Anyone else "miss" Heavensward?

[Seriphyn]

Everytime I log into the game after a few days into HW zone and hear that music, I say to myself...

 

Twelve above, I wish I could play Heavensward for the first time again

 

 

I play every type of video game (from Stellaris to Witcher 3), and Heavensward 3.0 MSQ was up there as one of my finest video game experiences. I would give anything to purge my memory of it and play it once over.

 

I mean, I suppose there's an alt, but it's not the same! 

 

 

i cry now

[Dravus]

I do, yes. I may very well invest in an alt at some point in the future simply so I can play through the 3.0 stuff once more...though like you stated it won't be the same as it was when experiencing it for the first time. It was also a vast improvement over 2.0's storytelling as far as I'm concerned...and 2.0 was already fairly decent when compared to what most other MMO's offer in terms of their stories.

 

3.1 and 3.2 were much shorter by comparison but they still managed to grip me. I suspect 3.3 will be the same. I'm also hoping that when we eventually hit 4.0 that expansion will go above and beyond even what 3.0 gave us. Especially in terms of character development, intrigue and morality.

[Warren Castille]

Moogles.

 

MOOGLES.

 

Once was enough.

[Enla]

While there are certain zones I certainly do NOT miss, Moghome being the biggest offender, I do miss the sheer joy and wonder I had at experiencing the story for the first time. I've been pretty vocal about my disappointment with the 2.0 storyline and how 2.1-2.55 only somewhat rectified my many issues with it, so coming into a new plotline that seemingly fixed most of my issues and gave us an engrossing story as well was almost magical. I can only hope that the next updates continue that feeling of wonder and that 4.0 does so as well, as no matter how much I desire it I won't ever be able to experience HW for the first time again... I remember things in games too well to even passingly attempt it.

[V'aleera]

Very little can compare to exploring new areas, especially places like Ishgard which were subject to tons of speculation beforehand. I imagine Ala Mhigo will be a similar experience.

[Aaron]

Heavenswards story was top notch, loved almost everything about it.

 

But I'll be damned if you make me unlock flying in the Sea of Clouds again. Fuck that place and Moghome.

[Valence]

I wouldn't say I find Heavensward story top-notch, far from it, but it was solid and nice enough, especially compared to the bland 2.0-2.4 (except for the end assault of 2.0, but heh, what would we do without Garlemald).

 

And it got half ruined by the amount of stupid secondary quests everywhere. Sidequests are cancer.

[Nanorii]

I wouldn't say I find Heavensward story top-notch, far from it, but it was solid and nice enough, especially compared to the bland 2.0-2.4 (except for the end assault of 2.0, but heh, what would we do without Garlemald).

 

And it got half ruined by the amount of stupid secondary quests everywhere. Sidequests are cancer.

...Moogles *Shakes fist*

 

But seriously, Heavensward had an alright story, the dragons were kinda cool, running the dungeons the first time around was nice, but we really need an in-depth epic story, and I hate to say that; In my head I keep referencing (to myself) what a great story Chains of promathia was and how much I'd love a grand scale of a story like that one in FFXIV

[Roelle Riviere]

*holds up protest sign reading MOGHOME GO HOME*

 

55-57 is so damn tedious. They really need to just...make the MSQ for that range worth more experience. Maybe boost the experience gained in Aery, or something. I did get the impression reading an interview one time that I can't be bothered finding again that they may have kinda regretted some of their design decisions in that zone, so here's hoping lessons were learned for the future.

 

Other than that, agree 100%. Getting into Foundation that first time and hearing that soft piano soundtrack was magical. Didn't even mind the onerous task of unlocking flying in every zone, even if having currents tied to random side quests is a bit obnoxious.

 

Stellaris

 

*high five*

[Gabineaux]

As a raider I miss coil. I miss coil's story and most of all coil's music. :lol:

[Dracyn]

To be honest...I found the entire story lackluster...I rather play the last half of 2.0 again. The part from Titan to the Castrum attacks. So intense so...nostalgic. Felt like something out of FF6 (my personal favorite FF).

 

From 2.1 to our current patch it feels like they tried to ride the Game of Thrones train and did a bad job of it.

[Dat Oni]

Moogles.

 

MOOGLES.

 

Once was enough.

 

[align=center]:moogle: Kupo!:moogle: Kupo!  :moogle: Kupo![/align]

 

[align=center][/align]

 

[align=center]:moogle: Kupo!:moogle: Kupo!  :moogle: Kupo![/align]

[Kallera]

I'm going to miss the victory fanfare. I like it even over the victory fanfare at the end of an instance.

[Arashin Kujqai]

At the time I was still a dragoon lover and going into the thick blizzard of Western Coerthas just felt amazing. I loved that I couldn't see too far in front of me and that the map was so large with new elements, fates, monsters. Overall I'm hoping I get that same feeling again from one of the new maps coming in stormblood.

