This is what I was halfway expecting, honestly.
I thought they'd said that 4.4 would end the Omega side story though so I'd take that to mean that everything in the arc will be tied up in the fight chain, so I feel the 5 fights in the main arc is more likely if they're planning to mix things up with the raid this time round.
Could also be that they aren't really considering a single fight (Omega) as a full tier? I feel like they said 4.4 would be the last tier. Or they could do 5 fights over 4. While it would be nice for something not as predictable as VII (don't get me wrong, good series but they're milking it dry at this point), everything sort of points to it being such. I'd rather see FFX, honestly, but I don't think they'll go FFV > FFVI > FFX.
They could completely troll and go with FFXIII. :p
Shocking twist: Instead of Sephiroth, we fight Cloud!
The fight vs Omega will have him displayed as a giant version of the sprite from V, doing that early 3D thing where the sprite is always facing your view no matter where you're at or from what angle.
I'm just hoping that the gear for the next tier actually looks good. The i370 tome gear is ugly and a weak substitute for the Genji sets and the raid gear is generic at best. If they do actually go through with FF7 in the next tier I'm gonna guess they will go with the weapons as bosses. However Omega did appear in other titles but usually has the name "Weapon" attached to the end so whether or not Omega (mechanical) and Omega Weapon (organic) are the same entity in FFXIV lore is up for debate.
Maybe Omega could be a trial?
How about 5 Instances of:
Sephiroth
Ultimecia
Kuja (because everyone else hates Necron)
Sin/ Yu Yevon combo
Omega
Or we can go with the 2 instances that allows Omega to go into sleep mode more soundly at night followed by a bunch of people unsubbing:
Beatrix
Omega
Whatever the surprise is, it will be gutted of most of the fun in normal mode.
I wouldn't mind it being VII if there was a twist to it, like us fighting the Weapons. They can even get around having Ultima Weapon in there by having Cid and Nero discuss the alternate version from alternate dimensions thing.
But given how we've already gotten Kefka, they'll probably give us Sephirot, and I'm not sure what twist they can put on the Weapons for Savage either.