1.0 instanced dungeons in ARR, no hard modes = suspicious...

[Anonymoose]

I don't even think you need to leave the five new ones off the list to keep the conspiracy theory going.

Pharos Sirius, The Lost City of Amdapor, and Snowcloak each feature a being known to Final Fantasy as a summon, but not one chosen to be a primal in FFXIV. A "lesser summon," if you will. In FFXI, the six elemental primals we've been introduced to were also known as the sleeping gods and were contained in their own group. Outside of this group were the rest - just like in FFXIV. So far, we've got Diabolos, Fenrir, and Siren. My guess is that these dungeons served as introductions to figures we'll see again. Or, in the words of Koji Fox: "Did you really defeat them? Did youuu?"

That's 3/5 explained away right there. Hullbreaker concludes a series of namedrops about Mistbeard's legacy reaching all the way back to 1.0, and I'm guessing the Keeper of the Lake will do something very similar - maybe it'll even contain yet another "lesser summon," the same way Snowcloak did despite being primarily framed around Shiva. And that's 5/5, leaving you only with the four 1.0 dungeons left out.

BUUUUUUT....

Maybe they don't get hard modes because they already did. Those dungeons were no joke in their day. No sense giving them a third incarnation when you can give the others some airtime? Especially considering the new dungeons' resources were all built specifically for this version of the game and may be more versatile on the back-end (I have no idea). Also, there's just not much more you can do with them, unless you try to shoehorn it in there. A lot of their lore came and went with 1.0, and Eorzea hasn't really made any designs or progress on them since then.

The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak has been returned to the forest and should have remained sealed. It still festers with negativity and rage. We only went in there because had to, once because the Garleans were mucking with the aether (1.0), and once to save Frixio, who got trapped inside. Gridania doesn't even have enough interest in it to clear out the magitek Darnus' men left behind five years ago. I doubt they'll ever even think about the place again (unless they send a Hearer out to re-re-return it to the forest and seal it back up, proper).

Ditto the Dzemael Darkhold, on the magitek point. Ever since we chased the Garleans out of there, Ishgard's been too busy to do anything with it. I wouldn't be surprised if this infestation thing happens again, either, but that'd still be the same story - preoccupied House Dzemael lets unfinished keep with thin realm-membranes fill with Voidsent, again.

Ditto Cutter's Cry, on the same story point. Ants and a chimera before, and as soon as we clear it out, more ants and even another Chimera, though this new one's kind of a pup. I bet it's already full of ants again. And maybe even another Chimera. Maybe a bunch of them. Thanks, Allagan Bioweapons Lab. The only reason we went there anyway was to keep the bitchin' lore about the Darklight Raiders, though Sibold seems to have forgotten the entire thing, as he offers the exact same quest he used to, down to believing that the old Chimera is still there. That part's always gotten to me. Did we not tell him? Does he have Alzheimers? Obviously we cleared it out and reclaimed his friends' remains. That's how Rowena got their armor to (allegedly) start mass-producing (accurate, quality) forgeries.

Speaking of we-only-went-there-fors and SE-kept-it-becauses, the only reason we went to the Aurum Vale is because Ned thought it was a cool idea. It's been an inhospitable pit of tainted forest creatures and cyclops that nobody wants to visit for like, ever. Even moreso now that a bunch of 'em ran in there to escape the now-frigid Coerthan landscape. We went in once on the hunt for Darnus' men and we went in once for fun, and, yeah, it's gorgeous and totally deserved an ARR incarnation, but nothing's changed about the place in ages, and we're better than that now.

You can make the case for the pattern being suspicious or sensible.

Is it a matter of conspiracy? Or priority? You decide.

inb4, years from now, resource recycling becomes necessary and we're forced to go back to Cutter's Cry and the quest dialogue is mostly just an Ul'dahn noble going, "Because f*ck ants, that's why!" while Sibold tries to recruit you to kill the chimera and avenge his fallen friends, again.

[Balipu]

That's 3/5 explained away right there. Hullbreaker concludes a series of namedrops about Mistbeard's legacy reaching all the way back to 1.0, and I'm guessing the Keeper of the Lake will do something very similar - maybe it'll even contain yet another "lesser summon," the same way Snowcloak did despite being primarily framed around Shiva. And that's 5/5, leaving you only with the four 1.0 dungeons left out.

Well, Keeper of the Lake might tie in with Mistbeard as it features the same Kraken from Hullbreaker and Shastasha Hard. By the way I think that makes it the toughest creature in the game so far. Beware Bahamut, we have a Kraken.

[Nalien]

I wouldn't be surprised if this infestation thing happens again, either, but that'd still be the same story - preoccupied House Dzemael lets unfinished keep with thin realm-membranes fill with Voidsent, again.

I know we've already covered why these dungeons wont be getting hard modes, but isn't that basically the case with half of the hard modes currently? Haukke Manor, Copperbell Mines, and Stone Vigil are all basically; "Thanks for clearing this place out, but we suck and somehow now it's worse", with us fighting the same enemies as before, more or less.

They could actually do something interesting with Dzemael Darkhold. Lets say a heretic takes an important member of House Dzemael hostage in there and we have to go save them, plot twist; The important Dzemael was actually the heretic and planned the whole Darkhold as a plot to unleash Voidsent upon Ishgard.

Heck, since World of Darkness is part of the Void, they could have actually tied Dzemael Darkhold (Hard) into the Crystal Tower story the same way Snowcloak/Keeper tie into the Main Scenario.

Well, Keeper of the Lake might tie in with Mistbeard as it features the same Kraken from Hullbreaker and Shastasha Hard.

Source? That's the first I'm hearing of Kraken making a third appearance.