appropriate timeframes. Heck even the Crafting Story quests have game lore attached to them (as well as some nods to outdated systems) and the FATE descriptions, especially the multi-tier FATEs have lore attached. Basically everything baked into FF14 has an in-game valid lore reason for their existence, even the holiday seasonals. That being said, none of it is required to get the main story or understand it fully, but it can lend a ton of additional flavor to lore nerds (like me) and those who like looking at very clean minimaps and maps (Also ME!).
The poster job isn't usually the new jobs, and in HW and SB you get special lines of dialog if you play those jobs (SAM/MNK for SB). ShB doesn't have special dialogs, but in EW you have many one lines that acknowledges you played certain jobs, for example I leveled White mage and there is this instance were a character calls me a "fellow conjurer".
A couple notes about side questing (anything non-msq). Completion of some content will affect future cut scenes, unlocking additional dialogue such as npcs acknowledging the player's prior actions/achievements, so there is a benefit to taking your time and embracing the role playing aspect. There is also a cutscene replay function at the inns which will allow you to revisit those moments so there's no fear of missing out if you skip something. There is a lot of side quests that can be used for leveling other classes, but the easiest way to tell a random quest from a chain is seeing an image header in the quest box. Those usually indicate a chain with better rewards and more significant story beats so prioritize those.
Story! Best part of the game by far. I’m sorry twitch peeps spoiled it for you Kyle. I’ll say that Machinist is excellent! Give it a look. As an AST i would say that I understand how you feel about not being feeling like a heroic character as healers just don’t have that sense of… Heroism? Machinist gives me that feel so when I play Machinist I feel epic in cutscenes Before you leave Heavensward. Don’t skip the raids and trials that are totally optional.
Finally!! BRB after I watched the video lol Back. That sucks, that the twitch chat has spoilt so much. But I'm so excited to follow both of your journey! Just enjoy, don't think too much about Stormblood lol.
Been playing ffxiv for7years during ARR. This game is EVERYTHING... HW was the catalyst for my love affair for this game. The music, lore and game play...to this day, HW gives me the feels. Enjoy the ride...because post EW feels is a gut punch full of all the wonderful journey we have partaken. I appreciate remembering my journey via yours. Thank you for the content. New subscriber and looking forward to watching you gentlemen.
What was really hype for me in Heavensward is everything xD It started with the music, then the areas, the story, the characters, the dungeons, the trials. Everything ♥ And it's not even my favorite expansion
Quick FYI: each expansion of the game has a "focal job" that is featured thematically with that expansion. 1.0 featured the warrior of light as an Archer (Bard didn't exist yet which is weird to think about) ARR features the Warrior job, HW the Dragoon, Stormblood features both Monk and Samurai, Shadowbringers features Dark Knight and Endwalker features Paladin. This by no means is to say you can't or shouldn't take up any other jobs, by all means pay what you like. That said, different jobs do get different aspects of the story and lore at times or are presented with unique dialog based on what job you are in a particular scene. I remember a scene in the fans where an ally was injured and I was playing a healer at the time... I was criticized for not helping them out. In a similar fashion, if you interact with people from your Grand Company, they will often refer to you by your rank. These touches Mage this such a nice personal story
There's a string of quests in Heavensward that people usually miss called "The Scholasticate" It's linked to the Hildibrand quests and has the yellow quest markers. It has some good story and adds to the world-building especially if you finished 3.0. I think Preach made a video about this.
I've had a really unique experience of leveling every job as I go through the msq and I am very impressed at how many classes tie in somehow to the theme and story presented in the msq. It's not like you miss anything but it delves deeper and fleshes out the nuances of the story. Pretty sure you guys will pass me by soon though... my pally is level 59 and my other classes are 57 or 58 and I'm still on the level 57 msq. That being said... I really enjoy this approach to the game because I really fully experience everything as i go and have a great sense of completion every time I make a little progress in the msq.
Not a lot of people know this but ARR actually have a whole quest of epilogues that gives you better idea of the lore of all of the maps. So those with a interest in learning more about the world of FFXIV should really go and complete all of the "Delivery Moogle Quest." Here is a non spoiler example: Have you ever wonder why there is a lone man located in east side of Eastern La Noscea in what appears to be a man made house?
The Dragoons are dragonkillers, yes. But they also inherit some dragon abilities through their questline. You'll also get to see that as you go along the MSQ with the character Kyle mentioned, Estinien. Your assessment of Ishgard is also correct. It is what is considered a hub city for the expansion (we're even getting housing in it come Endwalker). Every expansion has two cities: the main city with a market board, and a second, smaller city that is the "end game" city with a lot of places for end-game gear turn-ins and stuff. As for stuff to do and see, I personally didn't wander off the main path much during Heavensward, but definitely get the aether currents for each area as you go. This will allow you to fly in that zone once you've gotten all of them. Some are gotten through completing quests, others are just sitting in the zone that you need to go and collect. That also *super* sucks about Twitch chat. If you ever consider going back to streaming it, I'd suggest getting some mods that know the story and major plotpoints to help clear the way of people spoiling things. Seems to work out pretty well for Pyromancer.
One thing the game barely mentions is when the dragons attack the city, the reason they attack from the bottom up is because of the sounding area. The big goth castle city is surrounded by lethal ice aether that quite literally freezes all life that goes into it. It wasn't always like that, it used to be all green lush highlands area before the bahamut incident, and dragons cant' fly over it either, and the only way across is that giant bridge. So the dragons get funneled through the only gate that they can go through.
You're thinking of Daniffen's Collar. It's been there since the city was founded (because spoilers), so while you're correct that the Seventh Calamity changed the climate of Ishgard, that's not why the dragons can't enter the city (otherwise they would have been able to enter it just fine as recently as five years ago).
You don't *have* to play dragoon in Heavensward - but for someone who does, there are a few ever slightly different lines from a certain character who has a major part of the story. He recognizes you and acknowledges you, but the plot of the expansion doesn't change other than that couple of lines of dialog. Something to pay attention to: The details in the dungeons. After you finish a dungeon, you can return to the start (literally: use the action Return once the final boss is over to go back to the start) and go back and revisit it without any monsters in the way. Many of these dungeons have notes and other items scattered about. Go back and read them! They add so much.
8:00 You don't HAVE to be a Dragoon, but this was the point where they started adding additional dialog and stuff depending on your class and how far you are in the questline for it. It is a monumental task, but if you are willing, you REALLY get rewarded for leveling everything. Also, each expansion tends to have a class that your proxy in the cinematic plays. This expansion since it is so focused on dragons, is the Dragoon. 11:50 Yes, it was a hub city, but what tends to happen every major expansion is that everyone leaves and goes and chills at the next major hub for the most part except for people who REALLY like the aesthetic of that one or people going through the first time and people doing the side content there.
Re: Dragoon. You get extra nods and dialogue for being Dragoon through HW. In addition, a large aspect of HW's story's setup can be seen in the Dragoon job quest-line - it's not necessary to understand HW at all, but it's a very neat "Oooooooooh" moment when you get to HW if you went through the Dragoon job quests in ARR. Further expansions do the job quest line nods with their thematic jobs (MNK/SAM with SB, DRK with ShB), but HW probably has the biggest tie-in to their theme job in terms of story. That said, they also give more love to all job tie-ins (not just their theme jobs) throughout the later expansions; this is especially notable in Endwalker, where there's references to almost every job quest-line in one way or another. The theme jobs are generally the "canon" jobs for the canon, representative WoL btw - Archer starting 1.0, Warrior towards the end of 2.0, Dragoon in HW, etc. That's a big part of why they show off the job so much in the trailer, since they need the canon WoL to be learning new jobs in the same way as the player for thematics.
