Future Variant dungeon locations

Ever since Mount Rokkon launched, I haven't been able to leave this duty. All the different locations, the cool bosses, the music, the strong Heian period inspiration, everything has drawn me in and I'm absolutely in LOVE with how they did this location. It's so athmospheric and nice. I've done all routes and purchased everything off of the potsherd shop as soon as I could.

But then it got me thinking...
Will they do more of these in the future? I sure hope so. But what could they do?

A few of the ideas that came to mind were:
- The Vault, or rather, the things underneath it. We've been told there are gaols with all sorts of things imprisoned within, and even the last few unicorns.
- Gelmorra. We know little about it, but we know it existed. Maybe the ruins? There's so much to discover.
- The lower levels of Ishgard that we only see from above, maybe? We know nothing about what's under there.
- The sewers underneath Garlemald, or something Garlemald-themed.

What would be YOUR suggestion for future variant dungeon locations? I want to hear everyone's ideas, because honestly I looove this content despite not giving much attention to the first one.

The stone door in the Dravanian Forelands that has been sealed ever since Heavensward.

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Originally Posted by RemiRose

Ever since Mount Rokkon launched, I haven't been able to leave this duty.

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I can't stand it. Just doing 1 a day. It's painfully boring. The mechanics are great ideas that I am sure inspire the criterion mechanics, but then I dread going another route and suffering similar sort of bosses when I can do something more fun, like play on blue mage.

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Will they do more of these in the future?

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At least one more. If it sticks they will do more in the expansions, or they might decide it didn't work and cancel it like they did deep dungeons in the previous expansion.

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I sure hope so. But what could they do?

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The Giantsgall Grounds directly below Mount Ordeals. Or exploring the origin of Thavnairian Onions, which, as far as we can tell, don't... grow in Thavnair. The boss can be a very powerful chocobo, or a parade chocobo.

Within Alexander, accompanying Brayflox and Slowfix into the depths of the machine to see more goblin story and find out what the Illuminati has been up to since Heavensward. (Also I still love Alexander.)

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Originally Posted by TheMightyMollusk

Within Alexander, accompanying Brayflox and Slowfix into the depths of the machine to see more goblin story and find out what the Illuminati has been up to since Heavensward. (Also I still love Alexander.)

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The city within him absolutely needs to be explored.

Give me something in the snowy peaks of Coerthas Western Highlands. I'm a big sucker for snowy landscapes

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Originally Posted by TheMightyMollusk

Within Alexander, accompanying Brayflox and Slowfix into the depths of the machine to see more goblin story and find out what the Illuminati has been up to since Heavensward. (Also I still love Alexander.)

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Originally Posted by EgilTheStressedMage

The city within him absolutely needs to be explored.

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That would be brilliant. Can we still go in by the end of Alex, though? I thought it was sealed? But timey-wimey w/e it takes, I'd love that locale.

OP has some great locale ideas. I'd also like to see more Amdapor. Or more Ronkan stuff in Rak'tikka.

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Originally Posted by Alleluia

That would be brilliant. Can we still go in by the end of Alex, though? I thought it was sealed? But timey-wimey w/e it takes, I'd love that locale.

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Alexander Prime, the primal in control of the city, sealed himself outside of time to prevent anyone from summoning him again. The actual mechanical body is still sitting there. Matoya complains about "that rusting hulk clogging up the Thaliak" during the lead-up to Shadowbringers.

Come 7.0?

https://media0.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2...KV20/giphy.gif

Along with Diadem, Eureka, Bozja, Healer DPS kits, tank aggro management, CDs not on two minute intervals, Summoner, Bard's popularity and Blue Mage's mount reward. If you can't tell, there's a lot of kindling for that fire to burn.

Parts of Amaurot outside of the district we visit in Shadowbringers. I forgot if he's still around but have Hythlo's shade come with us as the NPC.

+1 Alexander.

I wouldn’t mind delving into parts of Azys Lla. Or Ronka.

Whatever it is, I wish it came with more lore and not just a more-of-the-same a la Deep Dungeon.

