They should take the assets of the city, and make it a new accessible city in Eorzea. I've learned a lot about the city by staring at it from above, and through explorer mode in the dungeon. I think the situation is salvageable.
1. It could be similar to Limsa Lominsa, and Old Sharlayan in that its marketboard would be relatively near the entrance at the gate. The starting area of the dungeon would make a great market.
2. The aetherite already has a great location for its location. If you look from above at 33.0 Y, and 19.6 there is a curved shaped building with enough space in front of it for an Aetherite. I checked and you can indeed see it in the dungeon. It looks like there is nothing in front of it. I don't know if this city was scrapped at a certain point, and that that was the intended location, but it would work for the main Aetherite hub.
3. Fill the city with a variety of NPCs. Especially ones that fans have been asking about for a long time. Create a NEW monk order based on the one seen in the Monk job quests. That's right. Have a variety of monk students shown around the city training. Have a special quest line that revolves around the reopening of the monk order. It could be really neat. The chamber of knowledge where you fight one of the bosses might also be a great spot for monk NPCs. It's quite a picturesque viewpoint for one to meditate, but don't make this the only place for monks. Have them all over the city at different points, but of course also don't forget the resistance fighter npcs. Have them standing guard for consistency. Don’t forget red mages either. Give them a small organization as well. Mayhap even a small HQ.
4. Obviously shut off access to the palace. You can't just go in the palace whenever you feel like. The leader needs to have his affairs in order. It makes perfect sense that you can't just walk up to them.
5. Making a future housing ward, be it instanced, non instanced, or whatever. Just create a part of the city that is a housing ward. There are endless houses squashed together, which would be a great place for an instanced house, or an apartment. There are vast amounts of land around Ala Mhigo that would suffice for a location as well. Could just have some kind of an elevator or newly constructed bridge leading to a ward. I don't care. Just add housing in some capacity so that we finally have housing options for all of Eorzeas city states. If someone hasn't beat base Stormblood, just have it similar to Shirogane where they can go into the cities housing district via teleportation, but they can't access it. It's fine. We've been there before, and honestly a soft reboot with fresh levels is a possibility in the future anyway. All MMOS do it eventually. If people are too up in arms, then have an npc that lets you purchase the house in the Ala Mhigan quarter via teleport, or even other means. It can be done. There are so many hidden passage ways in this city, so they could just invent one.
6. One of the best inspirations you should use for the city is Thavnair. It's a winding tight maze to navigate, with many tall buildings. Which is similar in its layout to the city of Ala Mhigo.
7. Repair various Rhalgr statues, including the ones in front of the city. Obviously have them phasing out depending on progress of the MSQ, but it could be done.
8. Do light maintenance on the other towns in Gyr Albania to encourage a sense of immersion and belonging to this Eastern corner of Eorzea. Let people in some of the buildings. Open shops, add forms of content. Heck, maybe we could even get the next expansions deep dungeon, or any other thing similar really. Just imagine a new form content and add it. I don't care devs, just get creative. I believe in you, because your other Eorzean zones are well fleshed out. Even a new house for an NPC in the story similar to Matoyas cave, but in an actual house would suffice. Just give us some Gyr Abanian experiences.
9. Move some of the monsters in front of the city that are wandering the entrance. It can be done. You've moved mobs before. If they are tied to quests, then you can do that too. You don't need to do it all at once either. You can add some of these updates in phases to save on dev time.
10. You could let the players rebuild it restoration style, or you could even just announce the Ala Mhigo has opened its doors again. It's your choice to decide on how to open the city. The city was literally the cover an expansion, and even hugely important on the battle against Garlemald. Just give us the city in the future. Heck, it would even work well for a return to Eorzea themed expansion, or even a pvp hub. Yes, I said PVP hub. The one in Limsa Lominsa is ugly and stuffed to the brim. Why not give us a second hub for that stuff. (though it doesn't have to be here.)
11. Create an airship dock. With all of the unique griffin inspired architecture, I propose that it’s inspired by the aesthetic of the former griffin riders of Ala Mhigos previous army. You could call it the Griffins Back. Give it a cool griffin logo and set of decor. Put purple griffin adorned balloons on the Ala Mhigan airships out on the docks.
12. Finally, since Garlemald is basically destroyed for now, keep all of the former Garlean Magitek, and capitalize on it a bit. Give the magitek fans parts of the city to take neat photos in.
Ala Mhigos magitek from before Garlmald is also unique and beautifully underrated. It even happens to be one of the most advanced cities in Eorzea in its history. Even before the Garlean empire invaded, it was a highly advanced city compared to others. Show that. Create new magitek designs that show the old history. Show us the spirit and ingenuity of Ala Mhigan people.
Just saying! :3 Im interested in what other layout ideas others might have for a reopening of Ala Mhigo.
How Ala Mhigo Could Be Fixed
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04-21-2022, 10:03 PMDamianFataleHow Ala Mhigo Could Be Fixed
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04-21-2022, 10:33 PMHexyCyana
Oh for sure, this would all be great! I just wish Square Enix would actually do half of what you suggested :-\
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04-21-2022, 11:09 PMBlindheart
All i want to see for it is an airship travel port. Most people probably just teleport everywhere with the crystals, but i like the scenic route for getting around so i always travel to the nearest city and walk... but going to the moon means i have to start from Gradania... thats one heck of a walk.
