[EW SPOILERS] Please Rename This Trial

In our FC we've had a number of people spoiled by looking at the location of some players in their friends list/FC members list while we tried our hardest to stay spoiler free for at least a month. I'm sure others feel similarly.

We've gone to calling the trials 'Trial 1', 'Trial 2' and 'Final Trial' as to not spoil our members.

DO NOT READ BELOW IF YOU ARE NOT CAUGHT UP IN MSQ!

The first trial isn't very spoilery being called 'The Dark Inside'. Not many people expected that at all. In fact, I'm sure people expected something else entirely for the first trial.

Having such a name like 'The Mothercrystal' is pretty messed up. Now of course, it seems self explanatory after doing the first trial, right? But what about those still doing early MSQ? It seems like a massive spoiler that's almost as bad as the title 'Papalymo's Final Witness' back in the day.

Now, I have no idea what they'd name the trial otherwise, to be fair. But it kinda sucks that people still early on will connect the dots pretty fast if they've been paying attention and just happen to glance at their friends list/linkshell/fc member list.

:(

For all they know we're fighting some baddie who is attacking the mothercrystal and to avoid spoilering the baddie, they've named it the mothercrystal.

Remember the name is just one piece of the puzzle.

Most of the duty and zone names have been relatively good at avoiding spoilers. For example, names like Vanaspati, Ktisis Hyperboreia, The Dark Inside, The Tempest, Elpis, or Ultima Thule will be at most very minor spoilers if you accidentally stumble upon their names prematurely, and even then only if you have specialized knowledge or have been paying careful attention to specific details. The Mothercrystal stands in stark contrast to that. As OP said, it's almost as bad as Papalymo's Final Witness back in Heavensward.

Some folks already had the notion Hydaelyn was going to be the main villain of the expansion, going by everything Shadowbringers was leading us to until we were proven wrong. I don't think having "the Mothercrystal" in the trial's name spoils anything if you're coming from Shadowbringers.

It's like saying the names in the final quests in the expansions like "Stormblood" and "Endwalker" will spoil you because that marks the end of that expansion.

I agree that that it really isn't that much of a spoiler. Anyone coming in with knowledge of Shadowbringers (and knowledge that Endwalker is the conclusion of the Hydaelyn/Zodiark storyline) won't be surprised to learn that a battle of some kind takes place at the mothercrystal.

Also, where exactly does the trial name exist ingame that is going to spoil newer players? You can't actually see a partyfinder listing until you've unlocked the fight that the PF is for for example.

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Originally Posted by Stepjam

I agree that that it really isn't that much of a spoiler. Anyone coming in with knowledge of Shadowbringers (and knowledge that Endwalker is the conclusion of the Hydaelyn/Zodiark storyline) won't be surprised to learn that a battle of some kind takes place at the mothercrystal.

Also, where exactly does the trial name exist ingame that is going to spoil newer players? You can't actually see a partyfinder listing until you've unlocked the fight that the PF is for for example.

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FC menus. I found out about Ultima Thule due to that.

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Originally Posted by Adeacia

FC menus. I found out about Ultima Thule due to that.

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Fair enough on the how. I still feel that the names don't really tell you much context wise.

I dont think that area names really give enough context to identify what is going on during said fight. "Steps of Faith" and "Final Steps of Faith" are prime examples. Just by the name without knowing any context you would assume you'd be fighting a primal in both versions of that area. When I first saw "The Mothercrystal" I had assumed it was a certain someone or someones attacking the area (much like Steps of Faith) and we were defending the area.

I think if anything areas from this expansion were spoilers. in fact I kept myself from checking friendlist and fc list at all until I was all caught up. I even had to mute all linkshells, including hunts, and novice network. It's torture, but sadly that's how it is.