I just want them to remember Norvrandt exists and theyve done nothing with it all expac.
My ideas are hroth-centric bc they've also done nothing with hroth all expansion.
Twine Mines themed dungeon with Magnus as our hanger-on (calling the npcs guides is generous), could also give us a femgar first look in the book completion quest (assuming we get another variant in 6.55).
Ronka Ruins quest petitioned by the Fanow girls but Runar is the guide. Recounts the history of ronka and lady tiuna and gives us lore on a powerful super-society that isnt allagan/ascian hyurs for once (first emperor of ronka was a hrothgar according to the qitari questline).

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Originally Posted by TheMightyMollusk

Alexander Prime, the primal in control of the city, sealed himself outside of time to prevent anyone from summoning him again. The actual mechanical body is still sitting there. Matoya complains about "that rusting hulk clogging up the Thaliak" during the lead-up to Shadowbringers.

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The "actual mechanical body" is still the location where the primal has sealed itself within its bubble of timey-wimeyness, and the body is inside the bubble.

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Originally Posted by RemiRose

Ever since Mount Rokkon launched, I haven't been able to leave this duty. All the different locations, the cool bosses, the music, the strong Heian period inspiration, everything has drawn me in and I'm absolutely in LOVE with how they did this location. It's so athmospheric and nice. I've done all routes and purchased everything off of the potsherd shop as soon as I could.

But then it got me thinking...
Will they do more of these in the future? I sure hope so. But what could they do?

A few of the ideas that came to mind were:
- The Vault, or rather, the things underneath it. We've been told there are gaols with all sorts of things imprisoned within, and even the last few unicorns.
- Gelmorra. We know little about it, but we know it existed. Maybe the ruins? There's so much to discover.
- The lower levels of Ishgard that we only see from above, maybe? We know nothing about what's under there.
- The sewers underneath Garlemald, or something Garlemald-themed.

What would be YOUR suggestion for future variant dungeon locations? I want to hear everyone's ideas, because honestly I looove this content despite not giving much attention to the first one.

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Originally I was thinking that it would follow Ul'dah with Gridania (6.45) and then Limsa Lominsa (6.55) to contemplate all 3 main ARR hubs, but unexpectedly they went for Hingashi for the second one.

So, I would highly think that the 3rd one could be something Ishgard, maybe led by one of the non-combat NPCs we met in Heavensward (Lord Fortemps?). This way, we'd have all 3 Criterion dungeons themed after ARR, HW and SB expansions.

My personal suggestions for 7.0 criterion dungeons would be
- One for Garlemald (featuring Jullus)
- One for Thavnair (featuring Nidhana)
- One for Sharlayan (featuring Fourchenalt)

I don't think there's gonna be an iteration for the First, because as they are doing now, they usually tie them to a central point (in this case, the gleaners in Sharlayan) - so its either all 3 at the First, or none at the First at all. But then, they can change things around.

There is a lot of unexplored dumped lore that idk if the devs even remember at this point.

I forget the name of the place in Elpis but it looked to be a good spot for a Deep Dungeon before Orthos came along, especially when there was mention about changing rooms and the like.

I would also love to have one in the Azim Steppe cause I'm always greedy for more Xaela lore.

And +1 to a Ronkan-themed one.

West Shroud and East Coerthas.
"The Calamity Ruins".

Featuring the Dawn Vigil and a return of the Lichenweed area that was used in PvP but better!

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Originally Posted by Destati

I forget the name of the place in Elpis but it looked to be a good spot for a Deep Dungeon before Orthos came along, especially when there was mention about changing rooms and the like.

I would also love to have one in the Azim Steppe cause I'm always greedy for more Xaela lore.

And +1 to a Ronkan-themed one.

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oh dyou mean Cthonic whatever waaaaay off to the side of the map that you never need to go to? I thought for sure thatd be part of the raid series lol

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Originally Posted by Destati

I forget the name of the place in Elpis but it looked to be a good spot for a Deep Dungeon before Orthos came along, especially when there was mention about changing rooms and the like.

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That was just setup for how the Ktisis dungeon works.

I'll never stop suggesting more Ivalice and therefore Vagrant Story content. We have used some enemy types and music...

It's time. Plus it might help stir up a Vagrant Story Remake that it desperately needs and deserves since like 50% of the game was cut.

I originally wanted one that was more outdoor and akin to the areas around Swallow's Compass.

Now that we got this one, though... maybe just one in ancient Ampador.

I think the ruins underneath the Azim Steppe would be a good choice.

