3.4 speculation

[Frederick22]

I picture after 3.4 that the story in 3.5/3.55 may be the First Battle for Ala Mhigo and the battle ends up going wrong causing events that result with the WoL being stranded inAla Mhigo and his allies are forced to leave him there until they can find a way to him with some side notice at the end stating all events after 3.55 is set in Pre-First battle for Ala Mhigo until 4.0 story begins and the story picks up right where 3.55 ended.

And how are we going to ala mhigo withouth the expansion? you think we will have an area just for an instance?
Is nice to speculate but you also need to understand on the consistencies, is like saing taht the WoL has become pure evil and wants to destroy eeverything.

Having said that, I really doubt of another cliffhanger, to lost "everything" on a way just to recover it and become stronger on the process i really doubt. In orther to story to work you can put a cliffhanger at the end of every expansion so to start another one, ortherwise it will make it very boring beacuse it just more of the same.

[Laili]

We weren't physically stranded in an area by the 2.55 plot though, we were just "in exile". Slightly different.

[EdwinLi]

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For such a story ending event for 3.X era it would certainly be completely instanced into a Dungeon/Trial or at least a very long Solo Instance just like how 2.5 ended as those are the easiest reasons to allow players access into zones they cannot normally enter.

I doubt they would keep up the concept of lose everything but this would be the start of a Great War that Eorzea has all been worried about since 2.0 and not everything goes as planned when it would involve indaving a Heavily Fortified Fortress City. Compared to 3.X I actually sepculate 4.X would have a Successful Victory over taking Doom Train, by how Yoshi-P hinted he want to save it as a possible "Access" into Garlean Empire, so players end the story with Doom Train being prepared for 5.0 when we enter/infiltrate the Garlean Empire.

We weren't physically stranded in an area by the 2.55 plot though, we were just "in exile". Slightly different.

That is why I said there would be a notice stating all events after completing 3.55 is set before 3.55 until the player begins 4.0 and pick up where 3.55 ended. We would probably get a small instance area for where our character ends 3.55 and begins 4.0 as the bridge zone between the game content just like in 2.55 we got a bridge zone being the "Falling Snow"

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Other hypothesis is that...

Despite losing the first battle of Ala Mhigo in 3.5 the story ends with Papalymo and Yda finding the WoL still alive and brings him to a Ala Mhigo Resistance Hideout where the WoL wakes up in. Thus the Hideout serves as a Bidge Zone Instance between 4.0 area and the 2.0 area. 3.55 then continues the story with all Scions finally reunited and a new plan begins on how to take back Ala Mhigo with a extra scene at the end of the credits forshadowing another Ascian plot in Ala Mhigo like every single extra scene after the credits.

Another would be

the First Battle for Ala Mhigo is a victory and a foothold is established as the Base of Operations for the Eorzean Alliance and to serve as our Bridge Zone Instance for entering 4.0. A simple and easy plot as the WoL plot armor saves the day once again and defeats all obstacles in his/her path. Then a bunch of cutscenes and dialogue happens staing this Victory is only the First Step into retaking Ala Mhigo yada yada yada then we get glimps of Ilberd and his Crystal Brave showing disdain for them in the distance because he would see this as only a grab for power over Ala Mhigo and that he will free Ala Mhigo his own way to never allow something like the Garlean Conquest over Ala Mhigo from happening again.

and then extra scene after credits showing another Ascian Plot in Ala Mhigo.

The Base of Operation would look rather small and a lot of empty space during 3.5/3.55 but as 4.0 progress this Instance begins to change and develop based on where the WoL is in 4.0/4.X.

[Frederick22]

First battlle in alla mhigo

We are not going to see the expansion area withouth the proper expansion itself.
The only battle that could be related to the expansion and can be close to what you said, is a batle on castrum orients.

[EdwinLi]

We are not going to see the expansion area withouth the proper expansion itself.
The only battle that could be related to the expansion and can be close to what you said, is a batle on castrum orients.

Sorry but that was a typo on my side. I was typing too much too fast too early in the morning so I missed some typos. That is meant to be the "First battle of/for Ala Mhigo" which is a battle that begins the long War for Ala Mhigo that 4.0 may cover. Where it takes place is certainly up for debate because a Instance/Dungeon battle can cause SE to place it anywhere with the use of lore item like Airship Dropping off the WoL and his/her "Strike Team" in X location within a large battlefield.

Castrum Orients would certainly be a easy place to start as the First Battle for Ala Mhigo so they can set up the place to be the Bridge Zone Instance for 2.0 and 4.0 area.

I don't expect the First Battle of Ala Mhigo to take place inside Ala Mhigo since that will be too early and a Story scale of taking back a Garleanized Fortress City like Ala Mhigo will require a full Main Scenario being 4.0 to cover this type of storyline.

