Thancred and Urianger's new mission

Thancred and Urianger talked about some sort of mission for Sharlayan in 6.4, a weird ask based on the fact they used to work outside direct national interest, which is kind of contradictory now isn't it?

It's obvious foreshadowing for the next expansion, but is there any room for speculation on what might be going on already?

I'd say there's too much room for speculation: we literally have absolutely zero information, meaning that every option is possible. And personally, I'm not too interested in a completely aimless shot in the dark.

Thancred, Urianger and Krile is a... poorly balanced team, though. That's two healers and a tank; either that's not the whole complement, or one of Krile and Urianger is gonna ahve to change.

The only tidbit that I can chew on is that the request was for a politically neutral party (or appearance at least of such) in the Scions/Archons. Which especially if it is the same as Krile's letter means they want a group with experience handling dangerous threats and also researching odd ancient ruins and artifacts. The political situation in Southern Ilsabard is in upheaval and as former Allagan territory has at least a few recently unearthed world-threatening relics to contend with, no doubt. Conversely: Meracydia having learned about the Scions via Tiamat or their singular trade relationship with Thavnair. Or a civilization in the New World, wanting someone from Eorzea who has pull with the Lomisians but isn't them.

The only other thing I can speculate is that wanting that neutral party of the Scions to step in means that whatever the situation is involves to conflicting factions, so whatever the attached story-line is will be meaty and introduce a large cast of new NPCs. That doesn't mean MSQ - Bojza was that, what with the Bojzan Resistance versus Gabranth's Legion.

Krile's gonna pick up some new craft I bet, big offensive mode. I'd welcome her donning a new outfit, the cute catear hoodie isn't a good look.

Only somewhat related- the new chocobo barding from Island Sanctuary is a white cat-eared hood - very cute if similar to some other bardings- but when I look at it all I can see is dyed yellow it would be the perfect Krille themed barding. And I'm sad that doesn't exist now.

Krile will be the new caster job.

My immediate thought when I saw this scene linked it to the letter Krile saw in the Annex.

It would feel too coincidental for two completely different mysterious sources to be looking to contact very similar groups of people at exactly the same time, so it made sense for it to be connected.

If Krile is involved, I would bet money on G'raha Tia being invited as well - after all, he is an Archon - and we know he has been itching to go on an adventure. In addition, at the end of 6.0, we're quite plainly told that a request into the Students of Baldesion could be what kicks this off.

If the two are related, then I'd expect Krile to pick up the new caster job as others have said. A party of Krile, G'raha, Thancred and Urianger would be a viable Trust party in this case, and that's excluding if anybody else comes along.

This is all huge speculation as we don't have much to go on - it might be that Thancred and Urianger are involved in something else entirely - but it could work.

Krile ignoring the letter bugged me. Surely reading the mail counts as work?

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Originally Posted by Eisi

Krile's gonna pick up some new craft I bet, big offensive mode. I'd welcome her donning a new outfit, the cute catear hoodie isn't a good look.

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One major reason why they've been slow to change the outfit is that Krile is an 'exported character' reference, and the cat-ear WHM is probably her most recognizable FFV job outfit (being itself a reference to FFIII's Devout). That's probably why they went through all the effort to give her a unique hairstyle and then promptly brought back the hood.

I would definitely have a good laugh if she comes back as a Berserker with a reference to FFV Krile's Tiger sprite, although she'll probably end up just going from caster to caster.

As for the two story hooks, we'll probably see an expansion location announcement before we see either elaborated on, so anything is on the table.

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Originally Posted by Lyth

One major reason why they've been slow to change the outfit is that Krile is an 'exported character' reference, and the cat-ear WHM is probably her most recognizable FFV job outfit (being itself a reference to FFIII's Devout). That's probably why they went through all the effort to give her a unique hairstyle and then promptly brought back the hood.

I would definitely have a good laugh if she comes back as a Berserker with a reference to FFV Krile's Tiger sprite, although she'll probably end up just going from caster to caster.

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That would be genius!

Alternatively she could either dress in something more classy and cool or a green imp costume.

I'm torn between "overlay that pattern onto the various patterned stone ruins with have in the game, starting with Allag and the LotA until we find our match" and "it's the plot hook for a completely new area exclusive to 7.0 and they're doing a Shell Game to obfuscate if that will be Ilsabard, Meracydia, or the New World so that's a pointless attempt".

So Krile is likely a caster or healer, can't see her pick up a weapon.

We're due for a new caster DPS.

