Seeing as how there was already an Ishgardian zone in A Realm Reborn in the form of the Coerthas Central Highlands, it seems possible that Square could have just placed the trainers and their quests there and thus allowed access to the classes before the gates of Ishgard even opened. Even worse, the requirement to finish all that content first means that I missed out on all the XP the story quests could have given at least one of those new jobs. It makes some sense from a lore perspective, as these are Ishgard-specific classes, but waiting that long is a sure buzzkiller if you’ve mainly come back to FFXIV to play the new classes, only to find that you still have to put many more hours into jobs you were already tired of despite being at the previous level cap. So I can forgive that choice, but the practice of gating the three new combat "jobs" of Dark Knight, Machinist, and Astrologian behind that 16 hours of level 50 story content as well stings much more.
But with its enjoyable corresponding cutscenes and hints of related events yet to come, even this relative narrative low-point moment has its appeal. It’s not without stretches of padding, of course, and events occur that leave the most memorable storyline leading up the expansion stripped of its initial power.
Elsewhere, devious scheming leads to welcome romps in the zones from before the expansion. In Heavensward, one of A Realm Reborn's most one-dimensional characters becomes one of the saga's most complex as he wrestles with guilt over his former arrogance. The story of Heavensward itself explores themes of betrayal, redemption, and hidden truths in a reclusive realm with surprising dexterity, and it wraps it all in one of the finest tales about dragons in any medium.
A Realm Reborn's final string of level 50 patches hinted at the quality of writing that comes in Heavensward, and reaching the moment when the gates to the new realm of Ishgard open rightly feels like a momentous event.
On the other hand, if you're coming back to FFXIV with a level 50 character after an absence of several months, as I was, the catch-up work and delayed gratification required can be daunting. For anybody who’s been subscribed and actively playing this whole time, that's not a problem, and brand-new players who've bought the expansion ahead of time will be grateful for the roughly three levels of XP the 16 or so hours of level 50 content yield on the journey from levels 50 to 60. It's important to note that the impact of the story hinges a lot on knowing the personalities and backgrounds of various characters from the initial story content for A Realm Reborn, and thus Square Enix made the unusual decision to require players to finish all of the main story content from patches prior to the expansion.
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