Currently leaving this running in the background as I downloaded it on my phone to watch offline and I really wanted to give the deserved watch time. Can't express how happy I am to see yous genuinely enjoying the game and excited for HW, all I can say is strap in and enjoy the ride!
You've done well on getting DRK and AST. I recommend getting MCH, DRG and PLD as well to feel Ishgard in earnest, their class quests clash with the world as you're doing the MSQ (you can do them after it and think "Ah, I remember things like this on MSQ"). Since Ishgard has european medieval steampunk vibes, knights, lords, squires, machinists, and dragons are really well designed, so pay attention to that. Besides that, my opinion in earnest is trying to feel the Dravania region and remember that some dragons will be important (Let's not forget that post-heavensward patches will make you go crazy).
Gods Bless Count Dadmont or as some call him 'Count Dripula.' The VA passed away in 2021 and many held a vigil in front of House Fortemps. The Kirkwall comparison REALLY fits. If you really enjoyed Dragon Age 2 and its societal shifts you're going to have a blast. The part of Ishgard that is usually busy is locked behind finishing HW. The Firmament is a massive crafter's hub and there are often a lot of people there if not around the market board. If you ask which city feels like home to players, a lot will answer Ishgard. That is how close to the heart this expansion is. I hope you have tissues.
I am very excited to see you go thru the bosses/dungeons/trials for the game. They start to improve quite a bit here in HW. And they start to hit their stride in Stormblood and later. So it only goes up from here!
It is SO cool to see you guys full of questions and speculating around things in HW! Means you didnt got spoiled and also that you are invested in the story! Thanks for sharing this with us! Cant wait for the reactions for some key moments in the MSQ XD (that you really should consider recording, not streaming so you dont get spoiled by chat)
I LOVE the "zoom in on Kyle" parts of the spoiler video because it's literally "You have no idea, sweet summer child. You don't know where it's going at all!"
there is minor story flavor if you do HW as a Dragoon, nothing major really, just adds extra spice to some dialogue exchanges and character interactions.
I'm almost done to the first credits for Shadowbringers, and I still really loved Heavenward for the setting and lore above everything so far (though Stormblood was still great too!!). I would recommend going out of your way to get the HW versions of the Crystal Tower/24-man Alliance Raids, even though they're not required for MSQ. The places you go are really, really cool :) Loving going on this journey with you all!!
I’m so excited for more from you all! My only recommendation really is that Kyle do the dark knight story as well so you can talk about it on the show :p
Story wise I can’t wait for y’all to see Alphinaud’s character development and when you realize how important the actual title of Heavensward is to the story of the expansion. Also can’t wait to hear your reaction to a major point in the story that elevated this expansions to one of the best stories I ever played in a video game in the past decade. Gameplay wise I can’t wait to hear your favorite dungeons of the expansion and/or boss fights. And I would love a more in depth/spoiler review of the new jobs & their quest lines.
As someone who also picked up Dark Knight right after reaching Heavensward, I'm glad you enjoyed the initial quests for the class. You might be happy to hear that the writer who penned those quests is pretty much lead story writer for FFXIV now. I haven't reached any of the MSQ that she helmed, but I am definitely looking forward to it!
the big thing I'd recommend- while both the raids and the Warring Triad trial series aren't required by the MSQ, they all have INCREDIBLY relevant lore and stories to them, and I would definitely get them done before moving on to the next expansion. that's honestly my suggestion for every expansion really- always make sure you do the raids and trail series.
There is 2 zones you enter first in the expansion. There's no spoiler in saying one has a lot of ice. Pay attention to your surrounsings. Their is stuff everywhere and tell the story of that area and thus help elaborate on some of the things you learn through the story. It's amazing how much detail is there.
What I love is that ARR through Endwalker is the SAME story, with payoffs and connections running deep even into the final moments of Endwalker. And to answer what’s to be hyped about HW? 3.3 :)
They generally have the "flagship job" be more relevant to the themes or setting of an expansion rather than necessarily showcases new jobs for that expansion. There's only one example where one of the jobs showcased is also a new job for that expansion and that's the Stormblood trailer. It's worth noting your character avatar in the trailers is actually a warrior during the ARR time. It's also interesting that there has never been a caster as the main job for an expansion, and there's only been one ranged dps and it was an archer not even a bard, but that was for 1.0. All the other jobs in the expansion trailers have been either tanks or melee dps.
Beyond the MSQ and extra side trials, Heavensward introduced treasure maps. Timeworn dragonskin maps having the chance to spawn a special instanced dungeon where potential drops include minions, glamour sets, and some crafting materials. Once you have progressed far enough in the story where you have unlocked all of the regions of HW, you can take a look with a few friends.
Things to look forward to, and not to miss: All the dungeons and raids. Seriously. They're goooood. And make sure to keep the music on because they really stepped up their game from ARR in the number of unique tracks for events and instances!
Heavensward has some amazing set pieces that are amazing to see then the story drives home just how immense and grandiose the places you will go to are. It's also such an emotionally fulfilling story so I really hope you guys have a great time playing though it!
You guys probably already know this, but one thing to mention about HW is that you don't unlock flying once "completing" the MSQ of that content like as happens in ARR. You have to use your Aether Compass periodically to find Aether currents, and also complete Blue + symbol side quests. The upside for HW is that most of Aether currents you have to locate are generally not too far away from where the MSQ leads you.
Sorry to hear you being spoiled Kyle. Generally, the FF community especially with streamers chat are very anti-spoilers. Im surprised that you had experienced that. Please record your ff experience and upload it on UA-cam. Im pretty sure a lot of people would watch that. :) Btw. Every Wednesday, Ive been looking forward to watch GG and monitor your progress in the FF story. Its been a treat and i hope you guys continue to enjoy playing FF! It Would be nice if we can play with you guys in game so streaming your gameplay would not be a bad idea. We’ll be there to protect you from spoilers. ;)
From what tends to happen its often a bunch of sour WoW players who crash in to do the spoiling. It got so bad that Preach who was streaming now makes his chat Sub only, because his mod crew banned a few dozen people.
So, the point about Ishgard being a hub city- it was during HW. However most people that are there are in something called "The Firmament" now. Basically, its an area specifically for crafters/gatherers which you unlock upon reaching lvl 60. People use it to level their crafters from 20-90.
thank you very much, i've been listening to these and enjoying them. looking forward to see where you guys go next. it sucks to know you got spoiled, kyle!! as for what i'm excited for you to experience, please enjoy the field trip! (and 3.4, the sheer entirety of 3.4) as for how FF handles main expac/patch, it's a main story, usually x.1-x.3 handles clean up, and the x.4-x.5 is your set up. and it's just really nice.
As no doubt dozens of people have already told you, Ishikawa, the writer for Shadowbringers and Endwalker, wrote the story for Crystal Tower and the DRK quests. My favorite part of the mainline HW story is when one of the villains gets his ass beat by the WoL and the camera shifts to their first person perspective. "Who... no, WHAT are you?" Then the post HW patches are even better IMO.
