Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

Heavensward literally expands A Realm Reborn which means it acts more like a sequel, rehashing basically the same stuff over and over with little novelties except for the marginally useful flying mounts. It does this job - no pun intended - extremely well tho, and tells one of the most engaging tale in the whole franchise.

The vast majority of Heavensward is outstanding and it’s easy enough to endure the occasional slow patch. A Realm Reborn was an impressive revival when it launched in 2013, and Heavensward elevates the game to an even higher level. Rarely do expansions feel so fully formed.

A confident first expansion. [Sept 2015, p.92]

The beautiful new areas, incredible story, and massive additions to existing content make Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward an amazing package.

An essential purchase for those who have spent more hours than they'd care to admit in Eorzea.

We couldn’t have asked for anything better than Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward. It comes packed with a staggering amount of content that will leave players overwhelmed in both quantity and quality. It contains a storyline that’s highly entertaining and rivals most RPGs in length, three new jobs that are more than welcome additions and flying mounts that help revolutionize traversal in Eorzea.

This is basically more Final Fantasy XIV, and that's great news. We miss something really surprising or innovative, but still, this is a great experience that lives up to the expectation of Final Fantasy's 14th episode.

Whether you're the type of player who enjoys crafting, endgame content, or role-playing, there's so much to do here for people of all skill levels it's insane. While I fizzled out a bit after completing the main story in 2.5, Heavensward has rekindled my flame.

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensword fixes many problems that A Realm Reborn had, but one it does not fix is the situation with player-owned houses. End shortage, boot inactive houseowners! [Aug 2015]

Heavensward builds on the foundation of A Realm Reborn and offers a somber and intriguing story in all new environments. With an increasingly toxic community, something does need to be done to curb bad behavior before it ruins the later parts of the game. If you've already completed the base game of FFXIV, there is no doubt that you need to explore the large and enjoyable expansion.

The storyline is sufficiently gripping. [Sept 2015, p.76]

Quite a good expansion for this MMO, rich in content and novelty. The fact that Heavensward is this neat is testament to the quality of the base game. If the level of the new contents stays like this, players will stay in Final Fantasy XIV's world for a lot of time.

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward represents a fairly large expansion of the world of Eorzea with huge and rich environments for the players to explore. Heavensward continues the story of the Warrior of Light in a rich and somber tone, focusing in solving the conflict rather than wasting your time with trivial quests.

Final Fantasy XIV newcomers might have to jump through hoops to access the new content, but believe us when we say it's worth the effort.

The first big add-on for Final Fantasy 14 gives you a lot of new or enhanced content starting with raised level caps, new enemies, dungeons or flying mounts. What it doesn’t give you is an enhancement of questing structures, which still stay very conventional.

A gorgeous, stirring, mechanically solid, feature-rich expansion to what is the best MMO in years.

Great story content, dearth of endgame.

It's a fair expansion, but once again grinding is the key to level up (and this time, it's even more with FATE quests), and more variety in the beasts and overall offer could have helped.