4th Starting City-State in 1st Expansion

So if SE decided to add a 4th starting area in 1st expansion do you think it will be the City-State Sharlayan?

Currently Sharlayan is the 4th city-state in Eorzea that allows adventurers to enter the place lore wise and it is also home to the Circle of Knowing.

Sharlayan can be the place where 3 new Classes for 1st Expansion start out. (Limsa Lominsa 3rd Starting class is Musketeer since the Musketeer guild is already established in Limsa)

Starting Main Story will still mostly be the same but you will be more invovled with task from the Circle of Knowing in Sharlayan Starting Main Story similar to how Gridania Starting Story involves the God Quivers, Ul'dah involved the Sultan-sworn, and Lisma Lominsa involved the Yellow Jackets.

The Scion of the Seventh Dawn member players meet in Sharlayan Starting Story and introduce new players to the Scion will be Urianger Augurelt similar to how we have Thancred for Ul'dah, Y'shtola for Limsa Lominsa, and Yda and Papalymo for Gridania.

2.1 story has already set Sharlayan as a important story point due to what happened to the Circle of Knowing in 2.1 story. New Players most likely will meet the person mentioned by Minfilia in 2.1 during Sharlayan Starting Main Story before hitting level 15 Main Story quest for new characters.

You do know even with expansions new players will still need to start with 2.1 story. So, what I'm saying is most likely any new classes will probably be quest unlocked and not available at character creation.

If they follow FFXI there will only be 3 starting cities.

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Originally Posted by Macka

You do know even with expansions new will still need to start with 2.1 story. So, what I'm saying is most likely any new classes will probably be quest unlocked and not available at character creation.

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SE never said Expansion content will be exclusive to lvl 50+ contents.

They can introduce a new starting city-state to serve as new starting content for new characters.

Currently they have mentioned we will be getting a New Race in 1st expansion but it is still possible to introduce a new starting city-state for new characters.

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Originally Posted by NefGP

I'd hoped it would have been Ishgard back in 1.0 but that's clearly not happening (we know it's coming in the expansion but as a high level thing no doubt) and Ala Mhigo is ruins, though they could add it in as an expansion - players starting there as part of the reconstruction effort etc (we'd have to liberate it from the garleans 1st though in the main story I'd imagine)

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Ya looking at the current lore of City-states Sharlayan currently is the only one lore wise that can serve as a new starting city-state for new characters.

Ishgard lore wise has locked their gates to Adventurers until 3.0 storyline. The Gate into Ishgard is also in a lvl 35 - 45 area as well.

Ala Mhigo lore wise is currently a Garlean Fortress and most likely won't be liberated until 3.0 story.

I'd hoped it would have been Ishgard back in 1.0 but that's clearly not happening (we know it's coming in the expansion but as a high level thing no doubt) and Ala Mhigo is ruins, though they could add it in as an expansion - players starting there as part of the reconstruction effort etc (we'd have to liberate it from the garleans 1st though in the main story I'd imagine)

Why dont we just worry about 2.2 for now, and not something that isnt even close to being here yet.

I'd say we're more likely to get Ishgard unlocked and more of Coerthas/Mor Dhona available in the first expansion, possibly along with Ala Mhigo. There's way more tie-in with Ala Mhigans running around as refugees and whatnot than there is with the few Sharlayans we've run into in the main story scenario. Plus, Ala Mhigo is under Empire rule, so there's a continuation of that thread from the 2.0 storyline that players can build upon.

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Originally Posted by Valmar

Why dont we just worry about 2.2 for now, and not something that isnt even close to being here yet.

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Because we already have hundreds of topics about 2.2.

Also only half of 2.2 has yet to be revealed anyways.

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Originally Posted by CatholicFan

I'd say we're more likely to get Ishgard unlocked and more of Coerthas/Mor Dhona available in the first expansion, possibly along with Ala Mhigo. There's way more tie-in with Ala Mhigans running around as refugees and whatnot than there is with the few Sharlayans we've run into in the main story scenario. Plus, Ala Mhigo is under Empire rule, so there's a continuation of that thread from the 2.0 storyline that players can build upon.

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Ishgard and Ala Mhigo is most likely the higher level content for 1st Expansion ranging from lvl 51+ content with Ala Mhigo being the Final Story Dungeon for 2.0 Main Story Quest.

