Quote Originally Posted by Ametrine View Post
Actually, SE stated that upgrades will launch upon Heavensward release that will make players who aren't playing in the expansion areas still have the ability to work with players who are.

I think, that if this is the case, you will be able to use your own Au Ra, since the data will be there for you. Just not in new areas.
It's the technicality that may make the character non-selectable if they were playing on a platform without the expansion.

While yes this may sound a tad messyI imagine it might work like this.

PC Version Expansion=Accessible
-Can access new zones, play as Au Ra race and play the three new jobs

PS4 version Expansion=Don't have
-Can not access new zones, play as Au Ra race and can't access the three new jobs.

What you are describing is what happens in every mmo regardless of whether or not a person has an expansion those who only have vanilla will still have access to the resources like the visual representation of new gear however with odds of Rowens being in Ishgard that means in order to purchase these new pieces of armor you'll need to be in Ishgard.

Granted I can see this getting a tad messy with how finicky they might be, since this also leads to the question like, if I"m lv 55 and I go on ps4 that doesn't have expansion, will I still be able to level or will my xp not go up when I am on a vanilla platform.

It really all comes down to how many switches are involved with the expansion but if we take the "Features" on the site at face value the switches would be:

A New Level Cap (50 → 60)

Flying Mounts

A New Playable Race: The Au Ra

New Jobs: Dark Knight, Machinist, and Astrologian

A New City-state: The Holy See of Ishgard

New Primals: Bismarck and Ravana

A New High-end Raid: Alexander

Airship Construction and Customization in Free Company Workshops

And More!

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So if you look at it like that I"d say all the above would be available on platform you have expansion on however if you switch to the platform without the expansion you would lose access to all the above.