Ultima Thule itself is a big spoiler, cause you're still there in thavnair or something and suddenly find out that you'll end up going at the edge of the universe, even if you don't know why, but it's pretty big. And even if you somehow don't know what Ultima Thule is, if you by mistake even look up gathering logs, you'll see an high level area situated in The Sea of Stars, again pretty big. And no, not the moon, I mean an area other than the moon.

The Mothercrystal is also bad, but all considered more tame, since yo don't know it's a trial. Honestly that's also one I got spoiled, and I thought it was just a cutscenes instance kinda think, like all the time we find ourselves in The Mothercrystal talking with Hydaelin. Nothing in fc members list/friends list says it's a trial, just that it's an instance.

And even if you happen to look at items names, say while browsing the market, checking party finder, or even just if you level crafters faster than doing msq, you're gonna be pretty spoiled.

Overall I think this is the expension that most of all leaves spoilers everywhere and makes you have to completely isolate yourself from the rest of the game until you're done with msq. My wish would be for any area/duty you haven't unlocked yet to be marked as ??? everywhere, and not just in certain places.That would solve all such problems. It's useless to put ??? in patch notes when in game everywhere you turn you can actually read those spoilers that patch notes covered.

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Originally Posted by Tlamila

I think if anything areas from this expansion were spoilers. in fact I kept myself from checking friendlist and fc list at all until I was all caught up. I even had to mute all linkshells, including hunts, and novice network. It's torture, but sadly that's how it is.

Ultima Thule itself is a big spoiler, cause you're still there in thavnair or something and suddenly find out that you'll end up going at the edge of the universe, even if you don't know why, but it's pretty big. And even if you somehow don't know what Ultima Thule is, if you by mistake even look up gathering logs, you'll see an high level area situated in The Sea of Stars, again pretty big. And no, not the moon, I mean an area other than the moon.

The Mothercrystal is also bad, but all considered more tame, since yo don't know it's a trial. Honestly that's also one I got spoiled, and I thought it was just a cutscenes instance kinda think, like all the time we find ourselves in The Mothercrystal talking with Hydaelin. Nothing in fc members list/friends list says it's a trial, just that it's an instance.

And even if you happen to look at items names, say while browsing the market, checking party finder, or even just if you level crafters faster than doing msq, you're gonna be pretty spoiled.

Overall I think this is the expension that most of all leaves spoilers everywhere and makes you have to completely isolate yourself from the rest of the game until you're done with msq. My wish would be for any area/duty you haven't unlocked yet to be marked as ??? everywhere, and not just in certain places.That would solve all such problems. It's useless to put ??? in patch notes when in game everywhere you turn you can actually read those spoilers that patch notes covered.

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I wouldn't call Ultima Thule an extreme spoiler though. while in more recent times it's been used to talk about parts of space, it's original definition was much more grounded.
"So what does Ultima thule mean? Ultima thule is Latin and has been used over to the centuries to refer to an area of the world that is the most distant and inaccessible. In other words as NASA describes, it’s a place “beyond the known world.” The term was originally used in ancient Greek and Roman literature and cartography to denote a mythical island in the area furthest north. In classical and medieval cartography and literature, this term took on the meaning of anyplace beyond the known world at the time. Claudian, the Latin poet, proclaimed, “ratibusque impcrvia Thule” which means “where no ships can sail.”"

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Originally Posted by Tlamila

I think if anything areas from this expansion were spoilers. in fact I kept myself from checking friendlist and fc list at all until I was all caught up. I even had to mute all linkshells, including hunts, and novice network. It's torture, but sadly that's how it is.

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I don't think the locations are definite spoilers for everyone. They aren't to me, that is.

