A Realm Reborn without Heavensward

[Johnlynch]

I've got some credit left in my steam account and was looking to buy FFIV with it, but I don't have enough for the expansion pack. Now longterm I'll of course have to fix that, but for the next couple of months I can get away with it.

So I'm wondering what do I miss out on by not buying Heavensward immediately. Am I still eligible for 30 days free if I use the free trial?

I've seen these questions asked before, but they're all a year old now. So I figured it was worthwhile asking again.

[Enkidoh]

Welcome!

You can definitely play ARR itself without Heavensward, as the expansion pack storyline and content only becomes available after completing all the ARR story quests (and there is a lot of ARR content to play through to reach that point). The only thing really you will miss out on at the start is being able to create a character of the au ra race which requires Heavensward to be purchased and registered to your account.

Other than that, you'll have the entire ARR game on it's own to play through and all it's content to last you until you are ready to purchase Heavensward, so don't feel you are missing out not having it straight away.

As for the 30 days free, I'm not sure how that works with the free trial version, my understanding is that it automatically occurs once you upgrade the trial to a proper account, but someone more knowledgeable on that subject would be able to answer that better than I can.

[Johnlynch]

Thanks for that.

[MysticWoolie]

As for the 30 days free, I'm not sure how that works with the free trial version, my understanding is that it automatically occurs once you upgrade the trial to a proper account, but someone more knowledgeable on that subject would be able to answer that better than I can.

The trial period ends the moment you purchase the full game, and the counter for your first free month starts ticking immediately.
And indeed, having Heavensward adds no additional content to ARR, apart from the ability to roll Au Ra (which is why i DID purchase it )

[BorisDaBlade]

Well if you don't buy heavensward, and you get a character to 50, you won't be able to level it further. Basically, it's 100 main story quests of exp you'd be missing out on as well as practically anything else you would do leveling wise.

I was like level 54 before I even stepped foot inside Ishgard, because I bought the heavensward expansion.

[Johnlynch]

Well if you don't buy heavensward, and you get a character to 50, you won't be able to level it further.

Right. Which is why I would buy it once I reached 50th level. But depending on how much I play and how quickly I get through the main storyline, it could be a couple of months before I need to buy Heavensward. I fully intend to buy both it and Stormblood. My main concern was, am I missing out on anything in the ARR portion of the game by buying Heavensward at a later date.

[Yasuhiro]

I read somewhere that you'll be able to play through Heavensward if you buy Stormblood, don't know where I saw it but it might be worth waiting for that, will save you a bit of money if that's the case.

[Johnlynch]

I read somewhere that you'll be able to play through Heavensward if you buy Stormblood, don't know where I saw it but it might be worth waiting for that, will save you a bit of money if that's the case.

Is that how MMORPGs typically work? Is that how FFXI worked?

Seems a bit suspicious to me. I'd expect SE to want to get as much money as possible from customers. At best I'd expect them to offer a bundle for Heavensward and Stormblood. Has anyone got a source for that and/or can confirm it?

[Yasuhiro]

Yeah, I bought FFXI sometime in 2015 and it came with all previous expansions, I think WoW also came with previous expansions but don't qoute me on that, I played that game for an hour so dont know what content beyond base was available to me.

I also found this one this very forum, which was where I found the info I gave you, haha right under my nose

The slides said "Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood also includes Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward".

If you pre-order and you don't have access to Heavensward yet, do you get access to Heavensward with the rest of your pre-order goodies or do you have to wait until Stormsblood itself is released to access the Heavensward content as well?

FINAL FANTASY XIV: Stormblood will also include the ability to play FINAL FANTASY XIV: Heavensward as well. However, it is not a pre-order bonus, so in the instance you're referencing, no, you would not be able to play it then.

I suppose if you're not fussed about rushing to end game and just want to play the game at your own pace you can just buy Stormblood but the only thing is, it's a bit of a ways away, you'll be 50 in no time. HW is going for $20 on Steam, cheaper than I thought.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/359480/

[Johnlynch]

Huh. There you go. I'll likely get it before then. But we'll see how quickly I get to 50 (I only just started to see the main plot now).