6.0 Predictions: Will it be Garlemald, Sharlayan, or Meracydia?

[Kesey]

I think chances are good the last area of 6.0 is the moon, if the last encounter will be against Zodiark. But this seems the most obvious of the choices. Maybe the final encounter might just be on the moon and it won't be an area at all.

Still doesn't answer what we are doing and where we are going in the mean time.

Maybe the rising will have a hint for us in two days.

[Morningstar1337]

Maybe the rising will have a hint for us in two days.

Pretty unlikely as its adapting one of the Tales from the Dragonsong War IIRC...

which might explain that "heavesnward refresher" comment

[MrThinker]

Pretty unlikely as its adapting one of the Tales from the Dragonsong War IIRC...

which might explain that "heavesnward refresher" comment

Actually its one of the "Tales from the Calamity". Anyways, what gives a hint for the future is the poem sung by the minstrel traditionally at the end of the event quests, rather than the core of the quests itself.

[JetoJotar]

There's definitely a lot of nods to Old Sharlayan lately but I think a more likely "Crystarium" for 6.0 is Radz-at-Han. It has been firmly established as a peculiar place right next to Garlemald, yet completely independent. If we are to set foot on Ilsabard, I would think it would be through Thavnair.

I think the expansion will be split in some way between Thavnair, Garlean Empire and Meracydia. Thavnair will be our vector of attack/home base and we'll see 1-2 areas in southern Garlean Empire that will be used to humanize the average Garlean. Following this I believe Garlemald will be invaded by a third party that had thus far been kept in check while the empire had real leadership.

I believe this will be the Meracydians, mainly due to YoshiP's advice to brush up on HW's story. HW's most interesting revelation for the future of the plot would have to be that Meracydia is both the source of the "original" (not quite so anymore) primals/eikons and the home of Bahamut, both of which even the Allagans struggled to defeat. I think we will travel directly to Meracydia to confront this new threat and in the course of that learn all manner of new things about the world that will become relevant for the next story arc, as well as information on how to deal with Zodiark. The fact that Meracydia is the birthplace of modern primals, the Garlean Empire has a core mission of destroying primals and we now know it was established by Emet-Selch, who is himself beholden to a primal, may suggest that Meracydians have access to magicks that would threaten Zodiark's existence.

This is a little more out there, but I think there's a strong possibility of most of the empire being destroyed by a calamity.

As far as I know, Zodiark is currently lying dormant inside/as the moon and needs one more rejoining to tip the balance and reawaken. I doubt they would wrap up this story without letting us fight Zodiark himself. Since nothing in the game world can ever change in a meaningful way, large-scale destruction can only happen on Ilsabard, as it's unexplored territory. Doing this would also allow them to wrap up Ilsabard in one expansion, even though it's roughly the size of Aldenard and Othard combined. Since Zodiark is trapped inside the moon and presumably awakens soon, it could potentially mean that the moon itself crashes into Ilsabard much like the fall of Dalamud. Thematically, this would mirror the start of the arc, foster reconciliation between the powers through a shared experience and potentially let us take on the role of Louisoix by preventing complete annihilation.

Or, a more simple option, it could just be destroyed by the attacking Meracydians.
The final/??? map in the game could be in the north around a destroyed Garlemald, with the significantly ravaged city itself acting as our endgame hub and slowly restored through "Garlemald Restoration".

[MikkoAkure]

snip.

The problem is, is that Thavnair is neutral, and Ala Mhigo is both closer to Garlemald and already the city closest to our army in the Ghimlyt Dark. Instead of a city we’ve never been to, I’d rather have a fully realized visitable Ala Mhigo, considering their importance to the story going back to 1.0.

As far as Meracydia goes, the Lominsans have been there already and do some trade with the locals, but I don’t think any world-wide threat will come out of that place since the current lore says that it’s just an empty wasteland with some scattered tribes.

[Darkpaw]

While I haven’t read all the posts I have to say so many people are focused on the obvious references in Heavensward... there was another that is already being set up and has been for awhile..

The void. Everyone is expecting to return to the source, to go for Islabard or Garlemald or whatever else. But we have Eden, we have two oracles (who we have no reason to presume can’t cross between the shards <even Y’shtola said she would work on a method for travelling between shards.>) restoring the void or going on an adventure through the shards to learn the truth of the ancients would be fitting leading to a confrontation with both hydaelyn and zodiark.

[FrightfulNight]

While I haven’t read all the posts I have to say so many people are focused on the obvious references in Heavensward... there was another that is already being set up and has been for awhile..

