(SPOILERS)What do you think was meant by hints for the next expansion in Heavensward?

[MicahZerrshia]

I hope we go to Garlemald and put an end to their shenanigans, the ascians and Garlemald both have outlived their welcome imo. It's been 10 years, that is way too long for 1 antagonist even if its a vague concept like ascians and an empire. There comes a point where there is no excitement or mystery because we all know, even if there is someone new in the picture, its Ascians or Garlemald behind absolutely everything. Even with the way 5.3 ended we know its still ascians and still garlemald. Putting an end to this, already too drug out storyline and giving us something new in 7.0, would be a breath of fresh air.

That being said, if Garlemald falls due to a civil war or some outside interference off camera or if Zenos just has a change of heart for some convoluted reason, takes control of Garlemald and we are all suddenly playing on the same team to defeat a bigger threat, that would be a whole lot of build up for no payout. But I could totally see it playing out that way with these new ascians.

[kaynide]

All things taken in, OP lists most of the main takeaway from the expansion. The question would likely be more why go to Sharlayan story wise. Perhaps allies, or there is something bigger than Garlamald going on (aka we need a ship to go to the moon, like the one we see in the Peaks?)

I had always thought they would fill in the map with Sharlayan or Thavnair..but I was wrong before and we went to the 1st...so who knows really

[RyuDragnier]

Hoping for Meracydia and dragons personally, but Sharlayan stuff could be cool too.

I'm placing all my bets on this. My reasoning is quoted from myself in the "6.0 Predictions" thread from the Lore section of the forums.

Meracydia was where the first recorded primal summonings happened. It was there the Warring Triad appeared (Sephirot is the FIRST White Mage tree), there that the primal version of Bahamut was created (by Tiamat), there that the SMN job was born, there that the first communication with the Voidsent and Cloud of Darkness was established, there that Bahamut was captured in Dalamud, there that the monsters in Azys Lla were captured. Quite literally, Meracydia is so tied to the Ascians, Allagans, practically every major storyline in FFXIV to date that it's the perfect place for the "finale" for the Zodiark/Hydaelyn storyline, despite parts of it being uninhabitable wastelands.

Considering how much of the game's lore leads back to the Allagan Empire and the events in Meracydia, it feels heavily that Meracydia itself is special for a reason. The threads of the Ascians, Dalamud, Bahamut, the Warring Triad, Crystal Tower (Cloud of Darkness and the voidsent specifically), Azys Lla, the Allagan Empire, primal summonings, all of it leads to Meracydia. It feels like too much of a coincidence that multiple major threats that the planet has ever seen come from there. There has to be something there, something big, because there's no way that it's mere coincidence that 4 Elder Primals came from there.

[BlitzAceRush]

When I think about how convinced everyone was about getting male viera along with the females, I am inclined to believe that Yoshi's comments are once again being taken out of context. While I can admit that he is vague, I also know he has to be as the alternative is to spoil what is coming in the future days. From what the OP quoted, the impression I got is not to go back through HW looking for easter eggs, but rather use it to refresh your memory to help understand the next series of events.

He also basically said we are not going to Garlemald. Not in those exact words, but when the man says something along the lines of, "I think we can go against the player's expectation in this regard." after being directly asked if we are going there, that not's taking his words out of context; that is understanding that the man has an elaborate and verbose way of saying, "no". Except when asked about ingame parsers.

Anywho, thanks for posting the interview!

I don't think this rules out us going there, he's done this before, they made a huge deal about not telling us the final trial of 5.3, even when asked if it was Elidibus he said he didn't want to spoil but it'll be surprising for people. Except it ended being exactly that, the surprise came in the form he took, I get the feeling it could be the same here.
Perhaps we're not going there as a focus but in some other way, like we liberated Doma from one place and only saw the castle in a dungeon or how with Ala Mhigo we spent most of the time outside of it and in it's surrounding lands, or its in how we get there that's "subverting" When most think of us going to Garlemald they think of us attacking them or leading the Alliance against them, we could lose the first attack and get stuck behind enemy lines and have to start a rebellion from within or we could get captured and have to join up with a resistance, both of those would go against "expectations" while still having us go there.

