What are these blue orbs?

[SicariusSeven]

*scratches noodles and inhales deeply* Perhaps lorewise the blue orbs are fragmented memories of explorers past. Visiting one fills you with a sense awe and wonderment when you perform the correct emote associated with the location. Sadly the Orbs have faded in Eorzea and the feeling can only be regained through diligent explorers where as in other parts of the world they still retain their glow.

[Annana]

They're just locations that the Ironhearts have logged in their journals as noteworthy sights. No fragmented memories or anything - the glow is purely a gameplay mechanic.

Side note: I'm still kind of upset at how generic the impressions for each log are in HW and SB. The ARR impressions have a nice bit of poetic meaning.

[Hasrat]

And also typically give some clue to the emote needed. Some of the HW ones seem like they just want you to spam everything til you hit the right one.

[Mholito]

And also typically give some clue to the emote needed. Some of the HW ones seem like they just want you to spam everything til you hit the right one.

The first wave of HW ones do actually indicate which emote you need to use. It was with the second wave that they stopped telling you.

[Vidu]

They're just locations that the Ironhearts have logged in their journals as noteworthy sights. No fragmented memories or anything - the glow is purely a gameplay mechanic.

Why it is indeed mainly a gameplay mechanic, one could think of them as marks the Ironhearts left - after all, they've kept a journal describing the sights they've found. Wouldnt it make sense to leave some sort of mark at those sights aswell to make it easier to find them again? Pretty much how people irl would leave a mark on a tree or a large stone or arrange some stones etc. in the wild when they've found something they'd like to return to.