 

I think my excitement will come from seeing fates based around garlean mechs and troops everywhere, so it'll really sink in that we'll be liberating an area.

 

Back to HW though, I think my best memory was just walking the entire road length of the dravanian hinterlands. The music in the day time there is beautiful, the map is beautiful, Alex... and probably my favorite thing is that there was no aetheryte. It made getting to it harder and more tedious than others but without an aetheryte, it didn't feel like it had a "central hub" to it like most others do.

 

If anything, I hope in the future we get more maps like that one but with a nicer way to get to them that doesn't centralize where you begin/end in the map. Anything to make the open world more vast and new feeling like entering Western coerthas the first time.

[Literal-Ghost]

There was a certain feel to Heavensward where everything was shiny and new, and I enjoyed it all, but I'm looking forward to new content with music that isn't just another lietmotif of the Ishgard theme, Heavensward, or Heroes.

 

Not that the HW expansion didn't have a lot of music that was its own thing (I love the music for the Vanu Vanu and the Vath, and hoooooly damn, do I love Azys Lla), and not that I don't love those themes that get played off of a lot, but I'm ready for something different and I'm looking forward to getting out of Coerthas.

[Valence]

Now that I look back, what I truly miss in HW that was there in the world of 2.0, was a decent lore rich environment. I mean, I'm the last one to praise secondary filler quests and other low end gamedesign like that (if a story isn't good enough to be in the main story, then don't put in instead in secondary shit, it will still be shit).

 

And yet, I look back more fondly to some of the sidequests of 2.0. They were shitty ping pong quests and what you usually have, but we weren't literally drowning in an ocean of them, and they offered nice lore still and exposed the world around for what it was.

 

In HW, it's... the same I guess, bar the sheer amount, but the world is not quite the same. It's not about the Shroud, Thanalan, La Noscea and all. It's about mostly barren and empty regions, with less than engaging sparse inhabitants (moogle quests? bleh). We had a moutain of such quests compared to ARR, and yet I felt like I had very little to actually eat in terms of meaningful lore.

 

Right, of course we had Ishgard proper, and a few other very neat lore areas. Airships and skypirates. Really neat stuff actually.

[Blair]

Waiting on Stormsblood I decided to get my alt from level 50 to 60. Felt almost like a new expansion doing it over again. Was a warrior so the ques were pretty good. Went all the way to beating a9s-a12s all over again. Was pretty fun along the way. Much easier to gear now then it was though.

[Tyndles]

From a story perspective, 3.0 was a lot of fun, after that though, not so much.

[Verad]

I'll definitely miss the music, especially for end-of-dungeon bosses.

[S'maia Rahz]

Everytime I log into the game after a few days into HW zone and hear that music, I say to myself...

 

Twelve above, I wish I could play Heavensward for the first time again

 

 

I play every type of video game (from Stellaris to Witcher 3), and Heavensward 3.0 MSQ was up there as one of my finest video game experiences. I would give anything to purge my memory of it and play it once over.

 

I mean, I suppose there's an alt, but it's not the same! 

 

 

i cry now

I am playing Heavensward for the first time now, and I am enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would. I honestly thought it was going to be a 'trudge through this so I can join the rest of creation in the new stuff' but... yeah. Going to make sure I savor this because it's only the first run once!

[Aaron]

I miss Heavenswards Main Menu design and music.

 

Way better than the Stormblood wallpaper

[Kieron Lohengrin]

I leveled my samurai from 50-64 through Heavensward main story quests, so it's very fresh in my memory. It felt like the Skyrim of xpacs, environment-wise. Similar to others my pros are:

 

+ the music, especially the Alexander raids and Foundation nighttime

+ dragons & their tragic thousand-year history

+ making you care about Aymeric and co.

+ adventurer squadrons: yes it's more FIFA management-style bullshit, but it lays the foundation for something more involved, a la Valkyria Chronicles / XCOM. Would also very much like to replace my pocket chocobo healer companion with an actual soldier I trained

 

Missed opportunities were:

 

- underusing the Knights of the Round. All we get to see of them are a couple of instanced duties where they're just dicks. Would've been more impactful to have some of them befriend you, be involved in quests, be morally ambiguous but ultimately beholden to the archbishop

- underusing the other noble houses. It's just all House Fortemps all Count Edmont all the time, and you're just told that the other houses are occasionally being dicks. In general, telling instead of showing is a problem at certain points in the story

- relegating some of the most interesting concepts (sky pirates, warring triad primal fights) to post-story side content instead of part of the MSQs. Sophia/Sephirot/Zurvan should've been the MSQ story trials for another solid FF6 callback, with Ravana/Bismarck as the optionals.

- Why are airships only for exploratory missions? Why can't I live in sky pirate airship housing instead of buying an apartment or plot of land?

[V'aleera]

Why can't I live in sky pirate airship housing instead of buying an apartment or plot of land?

 

Because that would be smart housing design and we don't do that here