Currently 2.1 has set Sharlayan as a important story point that we will need to go to eventually to discover the Fate of the Circle of Knowing and for information about this new White Ascian who could be the Main Antagonist for 1st Expansion Storyline.

I doubt we'll get a fourth starting city - FFXI only ever had three starting cities as well with the fourth a central meeting point (ala, Jeuno). Ishgard would therefore technically serve the same role as Jeuno did.

Not to mention lore-wise the other three cities are stated as either being destroyed and therefore virtually uninhabited (Sharalyan), borders closed off to outsiders (Ishgard), or turned into a Garlean fortress and impossible to reach (Ala Mhigo), making a fourth starting city in the game seem even less likely. But then, stranger things have happened.

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Originally Posted by EdwinLi

SE never said Expansion content will be exclusive to lvl 50+ contents.

They can introduce a new starting city-state to serve as new starting content for new characters.

Currently they have mentioned we will be getting a New Race in 1st expansion but it is still possible to introduce a new starting city-state for new characters.

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Did I say anything about it being lvl 50 content? No, SE can add the starting class quest NPC anywhere. But to think they will write a whole new 2.1 story is out there.

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Originally Posted by Macka

Did I say anything about it being lvl 50 content? No, SE can add the starting class quest NPC anywhere. But to think they will write a whole new 2.1 story is out there.

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You're looking at 2.1 far too much. Any new Starting area Story will have to be set during 2.0 story for new characters to build their character through 2.0 storyline then move into 2.1 story once they're level 50 like all new characters then 2.2 story, 2.3 , 2.4, 2.X and then move into 3.0 story.

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Originally Posted by EdwinLi

Ishgard and Ala Mhigo is most likely the higher level content for 1st Expansion ranging from lvl 51+ content with Ala Mhigo being the Final Story Dungeon for 2.0 Main Story Quest.

Currently 2.1 has set Sharlayan as a important story point that we will need to go to eventually to discover the Fate of the Circle of Knowing and for information about this new White Ascian who could be the Main Antagonist for 1st Expansion Storyline.

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If you watched through the final cutscene of the 2.0 main-story, then I'd say what the Ascians reference in that scene is much more likely to be the boss for the first expansion. This White Ascian business comes off as just being a build-up to something much bigger. Sadly, I don't think we're going to get any major storylines until said expansion hits.

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Originally Posted by Valmar

Why dont we just worry about 2.2 for now, and not something that isnt even close to being here yet.

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Based roughly on Final Fantasy XI's expansion release schedule, coupled with comments by the dev team that they're already working on the expansion, it's reasonable to discuss this. Also, given the major-update schedule, It's likely we'll be seeing it in about a year. I expect we'll get 2.2 in March, 2.3 summer, 2.4 in fall, 2.5 in winter, and then the first expansion will drop roughly in spring of 2015. So, realistically, there's only going to be 4-5 more story content updates before the next major release, and the seeds of what that will be are likely being laid out in the current content.

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Originally Posted by EdwinLi

You're looking at 2.1 far too much. Any new Starting area Story will have to be set during 2.0 story for new characters to build their character through 2.0 storyline then move into 2.1 story once they're level 50 like all new characters then 2.2 story, 2.3 , 2.4, 2.X and then move into 3.0 story.

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I meant 2.0 storyline a new starting city means a new 2.0 story needs to be written the current 3 stories are different until you fight Ifrit and pick a GC which means new Cutscenes, new opening scene, new voice acting, and New Grand Company. As for the New Race they can just throw them in give them some lore like they did male Mo and Female Row.

I don't like "Well, XI didn't do it so XIV can't!" arguments. Sure XIV may have the same races and jobs as XI, but it's its own game. I hope XIV has lots of cities to go to. I wanna see the Far (Near?) East continent!

Remember though, if we can start in a new city-state, that area needs guilds, which means new classes. So, I doubt we'll see Ishgard or Ala Mhigo until we get new classes/jobs. People starting there need guilds to join.