At best my expectation is that we have the battle inside Castrum Orients and/or in the area on the other side of Castrum Orients so SE can have a Dungeon that looks like a actual battlefield as the WoL and his/her Strike Team travels through the battle to reach their objective in the First Battle of Ala Mhigo. Similar to how Steps of Faith was a Trial Instance zone between 2.0 area and 3.0 area.

Though where did you find that typo? Was it before I edited my post or after becuase the forums tend to have a delay with updating a edited post on time sometimes.

[Cilia]

Personally, I feel there are too many possible pieces and too few threads to follow, so just about anything predicting further story development amounts to this:

The thread we've been following since 2.3 has finally finished spinning. There's a lot of pieces, a lot of possibilities, but nothing really hinting at further development unless the Warring Triad becomes MSQ relevant. The only things I can say with relative certainty are that it will be setting up 4.0, there will be Garlean involvement, and Ala Mhigo will probably have something to do with it.

[Tracewood]

Personally, I feel there are too many possible pieces and too few threads to follow, so just about anything predicting further story development amounts to this:

The thread we've been following since 2.3 has finally finished spinning. There's a lot of pieces, a lot of possibilities, but nothing really hinting at further development unless the Warring Triad becomes MSQ relevant. The only things I can say with relative certainty are that it will be setting up 4.0, there will be Garlean involvement, and Ala Mhigo will probably have something to do with it.

Really curious how this will play out, as with each patch there will be new dungeons but since Nidhogg is slain, what will SE come up with that will prompt us to revisit a HW zone (aside form Azys Lla) and go, "hey something is going on in here we should look!" and slap a dungeon entrance at that? The Scions are spread too thin right now so it'd be nice to start getting back on track. The Dragonsong War was a pretty big diversion but in the end we gained an ally with Ishgard which is worth the struggle. And Yshtola seems to be all over the place with the main story, warring triad and Alexander... well at least next patch Alex is expected to come to a close.

If I recall, we spent much time on Cortheas dealing with the rising heretics while pursuing the primal Shiva and it escalated us going to Ishgard. I wonder if we'll be spending time in another zone that will be the launch of the new area? Was assuming some ARR zones will start to open up a bit more (there is a cut off pathway very bottom left in Southern Thanalan that leads to an open stretch of desert. And in Cortheas Central, an ixail guarding a gate you cant get past) Maybe a couple sections in East Shroud where imperial troops will start patrolling... in a way it could irritate the Twelveswood causing some kind of mini-calamity in as of itself.

I'm getting far into this game than I have in years, not even XI had me interested in it's full lore aside from the storylines, possibly more than I should but it's fun for me so pardon my rambling. Yoshi-P would you consider creating ONE new area to explore before expansion? Just one, why? It'll tide people over until, give us something to talk about anyway. Make it where you have to get to a certain point in the main scenario before you can enter (3.4/5), Cortheas Central gave us a small glimpse of Ishgard from the distance, this new zone could give us a preview of the new place... or could leave a bit of a mystery too.

I hope Ala Mhigo does have an Aht Urghan vibe to it, I know nostalgia is blinding me right now, but I can practically taste it.

I want to assume crossing the desert would be the next course of action, but can't take to the skies right away since the regions surrounding Ala Mhigo would be under heavy surveillance (or could be more aether currents). Also a change of scenery since we dealt with the biting cold of the north.

[EdwinLi]

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I actually picture Ala Mhigo to be a mix of Aht Urghan with a lot of Garlean mixed into it due to how the place has been modified and turned into a Garlean Fortress City.

We may see a lot of garlean buildings within Ala Mhigo and the area around the City as the places has been going through Modernization... i mean Garleanization through the Garlean attempt to turn the place into a Garlean City over the years.

It would probably be like going into a old part of a city where we see the old builds, shops, and stuff while also seeing new shiny buildings that stick out a lot due to how new and different it looks as the old part of town gets torn down building by building to become replaced with a new modernized building.

It would be interesting to see how the long term the years of Garleanization has also affected the Ala Mhigo citizens that remain stuck there over the years. Maybe have some of them wear Garlean citizen clothing to show how much the Garlean Civilization influence has begun to over shadow Ala Mhigo's culture from before they became conqured by the Garlean Empire.

[VargasVermillion]

It would be interesting to see how the long term the years of Garleanization has also affected the Ala Mhigo citizens that remain stuck there over the years. Maybe have some of them wear Garlean citizen clothing to show how much the Garlean Civilization influence has begun to over shadow Ala Mhigo's culture from before they became conqured by the Garlean Empire.

I remember it being mentioned in a lore panel that for the most part the garleans try to keep most of a conquered nations culture in tact in effort to gain more knowledge to add to their expanding library.

[KarstenS]

What is currently most interesting for me: Why Elidibus is interested in getting Nidhoggs eyes?

Do he want to use the power for his warriors of darkness?

or

Do he want to free Lahabrea?