Post Your 8.0 Story Ideas - Megathread

Figured I'd make this considering the slop we got for Dawntrail's story from 7.0 - 7.3 on top of broken promises. Generally, right now things are pointing towards Winterers for later expansions, but generally I'm curious what kind of story people would want for 8.0.

Post your ideas here - sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe *$%!.

For my first idea, I'm considering from the back of Dawntrail - Interdimensional Fusion. Considering this is completely possible with the relic and how Preservation used it to bring Alexandria into Tural, I have to wonder if those dimensional bubbles could actually change the world itself. Of course, this could cause all sorts of problems if not correctly used, and we all know Ysh'tola wants to drag Ru'nar over - hence why she's obsessed with trying to find a way to cross the border between shards physically.

As everyone wants, I know ya'll want Meracydia - but I feel like we could easily go into a Golmorran expansion considering that place is very tribal and different compared to the rest of the world, which has some form of modernization and the fact that Golmore is extremely strict about outsiders being invaders, outside of our meeting with Fran back in Ivalice(it would also literally make Ivalice a requirement, shaking up AR so it's not always CT).

Maybe there's an attempt by someone within Golmore to try and open them up to the world some like Fran's faction had? Even after the war they still live in isolation right now and I feel like expanding upon that would help the world a bit more now that we have Male Viera. Heck, you could include even the island that Kugane's on too while you're at it and expand upon it for two halves since we still have the political power of the Shogunate and even see power struggles there between Lords trying to vie for a deal with Golmore(one of course poison pilled, the other in good diplomatic faith).

Again, these are just writing ideas. Post your own!

Personally, what I would rather NOT see is shard-hopping. At least, not yet. Just because we have a McGuffin that will facilitate it doesn't mean we should focus on another shard - not when there is so much of the Source we haven't seen yet.

I'm in the 'would love to visit Meracydia' camp, although it has been made clear that we won't be going there quite yet.

I'm admittedly curious to see where they go with the whole Calyx/Winterer plot though - a lot of story threads were left hanging there and could prove interesting.

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Originally Posted by HyperiusUltima

For my first idea, I'm considering from the back of Dawntrail - Interdimensional Fusion. Considering this is completely possible with the relic and how Preservation used it to bring Alexandria into Tural, I have to wonder if those dimensional bubbles could actually change the world itself. Of course, this could cause all sorts of problems if not correctly used, and we all know Ysh'tola wants to drag Ru'nar over - hence why she's obsessed with trying to find a way to cross the border between shards physically.

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That's kind of what I was expecting given the sudden FFV reference dump in Occult Crescent, but VIII's Doomtrain being prominently on the 7.4 promo site makes me wonder if they're gearing up for even more of that game.

Add me to the people who don't want to do shard-hopping. I would like at least one more expansion on the Source, free of shard-related story (I wish Tural had been this!)

It feels to me lately like everything has to be connected to the shards these days, and I am much more interested in exploring the rest of the Source first. After all of post-EW being based around a shard, and then half of DT and all the patch content being based around another shard, I'm just really shard-fatigued :(

So I am hoping for something based in Othard/Ilsabard/The Blindfrost.

We save another "crystal" reflection and then all the shards reconnect creating the rejoining of all the shards due to much salavtion happaning, to much good in all the reflections forcing either a rejoining to occur or forces us to play like ascians creating evil for the greater good and balance

I'll start with plot that I know will never happen. It just isn't feasible in a business sense. SE only likes new things and would never return to old zones in any major way.

We return to Eorzea and new zones are opened around continent. That means new places to explore in all three main city states plus Ishgard and Ala Mhigo.

1. Uldah - The Silver Bazaar officially reopens as a place of commerce by acting as a foothold for refugees wishing to go to a newly opened zone to place down roots and start new lives. The land was once owned by Teledji Adeledji but has since been acquired by the Sultana for the purpose of economic revitalization. However, there are Moneterists trying to make the initiative fail for their own gain.

2. Gridania - The Elementals haven't just been silent due to the destruction of the Calamity. They have been silently relocating underground. They traveled through the great roots of the Shroud into the depths of Gelmorra, abandoning the denizens above to create a new great forest in the dark recesses of the earth. Unfortunately, they are no longer amiable to mortals and treat explorers with great hostility, nearly killing the adventurers and scholars that discovered this new zone.

3. Limsa Lominsa - Trade with the Kobolds is picking up and ships are sailing to islands all across the sea spreading their wares as promised by the Pact. This includes an archipelago home to pirates in the truest sense. They scorn the Maelstrom and choose to pillage and sail as they see fit, abiding no rules. With Limsa setting up a trade town on one of the islets, the pirates band together to drive them out. Looking to bolster their forces as they set this foothold, they call upon adventurers for aid.

4. Ishgard - Peace is slowly settling on the war torn nation. Lands once lost to mankind have now been opened by the dragons. The lands have been twisted by the Calamity so Ishgard takes the chance to open the route to adventurers so that they may scout and get a lay of the land and beasts that reside there. However, there is a sickening miasma that spreads across the earth, billowing from an unknown source. Ishgardian knights have learned that crystals have proven useful at keeping the miasma at bay, but a more permanent solution must be found.