Again, given all the lore information, and what Yoshi-P has said in the past, it's highly likely we won't see a 4th starting city:

Ishgard was mentioned a while ago in a Live Letter as being a level 50 zone when it's finally added to the game that will not even be open - the player will instead have to do a questline just to gain access to the place (probably the gate will be closed and thus to enter the player would have to speak to a npc to enter and exit). Sharalyan is stated as having fallen before the Calamity and is now overrun by the Dravanian Horde (so in more likelihood would probably be a future dungeon), which leaves Ala Mhigo. A city that despite the Empire losing their claws in Operation Archon, is still under Garlean control and is sealed off from the rest of Eorzea.

So yeah, unless a new city is suddenly and inexplicably added to the game in the centre of Eorzea, which would require a massive retcon, I think we're stuck with the original three starting cities I'm sorry to say.

It's never going to happen. Why would they go through the trouble of reworking Grand Company, Storyline, and starter classes just to add a new starting hub?

They made it a point to usher you quickly along to 50 to play their endgame. Everything from this point on will revolve around lv 50+. I can see them adding small details to 1~49 over the course of the years, but I bet heavily that itll pretty much remain unchanged.

Sharalyan is still around. You have to remember that there were two Sharalyans. One is the main City-State which we can see on the world map and the other was an island nation created by Sharalyans and also named Sharalyan. The island nation is the one that was essentially destroyed, the main City-State still lives on.

Aside from that, ARR is the base game that all players must complete. Expansions are just add-ons that has add content for various level ranges but still require the player to play the base game. It's how almost all MMOs work.

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Originally Posted by Macka

I meant 2.0 storyline a new starting city means a new 2.0 story needs to be written the current 3 stories are different until you fight Ifrit and pick a GC which means new Cutscenes, new opening scene, new voice acting, and New Grand Company. As for the New Race they can just throw them in give them some lore like they did male Mo and Female Row.

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Only thing different has been the lvl 1- 15 main story since those are events that lead to the New Adventurer getting access to Airship and the other city-states.

from lvl 16+ it is the same thing with only a few dialogues affected by where your starting city-state is but the starting story is still the same in their own way.

You join the Adventurer Guild

You help some people

You meet the Scion Member investigating the area.

Important people take note of your actions.

You help fight off enemies and then fight the Mysterious Mask person and his pet.

You are now famous in the City-State and is invited to a Party.

You get sent on a mission to deliver a message.

You still leave the city-state to deliver a message.

You Still go into the three dungeons.

You still go in a pattern from Limsa, Gridania, and Ul'dah before joining the Scion

You still meet the Scion member from your City-State in Ul'dah

You still join the Scions with Minfilia saying you already know "this" member of the Scions while introducing the rest.

You will always go with Thancred to investigate Camp Drybone and fight Ifrit.

The 3 grand companies get word of your actions and want you to join.

The pattern is the same no matter where you start out. Only difference is what task you help people with during lvl 1 -15 that lead to the fight with the Mysterious Mask person.

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Originally Posted by Kikosho

Sharalyan is still around. You have to remember that there were two Sharalyans. One is the main City-State which we can see on the world map and the other was an island nation created by Sharalyans and also named Sharalyan. The island nation is the one that was essentially destroyed, the main City-State still lives on.

Aside from that, ARR is the base game that all players must complete. Expansions are just add-ons that has add content for various level ranges but still require the player to play the base game. It's how almost all MMOs work.

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Ya it has been the City-State I've been mentioning since the Circle of Knowing is located there and has remained perfectly fine until 2.1 story.

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Originally Posted by Lucke

I don't like "Well, XI didn't do it so XIV can't!" arguments. Sure XIV may have the same races and jobs as XI, but it's its own game. I hope XIV has lots of cities to go to. I wanna see the Far (Near?) East continent!

Remember though, if we can start in a new city-state, that area needs guilds, which means new classes. So, I doubt we'll see Ishgard or Ala Mhigo until we get new classes/jobs. People starting there need guilds to join.

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Ya that kinds of push me the wrong way as well since FF14 is not FF11 so SE can make content anyway they want. Also Expansions are not only bound to high/Mid level content but contains content for various levels.

Also the Far East is called Far East because it is so far away from Eorzea it is not on the Map. The Far East is located East of the Garlean Empire just across the Sea of Jade outside of the current Eorzea Map. It is where the City-State called Radz-at-Han is located and you should know them as the ones who make the oil you need for your relic called Radz-at-Han Oil.