From my memory from HW times Foundation wasn't so much a hub city but a passing city, people went there for the story beats and it was surely crowded when the expansion dropped but a week in most people were mainly gathered around the last settlement area, the Revenant's toll of HW. Back then there was no server travel so most people were usually in those settlements all the time. I wasn't until server travel was implemented that Limsa became what it is today.
Spoiler-free things to look towards in Heavensward: - Obviously the Main Story twists - Hildebrand's continued story, although it's entirely secondary - The "Normal Raid" from Heavensward (Normal Raid is just 8 ppl, fighting a boss with occasionally some trash mobs before (a la Coils of Bahamut); Alliance Raid is 24 ppl, 3 groups of 8, similar to a dungeon layout (a la Crystal Tower)) has a pretty cool story - Some of the Dungeons are really cool looking and very fun to go through - I was told that the devs were slightly inspired by Game of Thrones while making this expansion and its patches. Take that as you may :P - The DRK storyline is widely accepted as being amazing. It's also the same writer who made it that LEAD the story writing in Shadowbringers Finally, a bit of a funny anecdote: Haurchefant, being all nice to you, is cool. But if you listen to the Japanese voice lines (and understand them), he is literally in love with your character (yes, even if you're male). Many of his lines are him openly flirting with you, or thirsting after you. xD
Hey guys! Great video! BTW, there's a small quest in Coerthas Central Highlands called 'Toss Fit Workout' that'll give you the ability to throw those snowballs back at those orphan snots :)
I dunno if anyone else said yet but if you want to know more about the destroyed status in Ishgard, there’s a side quest that involves an NPC giving you a ‘tour’ of the statues and who the saints of said statues are. Cause the statues are of the city’s saints
Our character does get more emotive in the cutscenes as the game progresses, but yeah, the nodding is always a key part of our reaction all the way through Endwalker! XD I agree on the Gothic castle setting too, it's one of my favorite styles/settings. And oh yeah, the new voice actors after ARR are so much better. Unfortunately, Stephen Critchlow, the voice actor for Edmont de Fortemps passed last year. There were several remembrances of him on most/all servers. He will be missed, he was absolutely brilliant. It was a main hub at the time and it's still important for the HW job quests and the firmament for crafters and gatherers, but it's definitely not as packed as it was. DRK is a bit of a mess right now with the EW changes, but still my main job (MCH is my 2nd actually, funny that both were added here in Heavensward), and I highly recommend the class quest line, plus even if it's a bit clunky right now it's a great job for many reasons, and my moon kitty looks amusing with her giant DRK sword! Astologian is my 2nd highest healing job at 58, Sage is the higher one at 90 as I really enjoy it and it starts at 70. All 3 HW jobs are pretty cool really. The dungeons in HW are great and they get quite a bit more difficult than ARR dungeons too, something that keeps up for all the expansions really. Some interesting thoughts here guys! I won't spoil anything, but you're in for a treat, Heavensward is my 2nd favorite expansion, so you're in for a great ride! Too bad you guys aren't on Siren so we could run stuff together. Edit: Oops on that last paragraph, fixed it! XD
Heavensward was the first time of many that I cried in FFXIV. You are in for a treat. If you aren’t emotionally invested in these characters yet… well… 😎
On the "Hub City" front. I'd have to say no, but with some stipulations. There is another city in HW that was the hub city, but Ishgard wasn't as empty as it is now. There were constant MSQ reasons to go back, so you'd always see quite a few people MSQ'ing their way thru the city.
From here on out every expansion gets two major "hubs". There's a main city hub where you can find the markets and there's an end-game hub where the "end-game" vendors for that expansion are located. Crafting vendors usually are in the end-game hub too. Once everyone's settled into the endgame raiding for the expansion, the main city hubs tend to become ghost towns more.
U. U i was one of those who was following along but did not sub, but now im sub and even hit the bell button! Just leaving this comment here for the algorithm you guys are awesome thank you for the content and i cant wait to keep hearing about your adventure in this format.
About the statues in Ishgard. There is a side quest near the aetheryte in Ishgard that will give you the lore you want. 🙂 If I remember correctly you pick it up from the NPC Fury Fearing Citizen.
Hype. Trials in Heavensward set the bar. The last 2 trials in ARR was them spreading their wings but my god, the Trials in Heavensward set the expectations going forward. They are all spectacles to behold.
Minor hype: the level 51 dungeon has notes on the ground you can read that add to the lore for the dungeon. Most groups pass over them because they're in a hurry - ask the party to hold on and read these. You'll also see this same "lore mechanic" used in later dungeons as well. (Not all, usually the optional dungeons.)
since you noticed those kids with the snowballs, if you wanna JOIN their snowball fight, you can do the sidequest "Toss Fit Workout" in Coerthas Central Highlands X: 24.9 Y: 27.7, it's a 30 second quest that gives you the emote "/throw". As long as your character is standing on snow, /throw becomes a snowball edit: thats unfortunate about the spoiler on twitch, usually the community over there is the same, very anti-spoiler. but even tho you've been "spoiled", the game is able to subvert expectations so much, you can still expect to enjoy those moments once you have FULL context.
Imagine spoiling when we can just smile and cause unease :).
This made me LOL.
Smile and cause unease, boys. Smile and cause unease. :)
Let's go, Smilers of Light :)
A smile better suits a spoiler :)
:))))
I apologize if someone's mentioned this already, but I wanted to say, since I've gotten to the point where you talk about liking Count Edmont.
When his voice actor, Stephen Critchlow, passed away in September of 2021, players all over the world on different data centers gathered outside Fortemps Manor to hold vigils for him. On my world in particular, folks formed a sort of giant long oval line along the walk in front of the manor, and I and many others walked the line giving out food and minions for people who wanted to come hang out for a while. There were even a couple people there even cosplaying as Haurchefant and even one as Aymeric, and it was funny at first, but they ended up in shout chat talking to a lot of people about their grief (since this was obviously in covid times, people ended up talking about other people they knew who'd passed away recently, so there were many condolences shared all around.) It was a really somber but heartwarming moment, I think I was there for about a week before people eventually went to play the game normally again.
Kyle going 🙂🙂🙂🙂 is pure hilarity.
And shame on the spoilery chat.
At least upload the vod on UA-cam if you're not gonna stream it.
Yeah, I've been noticing people in Twitch chat recently have been way less respectful of spoilers than chat seemed to be in the summer, when the first wave of WoW refugees started streaming (I've been watching PreachGaming's streams). Most FFXIV peeps respect the "spoiler free" experience so much, and I remember a lot of the WoW streamers being shocked at how well the community respected spoilers. I don't know if people are just more inconsiderate in the winter, or if the influx of WoW players who just aren't used to anyone caring are dropping spoiler bombs without realizing how big a deal it is.
@@jdent8561 idk. It is an oddity. Preach still has an amazing chat, and so do most other streamers ive watched. I guess it comes down to moderation.
It was very clever of him to put on that knowing smile before Garret even started predicting.
Yes, Dragoons are dragon killing "specialists." The armor they wear also has lore behind it - all the spikes protruding are there to deter dragons from grabbing and eating them ;)
I was actually going to post this, but I guess you beat me to it! I love the lore implication that the spiky armor is so that if you get eaten, you'll tear the dragon up from the inside. XD
So it's like those coyote vests you can buy for small dogs? Or am I just a weirdo chihuahua owner with encyclopedic knowledge of how to keep my tiny dogs out of the mouths of predators?