The void. Everyone is expecting to return to the source, to go for Islabard or Garlemald or whatever else. But we have Eden, we have two oracles (who we have no reason to presume can’t cross between the shards <even Y’shtola said she would work on a method for travelling between shards.>) restoring the void or going on an adventure through the shards to learn the truth of the ancients would be fitting leading to a confrontation with both hydaelyn and zodiark.

I think or very much hope that they will keep the next adventure to the source, after all it is the finale of the season 1 story line which has mostly taken place on the source, also it would not make sense to do another shard hoping expansion right after this one.

[RyuDragnier]

The problem is, is that Thavnair is neutral, and Ala Mhigo is both closer to Garlemald and already the city closest to our army in the Ghimlyt Dark. Instead of a city we’ve never been to, I’d rather have a fully realized visitable Ala Mhigo, considering their importance to the story going back to 1.0.

As far as Meracydia goes, the Lominsans have been there already and do some trade with the locals, but I don’t think any world-wide threat will come out of that place since the current lore says that it’s just an empty wasteland with some scattered tribes.

But wouldn't a wasteland make the most sense to be the location of the path to Zodiark or the spot for the showdown? A hero would want it there to avoid any innocents being killed, a villain would want it there because nobody would dare think of going there, it's a wasteland.

[JetoJotar]

The problem is, is that Thavnair is neutral, and Ala Mhigo is both closer to Garlemald and already the city closest to our army in the Ghimlyt Dark. Instead of a city we’ve never been to, I’d rather have a fully realized visitable Ala Mhigo, considering their importance to the story going back to 1.0.

The lore book heavily implies that it was left neutral in order to facilitate the smuggling of Eorzean goods into Garlemald. Now that Zenos is at the helm, who knows what the future holds? Radz-at-Han losing its independence is not an unlikely scenario and would be exactly the kind of thing that would move us to intervene.
Besides, didn't the conflict at Ghimlyt Dark stop recently? There's any number of reasons why we wouldn't want to go through there, such as the city-states not wanting to rekindle the conflict just yet, or the need for our operation being covert.

I do get the desire of seeing an actual Ala Mhigo but I really don't think they're gonna remake a location that technically already exists when we have all of Ilsabard, as well as Old Sharlayan and Thavnair, to explore.

As far as Meracydia goes, the Lominsans have been there already and do some trade with the locals, but I don’t think any world-wide threat will come out of that place since the current lore says that it’s just an empty wasteland with some scattered tribes.

I found the reference to this, it's from a few levequests in 1.0. I would argue this has been retconned, as the lore book states not even basic geographical information is known.

Far to the south of the Three Great Continents, beyond the equatorial line, lies the second of Hydaelyn's three landmasses-Meracydia. Five millennia ago at the close of the Third Astral Era, the Allagan Empire [...] began an invasion that would end with nearly the entire continent being rendered a wasteland. While some areas remain uninhabitable even today, those which have been repopulated remain recluse and very rarely welcome contact with the civilizations of the northern hemisphere, ofi:times attacking any who approach, whether it be by sea or by air. Because of this, very little of the region is known, including even the most basic of geographical information.

Just from this blurb we know that the inhabitants do in fact have the capability to take out airborne invaders, so they must have access to significant magicks or technology. Does that include fending off Garlemald as well?
It was turned into a wasteland some 5000 years ago - that's enough time for Eorzea to experience 4 additional calamities and recover from them to the point of advanced civilization. Consider also that all or most of the calamities may not have affected the world outside of the Three Great Continents at all or as much, meaning Meracydia could potentially have experienced 5000 years of uninterrupted growth.

[Alexandre_Noireau]

Just from this blurb we know that the inhabitants do in fact have the capability to take out airborne invaders, so they must have access to significant magicks or technology. Does that include fending off Garlemald as well?
It was turned into a wasteland some 5000 years ago - that's enough time for Eorzea to experience 4 additional calamities and recover from them to the point of advanced civilization. Consider also that all or most of the calamities may not have affected the world outside of the Three Great Continents at all or as much, meaning Meracydia could potentially have experienced 5000 years of uninterrupted growth.

There is also the New World to the west or east really, the americas.
Meracydia is also a South Emisphere but ecuatorial continent, there could be even more continents beyond the ecuator of the planet.

I honestly thought 5.0 was gonna be Ilsabard till 4.4 and this whole out of nowhere anime filler that was ShB. But well, now we seem to be back into the MAIN STORY.