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Originally Posted by CatholicFan

Based roughly on Final Fantasy XI's expansion release schedule, coupled with comments by the dev team that they're already working on the expansion, it's reasonable to discuss this. Also, given the major-update schedule, It's likely we'll be seeing it in about a year. I expect we'll get 2.2 in March, 2.3 summer, 2.4 in fall, 2.5 in winter, and then the first expansion will drop roughly in spring of 2015. So, realistically, there's only going to be 4-5 more story content updates before the next major release, and the seeds of what that will be are likely being laid out in the current content.

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Well currently the Major Update Main story is not only to answer questions left unanswered but to lay the foundation for 1st expansion storyline. 2.1 Main story has already introduced a few figures and events such as what happened to the Circle of Knowing in 2.1.

The expansion will include an increase in level cap and most likely all content will be level 50 and increase from there.

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Originally Posted by EdwinLi

So if SE decided to add a 4th starting area

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Or they could instead of continually spreading the story thin as rice paper, focus on the current cities and characters we have established.

We don't need a convoluted story that introduces a city worth of new characters everytime the game expands leaving them all unsinspired and weakly developed. Let's just focus on what we have.

I'd personally prefer Ishgard (and have them just add a zone or two north of Ishgard for low character) because the associated housing would be so cool.

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Originally Posted by Jennika

The expansion will include an increase in level cap and most likely all content will be level 50 and increase from there.

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Yes there will be a level cap increase but new classes will have to start at level 1 as well.

I know most people who replied here want the 1st expansion content to favor only players who have played the game long enough to max most of their class to lvl 50 but they also can't ignore the amount of new players the expansion will bring along with the new classes that will start at level 1 even if you have to reach a certain point in the main story to unlock the City-State that has the Class Guild for these new Classes.

Yes they can be lazy and say "If you want to level the new classes from level 1 to "new level cap" you must use FATES, Leves, and Roulette" but we already know the storm this kind of excuse would bring and the amount of post that would pop up complaining that they didn't add anything new outside of what we already have between level 1 - 50 to help support a new set of classes that we will have to level from lvl 1 to the new level cap.

Also a majority of 1st expansion content will cater to level 50s and higher so there shouldn't be a issue with SE adding a new content for low level players as well considering the need for it if SE adds new classes in 1st expansion.

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Originally Posted by EdwinLi

SE never said Expansion content will be exclusive to lvl 50+ contents.

They can introduce a new starting city-state to serve as new starting content for new characters.

Currently they have mentioned we will be getting a New Race in 1st expansion but it is still possible to introduce a new starting city-state for new characters.

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Well considering FFXI is still going and they never did this I highly doubt they will here. In XI new areas would have new jobs you had to quest to unlock, you could not start as those jobs.

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Originally Posted by Wobble

Well considering FFXI is still going and they never did this I highly doubt they will here. In XI new areas would have new jobs you had to quest to unlock, you could not start as those jobs.

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I swear does the majority of the community only think of "What FFXI did." as their reason?

This is not FFXI! This is FFXIV which is a different game. We do not know how they will handle FFXIV and they never said they will handle contents like FFXI.

I find it amusing that so many people are convinced that FFXIV is/should be FFXI 2.0. While it is true that it appears to have borrowed ideas from previous MMOs, it should be noted that not everyone hates FFXIV just because it borrowed such-and-such idea from so-and-so game.

Taking the game by itself and not comparing it to other MMOs, it strikes me as being a well built, self-contained game. While I do feel a little irritated on occasion that certain events are alluded to but never explained, thus reminding you that you're playing the sequel and resorting to second-hand sources to get reliable information on the original, it's only a mild complaint, and all my other complaints can be attributed to the game being in its infancy. I imagine after an expansion and a few patches, most of my current complaints will be gone.

Anyway, as to the subject at hand, I do rather hope to see a fourth starting City State in the future, particularly since if they keep shoving new classes' guilds into the existing city states, it'll start getting rather crowded with all the Guilds. While I can see upwards of four Class Guilds in each city state (Not including the various crafting/gathering guilds), I don't think it'll ever go much higher than that.