Yes, it's basically person is small dog and dragon is coyote.
@@Amovetv I'm not sure if it's canon or not, but the best way I've heard it explained is that the armor is spiky so that even if a dragoon gets eaten, they do as much damage as possible on the way "out"
Playing the heavens ward msq as a dragoon ads a lot of extra dialogue
The one thing I love about FF14's story, when it comes to spoilers, is that EVERYTHING is so damn well connected that you just don't know how to talk about something without MAYBE spoiling something else. Whenever someone asks you about the future and wants you to avoid spoilers, within like 3 seconds of hearing the question, your brain goes through hundreds of different ways to say it without spoiling and you immediately overdose and just go '' :) ''
I can feel the inner mental turmoil in this post.
@@Amovetv :) is always the way to go
@@Eiensakura A smile better suits a spoiler.
@@1033515 Ouch man so on point... also things to look forward to 57 Dungeon... and this comment will hit SOOO much harder.
"Everything sucks and I'm scared"
You're gonna love Shadowbringers and Endwalker
The Warrior of Light has a theme job for each expansion. 1.0 Archer, ARR Warrior, Heavansward Dragoon, Stormblood Monk & Samurai, Shadowbringers Dark Knight, Endwalker Paladin. It doesn't have a whole lot of effect on your experience. If you come into Heavansward as a Dragoon you will already have been introduced to one character and one plot thread prior to the expansion, but it isn't necessary.
Dragoon is biased because if you don't pick up Lancer before Heavensward, it feels wrong because the Dragoon Level 30-50 quests introduce a major character as your enemy. Endwalker involves all of the characters you met in your job quests in some cutscene or another so while you can ignore the jobs, it feels less personal. ;)
I agree that it's not a big deal, but the only poster job I would genuinely recommend leveling & playing through its respective expansion would be dragoon. The job quests give quite a bit of background lore & characterization for that character, and there are a noticeable (though not significant) amount of dialogue changes if you play as one. But I'm also biased since I started my journey as one and stuck with it until Stormblood lol
The "problem" with Stormblood is it lies between Heavensward and Shadowbringers which are 2 AMAZING expansions in terms of story. Stormblood isn't "bad" per say, it's just nowhere near as good as Heavensward and Shadowbringers.
StormBlood gets a bad wrap because the start is kinda slow, I think the story and characters are great.
I enjoy stormblood but it's pacing is awful. Some parts manage to be too slow yet the build up for some characters wasn't enough. Also deus ex machina :((
Stormblood suffers because when they were going into it they realized that the original lore behind the Ascians and what they were trying to do wouldn't work so they spent time rewriting the entire trajectory of the story... and obviously that affected Stormblood itself
playing Heavensward now also gets all the benefits of later patches. Stormblood had so many gameplay improvements and general little things that got fixed up, but those aren't the story so you don't notice it playing now
Stormblood makes up for any story shortcomings by having amazing alliance and 8-man raids, as well as some of the coolest dungeons in the game.
Since the two of you, like me, were immediately taken by Count Edmont de Fortemps, I'd like to take a moment to pour one out for his voice actor, Stephen Critchlow. Taken WAY too early. That man brought a sense of gravitas to the character that set him apart. There's a moment in Heavensward that drives the Count to his knees in tears (not gonna spoil it, but _hamevin yavin_ ), and it was the first moment that REALLY made me cry in the game.
For the "hub city" question, kind of yes. Each expansion essentially has 2 hub cities; one big one at the very beginning with all the basic vendors and stuff, and one later one where they put the endgame stuff.
Ishgard in particular is less crowded by far than Idyllshire, the other HW hub area, which has things like weekly crafting deliveries & the weekly journal turn-in, gear vendors, and things like that. Also most of the people who go to Ishgard in the endgame are going to a place called The Firmament that you probably haven't been to yet. This is a big crafting & gathering related area that's always at least somewhat populated. I think you have to beat HW before unlocking it.
Very much this. Ishgard was only really very crowded for the first few days after Heavensward launched. There were certainly more people in Ishgard during the Heavensward era compared to now, but it was only by like a factor of two. But it was always much more empty than Idyllshire was, and it never really felt crowded, since the vast majority of players spent their time in Idyllshire once they got there. Which feels thematically appropriate for both cities.
The market boards are less convenient than Limsa's, so people didn't really go there for that unless they were near by and wanted to save a few gil, and the Firmament also didn't exist until Shadowbringers, so there wasn't even that reason for people to go to Ishgard.
Yeah even by the time I started in 3.3 / 3.4 it was very much quiet, empty whatever. I think especially considering the EW hub city even vs the ShB hub, it very much had more to do with where the marketboard is in relation to the aetheryte, rather than where the newest city is. If you have to use the aethernet to get to the MB people are just gonna go back to Limsa
@@LovelyRitaholic people go for convenience 90% of the time. Then there are people like me rocking my Transmog in Ishguard because I like the aesthetic and music the most. Even craft there.
I would also say, the tome gear vendor in ishgard(next to the aetheryte after you finish 3.0) is much easier to navigate than the other city. They carry on with that in future expacs, so keep an eye out.
Keep your preferred teleport in Limsa (as it is the unofficial capital of FF14) and your homepoint at the expansions "end game" city. Then you are totally set.
Watched the ARR Supercut and immediately had to run to watch more of the journey recaps. Ishgard is my favorite city, this was such a special moment for me, so I'm so happy to rewatch y'all's journey 💕
About the how the story is been told in the expansions:
Every expansion .0 has a satisfactory ending, however the true ending where all the major threads are resolved is the .3 patches, and .4 and .5 is the setup for the next expansion. You can definitely see this structure during your playthrough.
The only exception is Endwalker where the big finale is 6.0.
Each expansion highlights one of the Jobs in FF and for HW, its Dragoon.
In base expansion/ARR, the WoL is an archer/Warrior
(Slight spoiler for the other expansion’s trailer)
For Stormblood, The WoL plays Monk/Samurai
For Shadowbringer, Dark Knight
For EW, Paladin
You can play Dragoon if you want and be immersed with the HW experience. :)
(Slight spoiler)
Some of the Dialog changes as well if your a Dragoon
I love these kind of small details.
Oh cool. That makes sense.
Heavensward is where they start giving you more context based dialogue and events. For instance there's a certain part of the story where you try to save an NPC to find out your healing magic doesn't work on them for plot reasons, so the outcome is the same regardless but it's a nice personal touch.
Every FFXIV expansion has a sort of poster job that's thematically related to the story. It's usually NOT one of the new classes. It is the job that the player insert character in the cinematics and trailers uses for the expansion.
Stormblood was actually an exception because they added Samurai at the same time as they added the Asian allegory regions. ARR was Warrior, HW was Dragoon because Ishgard and fighting dragons, Samurai in Stormblood because weeb expansion, Dark Knight in Shadowbringers for reasons I won't explain, and Paladin in Endwalker as a sort of return to form for the conclusion of the big story arc.
I will note that Stormblood was both Monk and Samurai.
1.0 was Bard btw
@@pinsandneedles5345 1.0 is Archer, not Bard.
@@Fiarlia slip off the ton...fingers
Paladin was chosen for EW because of the references to an FF for the fans.
HW is many people’s favorite expansion, get hyped for a fantastic story!
