UFO spotted in Sea of Clouds - The Truth is out there

[PArcher]

The UFO goes from west to east in the northern out of bounds area of Sea of Clouds, disappearing sometime around 8pm Eorzean time (I think an earlier post said it shows up around 4:30pm).

I wonder if there's a way to track its movements throughout an entire day cycle and maybe learn something about it.

If you look back a few pages, I found it for most of the day, and was able to find it again same places same times the next day. There's only one timeframe i wasn't able to find it in; ~7:30am to ~4:30pm. No idea where it is then.

[PArcher]

Well, I decided to go looking for the ship again as it was evening, and found it without trouble at 4pm in the Sea of Clouds (however, I'm not sure if it was there before the weather change or after; it went from Fog to Clear, and I couldn't see my own hands in the fog). I'm positive its getting closer and closer still.

What got me was I ported to the Mists at about 6:30pm, before it disappeared from the Sea...and it was under Asah.

Could there be two ships? Or more...


EDIT: OK, I'm pretty sure it has a set spawn in the NW corner of Churning Mists at 4am and the NW corner of Sea of Clouds at 4pm. Both then move eastward before turning NE and disappearing into the clouds at 7:30 am/pm. At night (exact start time still unclear, but is gone at 4am) its under Asah. Don't know where its located during the day.
EDIT2: Tracked it down in the afternoon, and watched it spawn in at 4pm NW of the West Coerthas zone line in the Sea of Clouds. It just materializes in rather than floats up out of the clouds :/

[dragonflie]

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post3128657

Q28. You can often see some type of airship flying around the Sea of Clouds...what is it?

A28. I think you'll find out in 3.1. For those that haven't seen this, keep an eye out!

[ClaireKriess]

Okay, it's the new raid, I wonder if it will have anything to do with CT?

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...246971/?page=5

Q46. Can you tell us about the new 24-man raid?

A46. It’s still a bit too early to discuss this. We’ll be releasing some information during the Letter LIVE that takes place during the 2 year anniversary stream. There is a hint hiding in something I said earlier.

[Nalien]

Okay, it's the new raid, I wonder if it will have anything to do with CT?

Could be something similar to an intact Dalamud that powers Crystal Tower. Dalamud took solar energy (fire aspected, I'd hope) and used Bahamut as some kinda additional power source, to power Crystal Tower. Perhaps these flew around collecting wind aspected aether in the sea of clouds to do a similar thing... That would mean they've been around for a very long time, which is kinda odd.

Alternatively, it really is the Lunar Whale, and we're going to get Lunar Whale > Lunar Surface > Lunar Palace as our new Crystal Tower. Complete with a "What, no Lunar Subterrane?" that we got with Crystal Towers utter lack of Eureka...

[Fenral]

Boo. If it's part of the new 24-man raid, then it's entirely unrelated to CT, according to past interviews. Unless he was lying.

[Balipu]

Boo. If it's part of the new 24-man raid, then it's entirely unrelated to CT, according to past interviews. Unless he was lying.

He said the new 24 won't be a fanservice raid. As in, it won't be an adaption of a dungeon from previous games. That was mostly as an answer to the question wether the floating continent would be the next 24-man. It can still be related to the Crystal tower. It definitely looks Allagan. Maybe it was used as a transit between the Crystal tower and the now fallen Dalamud.

[Fenral]

He said the new 24 won't be a fanservice raid. ... It can still be related to the Crystal tower. It definitely looks Allagan. Maybe it was used as a transit between the Crystal tower and the now fallen Dalamud.

Alas, I'm pretty sure he's also said before that there's no story connection either, which is lame because only the Crystal Tower story brings the Crystal Tower into our Allagan lore (in 2.X-3.0, anyway). All the other Allagan-related story events proceed as if you've cleared and understand Coil, but not CT, which is totally backwards if you think about clear rates.

But this is all assuming he's talking about the UFO at all. It could still be that the UFO is landing in 3.1, but as our hook into Eureka for the new Relic Weapon series, which supposedly has a fairly involved story this time.

[Nalien]

But this is all assuming he's talking about the UFO at all. It could still be that the UFO is landing in 3.1, but as our hook into Eureka for the new Relic Weapon series, which supposedly has a fairly involved story this time.

