4th Starting City-State in 1st Expansion

[EdwinLi]

So if SE decided to add a 4th starting area in 1st expansion do you think it will be the City-State Sharlayan?

Currently Sharlayan is the 4th city-state in Eorzea that allows adventurers to enter the place lore wise and it is also home to the Circle of Knowing.

Sharlayan can be the place where 3 new Classes for 1st Expansion start out. (Limsa Lominsa 3rd Starting class is Musketeer since the Musketeer guild is already established in Limsa)

Starting Main Story will still mostly be the same but you will be more invovled with task from the Circle of Knowing in Sharlayan Starting Main Story similar to how Gridania Starting Story involves the God Quivers, Ul'dah involved the Sultan-sworn, and Lisma Lominsa involved the Yellow Jackets.

The Scion of the Seventh Dawn member players meet in Sharlayan Starting Story and introduce new players to the Scion will be Urianger Augurelt similar to how we have Thancred for Ul'dah, Y'shtola for Limsa Lominsa, and Yda and Papalymo for Gridania.

2.1 story has already set Sharlayan as a important story point due to what happened to the Circle of Knowing in 2.1 story. New Players most likely will meet the person mentioned by Minfilia in 2.1 during Sharlayan Starting Main Story before hitting level 15 Main Story quest for new characters.

[Macka]

You do know even with expansions new players will still need to start with 2.1 story. So, what I'm saying is most likely any new classes will probably be quest unlocked and not available at character creation.

If they follow FFXI there will only be 3 starting cities.

[EdwinLi]

You do know even with expansions new will still need to start with 2.1 story. So, what I'm saying is most likely any new classes will probably be quest unlocked and not available at character creation.

SE never said Expansion content will be exclusive to lvl 50+ contents.

They can introduce a new starting city-state to serve as new starting content for new characters.

Currently they have mentioned we will be getting a New Race in 1st expansion but it is still possible to introduce a new starting city-state for new characters.

I'd hoped it would have been Ishgard back in 1.0 but that's clearly not happening (we know it's coming in the expansion but as a high level thing no doubt) and Ala Mhigo is ruins, though they could add it in as an expansion - players starting there as part of the reconstruction effort etc (we'd have to liberate it from the garleans 1st though in the main story I'd imagine)

Ya looking at the current lore of City-states Sharlayan currently is the only one lore wise that can serve as a new starting city-state for new characters.

Ishgard lore wise has locked their gates to Adventurers until 3.0 storyline. The Gate into Ishgard is also in a lvl 35 - 45 area as well.

Ala Mhigo lore wise is currently a Garlean Fortress and most likely won't be liberated until 3.0 story.

[Macka]

SE never said Expansion content will be exclusive to lvl 50+ contents.

They can introduce a new starting city-state to serve as new starting content for new characters.

Currently they have mentioned we will be getting a New Race in 1st expansion but it is still possible to introduce a new starting city-state for new characters.

Did I say anything about it being lvl 50 content? No, SE can add the starting class quest NPC anywhere. But to think they will write a whole new 2.1 story is out there.

[EdwinLi]

Did I say anything about it being lvl 50 content? No, SE can add the starting class quest NPC anywhere. But to think they will write a whole new 2.1 story is out there.

You're looking at 2.1 far too much. Any new Starting area Story will have to be set during 2.0 story for new characters to build their character through 2.0 storyline then move into 2.1 story once they're level 50 like all new characters then 2.2 story, 2.3 , 2.4, 2.X and then move into 3.0 story.

[Macka]

You're looking at 2.1 far too much. Any new Starting area Story will have to be set during 2.0 story for new characters to build their character through 2.0 storyline then move into 2.1 story once they're level 50 like all new characters then 2.2 story, 2.3 , 2.4, 2.X and then move into 3.0 story.

I meant 2.0 storyline a new starting city means a new 2.0 story needs to be written the current 3 stories are different until you fight Ifrit and pick a GC which means new Cutscenes, new opening scene, new voice acting, and New Grand Company. As for the New Race they can just throw them in give them some lore like they did male Mo and Female Row.

[Wobble]

SE never said Expansion content will be exclusive to lvl 50+ contents.

They can introduce a new starting city-state to serve as new starting content for new characters.

Currently they have mentioned we will be getting a New Race in 1st expansion but it is still possible to introduce a new starting city-state for new characters.

Well considering FFXI is still going and they never did this I highly doubt they will here. In XI new areas would have new jobs you had to quest to unlock, you could not start as those jobs.

[EdwinLi]

Well considering FFXI is still going and they never did this I highly doubt they will here. In XI new areas would have new jobs you had to quest to unlock, you could not start as those jobs.

I swear does the majority of the community only think of "What FFXI did." as their reason?

This is not FFXI! This is FFXIV which is a different game. We do not know how they will handle FFXIV and they never said they will handle contents like FFXI.

[DarkStar]

I find it amusing that so many people are convinced that FFXIV is/should be FFXI 2.0. While it is true that it appears to have borrowed ideas from previous MMOs, it should be noted that not everyone hates FFXIV just because it borrowed such-and-such idea from so-and-so game.

Taking the game by itself and not comparing it to other MMOs, it strikes me as being a well built, self-contained game. While I do feel a little irritated on occasion that certain events are alluded to but never explained, thus reminding you that you're playing the sequel and resorting to second-hand sources to get reliable information on the original, it's only a mild complaint, and all my other complaints can be attributed to the game being in its infancy. I imagine after an expansion and a few patches, most of my current complaints will be gone.

Anyway, as to the subject at hand, I do rather hope to see a fourth starting City State in the future, particularly since if they keep shoving new classes' guilds into the existing city states, it'll start getting rather crowded with all the Guilds. While I can see upwards of four Class Guilds in each city state (Not including the various crafting/gathering guilds), I don't think it'll ever go much higher than that.

As for where said city state could be located, I think it should be mentioned that I recall seeing somewhere that there's a great deal more to the Coerthas Highlands than the bit we can explore. Plus, each city state has about 4 zones it has control over. As such, it wouldn't be that difficult to believe that if Ishgard were to become the next starting city state, it'd come with three zones where lower-level players can explore and level-up in. For that matter, Sharlayan and Ala Mhigo don't have ANY visitable zones available, so SE can very easily decide whether these will be "Starting City-States" or if they'll be higher-level hubs, like Revenant's Toll.

Of course, I'm not saying they can't or shouldn't go the route of locking off certain Classes until you complete a certain quest/quest chain, and then placing the guild for said Class in a higher-level area. If you're high enough level to finish the quest, you're high enough level to saunter on over to said area. You'll have to switch to a higher-level class, teleport, or use a 'taxi' service to get to a leveling area, but it's still a possible method.

Anyway, those're just my thoughts on the matter.

Edit: That 1000 character limit really is annoying, is it not?

[NefGP]

I'd hoped it would have been Ishgard back in 1.0 but that's clearly not happening (we know it's coming in the expansion but as a high level thing no doubt) and Ala Mhigo is ruins, though they could add it in as an expansion - players starting there as part of the reconstruction effort etc (we'd have to liberate it from the garleans 1st though in the main story I'd imagine)