Eorzea’s annual New Year’s event has been delayed. While decoration for the Heavensturn event will begin popping up on December 31, 2021, the event itself won’t become available until January 5, 2022, running until January 19. This delay comes after the MMO’s newest expansion Endwalker was also postponed for a few weeks, bumped from a November release to early December. Heanvensturn is a celebration in which people choose a figurehead for the coming year, and in the world of Final Fantasy XIV, this deity is chosen by the Twelve. This mirrors the real world’s Chinese zodiac, and each year’s event features a new helmet and housing item based on the chosen animal. 2020 saw a particularly adorable mouse-themed kabuto.
Heavensturn will be introduced with patch 6.05, which will also introduce the first Savage raids of the expansion consisting of the first four circles of Pandaemonium. The patch will also introduce a new treasure hunt dungeon named Excitatron 6000, and the Pandaemonium weapons that can be traded for using Discal tomestones.
To participate in the Heavensturn festivities, players will need to be at least level 15. Simply travel to Limsa Lominsa (X:11.5, Y:13.9) and speak with Torya Bugyo to begin. After completing the quests, players will be able to choose one of two tiger-themed kabuto helmets. It will also be possible to earn an oriental folding screen for your in-game house featuring Byakko–very fitting for the Year of the Tiger. For those who might have missed out on earlier Heavensturn events, simply visit the seasonal event vendor to purchase past kabuto helmets after completing this year’s quest.
The newest expansion, Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker, was officially released on December 7, for PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5, with early access beginning on December 3. To say that it’s done well is a massive understatement: Square Enix has currently suspended physical and digital sales of Final Fantasy XIV due to extreme server congestion. Even the magical free trial is currently off the table.