Could equally just be some off piece of lore for the Vanu Vanu dailies, assuming those are in 3.1 and how we get the dance. Crazy theory; It's Bismark. Allag build ships to create and maintain wind aether resulting in the Sea of Clouds. The Empire falls. Beast Tribe somehow finds one and uses it to reach the Sea of Clouds. Thousands of years later, that tribe is the Vanu Vanu, the method they used to reach the Sea of Clouds becomes legend. Myth made manifest results in the creation of the Bismark we face.

Wait, shit, wasn't there actually some lore behind Bismark having brothers? That he was an outcast among his family because of his white colour, while his siblings where black? OK that is certainly an interesting connection, assuming I'm remembering the early Vanu Vanu quests correctly... Fairly sure it also mentioned Bismark leaving the ocean to escape the torment his family gave him, but that isn't how whales work... You can't just suddenly fly... If he could fly, so could his siblings... The direction the MSQ is going I could easily see "Oh so that's where Bismark originated from" being a plot point in 3.1, rather than something in side quests, actually. Likewise I could easily see Ravana being based off a certain boss in the Fractal Continuum... Gnath discover a Allagan facility, somethingsomething Oh no! A Chimera! somethingsomething Thank you Phantom Ray for saving us! somethingsomething Myth made manifest...

Although, if this thing isn't the new 24-man raid, that leaves the question of what the hint Yoshida mentioned is... While I could see this being a misdirection, I also can't see anything else that could possibly hint towards the new raid... Perhaps the new 24-man raid is instead Grand Company related?

Q33. When are you planning to unlock new ranks for Grand Companies?

A33. We’re currently planning Grand Company-related content, so we believe we’ll release new ranks when adding this content. It’s not fun moving into the next rank just by collecting something, so we think it’s good timing to add new types of content when releasing the ranks.

There was that whole point before about giving us a squad to train up... Could tie into that... The raid could be training exercised with Grand Company recruits, a suitable role for someone of our current rank perhaps... Would certainly make for a better loot system... Perhaps some interesting mechanics as well... Heck, maybe the new raid could revolve around us dealing with those pesky Garlean outposts which have so far gone untouched. That fills the requirement of both not being related to Crystal Tower and not being an obvious throwback to past titles. I've been looking at that Garlean base in Coerthas and wondering when the hell it'll be relevant for far too long now...

EDIT:

OK, I think I just made a few other connections between these ships, and Bismark/the Vanu Vanu.

So, these ships appear dark, right? Black and purple, not the brightest of colours. Focus on that purple though, what element does that bring to mind? Lightning. Why is that important? Neverreap.

During the Neverreap dungeon, you run around activating alters which, in the first half of the dungeon, create a little spurt of Wind aether to jump you to the next island, and during the second half, create little spurts of Water aether to raise of some islands and attempt to drown you. Wind and Water seem to be important elements to the Sea of Clouds, makes sense, Sea = Water, Clouds = Wind. Bismark seems to be the Primal of Mist, but more specifically Wind and Water (interestingly Ravana seemed to be Fire and Earth, I wonder if we'll be getting more dual elemental Primals going forward...). That's their elemental affinity; Wind and Water. Now, lets go back to the item you use to activate these alters, what is it? A Thunder Egg.

There is our connection. Lightning aspected aether is used to produce the Sea of Clouds. In the Neverreap we see this on a small scale. With these ships, we see it on a massive scale. These ships are artificially producing floating islands. Why? Azys Lla. What, you thought they just took some ground and forced it to fly? Pfft. Oh, by the way. Who had the key to Azys Lla again? Was it Bismark, and by extension the Vanu Vanu? Yes it was. Odd that. Almost like they reached the Sea of Clouds with the aid of the Allag, for them to safeguard the key like that...

Yep, I've sold myself... Bismark was a (potentially defective) Allagan Ship that ferried the Vanu to the Sea of Clouds long ago. These black/purple ships are Bismark's "siblings". The new 24-man raid is completely unrelated and instead involves the Grand Companies. Book mark this page for when I'm inevitably wrong, just like I was with Bahamut~

[Balipu]

Hmm, wasn't the Sea of Clouds created at least party by the calamity? One of the islands was an area in coerthas back in legacy I believe