1. It was obvious we were going to Old Sharlayan, Thavnair, and Garlemald via the trailers and such. They weren't meant to be kept quiet and hush/hush.
2. We were explicitly told we are going to moon.
3. Elpis has no meaning without context.
4. Ultima Thule could have been a location on the moon. The moon is also in the Sea of Stars so one could have figured it was another location on the moon and that was where we were going to be at the end, which based on trailers and such was what I had expected. For the story to end with us on the moon.
5. The Mothercrystal is vague enough it tells you nothing of what to expect. We knew going in that this was the end of the Zodiark/Hydalen. We knew going in that Hydalen is a primal and confirmed by Hydalen herself early EW, it was to be expected that we had to deal with that for that cycle to end. For those not through Shadowbringers or enough into EW, we've talked to Hydalen or been around the mothercrystal enough times in cut scenes that it may have been assumed that that is what we're doing there and nothing super major like fighting her.

Now some people do not want any kind of spoiler at all. But if you are that type of person, you should know what happens when you do certain things in this game and prepare yourself accordingly for the chance of spoilers when you look things up - be it via the gathering logs or friends list.

It would be a nice option if doable and not too hard to add is to have the game set to have it possible to mark things as ??? for any location you haven't unlocked, though. I wouldn't say no to that being an option. It wouldn't be an option I would want, though, so it would need to be optional.

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Originally Posted by Tlamila

And even if you somehow don't know what Ultima Thule is, if you by mistake even look up gathering logs, you'll see an high level area situated in The Sea of Stars, again pretty big. And no, not the moon, I mean an area other than the moon.

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I personally didnt see the name "Ultima Thule" until pretty late in the story, and i wasnt sure if it was an overworld zone a dungeon or some other instance. I also purposefully spent very little time thinking about it to avoid speculating on things that hadnt been introduced in some way via the story. But the sea of stars gathering log "spoiler" was a nothing to me. I spent most of 2021 thinking there would be a 2nd zone on the moon(darkside/core/something) because they introduced the area of Mare Lamentorum very early on in the preview process, so seeing this mystery Sea of Stars zone just "confirmed" what i already thought.

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Originally Posted by Seera1024

Now some people do not want any kind of spoiler at all. But if you are that type of person, you should know what happens when you do certain things in this game and prepare yourself accordingly for the chance of spoilers when you look things up - be it via the gathering logs or friends list.

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Right, and I said the same. But since keeping yourself from all thsoe things for weeks is pretty hard, especially when it's muscle memory to check on friendlist to see who's online. It takes 1 second of misclick to notice the location of at least a few of your friends, especially if you have a long friendlist and each on of them is going through the expansion.
As for the gathering log, non-unlocked areas are usually not shown so it was a weird one. And keeping yourself from gathering and crafting until you're done with msq, especially if you like having all crafters and gatherers maxed first thing, is a bit much.

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Originally Posted by Tlamila

Right, and I said the same. But since keeping yourself from all thsoe things for weeks is pretty hard, especially when it's muscle memory to check on friendlist to see who's online. It takes 1 second of misclick to notice the location of at least a few of your friends, especially if you have a long friendlist and each on of them is going through the expansion.
As for the gathering log, non-unlocked areas are usually not shown so it was a weird one. And keeping yourself from gathering and crafting until you're done with msq, especially if you like having all crafters and gatherers maxed first thing, is a bit much.

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It's not a bit much if you care about not being spoiled that much.

It boils down to which one you have a higher preference for: crafting/gathering or keeping yourself spoiler free.

I was having some issues with the In From the Cold duty (couldn't find the objective). I did not want any story spoilers and looking up help with quests is very likely to generate story spoilers. But I was stuck. So I had to weigh MSQ progression with possibly spoiling the next little bit of the story.

Given the number of players who feel the vague location names that SE chooses (yes, even the mothercrystal is vague for this context) are spoilers is relatively low, I do not think the name needs to be changed. And the only way I would be fine with the option to hide locations being added is if it's quick and easy and doesn't take much time to do. Because the number of players that would benefit from this are not large enough that it would be worth possibly giving up other things the devs could be working on or putting off other things until later. Only so many devs and so much time and probably a long list of things that they'd love to add if there was more time.