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

[Lauront]

I agree on multiple points but we have still seen no hint what so ever that it will be Meracydia, The chaos in Eorzea will almost assuredly be just the 5.4, and 5.5 patch series since we already have practically explored all of Aldernald, I do think Sharlayan will be the main hub city for the expansion, but right now it seems highly likely that the other zones will be in Islabard, Sharlyan only has its city of note on the map, the rest has less features then Hingashi and we sadly only got to see Kugane there. Islabard meanwhile has some serious plot points going down on it right now, I almost bet that the chaos in Eorzea will be somewhat stabilized in 5.5 and then we will press in to Islabard to stop the even worse chaos that is going on there, and put a stop to Zenos and Fanadiels plan.

Yes, I don't think Meracydia is any likelier than Ilsabard. It's not even appeared on a map yet. People did interpret Yoshi's comments in an interview to replay HW as a potential nod to Meracydia but I don't really consider there to be any strong rationale as yet. It's just a "maybe". Both Ilsabard and Meracydia are mostly shrouded in mystery.

[FrightfulNight]

Yes, I don't think Meracydia is any likelier than Ilsabard. It's not even appeared on a map yet. People did interpret Yoshi's comments in an interview to replay HW as a potential nod to Meracydia but I don't really consider there to be any strong rationale as yet. It's just a "maybe". Both Ilsabard and Meracydia are mostly shrouded in mystery.

Except Islabard has known civilizations that are existing right now at the moment, I have heard of nothing from Meracydia that was not from before the Third Umbral Calamity. More importantly there are important things going on in Islabard Right now, in fact there have been for some time now, but especially now with the Civil war, and Zenos taking the throne. Also looking back at the trailer, I realized that parts of the capitol being reduced to rubble may be Lyse catching the Scions up with modern events since they were whisked away to the first, and may in fact refer to the civil war as it was shown to be in flames during the 5.1 cutscene, and not Zenos or Fanadiel performing a ritual, as from what I gathered from the 5.3 dialogue they still need the Empire for their plan at the moment. Plus this would make sense from an information traveling perspective as it would take some time for news something like this to travel where as there has been enough time for early reports of the devastation the civil war has caused to reach the alliance.

To be honest I will be very disappointed if it is not Islabard because the story has been pointing there for 2 expansions now and if it is not this expansion then it may be next expansion which will just in my eyes feeling like it is dragging out the inevitable, in fact at the moment in no way can i defend it being anything else but Islabard. Islabard has the most flags where as there has been no signs whatsoever pointing to Meracydia which is at the moment a wasteland, I don't doubt that we will go there one day I just imagine it will be a time travel expansion or using the echo to witness it when during the time of the Meracydian/Alagan war which much like i do not see us doing a void expansion after just getting back to the source, I do not see us doing a time travel expansion right after a shard hopping expansion, it will almost assuredly be set on the source during modern times. I do see us going to the Sharlyan motherland in 6.0 however, I just imagine given it's size it might just be a hub city like Kugane with the prominence of Ishgard, and maybe one zone like the Western Highlands in HW, and the rest will be Islabard where important things are happening, with maybe the final mystery zone being the moon. But even looking at the map one cannot deny the prominence that Islabard and Garlemald has on it, in fact the mist screams endgame area, and since this is the finale of the Hydalyn/Zodiark story what better way to cap it off but to finally remove the mists and go right into enemy territory.

[Kesey]

snip,

Except the scenes in the Empire aren't flags that we will go there, they are a just-so-you-know-the-villains-have-a-new-plan scenes. Zenos and Fandaniel aren't saying we're preparing the defenses or the trap in the Empire to capture the WOL, they are saying they are going to burn the world down and fight somewhere else.

The flags are all Sharlayan. Its suspicious that Sharalayans use the conch as their symbol and those same symbols are found in Amaurot dungeons. The oddness that both the Ancients and Sharlayans name their locations based on Greek words. Both cultures favor gardening, research and debate. Sharlayan has a questionable history as it was founded based on a Noah's ark story (the one in the peaks) but seems to leave out that to build an ark to save civilization requires you to have been apart of a previous civilization. Not to mention they didn't put their new civilization where the ark landed, most likely for a specific reason. They are strongly isolationist but this isn't ever well explained and often written off as "that's how it is" which is rpg code for "they are hiding something". Most of the world's knowledge of Hydaelyn comes from Sharlayan as the rest of the world deifies Azem or the 12 (which Azem is apart of). All of the scions are linked to Sharlayan as either being from there or being educated there. Y'shtola is clearly knowing something that she hasn't shared with the group, as her behavior with Runar's goodbye and npc dialogue from her sister and Matoya (who is also like our token Sharlayan) pre 5.4 implied the 5.4 meet up with Matoya, who we now know has a dungeon for us to go through also of Sharlayan origin. Finally, the Phoenix came up multiple times during the short stories associated with The Rising. This shows there is a clear link between Louisoix, who is Sharlayan and the twins grandfather, and having the knowledge to summon the 12--because summoning is creation magic--and the Ancients. Also, Louisoix turning into phoenix was probably part of Lahabrea's plan for the whole situation as we know he was the one that presided over the Battle at Carteneau and was also the Phoenix's creator.

Also, before anyone else says "but Sharalyan is one little island" please remember that Sharlayan is either descended from Ancients or have all of the Ancient's creation magic history. Sharlayan places like Anti-tower are created out of a hole in a mountain in Matoya's cave, The Baldesion Arsenal has doors that double you back on yourself through out the dungeon, and now Matoya's Relict is also going to be on an old map that doesn't have structure anywhere in sight. That island will be full of all kinds of fantastical places that won't be on a map. For one moment can we consider when Yoshi-p said we are going to subvert expectations again with expansion location he was really saying you will go to places that would never be found on a traditional Eorzean map, even though you will be on source?