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

[FrightfulNight]

And to add on to this i do believe that 6.0 will be set on The Source at the present time, I do not think it will be the Void or in the bad future or anything else that is Isolated, it worked for ShB as it helped set up the stakes of a calamity and how it is not only disastrous for the source but the shard absorbed, it helps us set up empathy for the people of the shards instead of having them just be nameless, faceless individuals, to better set up the stakes for the finale, and push the Ascians and Zodiark story line toward the finale since SB already did that for the Empire to varying degrees of success but it makes sense for the finale to take place on the source, you know the main place that has been developed over the course of the game where most of the people and cultures we know are. It also makes little sense to do a Void or time travel Expansion right after ShB as that is two expansions away from the source, finally i do not believe they will do another red herring for heading into Islabard like they did for 5.0 as doing it two expansions in a row might come off as lazy and uninspired and make it into a meme Subverting expectations comes in many forms and it might just mean that how we go into Islabard or for why or on what term might be different then what most players expect.

[grinkdaboy]

i'd really like to see the source expanded upon more. more and more i think copied factory and etc was stuffed into the 1st was because it'd be pretty awkward for there to be a crashed space station and a factory with a bunch of funny little murder robots in it somewhere in eorzea, versus the first which is more or less now a throw-away since we have no reason to ever go back there (unless there's some plotpoint to be resolved there)

[Starkbeaumont]

there is a lot of area between left between ala mhigo and Garlemald or Doma and Garlemald. south of it as well.

the HW hint let's me think of 3 things:

- the seal of Silvertear Lake
- the other 2 children of Midgardsormr
- Lahabrea (also cause Yoshi said we will learn about his real name later)

[kaynide]

Welllllllll, if we want to explore what's going on with the Ascians to "wrap it up", there's some stuff to consider:

1) The names of the Ascians are actually titles. (based on the Scions of Light of Ivalice, but that's currently out-of-game lore, despite Ivalice existing in FFXIV.)

2) There was not really a pattern to the three "Big" Ascians we have defeated thus far.
>Lahabrea fused with a lesser Ascian to become Ascian Prime. No true name given (at this point in development I'm guessing they weren't sure what route they were going w/ Ascians anyway)
>Emet-Selch revealed his true name as "Hades", which in-game doesn't mean much honestly. Out of game lore from other FF's and real world, of course yes!
>Elidibus was revealed to be a primal (a summoned/idealized version of his original self), and ultimately the original Warrior of Light. No "True Name" reveal.
>The original Elidibus was revealed to be the "Heart" of Zodiark and likely consumed in the summoning of Zodiark/something similar to what happened to Mnifillia.

I would not be surprised to learn Lahabrea's true name was "Zemus" to be completely honest, considering that upon killing the evil mage "Zemus" his pure rage created the monstrosity known as Zeromus.

...I also would not be surprised to find a sort of Crystal Tower on the Moon considering FF4's storyline, or if the Moon itself is a sort of Dalamund for Zodiark.

[Sylve]

Has no one considered that we might be continuing Ishgards story?

Last we left Ishgard, They were undergoing a societal revolution.
Could be that we get Ishgard's (Or the whole of Eorzea lifted out of the time bubble) story brought forward and involved in whatever new place we go to next.

[VenKitsune]

Funny how everyone says "we're going to the 13th Shard!", forgetting we've already done that (it's the World of Darkness) - there's literally nothing there other than a few crystallized platforms/rocky ruins and a whole lot of voidsent). So we're not going back there (also the Crystal Tower raids were ARR content, not HW).

More likely Yoshi's 'Heavensward refresher' remark probably is calling back to the Warring Triad, where there was a bit of dialogue during one of the Warring Triad storyline's cutscenes that in hindsight was actually foreshadowing the revelation in Shadowbringers about the Ancients' Creation magic (I can't remember the exact context of the line though so don't quote me on that). I'd completely forgetten it in fact until I suddenly recalled it while typing out another post in the Lore section.

We'll find out either way.

I think you hit the nail on the head here personally. Not only the warring triad, but Azyz Lla in general. Remember how there was some ruins in Azys Lla? Stone ruins? If i remember correctly, they had Merecydian script on the walls, and one of the Warring Triad was originally from there too, if im remembering correctly. Merecydia sounds the most likely to me, the original homeland of the Miqote

[Edax]

Has no one considered that we might be continuing Ishgards story?

Last we left Ishgard, They were undergoing a societal revolution.
Could be that we get Ishgard's (Or the whole of Eorzea lifted out of the time bubble) story brought forward and involved in whatever new place we go to next.

As far as I remember, the revolution is over. Ishgard already has a new leader and a new government. That chapter of Ishgardian history is finished.

[Peace-Division]

As I said in a much earlier post regarding allagans and Azys Lla.
I think old Allgan threats, perhaps G'raha tia's blood link to them and Taimat will be involved somehow.
I spotted in the Aery that at the top near Nidhogg you can see shattered Allagan tech there too

[kaynide]

As I said in a much earlier post regarding allagans and Azys Lla.
I think old Allgan threats, perhaps G'raha tia's blood link to them and Taimat will be involved somehow.
I spotted in the Aery that at the top near Nidhogg you can see shattered Allagan tech there too

Interesting line. If we explore Allagan history, a lot of their war involved Meracydia where the dragons are from.

Pure speculation since we see the spilled crystal everywhere, this looks like Neurolinks, where a primal got out and probably died (corrupted crystals everywhere).

Lorewise, if this connects back to the dragon homeland... I'm not sure what will be there.

We are lead to believe Meracydia was/is a wasteland of sorts post Allagan invasion, and the remnants of their original 4 factions are tied up into Azys Lla, but that was all 5,000ish years ago.
Of those factions, I don't expect to meet Sephirot's (Tree People), Zurvan's (Centaur-like) or Sophia's (various unified races).

The dragons however are obviously still around.
Of the original 7 children of Midgardsormr:
>3 confirmed dead (Bahamut by Allagan Empire, Nidhogg by our hand and Ratatoskr by Ishgard)
>2 alive (Tiamat imprisoned in Ayzs Lla and Hraesvelgr in the Churning Mists)
>2 Unaccounted for (Azdaja and Vrtra per the lorebook)

[Seraphor]

Didn't Miqote and/or Lalafel migrate to Eorzea from Meracydia too?