I am really bought-in already. The whole aesthetic is very much my jam. -Garrett
@@Amovetv this is really my favourite expansion. Story, music, aesthetics are all my Jam. And I love the voice overs that are reminiscent to me of an old English epic.
What i really like about the heavensward story is how “intimate” it feels. Like you are only dealing with a handful of characters and you get to know them and their motivations.
After following you guys from shortly before this video, I just want to say that it's been amazing seeing your journey, and seeing your community grow. Jesse Cox was right, you guys really are the best FFXIV content producers out right now. I love these recap and analysis videos.
The best part of waking up on Wednesdays! Love watching your coverage, I hope you take the time to really appreciate this expansion!
Don’t forget to find the Aether Currents while exploring the new zones! It’ll totally help progress later in the game!
Mhmm and if you buy the motorcycle mount from the store you can have the fastest mount in game for future expansions until you unlock flying.
I think a big thing i liked that was "small" and missable are the crafting and gathering jobs, especially Botanist and Fishing. It adds A LOT to the world building around Ishgard and the zones around it. Most people will miss this, but its really nice
My prediction: Garrett is going to end up loving Estinien's storyline. Also, having just gotten to the final zone of Endwalker (no spoilers), I can honestly say that whatever you think is coming next, you're wrong. Because while there were story beats I was able to predict, I did NOT see any of this coming.
The voice actor changes are all pretty much drastic improvements. Raubahn's, in particular.
Also, Stormblood is vastly underrated, in my opinion. It's not my favorite of the expansions, but it's still pretty dang awesome. But you can judge that for yourself once you make it through Heavensward. :)
The main expansion content from Stormblood wasn't great imo, not bad, but just not great. The patch content, however, is some of the best content in the entire game.
The greatest thing about watching other players go through older content is seeing what they pick up on that I completely missed the first time through.
Exciting things in Heavensward:
-The MSQ, obviously, but the patch story is *leagues* better than the post ARR stuff and sets up later expansions like Shadowbringers.
- The Alexander raids and the Shadow of Mhach alliance raids are incredible and worth doing before moving on to Stormblood. A lot of it even becomes relevant in the MSQ in later expansions.
- The trials, especially the optional Warring Triad questline, are much improved from ARR, and "The Final Steps of Faith" stands out as my all time favorite Heavensward MSQ moment.
- The Vault is also the best Heavensward dungeon.
The greatest thing about Heavensward are the MSQ and the Sky Pirates story line.
There is also the Raid story line, that starts kinda cool, but the characters are a bit stock, but then THAT cutscene happens and the story makes 180 turns, so experiencing that will be fun.
Also heads up. Heavensward adds whole new series of beast tribe quests. And just like the ARR beast tribe quests, they are really fun and have unique stories, characters and cutscenes. A lot of people skip them because they are used to the grindy reputation quests in WoW.
Finishing all the ARR beast tribes quests unlock a incredible story line with one hell of an ending.
Also Heavensward adds new Hildibrand quest line.
"What do you think is hype-worthy in Heavensward?" Hmm...
1) Alphinaud becoming a good NPC
2) The new zones (especially the last one IMO)
3) The trials (the first one not so much, but the others are FANTASTIC)
4) The 8 man raids!
As someone who lives in a country, and an specific part of it, where it only snowed twice in a century... I fully agree with Garrett. If it has snow, it has my attention (reason why I was into Heavensward right away and before that, loved seeing Coerthas for the first time), and it has the potential of becoming my favorite zone/city (Of course it's Ishgard).
As for things to experience... I'm not sure how far into it you are, but rather than something from the MSQ, one thing I absolutely adored and recommend to do, after the incredible main quests, at level 60 and kind of into the transition to Stormblood, it's a side quest called "The paths we walk". It required a lot of traveling, but it's absolutely worth it.
I doubt you guys will remember since it does seem like you're at the start, but yeah, I thought Heavensward was impressive, and still holds up so well, but that quest chain in particular... that is something I'll keep in my heart forever.
I loved, loved, LOVED playing Heavensward as a Dragoon! The little bits of extra dialogue that you get made the expansion seem more personal.
You're gonna hear this a hundred times but as you do Dark Knight quests, read your quest journal.
The DRK, MCH, and AST quests overall are unique. While they're very derivative of Ishgard, they're the only jobs in the game you don't pick up in one of the 3 initial cities. They also have a lower relative starting level than future new jobs. It's a holdover from the way the job system used to work.
I actually like this way much more. Starting straight from level 60+ is feels really awkward...
A huge change in HW from ARR is that the raid post the MSQ is fully populated with party finder unlike coils. You'll easily be able to go through it and experience it, kind of realistically.
This the point where the game steadily gets better and better as you go through it. It builds and builds and twists and turns. If you play a Dragoon in heavensward you get some extra dialog stuff which is very cool but doesn't materially affect the MSQ,
Now that you both finished ARR, I highly recommend watching Preach and Nobbel's video where they talk about their journey through ARR. Of course, they only focus on ARR so no spoilers there, but it's a 2 hours long video that basically encapsulates the WoW player transitioning into FF14 experience. And they also go on long tangents regarding the world building, the community driven gameplay, etc. There are so, sooo, SO many things around the world that one might find out, but another might miss. Things like evolving dialogue every single new MSQ and, unless you go out of your way to look for it, you'll miss it. Special cutscenes for people who did certain quests. Background characters with their own stories that aren't told through any NPC dialogue, but through them talking to each other in the world and so much more. This is one of the main reasons I absolutely adore watching these kinds of videos. Sometimes, I stumble upon something I never saw before or hear a point of view that I never considered regarding the story.
Since you're both going through the exact same thing, I simply felt like you might enjoy it. It might also give you guys ideas to talk about for your next episode as well. It's just so nice to see everyone go through the game and discussing their experiences. It's like watching Game of Thrones all over again and talking about it. Except that it continues to be better all the way to the end and finishes in a glorious satisfying conclusion for this current overarching story.
Stormblood is a solid 8/10 Expansion; it just gets hurt being between HW and Shadowbringers. Slight pacing concerns hurt it but so still really enjoyed it for being more FF 6 than others.
Got my sub with this video. Hope you enjoy the game I have loved for over 5years now. No spoilers from me. Just enjoy the new zones and talk to npcs around msq npc's for little extra lore. Heavesward is award winning for a reason. Just take it in and enjoy!
Thanks for subbing Matt! This xpac is already feeling special to me.
My favorite bit of HW was definitely finding out more about the beginning of the thousand-year war. Always been a fan of the Deep Lore type stuff.
Always a nice listen. Your experience takes me back to when I played the expansion. Have fun 😊
This community thrives on reliving the 1st time experiences through you and others, you only get a first time once so enjoy it do not rush
Love the new focus on FF content from you guys! The best part of Heavensward is in the Dark Knight job quest. Specifically the quest log summaries for the questline are all incredibly unique and cool in that they are written from a specific character point of view. Genuinely the best written job quest by a mile and one of the best stories in all of FFXIV in that it improves literally the entirety of the game after playing through it all. The writer of the Dark knight quest went on to write the best quests in all of Stormblood and was made lead writer for Shadowbringer and Endwalker which have phenomenal writing. The themes explored by the Dark knight job quests are central to FFXIV and while you wont miss anything by not doing it, you will have a blast if you make time to at least get through the level 70 job quests.
Dragoon is the poster job for HW, and depending on how far you are in the ARR DRG job quests there are characters and dialogue choices that change based off your progression there. Nothing significant but some decent flavor.