[Gemina]

I don't think this rules out us going there, he's done this before, they made a huge deal about not telling us the final trial of 5.3, even when asked if it was Elidibus he said he didn't want to spoil but it'll be surprising for people. Except it ended being exactly that, the surprise came in the form he took, I get the feeling it could be the same here.
Perhaps we're not going there as a focus but in some other way, like we liberated Doma from one place and only saw the castle in a dungeon or how with Ala Mhigo we spent most of the time outside of it and in it's surrounding lands, or its in how we get there that's "subverting" When most think of us going to Garlemald they think of us attacking them or leading the Alliance against them, we could lose the first attack and get stuck behind enemy lines and have to start a rebellion from within or we could get captured and have to join up with a resistance, both of those would go against "expectations" while still having us go there.

I don't know Yoshi's exact response to being asked if the trial was against Elidibus. I never knew he was asked that directly. I only know that he said we would be surprised. Wither it was by the form he took, the unexpected help we got, or something else; he delivered. I never took it that I would be surprised by who the trial was against because knowing that this story was confirmed to be wrapping up in 5.3, there was no one else it could be; but I can understand how anyone can interpret it that way. That is why I brought up his words being taken out of context. Because people allow what they want to hear to muffle what is actually being told to them.

Also, if I read the events correctly, a certain someone took it upon himself to end the civil unrest in Garlemald. I think we will go there eventually, as I can't think of a better stage to set for the eventual showdown, but the shear size of the empire allows the devs to perpetuate our struggle with them. Going to Garlemald kind of entails we mean to end things for good. We will just have to see.

[BlitzAceRush]

I don't know Yoshi's exact response to being asked if the trial was against Elidibus. I never knew he was asked that directly. I only know that he said we would be surprised. Wither it was by the form he took, the unexpected help we got, or something else; he delivered. I never took it that I would be surprised by who the trial was against because knowing that this story was confirmed to be wrapping up in 5.3, there was no one else it could be; but I can understand how anyone can interpret it that way. That is why I brought up his words being taken out of context. Because people allow what they want to hear to muffle what is actually being told to them.

Also, if I read the events correctly, a certain someone took it upon himself to end the civil unrest in Garlemald. I think we will go there eventually, as I can't think of a better stage to set for the eventual showdown, but the shear size of the empire allows the devs to perpetuate our struggle with them. Going to Garlemald kind of entails we mean to end things for good. We will just have to see.

Which is fair, though they said the whole current ark, including Garlemald ends with 6.0, so while they could drag it out that would kind of go against that, from their own words Garlemald in it's primary antagonist role ends next expansion.

[Mansion]

On the top of my head, there are some loose threads here and there but nothing seems major so it's up to them to push the story forward in whatever direction.
-We have unexplored land that somehow relates to the bigger lore (Meracydia, Sharlayan, Thavnair), and some that are either a bit explored but not so relevant to the bigger scope of things because already covered in the story in the background or through the raids (Nagxia, Dalmasca, Hingashi).
-Illsabard is a big chunk but my position is... why would we go there? Our point was to prevent the Empire to invade people, now that it's almost roughly done, I don't see why we would go in. Unless we are brought in because X villain forces us to. Everything we did against Garlemald was quite peripheral and effective so it could go on that way.
-Zenos and his new dog. But I'm having a hard time taking either of them seriously (and that is kind of worrying for the future of the story for me). We could finish that by 5.5 I guess (or at least I hope, none of them should be an expansion antagonist)
-Things we know exist but that's about it (the New World, the remaining of the First Brood)

[Peace-Division]

Our recent new member of the scions is of allagan ancestory as we discovered during the CT series.

Heavensward features the allagan floating continent of Azys Lla

Perhaps Taimat, Allagans or their tech, G'raha Tia and the young boy from the 13th are linked somehow to a new threat ,from the Ascian council members and sundered that we haven't seen or heard from for a while. Lets not forget our link to the council too.

Although this is all conjecture, I do expect it it be much more chaotic going forward in the next expack. I loved the tone of sadness and loss in ShB but Im hoping 6.0 brings more of a fighting spirit be it valiant or chaotic back to the story.

[Jandroid]

The end of patch 5.3 hinted at character development for Alisaie & Alphinaud so I think the perfect setting to further develop them would be in their homeland of Sharlayan. But looking at the map, Sharlayan appears to be a bit too small for an entire expansion to take place just like Gyr Abania so I think they will pair Sharlayan with going to the moon.

Maybe the magical scholars of Sharlayan will prepare a giant airship in the form of a whale for us to go to the moon as a throwback to Final Fantasy IV.

[Jennah]

My guess is that Midgarsommar is going to wake up again, and Yoshi-P just wants us to remember who that is.

He's got story ties to the other continents. But more importantly, he's the last living, friendly eyewitness to the time around the Sundering. Other than Hydaelyn and Zodiark.