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04-22-2022, 08:42 AMDamianFataleI wish for an airship dock whole heartedly. Updated it in the post. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Blindheart
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04-22-2022, 08:56 AMTaleraRistain
I think those are all great suggestions if SE wants to turn it into a future expansion city but I don't see a lot suggested that will make people need to go to the city if it's just added in somewhere. People go to Radz-at-Han for tomes and scrips. People go to Sharlayan for leves.
If they did something similar to Doman Restoration, that could keep it active for a bit. -
04-22-2022, 09:05 AMProtantical
Oh, I'm so god damn happy people want a better Ala Mhigo.
I agree with a lot of this. To give it it's own aesthetic, it could totally borrow from Tibetan cities! Tons of high roads and vantage points with some greenery introduced. There's a place near Ala Gannha that has a ton of trees decorated with purple and gold banners that can be used to give the city color and luster. Besides, Ala Mhigo always had a great silk industry a la trade with Thavnair, so why not have a Sapphire Avenue-esque area with tons of market stalls? -
04-22-2022, 09:09 AMLubu_Mykono
Give it a 2 year patch campaign to make housing inhibited by a lottery system that no one can buy.
Stick some of the coolest mounts behind a grind that most people hate.
Ruin the lifeskill market by making it too easy for people to craft and gather.
Don't forget to make the zone all that grey, wait sorry pink rock that is all around the Gyr Abania zones.
Everyone would love that, and it's never been done before. -
04-22-2022, 09:52 AMProtanticalHey, listens can be learned. I think they realized the grind for Ishgard was absolutely painful and I sure as hell heard about the war stories of people all-nighting content for a title. If they wanna lock an Ala Mhigan "restoration" behind a grind, the least they can do is stop it from being a competitive thing and just make it achievement based. Like do "50 crafts for "Mr. Ala Mhigo" title."Quote:
Originally Posted by Lubu_Mykono
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04-22-2022, 10:28 AMLihtleita
Wouldnt this involve literally wiping the Ala Mhigan quarter off the overworld map? As much as I would have liked a more vibrant, lived in version of the city state I doubt the devs would go that far outside of another "calamity" map overhaul.
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04-22-2022, 10:34 AMProtanticalNot at all. You can instance a new area that you access through the Ala Mhigan Quarter. There's a giant staircase that leads deeper into the city that's blocked off. You can easily remove that blockade and put the funny dotted line.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lihtleita
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04-22-2022, 11:47 AMDamianFataleAla Mhigan Quarter can stay for quest purposes. They could just make it an extra gateway into the main city proper, or even go back to the old ways and make it a second half of the instanced city. Either way I have no problem with it being outside of the instance. We have Mor Dohna without an instance. It can exist. It might even add to Ala Mhigos flare.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lihtleita
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04-22-2022, 11:56 AMAmenaraI think this is more or less the intent of Ala Mhigo, it is the Mor Dhona of Stormblood. I would love to see the city fixed up and similar NPCs as in Mor Dhona added to the city, but I just don't see a purpose for Ala Mhigo outside of Stormblood. If the story went in a direction forcing us back into that part of Eorzea then I could see the point in revamping the city and adding onto it, but until then, it's a fancy quest hub for Stormblood and a few other things outside of that.Quote:
Originally Posted by DamianFatale
That being said I do like your ideas and appreciate the effort for them and I hope that if Ala Mhigo is given a purpose again that they give us the city proper. -
04-22-2022, 02:12 PMCodeAvellusThey probably don't even look to this forumQuote:
Originally Posted by HexyCyana
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04-22-2022, 02:47 PManhaatoHonestly I think they should look at cities in the Caucasus region first and foremost, those highlands, considering that's most likely the initial inspiration. Yerevan, Armenia comes to mind as far as highlands go. But at the same time, the actual land's geological features look almost 1:1 inspired by Turkey, particularly the Cappadocia region. I'd rather they start there with real world inspiration.Quote:
Originally Posted by Protantical
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04-22-2022, 02:50 PManhaatoWhy the shade on the pink stone aesthetic? The actual architecture is something not done in any other location ingame, the color scheming just makes it even nicer. Honestly I don't understand all the shade towards Gyr Abania and its aesthetic, people complain about it being similar to Thanalan but it's literally not. Like at all. It's arid, yes, but the geological features are quite unique and beautiful, especially the purple flora and white rock outcrops in the Peaks. And let's not forget the complex architecture scattered around the Lochs, one of my favorite zones in the game. I will make the people pay Ala Mhigo more respect if it's the last thing i do!Quote:
Originally Posted by Lubu_Mykono
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04-22-2022, 04:23 PMDamianFataleThe reason why people get it mixed up is because there isn't enough lore on Ala Mhigo. They put three zones of content into it, but didn't expand on everything. Fun fact, some of the landmarks don't even have lore behind them if you google it.Quote:
Originally Posted by anhaato
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04-22-2022, 09:28 PMProtanticalI can mess with that too. Imagine the super pretty mosaic architecture they can throw into a courtyard or a giant hub building? The citadel (3rd part of the dungeon) is already beautiful, I would love seeing major buildings take after it. Imagine a big budapest with cushions and really elaborate rugs being a cool screen spot a la hot springs in Empyreum? That'd be SICK.Quote:
Originally Posted by anhaato