There are 3 tiers:
Not a Dragoon
A Dragoon who didn't complete ARR job quest
A DRG who completed quest
Again nothing significant changes as a result but characters you met . . .will remember and reference your exploits in ARR quest
The hw raid, man it’s just so freaking cool, on top of having an normal mode that you can run duty finder for so anyone can experience the fights/story.
So one thing to keep in mind, is alot and I mean ALOT of the sidequests have lore attached to them that enhances you understanding of either the past of the world, or the current level appropriate timeframes. Heck even the Crafting Story quests have game lore attached to them (as well as some nods to outdated systems) and the FATE descriptions, especially the multi-tier FATEs have lore attached. Basically everything baked into FF14 has an in-game valid lore reason for their existence, even the holiday seasonals.
That being said, none of it is required to get the main story or understand it fully, but it can lend a ton of additional flavor to lore nerds (like me) and those who like looking at very clean minimaps and maps (Also ME!).
The poster job isn't usually the new jobs, and in HW and SB you get special lines of dialog if you play those jobs (SAM/MNK for SB). ShB doesn't have special dialogs, but in EW you have many one lines that acknowledges you played certain jobs, for example I leveled White mage and there is this instance were a character calls me a "fellow conjurer".
honestly I found it funny that while doing the Tank role quests, I kept getting bonus dialogue because I had also leveled WHM.
Flying was introduced in HW. So one of the awesome things is when you can fly, just exploring the lanscape.
A couple notes about side questing (anything non-msq). Completion of some content will affect future cut scenes, unlocking additional dialogue such as npcs acknowledging the player's prior actions/achievements, so there is a benefit to taking your time and embracing the role playing aspect. There is also a cutscene replay function at the inns which will allow you to revisit those moments so there's no fear of missing out if you skip something.
There is a lot of side quests that can be used for leveling other classes, but the easiest way to tell a random quest from a chain is seeing an image header in the quest box. Those usually indicate a chain with better rewards and more significant story beats so prioritize those.
Story! Best part of the game by far. I’m sorry twitch peeps spoiled it for you Kyle. I’ll say that Machinist is excellent! Give it a look. As an AST i would say that I understand how you feel about not being feeling like a heroic character as healers just don’t have that sense of… Heroism? Machinist gives me that feel so when I play Machinist I feel epic in cutscenes
Before you leave Heavensward. Don’t skip the raids and trials that are totally optional.
Finally!!
BRB after I watched the video lol
Back. That sucks, that the twitch chat has spoilt so much.
But I'm so excited to follow both of your journey! Just enjoy, don't think too much about Stormblood lol.
Been playing ffxiv for7years during ARR. This game is EVERYTHING... HW was the catalyst for my love affair for this game. The music, lore and game play...to this day, HW gives me the feels. Enjoy the ride...because post EW feels is a gut punch full of all the wonderful journey we have partaken. I appreciate remembering my journey via yours. Thank you for the content. New subscriber and looking forward to watching you gentlemen.
What was really hype for me in Heavensward is everything xD It started with the music, then the areas, the story, the characters, the dungeons, the trials. Everything ♥
And it's not even my favorite expansion
The amount of minor details that FFXIV has like the snowball throwing kids is fantastic. It's one of the things I continually find blows my mind.
I just finished Heavensward, I legit teared up twice, you'll know when, have fun.
Quick FYI: each expansion of the game has a "focal job" that is featured thematically with that expansion. 1.0 featured the warrior of light as an Archer (Bard didn't exist yet which is weird to think about) ARR features the Warrior job, HW the Dragoon, Stormblood features both Monk and Samurai, Shadowbringers features Dark Knight and Endwalker features Paladin. This by no means is to say you can't or shouldn't take up any other jobs, by all means pay what you like. That said, different jobs do get different aspects of the story and lore at times or are presented with unique dialog based on what job you are in a particular scene.
I remember a scene in the fans where an ally was injured and I was playing a healer at the time... I was criticized for not helping them out. In a similar fashion, if you interact with people from your Grand Company, they will often refer to you by your rank. These touches Mage this such a nice personal story
I’m sad that we only get you guys for 30 minutes. But, I am LOVING tracking you both through the game. Keep going. Careful reading the comments!
This. So much this. I would happily listen to Garrett and Kyle talk for much longer than just 30 minutes.
There's a string of quests in Heavensward that people usually miss called "The Scholasticate" It's linked to the Hildibrand quests and has the yellow quest markers. It has some good story and adds to the world-building especially if you finished 3.0. I think Preach made a video about this.
I've had a really unique experience of leveling every job as I go through the msq and I am very impressed at how many classes tie in somehow to the theme and story presented in the msq. It's not like you miss anything but it delves deeper and fleshes out the nuances of the story.
Pretty sure you guys will pass me by soon though... my pally is level 59 and my other classes are 57 or 58 and I'm still on the level 57 msq. That being said... I really enjoy this approach to the game because I really fully experience everything as i go and have a great sense of completion every time I make a little progress in the msq.
Not a lot of people know this but ARR actually have a whole quest of epilogues that gives you better idea of the lore of all of the maps. So those with a interest in learning more about the world of FFXIV should really go and complete all of the "Delivery Moogle Quest."
Here is a non spoiler example:
Have you ever wonder why there is a lone man located in east side of Eastern La Noscea in what appears to be a man made house?
The Dragoons are dragonkillers, yes. But they also inherit some dragon abilities through their questline. You'll also get to see that as you go along the MSQ with the character Kyle mentioned, Estinien.
Your assessment of Ishgard is also correct. It is what is considered a hub city for the expansion (we're even getting housing in it come Endwalker). Every expansion has two cities: the main city with a market board, and a second, smaller city that is the "end game" city with a lot of places for end-game gear turn-ins and stuff.
As for stuff to do and see, I personally didn't wander off the main path much during Heavensward, but definitely get the aether currents for each area as you go. This will allow you to fly in that zone once you've gotten all of them. Some are gotten through completing quests, others are just sitting in the zone that you need to go and collect.
That also *super* sucks about Twitch chat. If you ever consider going back to streaming it, I'd suggest getting some mods that know the story and major plotpoints to help clear the way of people spoiling things. Seems to work out pretty well for Pyromancer.
One thing the game barely mentions is when the dragons attack the city, the reason they attack from the bottom up is because of the sounding area. The big goth castle city is surrounded by lethal ice aether that quite literally freezes all life that goes into it. It wasn't always like that, it used to be all green lush highlands area before the bahamut incident, and dragons cant' fly over it either, and the only way across is that giant bridge. So the dragons get funneled through the only gate that they can go through.
You're thinking of Daniffen's Collar. It's been there since the city was founded (because spoilers), so while you're correct that the Seventh Calamity changed the climate of Ishgard, that's not why the dragons can't enter the city (otherwise they would have been able to enter it just fine as recently as five years ago).
@@musicmage4114 ah yes I did forget about the giant layered aether gates with nigh inexhaustible aether fueled by 12 (spoilers).
You don't *have* to play dragoon in Heavensward - but for someone who does, there are a few ever slightly different lines from a certain character who has a major part of the story. He recognizes you and acknowledges you, but the plot of the expansion doesn't change other than that couple of lines of dialog.
