Couldn't you have just added your orifinal copy to steam as non-steam game? Or am I missing something obvious here?
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due to the nature of Steam games thay have a .exe file that has a few differing lines of code so it has to launch though the steam DRM, with that said, if you bought heavenward's disk and tried to install it it wouldn't find the game and it wouldn't recognise the steam one as a game due to its different coding, and DRM protection..
if you added it via non-steam-games it wouldn't allow it to mix with a steam game in case f piracy, and also since it is a expansion it will also have its own code that steam will use to mix it in as a DLC from there store, in short there DRM basicly stops you from adding DLC or a expansion on one of there games UNLESS you get it from them.
you would still need to open steam and use a steam version to allow the expansion to be paired with it, its the way they do it, its a really asinine way to be honest but its how they sell things, but they have shown saying you need to buy the steam version sold for the steam version of ffxiv, so your outta luck if you want the physical edition.
Finally got a reply on this from EU Support - you can't add a Steam Heavensward to a non-Steam ARR account
Quote:
Thank you for contacting the Square Enix Support Centre.
We thank you for your interest in FINAL FANTASY XIV: Heavensward.
Unfortunately, you would only be able to add the Steam expansion to a Steam account. If you do not have a Steam version of the game, you would only be able to add the non Steam expansion.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Kind regards,
The Square Enix Support Centre team
They are talking about Steam account. Just get the installer from FFXIV site and not use Steam to play it. Also, Steam will be able to preorder Heavensward, just check the announcements on the game page.
Then your account isn't actually the Steam version (since you gave that code away) and you should therefore buy the non-Steam one.
It doesn't matter if you play through Steam or directly (they're both exactly the same installation on your hard disk), it only matters where you purchased the account you actually play with as that's whether it's marked as Steam or not.
If you log into the Mogstation, on the opening page of the service account if it shows you have a Steam Wallet option for payment it's a Steam account version. If it doesn't, it's not.
I had a similar question in mind because of the following:
1) I bought the PC non-Steam version at release since it wasn't available under Steam. My Mog Station account had one PC non-Steam FF14 service account (#1)
2) I then bought the PC Steam version. This way, I'm able to launch the PC Steam version and still log with account #1 (and benefit from Steam time tracking, reviewing game, ...). I linked my PC Steam account (#2) to My Mog Station account (but I'm not using it)
So, since my main account #1 is a PC non-Steam account, I should upgrade buying a non-Steam version of Heavensward.
However, I should still be able trick the launcher:
1) Launch FF14 PC Steam version
2) Log in with #1 through FF14 launcher
3) FF14 launcher will recognize #1 as Heavensward-enabled and patcher will update accordingly.