5. Ala Mhigo - With the city-state finally getting its legs beneath it under the guidance of Lyse and Raubahn, refugees that once fled are traveling back to reclaim their old homes. But the Garlean occucpation wasn't kind. Malfunctioning Magiteck is everywhere in the ancestral neighborhoods and it is proving harder than first thought to root it out. Against strong resistance, Garlean engineers have been brought from Garlemald to expedite the process otherwise the returning countrymen won't have anywhere to live. The animosity towards the engineers is palpable, but they choose to move forward in an attempt to rectify the wrongs they wrought.

What I think will happen. Posted this before, but the mysterious ascian is a shard of ultima posing as the 9th's shard of Azem and needs the key to come to the source and start yet another remerger (lets face it these writers love to reuse plot lines) but this time without the calamities since they don't have the same abilities to do so as the unsundered did. Cylax or whatever his name is, knows it and will be a double agent and be redeemed by our friendship.

What I want is for Ultima to be the big bad and there to be a false Azem, but not them be one and the same.

New starting area that opens up other parts of our original zones but leads in a different direction and takes us down to Mercydia where we have another high fantasy adventure without graphic card towers and modern street wear.

We only get half the maps in 8.0 with others being revealed in patches so we can really flesh out the lore and spend time in the zones.

I would love us to find things on our own through exploration instead of having some scholar just ramble on and tell us everything and some actual conflict or debate between our comrades instead of one of them just saying something and everyone else knodding and doing that. This is a great way to easily expand the lore while giving us more huminity and personality from the cast.

We also need to get rid of the plot armor. No one has to die, but relationships should actually be tested and perminant injuries that take characters out of the action would be fantastic.

And I hope beyond hope that things are not resolved with a deus ex machina or power of friendship tropes, but with actual blood, sweat and tears. Let us lose and struggle, Maybe Ultima takes the idea from midgardsomr and strips us of our protections, this time for good. Crippling our powers would be wonderful since we are pretty much walking gods at this point.

There is a suspiciously high about of Ilsabard related stuff popping up so I think that's were we're headed in 8.0. I think while we punch trains, and goof off on The Ninth in 7.4, Wuk Lama, Koana, and Gulool Ja head to their newest ally, Radz-At-Han to let them know the developments with Alexandria. This will set things in motion for an Ilsabard expansion. I think a story there could involve helping the previously occupied nations there rebuild now that the Garlean Empire has collapsed. I think there is room for auracite, and Ultima related shenanigans there as well considering the history of the area as explored in the Ivalice raids, and Bozja.

I want to go back to the thirteenth/void, personally. The entire EW patch cycle felt like it was setting up an expansion to try and salvage the void but we ended up just... #@%&ing off and leaving Zero and Golbez to handle it so we could go sightseeing and help a random (Wuk Lamat) we had zero investment in. It felt very odd, to me. Similar to how we let Minfilia and the WoDs go handle the First while we again #@%&ed off to go screw around in Ala Mhigo and Doma when that matter seemed WAY more pressing. Luckily, Shadowbringers corrected this.

Honestly, Dawntrail was far more jarring than Stormblood in this regard, as back during the HW patches we had no real way to get to the First anyway and at the very least when it came to Doma and Ala Mhigo the empire was a credible threat. Not as much of a threat as a looming APOCALYPSE in another world, mind you, but a real threat nonetheless. With the Void though we just seemingly washed our hands of it and went on a vacation, it all felt very silly. I would like to see this dropped Void plotline similarly corrected Shadowbringers style ASAP.

I'd like to be whisked off to another shard, or another planet in the Source's universe, for the next expansion.

I'd also like a new bad@$$ antagonist faction to be introduced. ^_^

I think it needs to be another planet, probably best if it's not even a shard. We can't just pal around with the scions while helping the dragons in meracydia learn the power of friendship. We need to fall in a portal and appear in a new world with no reputation or friends. This would also help make a new startpoint. But mostly I just think we need something that can be universally appealing instead of just going through the motions of "well, we've heard about Meracydia/Blindfrost but not been there, so we have to go there".

We finally reach Ilsabard in Endwalker and instead of exploring the region and the fallout of the Garlean collapse in 7.0, we headed in the complete opposite direction to Tural.

So yeah, I feel we're overdue for an Ilsabard expansion. Find out how the power vacuum left by the empire has affected the surrounding regions, and maybe add Dalmasca to the mix.

We go to another shard but instead of it being only one expansion like the first was, it's actually treated like a kind of "mini planet".

Basically only us there, no scions and a return to form, basically a "reborn" version of FF14.
You could have several expansions there, just like we had The city states, Ishgard and Ala Mhigo on the source.

That way we could also have a kind of new starting point of needed and would be an entirely new person without the hero record.
I loved the first, it was a world in the style of ARR with not too much technology, likable characters and actually believable cultures.

Maybe the key forcefully transports us there (and only us).
We meet new companions or maybe only those of other shards could follow us (like Sphene, Zero or Ryne) because of Aether shenigans or something.

Basically a new start. They have the perfect base with the shards already after all.
Make the winterers actually a bit more grey, maybe even let us team up with some of them for a cause or so or because it's the lesser evil.
Make the WoL matter again. I don't need them to be the invincible hero everyone fawns over but they shouldn't be the tree in a child stage play like base DT was.

Simply, I do not want the majority of the scions to join. Make a actual intresting cast of new characters you can meet (maybe can bring some old characters just don't do what DT did, I also don't feel like theirs much growth or to show with old characters).

I don't mind if we go shard hopping or not personally as I liked the first but I don't think they should try to emulate that success if we go to another shard I would like a unique story.