Unlocking Heavensward

[EpicName]

Hi,
I am a fairly new player.
I purchased A.R.R a couple of months ago and then bought Heavensward a few days ago, right before I hit level 50.
After hitting level 50 i was really excited to start the heavensward content but was slapped in the face as I found out that I have to complete another 100 quests before I can go to ishgard...
Are you kidding me?
I can understand if this was a requirement for a short time after the xpac was released but its been out for a while now.
This is ridiculous. I'm going to be taking a break from the game now and am seriously considering quitting altogether.
You don F'd up Square Enix.

[Vidu]

Oh really? THIS again?
Yes, you do have to go through the story because Ishgard doesnt allow strangers - and you are one right now - inside its mighty halls. There is a lore-reason thats keeping you outside of Ishgard and I'm glad they're taking the lore and the story serious. Granted there are a few quests that have to be considered filler (really, Tataru? Tea?) but after all the game is telling you a story - if you dont enjoy that: Yes, it might be better if you just quit.

Can someone at this point please explain to me why people are soooo excited to go into the HW-areas but dont seem to care about the story or the game at all? Like really, do you only want to go to idleshire to cap your respective tomes for a week and farm the new EX-primals for their mounts? Is THAT really what makes the game fun for you? If you want a grind cant you go play... farmville or however those games are called?

[Niwashi]

If you don't want to play the game, then why purchase an expansion to said game? If you hadn't been aware of all those quests and just found out about them, why aren't you happy at finding out there's even more content than you had realized?

[Ragology]

I think the 100 story quests is what reduces the amount of bot activity done the heavensward areas.

[Evangela]

You don't have to rush it. ARR story is as good as HW. Just enjoy the game.

[Zari]

It is because the expansions in this game CONTINUE the story. They are not a completely different story, and thus you need to complete the ARR story first.

If you dont care at all about the story and just want to skip everything to see the newest stuff then this might not be the right mmo for you.

[AriaFae]

Not gonna lie, I skip all the cutscenes and don't read quests. I find the story boring and have no interest in it. Regardless, I still did all the random quests I had to do to get into HW without complaining because thats just how it works in this game.

A lot of the content is gated behind the MSQ, if you're not used to it by now, welp.. I dunno what to tell you.

[Bixillarla]

There is a lore reason Ishguard is locked off to you, they do not trust strangers and have not allowed anyone into Ishguard in a long time. They are not just going to throw open the gates all of a sudden and let just anyone into their city. You have to do the quests to earn their trust to gain access as well as some key events which I will not spoil.

I am glad they are sticking to the lore and keeping it locked behind completing the ARR quests. Final Fantasy is a heavy story based game which I love. If this is not for you then you will be better off with another game.

[Meow9000]

Oh man people are so dumb. The game didn't just immediately go from the end of Praetorium straight to ishgard... sorry dude, but you're gonna have to play the same story we had to play piece by piece over almost two years before HW was released. Deal with it or gtfo

[Amiaze]

You don F'd up Square Enix.

I'm sorry, so what's your point, exactly? FFXIV does function a little differently from other MMOs in that you have to fight to progress the story and can't main it as a crafter and the like, but it is a story-driven game. In fact, going to Ishgard and doing any of the quests there literally means nothing unless you're invested in the story anyway*, especially since most of the raids are still in ARR due to HW still being current content. I find people going back to run ARR content just as much as they run HW content.

*Barring that you aren't in the game with a group of friends