Revelations from Patch 5.4

[rainichan]

Towers are apparently not Mhachi, though I still wonder how anyone could have identified them as Garlean

I mean... considering we learned that

Ascians were behind every major civilization on the Source, and that probably means Amdapor/Mhach/Nym too and all... it's a "well yes, but actually no" moment to me. They definitely have a more Mhachi design to the towers, but parts do have that distinct Garlean look. I'm guessing Fandango had something to do with them being made, so... yes they could be something the Mhachi used long ago, just updated!

I usually lurk these threads, but a fun post-msq an observation a friend made that, save for a couple of areas, was true:

All of the towers are in areas where we've fought Primals OR have a beast tribe presence. The only areas I didn't see the towers in were North Shroud, Central Coerthas, East Shroud, and Sea of Clouds. The towers can be seen from any aetheryte you port into, and they're pretty hard to miss.

The locations we saw them at were in Southern Thanalan (closest to Forgotten Springs, almost directly easy by the Amaljaa encampment where the fate Blood, Augur, Hex, ....whateverthelastoneis spawns), South Shroud (closest to Camp Tranquil), Dravanian Forelands (by the entrance to the Hinterlands; can't be seen in the Hinterlands), Yanxia (past Castrum Fluminis), The Lochs (down by Sothward, closest to Porta Praetoria), and of course the one by Nym in La Noscea.

The fact that they're all in areas where there are beast tribe presence OR where we've had a trial against a Primal really stood out to us; why it's like that can be coincidence or they're using these areas for concentrated aether to power their Mass Tempering GarleanMhachiAmaurotianAmhacarlean Machines to temper people who get too close to them. After all, Black Rose is no longer a thing, how else do you make a lot of people lose their minds?

Nier:

I DO NOT LIKE THIS, SAM I AM. The entire time during the Echo recall with Konogg, I was going "oh no. Oh No. Oh NO.... OH NO! NOOOOO NO NO NO BAD BAD NO!!!" because the formula and what the orb IS: a Seed of Destruction, seen when the end of the world is nigh, and the being inside comes out bent on destroying the world. That's bad times.

The story went where I wasn't expecting, and I'm not sure how to feel about it beyond INTERNAL SCREAMING UNTIL 5.5 because what we learned, what they introduced... that's a lot and pretty heavy. Let's hope Yoko Taro doesn't get to delete a Data Center!

Role quests:

Time travel from the msq and Shard hopping from this. I don't think they'll have us Shard hopping as another xpac, but I do feel it'll be a Chronicles-type quest to bring aetherical balance back to the 13th. As has been pointed out, Taynor and Unukalhai's eyes... hmmmm. I do like that Unukalhai finally made a friend and gained a single dad though! Poor kid needs some friends and some care by a bounty hunting single dad Cerigg lmao. I'm curious to see where this will go.