Choose My Adventure: Onward and Heavensward

Hello old (and new) friends. It’s been quite a while, so I imagine a quick (re-)introduction is in order before we get to the good stuff. Some of you may remember me from the days of Massively-that-was, in which case I hope you can suppress the urge to close this tab long enough to finish reading. But if you became a reader only shortly before (or after) the site’s reincarnation as Massively OP, then you probably don’t remember me, which is even better. Needless to say, I’m overjoyed to be back on board, and I look forward to getting to know all of you fine folks.

Now that that’s taken care of, we can start to move onward. On second thought, though, it may be more appropriate to say that we can start to move Heavensward because my first Choose My Adventure expedition will be taking me into the uncharted — for me, at least — territory of Final Fantasy XIV’s first expansion. But before I can venture forth into the wilds (and inevitably spend entirely too much time and hard-drive space taking a gratuitous number of screenshots), I need some input from you, my dear readers. I’m psyched up and raring to go, so let’s get to it!

Before we get down to all the voting goodness, though, let’s start things off with a Heavensward crash course for the uninitiated. Heavensward is the first expansion to FFXIV since the title’s reboot under the A Realm Reborn moniker, and it brings a whole slew of new features to the game. In addition to continuing the ongoing storyline (which I will not be discussing in detail here, so as to avoid spoilers for those who would rather experience it for themselves), the expansion introduces a new race, called the Au Ra, and three new jobs: Dark Knight, Astrologian, and Machinist. On top of that, it also opens up a multitude of new areas, including the city-state of Ishgard and the land of Dravania, home of the dragons and dragonkin with whom the Ishgardians are embroiled in a bitter war.

Now that we’ve got some background, let’s get the voting started: Which race and gender should my character be? Thanks to the magic of Fantasia potions, my darling Miqo’te will be transmogrified according to your whims. Of course, we have the standard array of FFXIV races: There’s the run-of-the-mill Hyur, the totally-not-elves Elezen, the diminutive Lalafell, the decidedly not diminutive Roegadyn, and the feline Miqo’te. But with the advent of Heavensward, a new race has been added to the roster in the form of the dragonlike Au Ra, who have recently arrived in Eorzea from their homeland, the Far Eastern continent of Othard.

And on top of that, each race is further divided into two subraces or clans. The Hyur come in Midlander and Highlander varieties, Midlanders being somewhat more intelligent than their physically robust Highlander relatives. The Elezen are divided into the forest-dwelling Wildwood clan and the cave-dwelling Duskwight clan, while the Lalafell are split between Plainsfolk and Dunesfolk, which are exactly what they sound like. The Miqo’te, meanwhile, are divided into clans based on their circadian rhythms, of all things, and belong to either the diurnal Seekers of the Sun or the nocturnal Keepers of the Moon. The two Roegadyn clans are the piratical Sea Wolves and the sellsword Hellsguard. And last, but certainly not least, the new Au Ra distinguish themselves by way of the two primary figures of their culture’s creation myth: the Dawn Father — patron of the solitary and peaceful Raen tribe — and the Dusk Mother, who is revered by the savage, warlike Xaela tribe.

Now that that’s taken care of, it’s time to get some class — my character’s class, that is. Anyone who’s remotely familiar with FFXIV is almost certainly aware that the game’s array of combat- and crafting-oriented classes is gosh-darn expansive, but for the purposes of this little adventure, I’d like to focus on the three new classes that Heavensward brought to the table: Dark Knight, Astrologian, and Machinist.

Dark Knights act as tanks, and the name tells you pretty much everything you need to know. Clad in heavy armor, they wield massive greatswords and dark magics to devastate their enemies and defend their allies. The Astrologian, meanwhile, is a versatile healing class that uses celestial magic and a tarot-esque deck of cards to provide buffs and heals. The Machinist rounds out the trio by bringing some damage-dealing capabilities into the mix courtesy of a variety of nifty gadgets and some big damn guns.

That should be enough to get the ball rolling, so speak up, dear readers, and make your voices heard by voting’s end on Friday, July 17th, at 11:59 p.m. Next week, I’ll unveil the results and we can get this adventure started in earnest. Until then, friends!