Something to pay attention to: The details in the dungeons. After you finish a dungeon, you can return to the start (literally: use the action Return once the final boss is over to go back to the start) and go back and revisit it without any monsters in the way. Many of these dungeons have notes and other items scattered about. Go back and read them! They add so much.
8:00 You don't HAVE to be a Dragoon, but this was the point where they started adding additional dialog and stuff depending on your class and how far you are in the questline for it. It is a monumental task, but if you are willing, you REALLY get rewarded for leveling everything. Also, each expansion tends to have a class that your proxy in the cinematic plays. This expansion since it is so focused on dragons, is the Dragoon.
11:50 Yes, it was a hub city, but what tends to happen every major expansion is that everyone leaves and goes and chills at the next major hub for the most part except for people who REALLY like the aesthetic of that one or people going through the first time and people doing the side content there.
Re: Dragoon. You get extra nods and dialogue for being Dragoon through HW. In addition, a large aspect of HW's story's setup can be seen in the Dragoon job quest-line - it's not necessary to understand HW at all, but it's a very neat "Oooooooooh" moment when you get to HW if you went through the Dragoon job quests in ARR.
Further expansions do the job quest line nods with their thematic jobs (MNK/SAM with SB, DRK with ShB), but HW probably has the biggest tie-in to their theme job in terms of story. That said, they also give more love to all job tie-ins (not just their theme jobs) throughout the later expansions; this is especially notable in Endwalker, where there's references to almost every job quest-line in one way or another.
The theme jobs are generally the "canon" jobs for the canon, representative WoL btw - Archer starting 1.0, Warrior towards the end of 2.0, Dragoon in HW, etc. That's a big part of why they show off the job so much in the trailer, since they need the canon WoL to be learning new jobs in the same way as the player for thematics.
Currently leaving this running in the background as I downloaded it on my phone to watch offline and I really wanted to give the deserved watch time. Can't express how happy I am to see yous genuinely enjoying the game and excited for HW, all I can say is strap in and enjoy the ride!
You've done well on getting DRK and AST. I recommend getting MCH, DRG and PLD as well to feel Ishgard in earnest, their class quests clash with the world as you're doing the MSQ (you can do them after it and think "Ah, I remember things like this on MSQ"). Since Ishgard has european medieval steampunk vibes, knights, lords, squires, machinists, and dragons are really well designed, so pay attention to that. Besides that, my opinion in earnest is trying to feel the Dravania region and remember that some dragons will be important (Let's not forget that post-heavensward patches will make you go crazy).
Gods Bless Count Dadmont or as some call him 'Count Dripula.' The VA passed away in 2021 and many held a vigil in front of House Fortemps. The Kirkwall comparison REALLY fits. If you really enjoyed Dragon Age 2 and its societal shifts you're going to have a blast.
The part of Ishgard that is usually busy is locked behind finishing HW. The Firmament is a massive crafter's hub and there are often a lot of people there if not around the market board. If you ask which city feels like home to players, a lot will answer Ishgard. That is how close to the heart this expansion is. I hope you have tissues.
I am very excited to see you go thru the bosses/dungeons/trials for the game. They start to improve quite a bit here in HW. And they start to hit their stride in Stormblood and later. So it only goes up from here!
It is SO cool to see you guys full of questions and speculating around things in HW! Means you didnt got spoiled and also that you are invested in the story! Thanks for sharing this with us! Cant wait for the reactions for some key moments in the MSQ XD (that you really should consider recording, not streaming so you dont get spoiled by chat)
I LOVE the "zoom in on Kyle" parts of the spoiler video because it's literally "You have no idea, sweet summer child. You don't know where it's going at all!"
Watching Garrett make predictions about the story and seeing the video just cut back to Kyle, full screen, going :) made me laugh hysterically.
there is minor story flavor if you do HW as a Dragoon, nothing major really, just adds extra spice to some dialogue exchanges and character interactions.
I'm almost done to the first credits for Shadowbringers, and I still really loved Heavenward for the setting and lore above everything so far (though Stormblood was still great too!!). I would recommend going out of your way to get the HW versions of the Crystal Tower/24-man Alliance Raids, even though they're not required for MSQ. The places you go are really, really cool :)
Loving going on this journey with you all!!
Y’all are in for a ride for sure. My top moment in HW is the big walk… it’s the first time where I felt like I was the WoL.
I’m so excited for more from you all! My only recommendation really is that Kyle do the dark knight story as well so you can talk about it on the show :p
Story wise I can’t wait for y’all to see Alphinaud’s character development and when you realize how important the actual title of Heavensward is to the story of the expansion. Also can’t wait to hear your reaction to a major point in the story that elevated this expansions to one of the best stories I ever played in a video game in the past decade.
Gameplay wise I can’t wait to hear your favorite dungeons of the expansion and/or boss fights. And I would love a more in depth/spoiler review of the new jobs & their quest lines.
As someone who also picked up Dark Knight right after reaching Heavensward, I'm glad you enjoyed the initial quests for the class. You might be happy to hear that the writer who penned those quests is pretty much lead story writer for FFXIV now. I haven't reached any of the MSQ that she helmed, but I am definitely looking forward to it!
the big thing I'd recommend- while both the raids and the Warring Triad trial series aren't required by the MSQ, they all have INCREDIBLY relevant lore and stories to them, and I would definitely get them done before moving on to the next expansion. that's honestly my suggestion for every expansion really- always make sure you do the raids and trail series.
There is 2 zones you enter first in the expansion. There's no spoiler in saying one has a lot of ice. Pay attention to your surrounsings. Their is stuff everywhere and tell the story of that area and thus help elaborate on some of the things you learn through the story. It's amazing how much detail is there.
What I love is that ARR through Endwalker is the SAME story, with payoffs and connections running deep even into the final moments of Endwalker.
And to answer what’s to be hyped about HW?
3.3 :)
Heck yes. The climax of 3.3 is one of my favorite things to happen in any video game ever. I was just left yelling incoherently at my screen.
I'm enjoying you two going through this journey. I hope to see you guys more later on throughout this expansion and hear your thoughts.
They generally have the "flagship job" be more relevant to the themes or setting of an expansion rather than necessarily showcases new jobs for that expansion. There's only one example where one of the jobs showcased is also a new job for that expansion and that's the Stormblood trailer. It's worth noting your character avatar in the trailers is actually a warrior during the ARR time. It's also interesting that there has never been a caster as the main job for an expansion, and there's only been one ranged dps and it was an archer not even a bard, but that was for 1.0. All the other jobs in the expansion trailers have been either tanks or melee dps.
Beyond the MSQ and extra side trials, Heavensward introduced treasure maps. Timeworn dragonskin maps having the chance to spawn a special instanced dungeon where potential drops include minions, glamour sets, and some crafting materials. Once you have progressed far enough in the story where you have unlocked all of the regions of HW, you can take a look with a few friends.
One of the highlights of the Heavensward experience is waiting in a specific queue listening to a certain song.
Things to look forward to, and not to miss: All the dungeons and raids. Seriously. They're goooood. And make sure to keep the music on because they really stepped up their game from ARR in the number of unique tracks for events and instances!
Heavensward has some amazing set pieces that are amazing to see then the story drives home just how immense and grandiose the places you will go to are. It's also such an emotionally fulfilling story so I really hope you guys have a great time playing though it!
You guys probably already know this, but one thing to mention about HW is that you don't unlock flying once "completing" the MSQ of that content like as happens in ARR.