Speculation indicates the Viera gleaner's Homecoming, the Aztec inspired note on Krile's desk, and Thancred/Urianger's mysterious client implies the New World.

Only caster DPS I'm aware of from said New World is Blue Mage, but that's a limited job. Today I just finishing the 6.3 raid quest, Krile hints about wanting to not have to rely on being rescued or helped when she's out and about. Which BLU requires you to be in harms way to learn spells.

HOWEVER, since it's a limited job and this game likes to throw red herrings. So I'm guessing Geomancer or otherwise. She is a scholar at heart, so the aesthetic would be more tied to something out of Harry Potter. Give the devs an excuse to bring back 1H casting weapons or something.

Since my prediction for new jobs in 7.0 are Caster and Scouting set Melee (and 8.0 as the lone job, a Phys Ranged, and my ardent dream it that it's Blitzballer), now I'm imagining that Erenville reveals he's combat proficient as the non-job trainer poster boy for that new role, and jokes about gleaners having to scout the area for the desired biology abound.

My theory on Krile getting a new job is relatively simple: It's Krile, so it'd be kinda missing a trick to give her a job that wasn't in FFV. Given who she is, we're also unlikely to see her being a big, burly knight, so we can rule out any of the 'physical' jobs in that game.

Going by that... here's the list of magic-oriented (or at least 'not-entirely-martial') jobs from FFV, with the ones we don't already have in bold.

Black Mage
White Mage
Blue Mage
Red Mage
Time Mage
Summoner
Mystic Knight
Mime (that's admittedly a weirdo)
Geomancer
Bard
Dancer (granted, much more martial in XIV)
Chemist
Necromancer (GBA/mobile version only, also basically deconfirmed by the devs)
Cannoneer (GBA/mobile version only; admittedly a weird edge case)
Oracle (GBA/mobile version only)

Out of all of those, my money would be on Mystic Knight, Time Mage, and Geomancer; I'd love to see Chemist, but I'm not holding my breath.

(And unrelated beyond being the thing I checked for the list, but: oh my god, the Final Fantasy fandom wiki's FFXVI format is easily their worst one yet.)

The Yoshi-P interview about all new FF XIV jobs being exclusive to XIV instead of FF callbacks, do you think that means the new jobs won't have the same name as a past job or just the aesthetics and gameplay (Sage versus Reaper)?

Good point about Krile coming from FFV giving a strong series tie for her job makeover! Hadn't occured to me but then V is one of the few I've never played or even watched someone else play. I've some familiarity with it and the cast, if nothing else via the two mobile games Record Keeper and Opera Omnia (which is also how I was introduced to many XIV NPCs, funnily enough. Thancred was introduced as a Bard to me via DFFOO and I was clueless at what the sprite art for Estinien was representing though I liked using the XIV characters in dungeons, especially Ysayle. Plus the Limit Break for Haurchefant spoiled his death long before I started XIV. Weirdest intro into HW, I know.)

I suspect it may very well be Geomancer that Krile ends up using. She has had a link to the lifestream via Hydaelyn in 6.0, and was there for Eureka where the elements were going a bit insane. Should Geomancer be a full caster, it would be using a bell as a spell focus, giving her easy access to a weapon she could hide, as well as fit her ability to do damage while staying back from enemies. It would also be a bit of a nod to how the Krile from FFV was in touch with nature and could speak to animals.

Not convinced on Geomancer, mostly because it has been around for several expansions now without being used as a job, unless it's a Meracydian or New World discipline that the job lore writers have fun lamp-shading how the tradition has little besides the name in common. And I think that of the places that a new caster job would originate, the New World is more likely but also that it is like DNC in that it's a job that shows up in Eorzea before the WoL goes to place of origin. New World because they can write an immigrant from the New World easier than Meracydia.

My wild wish would be for it to be a mostly lost art from one of the missing 5th Astral Era cities that wasn't Mhach, Nym, or Amdapor. There's at least two more two learn about (Skalla as the fourth of the big six and it can share Red Mage with Ala Mhigo).

We don't have a caster using a racket like Eiko, so I think a one-handed funky rod or bell that functions animation-wise more like a short club/stave is likely. Now that the prediction is made, come 7.0 will be nothing of the sort. :)

Do you think any other main Scion will job change?

I've been a staunch defender for Geomancer Krile and I can certainly back that up. While we know Geomancy is a thing in Othard, the dev team hasn't shied away from disciplines sharing names while being different in practice; and while Othardian Geomancy is a sort of fortune-telling that's a mix between AST and CNJ, it wouldn't be a stretch that a Shaman-like spellcaster in the New World/Meracydia shares the Geomancy-style casting.

