Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward

Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward is the first expansion pack of Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, announced at the 2014 Fan Fest in Las Vegas. It was released on June 23, 2015. Mac version was originally planned to launch on the same day as Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 versions, making it the first Final Fantasy title on 's personal computer. However, due to unexpected live issues, the Mac version has been recalled and will be released at a later date once the client is more stable.

A benchmark program for Heavenward was released on April 27, 2015, featuring support for DirectX 11 and Au Ra character creation.

Gameplay
The expansion automatically increases the level cap to 60 for all disciplines. A new playable race, the horned Au Ra, and multiple new jobs were introduced to the game. One new Job has been announced for each of the three roles: the Dark Knight for Tank, the Astrologian for Healer, and the Machinist for ranged DPS. New job quests for existing jobs will be added. Each job will now have a unique level 3 Limit Break, with existing ones redistributed to appropriate classes.

All-new Primals appear in the game, including at least one Primal created just for Final Fantasy XIV - the first of these being Ravana. New dungeons and new raids appear. A new feature allows Free Companies to create their own personal airships. New field areas in the expansion is 50-100% larger than existing ones, and support flying mounts, such as black chocobos, personal-scale airships, the collector's edition griffon, and a dragon who is important to the story of Heavensward.

Gameplay
The expansion automatically increase the level cap to 60 for all disciplines. A new playable race, the horned Au Ra, and multiple new jobs were introduced to the game. One new Job has been announced for each of the three roles: the Dark Knight for Tank, the Astrologian for Healer, and the Machinist for ranged DPS. New job quests for existing jobs will be added. Each job will now have a unique level 3 Limit Break, with existing ones redistributed to appropriate classes.

All-new Primals appear in the game, including at least one Primal created just for Final Fantasy XIV - the first of these being Ravana. New dungeons and new raids appear. A new feature allows Free Companies to create their own personal airships. New field areas in the expansion is 50-100% larger than existing ones, and support flying mounts, such as black chocobos, personal-scale airships, the collector's edition griffon, and a dragon who is important to the story of Heavensward.

Story
Owing to schemes in the shadows of Ul'dah, the Scions of the Seventh Dawn have been scattered, and the Warrior of Light has been forced to flee North with Alphinaud Leveilleur. Though granted shelter by Lord Haurchefant, The Adventurer's group presses on to Ishgard, a reclusive nation locked in a never-ending struggle with dragons. But matters have worsened not only in the Dragonsong War, but the unexpected appearance of a Warrior of Darkness as a countermeasure to the Warrior of Light.

Development
Naoki Yoshida had revealed that the first expansion of the game will let the players fly, and one of the themes will revolve around a "great conflict that spans across millennia." In April 2015, Yoshida revealed "gothic high fantasy" was the key theme for art direction, while the storyline moved towards dark fantasy.

Reception and Sales
The PC version of Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward scored 86 metascore, all-time highest of all Final Fantasy titles available on Microsoft Windows.

Trivia

 * The Japanese name of the expansion, is more literally translated as "Azure Sky of Ishgard".
 * During the streaming event, a folder named "Samurai" was spotted on Masayoshi Soken's laptop, thus leading to rumors of Samurai being one of the new jobs. However, it was later confirmed by Naoki Yoshida that Samurai will not be included in the expansion, as they did not want to include another Japanese-style job at present, although the job concept was heavily considered for the new "tank" job prior to Dark Knight being favored.