You have to use your Aether Compass periodically to find Aether currents, and also complete Blue + symbol side quests.
The upside for HW is that most of Aether currents you have to locate are generally not too far away from where the MSQ leads you.
Sorry to hear you being spoiled Kyle. Generally, the FF community especially with streamers chat are very anti-spoilers. Im surprised that you had experienced that.
Please record your ff experience and upload it on UA-cam. Im pretty sure a lot of people would watch that. :)
Btw. Every Wednesday, Ive been looking forward to watch GG and monitor your progress in the FF story. Its been a treat and i hope you guys continue to enjoy playing FF!
It Would be nice if we can play with you guys in game so streaming your gameplay would not be a bad idea. We’ll be there to protect you from spoilers. ;)
From what tends to happen its often a bunch of sour WoW players who crash in to do the spoiling. It got so bad that Preach who was streaming now makes his chat Sub only, because his mod crew banned a few dozen people.
Poor Preach. That sucks.
So, the point about Ishgard being a hub city- it was during HW. However most people that are there are in something called "The Firmament" now. Basically, its an area specifically for crafters/gatherers which you unlock upon reaching lvl 60. People use it to level their crafters from 20-90.
thank you very much, i've been listening to these and enjoying them. looking forward to see where you guys go next. it sucks to know you got spoiled, kyle!!
as for what i'm excited for you to experience, please enjoy the field trip! (and 3.4, the sheer entirety of 3.4)
as for how FF handles main expac/patch, it's a main story, usually x.1-x.3 handles clean up, and the x.4-x.5 is your set up. and it's just really nice.
As no doubt dozens of people have already told you, Ishikawa, the writer for Shadowbringers and Endwalker, wrote the story for Crystal Tower and the DRK quests.
My favorite part of the mainline HW story is when one of the villains gets his ass beat by the WoL and the camera shifts to their first person perspective. "Who... no, WHAT are you?"
Then the post HW patches are even better IMO.
From my memory from HW times Foundation wasn't so much a hub city but a passing city, people went there for the story beats and it was surely crowded when the expansion dropped but a week in most people were mainly gathered around the last settlement area, the Revenant's toll of HW. Back then there was no server travel so most people were usually in those settlements all the time. I wasn't until server travel was implemented that Limsa became what it is today.
Spoiler-free things to look towards in Heavensward:
- Obviously the Main Story twists
- Hildebrand's continued story, although it's entirely secondary
- The "Normal Raid" from Heavensward (Normal Raid is just 8 ppl, fighting a boss with occasionally some trash mobs before (a la Coils of Bahamut); Alliance Raid is 24 ppl, 3 groups of 8, similar to a dungeon layout (a la Crystal Tower)) has a pretty cool story
- Some of the Dungeons are really cool looking and very fun to go through
- I was told that the devs were slightly inspired by Game of Thrones while making this expansion and its patches. Take that as you may :P
- The DRK storyline is widely accepted as being amazing. It's also the same writer who made it that LEAD the story writing in Shadowbringers
Finally, a bit of a funny anecdote: Haurchefant, being all nice to you, is cool. But if you listen to the Japanese voice lines (and understand them), he is literally in love with your character (yes, even if you're male). Many of his lines are him openly flirting with you, or thirsting after you. xD
Hey guys! Great video! BTW, there's a small quest in Coerthas Central Highlands called 'Toss Fit Workout' that'll give you the ability to throw those snowballs back at those orphan snots :)
I dunno if anyone else said yet but if you want to know more about the destroyed status in Ishgard, there’s a side quest that involves an NPC giving you a ‘tour’ of the statues and who the saints of said statues are. Cause the statues are of the city’s saints
Our character does get more emotive in the cutscenes as the game progresses, but yeah, the nodding is always a key part of our reaction all the way through Endwalker! XD
I agree on the Gothic castle setting too, it's one of my favorite styles/settings.
And oh yeah, the new voice actors after ARR are so much better. Unfortunately, Stephen Critchlow, the voice actor for Edmont de Fortemps passed last year. There were several remembrances of him on most/all servers. He will be missed, he was absolutely brilliant.
It was a main hub at the time and it's still important for the HW job quests and the firmament for crafters and gatherers, but it's definitely not as packed as it was.
DRK is a bit of a mess right now with the EW changes, but still my main job (MCH is my 2nd actually, funny that both were added here in Heavensward), and I highly recommend the class quest line, plus even if it's a bit clunky right now it's a great job for many reasons, and my moon kitty looks amusing with her giant DRK sword! Astologian is my 2nd highest healing job at 58, Sage is the higher one at 90 as I really enjoy it and it starts at 70. All 3 HW jobs are pretty cool really.
The dungeons in HW are great and they get quite a bit more difficult than ARR dungeons too, something that keeps up for all the expansions really.
Some interesting thoughts here guys! I won't spoil anything, but you're in for a treat, Heavensward is my 2nd favorite expansion, so you're in for a great ride! Too bad you guys aren't on Siren so we could run stuff together.
Edit: Oops on that last paragraph, fixed it! XD
Heavensward was the first time of many that I cried in FFXIV. You are in for a treat. If you aren’t emotionally invested in these characters yet… well… 😎
On the "Hub City" front. I'd have to say no, but with some stipulations. There is another city in HW that was the hub city, but Ishgard wasn't as empty as it is now. There were constant MSQ reasons to go back, so you'd always see quite a few people MSQ'ing their way thru the city.
From here on out every expansion gets two major "hubs". There's a main city hub where you can find the markets and there's an end-game hub where the "end-game" vendors for that expansion are located. Crafting vendors usually are in the end-game hub too. Once everyone's settled into the endgame raiding for the expansion, the main city hubs tend to become ghost towns more.
I'm so excited for you guys to experience the story! There are so many really great moments coming for you, big and small. Have fun!
U. U i was one of those who was following along but did not sub, but now im sub and even hit the bell button! Just leaving this comment here for the algorithm you guys are awesome thank you for the content and i cant wait to keep hearing about your adventure in this format.
Appreciate it udiar! Welcome.
One of my favorite moments bears the song "Heroes"
About the statues in Ishgard. There is a side quest near the aetheryte in Ishgard that will give you the lore you want. 🙂
If I remember correctly you pick it up from the NPC Fury Fearing Citizen.
Hype. Trials in Heavensward set the bar. The last 2 trials in ARR was them spreading their wings but my god, the Trials in Heavensward set the expectations going forward. They are all spectacles to behold.
The biggest hype aside from the final trial of 3.0 patch 3.3 is amazing and it's the first time in the franchise i felt like the hero of the story.
Minor hype: the level 51 dungeon has notes on the ground you can read that add to the lore for the dungeon. Most groups pass over them because they're in a hurry - ask the party to hold on and read these.
You'll also see this same "lore mechanic" used in later dungeons as well. (Not all, usually the optional dungeons.)
since you noticed those kids with the snowballs, if you wanna JOIN their snowball fight, you can do the sidequest "Toss Fit Workout" in Coerthas Central Highlands
X: 24.9 Y: 27.7, it's a 30 second quest that gives you the emote "/throw". As long as your character is standing on snow, /throw becomes a snowball
edit: thats unfortunate about the spoiler on twitch, usually the community over there is the same, very anti-spoiler. but even tho you've been "spoiled", the game is able to subvert expectations so much, you can still expect to enjoy those moments once you have FULL context.