Patch 3.4 - Soul Surrender

[Nalien]

There are some surprisingly hardcore FATEs out there, though. *cough*Highbridge*cough*

Few and far between, and even then, ultimately meaningless... We have no Astral Candescence to defend and take back, instead we get a minion vendor... Do once and forget, pretty much... Then you've got stuff that just goes off the deep end, like Odin... Besieged was a rare enough little event, but at least I could actively monitor it... Been a very long time indeed since I've seen Odin, and even the new Heavensward ones I've rarely glimpsed... Don't even get me started on the rewards or repercussions... Nothing destroys my view of a world more than what we see with Odin... Beat him? Yay, the Black Shroud is saved! Failed to beat him? Err, the Black Shroud is still saved? Wat... None of these things have particularly relevant rewards, either... Odins drop could have acted as a nice entry requirement for his Trial, in a similar manner to how 1.x Trials worked, but we apparently can't have that level of complexity in the game... Lord forbid they build a world, rather than a glorified lobby...

Wait, what? This thread is about 3.4 lore? Not my personal misgivings with certain design choices? Oh shi-! *Scrambles to check what was being discussed earlier* Oh, the guy in the mask? It's Stanly Ipkiss, duh... Excuse me while I go edit the scene where Ilberd cast Enfire... Sssssmokin'!

No but seriously, if it's not Ilberd, or someone in cahoots with him, I'd be shocked... I could see 3.4 kicking off with us returning to the events of Ul'dah and tracking Yda/Ilberd down (he is still a wanted criminal, after all), trail leads us to the rebel base on Yavin IV in the Sunken Temple... Ifrit gets summoned, we rush to check it out, Derplander makes short work of him instead... Thancred and Alisaie show up, exposition dump that points us to Xelphatol, and the stage gets set for 3.5 and a final confrontation with Elidiboos (it's his new name, deal with it) best worst attempt at convincing me he has a point... I do wonder if Yda will return, given we'll seemingly be running into the group they've been staying with... Poor Tataru if so... She'll have to make a new outfit for Alisaie, Yda, and that other one...

EDIT

Excuse me while I morn a future full of FATEs as our only "serious" open world content...

Lily Hills confirmed to be for Apartments... RIP all my hopes and dreams... You'll be missed, Hamlet Defense... Instead it looks like we're getting glorified Retainer Ventures for our exciting new Grand Company content...

Sophia preview next please? Or a trailer? This is getting depressing...