Geomancy may even be called something else like Elementalism (Hint. <kupo!>ing. Hint. Yoshi-P) and it's the Eorzeans/Hingans who call it Geomancy because it is the same in practice. Also, considering they've been stripping away WHM's identity as the "Nature Mage" (outside of flowers because... reasons), we could certainly have the Geomancer as an attack caster and using the elements that WHM discarded like Earth and Wind. And being related to Bells rather than rods or staves eases the dev team from having to come up with a brand new weapon like Sage's nouliths.

But also, Krile has been greatly side-lined and I just want some justice for her, let her enter the fray and pwn some baddies.

I think Thancred and Urianger will be going away for awhile and we won't see them until 8.0 or 9.0. The devs confirmed Krile will play a major part in the next expansion so it's Krile's letter that will be the focus of the next expansion.

I'm sold now on New World Geomancy as the caster job. Especially because I think the dev team would like to repeat Dancer, where they add a job that the player base has been expecting, from an origin we go to or one expac away, and the easy hook of an introductory job quest where the newly arrived Geomancer Job Trainer (probably hanging out yet again in Limsa -they need to put more of the expansion jobs in Gridania) points out that their geomancy is nothing like what the WoL already knows (as a meta lampshade for the new job animations and how the MMO version can't use any terrain-specific map mechanics)

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Originally Posted by Yuella

I think Thancred and Urianger will be going away for awhile and we won't see them until 8.0 or 9.0. The devs confirmed Krile will play a major part in the next expansion so it's Krile's letter that will be the focus of the next expansion.

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They also confirmed Thancred will be playing a big role in 7.0 as well. Meaning those two are likely coming with us.

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Originally Posted by RyuDragnier

They also confirmed Thancred will be playing a big role in 7.0 as well. Meaning those two are likely coming with us.

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Technically I think they just said he "had something coming up" rather than explicitly confirming he'd be in 7.0 (though I'm happy to be proven wrong), but since he's done virtually nothing since 6.0 that could definitely be it.

If they wanted to move Thancred and Urianger away for now they could easily just write them as continuing their travels together for the time being. I think something so oddly specific, with the request for Archons and the neutrality aspect, would seem a bit odd this early if it were related to 8.0 onward.

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Originally Posted by Turethir

Technically I think they just said he "had something coming up" rather than explicitly confirming he'd be in 7.0 (though I'm happy to be proven wrong), but since he's done virtually nothing since 6.0 that could definitely be it.

If they wanted to move Thancred and Urianger away for now they could easily just write them as continuing their travels together for the time being. I think something so oddly specific, with the request for Archons and the neutrality aspect, would seem a bit odd this early if it were related to 8.0 onward.

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They said in a post 6.0 interview that Thancred and Krile would be having some kind of focus in 7.0. The letter and the invitations are the early hints to 7.0 that we got told about.

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Originally Posted by SannaR

They said in a post 6.0 interview that Thancred and Krile would be having some kind of focus in 7.0. The letter and the invitations are the early hints to 7.0 that we got told about.

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I'm positive this is referring to the podcast Yoshi P did with Krile and Thancred's VAs after 6.0, which said they'd both have something coming for them going forward, but it wasn't elaborated on. There was then a second interview which confirmed Krile for 7.0 but said nothing about Thancred.

If you can send me a source which says he's specifically confirmed for 7.0 I am happy to be proven wrong - I am a huge Thancred fan so it's likely I would have heard! (This isn't me trying to be pedantic - I've just had a strong suspicion that Thancred was only ever mentioned in that first interview because his VA was there and Yoshi P was trying to be polite, haha!)

Some thoughts:

Given how Y'shtola heavily implies she will be opening a gate to the 1st to send light to the 13th, Thancred could be looped back in pretty quickly if there is a chance to see Ryne again, new mission aside, so there is good chance that this new mission is 7.0 related.

Furthermore, the whole recruit former Scions who are not politically connected archons is probably just a cover to get the WOL somewhere. The "client" easily admitting this was the true goal of the letters out the gate in a very early 7.0 cutscene is likely.

Lastly, I'm still waiting for the solo instance where we play as Thancred or Urianger who do their best buddy cop skit fighting off something without the others. Let them have quips, maybe count monsters they killed like a competition, something funny. Please.

wild speculation mode engaged:

One of the things Emet-Schlec brought up that we've not seen yet are the northern islands.