New Year's Foreshadow 2021

[Anonymoose]

Took a nap and fleshed out the rest of the OP. See EDIT for current lines of thinking-too-hard-about-it.

[Llyr]

There was an interview back in 2017 about Sharlayan being either 6.0 or 7.0...



Between that and the poem I think that Sharlayan is my guess, at least for one of the hub cities.

[Anonymoose]

Reflecting on it a bit, I think I could get myself pretty excited for Sharlayan. I feel like I've crested on my excitement to break out of Eorzea and see the world and and want to work back to getting grounded again - to go home, see the areas we skipped, meet Sharlayan, learn more about the races and clans, get involved in more city-state drama. I'd love if FFXIV "main scenario" ended where it began; back home dealing with Silvertear Lake somehow. We still don't know if the Presence is truly gone...

[KageTokage]

I feel like Sharlayan is almost certainly going to be involved in 6.x to a significant degree and I also feel as though they're likely our only probable source of additional information about the Ancients as there's still several loose ends that need to be tied up in that regard.

[Zohar_Lahar]

I feel like Sharlayan is almost certainly going to be involved in 6.x to a significant degree and I also feel as though they're likely our only probable source of additional information about the Ancients as there's still several loose ends that need to be tied up in that regard.

Does this mean Ala Mhigo is never going to be a hub city?

[Espritduo]

I feel like it's saying we're going to first go down under the planet to confront Hydaelyn and get an explanation for everything (and possibly find out what the Sound is), then go up to the moon to destroy Zodiark. Future generations hating us could be because we destroyed the moon and they don't know why, and resent us for such an act of destruction. The resolute man could be Louisoix, which would fit in with going to Sharlayan to uncover more mysteries about Hydaelyn and the Lifestream.

[Lauront]

Think it's pretty clear that it's referring to Sharlayan. Whether the part regarding the underground relates to their endeavours with the Antitower, which is a good fit given its purpose, and whether this involves another visit to Hydaelyn or the Aetherial Sea (accessible underground) more generally, remains to be seen. Sharlayan is fairly secretive, so it may have already been involved in study of the moon without anyone knowing of it. After all, it is where astrology originated, so their bid to study the heavens - and possibly the aetheric tissue connecting the 'stars', if such exists - would make sense and probably encompass the moon too. I suspect the letter is from the twins' father, particularly given the context of the Japanese version (which I believe is a reference to Sharlayan's secretive attitude to knowledge), and the rift between him and Alphinaud. As usual, the EN is a bit more cryptic than the rest, which is why I've come to prefer the French version.

If, as I believe, Sharlayan was inspired by Amaurot in some capacity - since we know memories of the ancient world persist in various facets - it would make sense to take the story there next.

We've now seen multiple hints pointing at Sharlayan, and especially the conclusion of 5.3 and various interviews, so I'm convinced the expansion is going to involve it to a major degree. What is less clear is what the supplementary zones would be, and this seems to provide a strong hint.

I feel like it's saying we're going to first go down under the planet to confront Hydaelyn and get an explanation for everything (and possibly find out what the Sound is), then go up to the moon to destroy Zodiark. Future generations hating us could be because we destroyed the moon and they don't know why, and resent us for such an act of destruction. The resolute man could be Louisoix, which would fit in with going to Sharlayan to uncover more mysteries about Hydaelyn and the Lifestream.

I'm hoping they pick up on the sound sooner or later, however I'm not so sure if she will even have the answer to that, seeing how its cause eluded the ancients. The answer may lie with Fandaniel, or perhaps even Zenos's, ancient counterpart. If I had to guess, I'd say one of them conspired with or even set up whatever destroyed their world (I'm still putting money on a Lifestream/Underworld parasite/monstrosity of eld, of some kind), and when Zodiark stayed it, they then moved to try a different tack to it by instigating a conflict between the Convocation/those loyal to it and Venat's faction, who may have already been concerned about Zodiark, with the aim of ultimately ridding of him, and perhaps even destroying the star. After all, Venat's faction didn't really doubt the Convocation's benign motives, and I think they would also needed access to the blueprints to fabricate a primal of this type. Even if they conferred at Anamnesis Anyder, where concepts were stored, the sort involved in summoning Zodiark is likely to have been under restricted access. So an insider makes some sense here, especially one who could play with their concerns a little.

Fandaniel is rather fascinated by the end of the world (he was gleeful when discussing it with Zenos), and the latter would destroy the world just to get his jollies, so it wouldn't be out of the question that their ancient counterparts were some end of times death cult, too. Given his nihilistic persona, the appeal must be great in taking the world's erstwhile saviour (Zodiark) and use it to fully end the world.

[Daniolaut]

Oh wow, it’s great to see you again OP. I am glad to see you well, and still enjoying XIV. It’s been so long.

Anyway, I hope the “big announcement” isn’t just “we’re releasing a new expansion” because we already know they are releasing one, or have plans to. We also know the vast majority of what it will contain:

-new main story
-new level cap
-new actions
.... basically copy paste 3.0, 4.0, or 5.0 and you have 6.0.

Hopefully it’s something actually new/fixed/expanded like expanded/instanced housing, or brand new content not like anything we have seen already, or just something besides deleted/reduced/repeated content, or stuff we already know that has been ongoing since 2.0.

Best regards to everyone. Have fun in Eorzea.

[Fenral]

Once again, it's like the English is a completely different poem. At this point I think we can accept that they're doing it deliberately to give us twice as many pieces to puzzle over.

...

The Japanese specifically uses the word "stairway" in multiple places. I'm aware it's a metaphor, but I think the detail is relevant.

"To gain Knowldege, a stairway into the earth. To save Life, a stairway into the heavens."

The Antitower definitely fits as far as climbing down, anyway. But where has Sharlayan climbed up?


Continuing a line of thought from another thread: Sharlayan was founded by Salina. It's all Allag. Always has been. With the Arc Welding they've been doing lately, this one doesn't seem so crazy anymore...

[Lauront]

Yes, it does seem deliberate. To the point that you would need to read one of the other language versions to get the actual gist of it. It's becoming rather pervasive within the MSQ itself, too, where it helps to compare e.g. to the French version to get the full context.