Pick a highly decorated house in any player housing district with lots of rooms used and equally well-decorated, and make that the next Variant dungeon. Bonus points if they choose one with lots of glitched furniture that you have to navigate to find a way to get out of bounds for a super-secret route.

Easy, the Gelmorran ruins in the Shroud. They've existed since 1.0 but we know basically nothing about them.

But the bigger question is whether or not they will even continue to make Variant Dungeons or if this is another case of "this expansion only" content.

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Originally Posted by Absurdity

But the bigger question is whether or not they will even continue to make Variant Dungeons or if this is another case of "this expansion only" content.

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We know we're getting a third one in this expansion. That's enough to speculate on its contents.

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Originally Posted by Absurdity

But the bigger question is whether or not they will even continue to make Variant Dungeons or if this is another case of "this expansion only" content.

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I think that it's definitely something that could still be up in the air. SE has a history of sometimes taking the easy/lazy way out of problems to avoid fixing it, so I could see them responding to the calls for better loot in Criterion by just giving up on the content entirely. I certainly hope that they don't do that, but I wouldn't be shocked if they did.

I find it very hard to care about content that you play once and are then done with, without anything to show for it at that.

Variant/criterion have rewards problems but they just shouldn’t have been introduced at the difficulty they are at

Variant is easier than the expert roulette (which is a legit impressive bar to limbo under), criterion is on the level of a difficult 3rd easy 4th floor savage and savage is basically a hard 4th floor with an instance length body check

Did anyone actually ask for savage, they could have substituted the savage version for a difficulty roughly the level of an easy extreme (say ultima weapon) that can be cleared with randoms in less than a single lockout with some strategy

Then with the 3 difficulty levels better balanced they could then feed them useful rewards and upgrades

Variant becomes the relic step and the “more expert dungeons” when you are bored of aetherfont, the new mid level content could drop say 650 gear and become casual BIS/catch-up gear for savage without having to deal with the lockout of the alliance raid come x.5 and the savage version could either drop 655, 660 (alternative BIS option) or the twine/upgrade stuff/weapon tomestone alongside the current rewards.

So the top tier of content becomes populated by people looking for alternate BIS or out of savage lockout twines, the middle tier fills the Bozja gap for “non braindead casual content” and gives a “casual BIS” that’s not just buying the crafted gear and the low tier gives more dungeons and more options for people who like expert dungeon level content and could be a way to give a unique relic step, then I imagine it wouldn’t be hard to evergreen variant in the future by just making it its own roulette

Abandon Variant Dungeons or make fundamental changes to difficulty, rewards, and pacing.

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Originally Posted by Shurrikhan

I originally wanted one that was more outdoor and akin to the areas around Swallow's Compass.

Now that we got this one, though... maybe just one in ancient Ampador.

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+1 for Amdapor. We have so much lore on Mhach and Nym, but we still know next to nothing about Amdapor.

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Originally Posted by Renalt

I'll never stop suggesting more Ivalice and therefore Vagrant Story content. We have used some enemy types and music...

It's time. Plus it might help stir up a Vagrant Story Remake that it desperately needs and deserves since like 50% of the game was cut.

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This game really needs the Matsuno touch.
I really hope for a more grounded and intriguing plot for the next expansion...

• Explore the destroyed zone of West Shroud. NPC being one of the padjali siblings.

• Some part of Dalmasca, perhaps? Unsure who would be the appropriate NPC, probably Fran or one of the surviving Bangaa.

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Originally Posted by AwesomeJr44

I think that it's definitely something that could still be up in the air. SE has a history of sometimes taking the easy/lazy way out of problems to avoid fixing it, so I could see them responding to the calls for better loot in Criterion by just giving up on the content entirely. I certainly hope that they don't do that, but I wouldn't be shocked if they did.

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Let them make the reward system better and more useful, Criterion dungeons are actually a really good source of content because it supplements the raids, since by .x5 most of the people already completed it.

Another thing to think of is, if Criterion is moving forward to 7.0, how they're going to arrange the delivery schedule. It could be paired with each raid, but depending on whether or not we have hard stuff to look forward to in the odd patches, it could also be a good idea to be there.

Another future variant can be that lost city state that was like a twin to Limsa Lominsa, but underground from 1.0.