Endwalker is the latest expansion for Final Fantasy XIV from Square Enix, and it increases the max level from 80 to 90, while introducing two new classes to learn, the Sage and the Reaper.

Players can now explore new locations with the heroes featured in lore from the past expansions. With Endwalker finally here, players can now use the male Viera, a new racial gender character in the form of a bunny human. If you have yet to purchase Endwalker, don’t worry, Square Enix has not left you in the lurch. Gathering points from Shadowbringers have been adjusted to make the goal of flying easier to obtain, which in turn will cut down travel time to quest locations, so you can grind quests a lot faster now.

The Golden Saucer is the top place to hang out in between content drops, and new rewards have been added to the vendors, so be sure to swing on over and take a look. Triple Triad card matches have also had new cards brought into the game and offer new AI players within the new locations to face off against. All of the older classes have had a rework on skills and how they handle long fights, so be sure to check what is now missing from your hot bar. As a Dragoon main, I only noticed one skill had been removed.

The plot will pick up exactly where Shadowbringers ends, with the Warrior of Light, also known as the player character, and the Scions of the Seventh Dawn defeating the last of the leaders of the Ascians, or The Bringers of Chaos. Endwalker will start with the player and the Scions travelling to Old Sharlayan to learn about the final days.

Along the way the player comes across a woman that reveals herself to be Hydaelyn the Mother Crystal, the being that had blessed the Warrior of Light. She explains her reason for showing herself now and brings worry of separate events that need to be dealt with. This will split the Scions up into teams to investigate the two new starting areas for Endwalker. Thavnair and Old Sharlayan.

You can pick where you want to go first, and each area will have a few quests, giving you the lay of the land and back story as to what is going on in the area, allowing the team to work out what should be considered the main focus, but there is no right or wrong choice.

Once you finish in one area, you will be directed back to the temporary headquarters before heading to the other quest locations before you can progress within the story. You will know you’re on the right path when you are standing out front of an evil-looking tower in Thavnair, as this will be Endwalkers first dungeon and holds a level 81 requirement.

Endwalker has also introduced two new beast tribes for the players to befriend and assist. The Arkasodara tribe is made up of Matanga, which are large elephant-like people. They are mistaken as being uneducated due to having common speech flaws, but ultimately they have a deep thirst for knowledge, especially when it comes to alchemy. The other beast tribe is the Loporrits. These adorable little friends are very much like the Viera, in that they are bunny-like but are very short and stocky, unlike the Viera which are tall. You will find the Loporrits when you reach the moon – that’s right we got moon bunnies.

The new key locations that players will be exploring are Old Sharlayan, which is the location that certain Scions received their training from. Thavnair, which has been mentioned many times before Endwalker, mainly from the dancers’ class items, as it seems the dancer class may have originated from here. Labyrinthos is an underground city that is connected to Old Sharlayan. The lands are great for farming as the dome that covers the city has an artificial sun to help grow farming stock, and Garlemald, another location the players have been reading about over time. In Endwalker, we finally get to visit this area, but unfortunately, the area has had its fair share of civil wars so it is not in its prime.

If you are a solo player like myself and don’t want to wait on duty finding teams, you can take on the first dungeon with the Scions acting as party replacements. You can also find Estinien Wyrmblood the Dragoon, a new Scion member now available for players to party up with. I was personally happy to see him having more of a role within Endwalker and being so early in the expansion was a great surprise.

The new classes can both be learned as long as you have a class over level 70, and oh boy, this is the highlight that players really wanted. The Reaper is the new melee damage class and the Sage is the new healer that makes use of barriers and looks like Ironman in combat. The first stage of the Sage’s quest can be found at Limsa Lominsa Lower Docks and is named the Sage’s Path. It is very easy to find and upon doing the first mission, you will be given the Sage class stone and a bundle of gear designed for the Sage at level 70. A few quests to follow up will introduce how it plays in combat and the skills it will heavily focus on. I am not much for playing a healer role in games, but the Sage missions I played had me leaning toward levelling the Sage once my Dragoon class is maxed out.

The Reaper was the hype class when Endwalker was announced. So many people in the community were getting ready to start a Reaper and it was looking like it might become the new main, but did it live up to the hype? In short, yes it does. To start the Reaper class mission you will need to travel to Ul’duh steps and find the quest The Killer Instinct. Since this class focused more on actually fighting, the follow-up quests are quick to throw you into fights while having a veteran Reaper yelling what attacks to perform, teaching you how the combos stack and where to stand when hitting big targets. The Reaper plays very close to the role of Dragoon at level 70. I didn’t see anything that made it stand out more, but it is a class worth trying out, and I am hoping it will overtake my love of being a Dragoon main.

Like many major online game drops for expansions, there are some wait times to be expected to get in and some random disconnects that will happen, so please show some patience and enjoy the new expansion drop. Endwalker is well worth the wait. Square Enix has addressed minor issues that players are experiencing, so they are aware of things and will get to fixing them in a timely manner.

Written by: Shane Walsh