As for where said city state could be located, I think it should be mentioned that I recall seeing somewhere that there's a great deal more to the Coerthas Highlands than the bit we can explore. Plus, each city state has about 4 zones it has control over. As such, it wouldn't be that difficult to believe that if Ishgard were to become the next starting city state, it'd come with three zones where lower-level players can explore and level-up in. For that matter, Sharlayan and Ala Mhigo don't have ANY visitable zones available, so SE can very easily decide whether these will be "Starting City-States" or if they'll be higher-level hubs, like Revenant's Toll.

Of course, I'm not saying they can't or shouldn't go the route of locking off certain Classes until you complete a certain quest/quest chain, and then placing the guild for said Class in a higher-level area. If you're high enough level to finish the quest, you're high enough level to saunter on over to said area. You'll have to switch to a higher-level class, teleport, or use a 'taxi' service to get to a leveling area, but it's still a possible method.

Anyway, those're just my thoughts on the matter.

Edit: That 1000 character limit really is annoying, is it not?

First off I'm not comparing it to FFXI. I am using their past work as a reference of what they have done and why it would be unlikely in this game to stray to far outside of their own game style.

A fourth starter? That's stupid and unnecessary.

They would have to add a fourth Grand Company and rework the post-calamity story to make it all fit.

This game has tons of content for new players, and the main story pretty much carries you to Lv50. What sense would it make to further augment low level content? An expansion pack should certainly focus primarily on Lv51+ players.

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Originally Posted by Wolf_Gang

A fourth starter? That's stupid and unnecessary.

They would have to add a fourth Grand Company and rework the post-calamity story to make it all fit.

This game has tons of content for new players, and the main story pretty much carries you to Lv50. What sense would it make to further augment low level content? An expansion pack should certainly focus primarily on Lv51+ players.

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You're thinking far too big like most people. A new starting area does not mean a new Grand Company will be introduced nor required for current storyline to be changed.

While it would be ideal to introduce a new GC through starting areas SE is not bound to requiring all City-States to have a Grand Company.

No offense but I swear all this paranoia about a new starting area requiring the entire 2.0 story to be changed and loss of lvl 51+ content because of a lower level content introduced is a figure of people's imagination.

the Majority of 1st Expansion content will still be mostly higher level content but that should not be a reason to exclude lower levels for the sake of veteran players who have played longer than lower level players or new players. Expansion contents are much larger than Major Update contents which makes have more room for lower level contents than Major Update Contents while still providing a large amount of higher level content for lvl 51+.

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Originally Posted by Wobble

First off I'm not comparing it to FFXI. I am using their past work as a reference of what they have done and why it would be unlikely in this game to stray to far outside of their own game style.

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That would be the case if the team working on FF14 is the same team working on FF11 but it is not. SE has different teams working on both games and while it would be more comfortable for people who follow FF11 or Veteran FF11 players so they know how updates will be released we do not know how they will handle FF14 content due to a different development team working on FF14.

So, I kind of thought this thread was going to be more about what we think the next possible city-state could be based on in-game evidence and dev statements, but mostly you're just arguing hypotheticals now. I mean, yeah, they could do X, Y, and Z and... BAM! New starting city. It just doesn't seem likely given their track-record with XI. You can argue all you want that "Merh, this game not XI," but a lot of the development teams from XI carried over into XIV. It's not outside the realm of possibility that they'll do roll-outs of new jobs and areas in a similar fashion as they've done previously. I certainly wouldn't wager heavily on it because, well, it's their game; they can do whatever they want. People are just saying, it's quite plausible that the game will follow similar methodology to XI.

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Originally Posted by CatholicFan

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Ya sorry about that.

I simply asked a question about a possible new City-State to be a new starting area but the question being ignored because currently it would appear impossible due through FFXI design which eventually things got out of hand.

As stated in OP this is simple a "IF" question so most people shouldn't feel threatened by the thought of a new starting area threating arrives of Higher level content nor completely changing current content.

I simply asked "If" they added a New Starter City-State. I never once said they "will" add a new City-State in my OP so there should have never been issues with this question over something that may or may not happen.

The question in OP is still the same and you are right about what the question is about. I just wish people would just answer the question rather than treating this as a completely different question.