Heavensward content

Patch 3.5

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Patch 3.5
"The Far Edge of Fate"
PatchTitleCard-3-5.jpg
Expansion
Heavensward
Release Date
3.5 - 17 January 2017
3.51 - 25 January 2017
3.55a - 27 February 2017
3.55b - 8 March 2017
3.56 - 27 March 2017
3.57 - 17 April 2017
Promo Page
Link
Patch Notes
3.5, 3.51, 3.55a, 3.55b, 3.56, 3.57
PreviousNext
Patch 3.4
Patch 4.0
All content patches
Concept Art

Introduction

Patch 3.5: The Far Edge of Fate is the final major content update introduced for Heavensward.

Notable Features, Additions, and Changes

New Content

System Changes and Additions

Miscellaneous

Note: Not all content listed here will launch on the same day. This article is about the 3.5x season as a whole.

Main Story Summary (Spoilers)

Lore

The threat of the Warriors of Darkness was no more. Unexpected reunions salved the ache of bittersweet farewells. And with their ranks further bolstered by the official induction of Alisaie and Krile, once more did the Scions of the Seventh Dawn set their feet upon fate’s path and their gaze upon distant horizons.

Baelsar's Wall

As the Scions gathered to discuss the future of the organization, they were interrupted by the arrival of M’naago, a member of the Ala Mhigan Resistance. Between pained gasps, the wounded woman reported that the Griffin and his Masks were plotting to attack Baelsar’s Wall, which marked the boundary between Gridania and occupied Ala Mhigo, and in so doing drag the Eorzean Alliance into conflict with the Empire. Hearing this, the Scions resolved to bear word of the looming threat to the city-state leaders, that they might decide upon a course of action.

After weighing the possible consequences of the Griffin’s reckless scheme, the council members—now joined by Ser Aymeric of Ishgard—agreed that the Gridanian border must be preemptively reinforced. With war now a distinct possibility, the mood was grim as the Alliance leaders dispersed to make their preparations.

An Ending to Mark a New Beginning

Hoping to convince the Griffin to abandon his course before war engulfed the realm, it was decided that Papalymo, Yda, Thancred, and Yugiri would brave the secret tunnels beneath Baelsar’s Wall, and endeavor to confront the Resistance leader directly, while Alphinaud, the Warrior of Light, and his fellow adventurers would be held in reserve. Alas, scouts soon reported that the Griffin had begun his assault, his soldiers apparently clad in Grand Company uniforms. Plainly, the Resistance leader would stop at nothing to drag the Alliance into his conflict. The Warrior of Light and his comrades leaped into action, fighting their way through the fray to the top of the wall, where the Masks' leader was waiting to receive them.

Beneath the mask, the Griffin was revealed to be Ilberd Feare, the disgraced captain of the Crystal Braves. Following his “defeat,” the Resistance leader enacted his true plan—a ritual to summon a nightmarish primal empowered by the desperation of his dying Ala Mhigan comrades and the might of Nidhogg’s eyes. Declaring this moment to be an end to mark a new beginning, he leapt from the wall to his death, completing the ritual and birthing a being of pure violence. Fearing a disaster to rival the Calamity itself, Papalymo then stepped forward with Tupsimati, and grimly began to weave a forbidden magick of confinement. As the Warrior of Light and the others escaped aboard an airship, they could only watch as the incantation swallowed Papalymo and encased the newborn entity in a vast cocoon of light.

The Allagan Solution

The Griffin had played his final hand. By harnessing the wrath and despair of his dying countrymen did he give form to a new divinity; by the power of Nidhogg’s eyes and his own mortal demise did he give it life. Only through the swift and desperate action of an Archon was the primal sealed away, but already the incarnation of vengeance strained to escape its prison of light.

As the council convened in Gridania to debate how best to combat this incalculable threat to all creation, an unexpected figure seized his moment to take the stage: Nero tol Scaeva. The disgraced imperial engineer proceeded to proffer what might kindly be termed a “bold” solution to the problem, and was duly ridiculed by Cid nan Garlond. The Alliance leaders, however, were not so quick to dismiss the man’s proposal, anything being preferable to another Calamity, and they grudgingly agreed to send a contingent to the Carteneau Flats to awaken the infamous Allagan weapon known as “Omega.”

In preparation for the coming operation, the Scions gathered in Mor Dhona. It was there that they were found by a boisterous traveler from the Far East named Gosetsu. Bearing dire news from Doma, the samurai had sought to persuade Yugiri to return to her homeland, but was instead convinced to join the mission to Carteneau upon hearing Nero mention that the Empire too had designs on the slumbering relic.

Indeed, Nero had spoken true, for in Carteneau they were challenged by a brutish Garlean soldier named Grynewaht and his unit. Rather predictably, Nero made his escape without hesitation, employing a teleporter to travel deeper into the facility, and Cid duly pursued him, leaving the small matter of winning the battle to the Warrior of Light and the others. After routing their imperial adversaries, the Scions pressed on into Omega’s control room, where they found Cid and Nero hard at work priming the relic for action. In the end, though, it was Yda who finally took it upon herself to press the launch button. Initially, all seemed to be proceeding as planned...until the signal emanating from the weapon fell silent, prompting Cid to reengage its stasis systems.

It was not until the party returned to Gridania that they received from the gathered heads of state a full accounting of the events following Omega’s launch. After a furious aerial battle in the skies above Gyr Abania, both it and the primal “Shinryu”—as Doman scouts had taken to calling it—crashed to the earth. Perhaps more importantly, however, the Alliance declared its intention to exploit the resulting confusion by moving to secure Baelsar’s Wall.

When the Scions later convened to discuss the implications of this bold action, they turned their attention to the one among them still struggling to come to terms with Papalymo’s death. As she looked on her stalwart comrades, the grieving pugilist came to a decision and confessed her great deception: that she was not Yda at all, but the fallen Archon’s younger sister, Lyse. After the Garleans slew their father, who had been a leader in the revolution that overthrew King Theodoric, the two had fled to Sharlayan, where they met Louisoix Leveilleur. Though they had found a new home for themselves, Yda remained loyal to her people. Alas, during a mission to smuggle refugees out of Ala Mhigo, she was killed, and Lyse, not knowing how to cope, donned her mask in a misguided effort to carry on her sister’s legacy. Having unburdened herself, she declared that she now knew the path she wanted to walk—that she wished to continue her family’s fight and bring freedom to Ala Mhigo. [1]

References

  1. Encyclopaedia Eorzea: Volume II, page 47-48