Seeing a bunch of Final Fantasy 14 players soaring through the skies yet wondering why your feet are still planted firmly on the ground, refusing to float? In A Realm Reborn, you're given the ability to fly upon completing the quest The Ultimate Weapon, but from Heavensward onward you'll need to find and locate numerous Aether Currents to actually fly around each expansion's zones.
Thankfully, the game doesn't send you on a wild goose chase to find these. You'll need to make use of an Aether Compass, an item you can pick up relatively early into the beginning of Heavensward. Whether you've already got the compass and need a reminder on how it all works with the latest expansion introducing several new Aether Currents to find—or you're a sprout looking to get your wings—I'll tell you how to nab the compass, where to find it in your inventory and how to use it so you can be joining other Warriors of Light in the clouds soon enough.
Thankfully, you don't need to go out of your way to obtain the Aether Compass. It'll be given to you as a quest reward for completing the Level 50 Main Scenario Quest Divine Intervention. It's around 18 quests into the Heavensward expansion, so you'll have to play for a couple of hours before you unlock both the compass and the ability to attune with Aether Currents.
Once you've completed the quest and received the Aether Compass, you can find it in "Collection" under the Duty menu. For ease of use, I recommend clicking on the Aether Compass icon and dragging it to an open space on your hotbar. It means that instead of having to constantly open and close the menu to use the compass, you can either click on it from your hotbar or bind it to a button for quick and easy current hunting.
Using the Aether Compass is as easy as clicking on it, or using whatever keybind you've assigned to it. If there's an Aether Current nearby, you'll get a message that looks something like this: "The compass detects a current approximately 400 yalms to the east." The distance and cardinal direction will of course reference where the nearest current is located.
Use your minimap to head in the direction the compass tells you, checking back in occasionally to see if the direction has changed or you've accidentally shot past it. Once you've picked up all currents in the area, the compass will tell you: "The compass does not detect any nearby currents." Congrats! You've snagged them all. You can also check your progress by going to '"Aether Currents" under the Travel menu. The yellow ones are quest reward currents, while the green ones are ones you pick up with the compass.
