Actual lore regarding the current civilizations on Meracydia (potential spoilers)

[aveyond-dreams]

Wakanda is definitely not something we need in this game, in my opinion anyway. Keeping in mind the target demographic of Final Fantasy in general, I do not believe that those who were so strongly taken in by the aesthetics of Heavensward and Shadowbringers specifically would be able to put up with an expansion where those elements are completely lacking in favor of a dominant "tribal" theme or an overwhelming technological presence at the very start.

This isn't to say that smaller tribes shouldn't be present in future expansions, far from it in fact. Whenever we do go to the New World they should have some type of presence, but I do not think more than a zone should be dedicated to that. Also please do keep in mind that "Africa" is not just tribes-ancient Egypt has plenty to draw from that could fit a high fantasy theme without being too on the nose about where they drew inspiration from.

As for Central America, I do believe that served as some inspiration for Ronka, so I do not expect that to resurface again so soon. An alternative way to draw from that region would instead be cities such as Mexico City, with its Spanish-style architecture, cathedrals, churches, fortresses, and all. Central America is a lot more than Aztec ruins, and I do not believe that people with links to the region would like if the only representation of it was the same temples copy-pasted across so many different games.

FFXIV's method of trying to line up real world-inspired locations with their corresponding geographic location in game is a trend that is not sustainable in the long term if followed to the letter. There is no reason why Meracydia and the New World cannot have their own various kingdoms and empires in addition to smaller-scale tribes, with castles on one end of the continent and tribal villages on the other. They can compliment each other if done well, and still be palatable to the Final Fantasy audience.

Speaking specifically for myself-you would not be able to sell me a "Wakanda"/colonialism/tribal themed game even with the Final Fantasy title attached to it if I had not already sunk 8 years of my life into FFXIV since the day ARR launched, and even I don't know if I would stick around for something so lacking in traditional fantasy elements. I even stomached FFXV and FXIII despite their aesthetics being wildly different from most things I'm used to because they still had their own magic and lore underlying their otherwise modern settings.

Contrast this with FFXIV: we have killed both of the two major deities of the world along with nearly every other god summoned by the beast tribes. The last of the mothercrystal's energy was consumed by Zenos to become Shinryu again to fight us at the edge of space. Zodiark's fathercrystal was seen briefly during his fight whenever he spun the stage, but is otherwise seemingly gone or of no longer any importance so far. With Garlemald in disarray, I can only hope that rather than turning their conquered territories into a series of republics that at least a few revert to monarchy, but given previous trends there's a decent chance they might form something akin to the United States of Ilsabard.

The world is left godless, bereft of many of its original (known) kingdoms in favour of republics, with almost all of its major mysteries having since been uncovered or resolved. At this point we need a major return to magic, to true high fantasy in order to bring things back on track. I do not believe that sending us into a jungle or to mingle in some kind of colonial-based conflict is the correct way to proceed from here. You'd lose me if I wasn't so attached, you'd lose a decent amount of people who that sort of thing just doesn't click with, and it would fail to get the attention of the Final Fantasy core base.

[KageTokage]

I really don't think conflicts between the people of Etheriys are ever going to cease being a significant factor in the MSQ.

It's either that or they keep introducing new supernatural threats, but thus far we've yet encounter any of such with enough of a will of their own to make for intriguing main antagonist material.

I am very curious what kind of plot they'd go for with Meracydia because while something like a political power using salvaged Allagan tech to oppress the rest of the continent practically writes itself, it's not too different from what we dealt with in Stormblood already.

[EaraGrace]

I’m actually in favor of a more grounded storyline should they go that direction. Endwalker was a great finale to 10 years of plot development, following it up too soon with another world devouring threat would just diminish its narrative importance. Let’s see a Heavenwardy Africa or Australia, fantastic civilizations with varied aesthetics, new peoples and lands. Get the concept artists to flex their muscles some more, they did great with everything in Endwalker. I’d love to see other cultures represented like Thavnair was.

[Lord_Umbra]

I imagine to get us to Meracydia will be Dragonsong 2.0 with Tiamat free & returning to there I can't imagine that it'll go over well with tribes that have lived there for last many year sin her absents from the land, so I imagine we'll get a new man dragon conflict.

[SilverArrow20XX]

I've got bad news for you about Limsa's story content since Shadowbringers' patches.

Is that Blue Mage story stuff? That's pretty much the only story I haven't done yet.

[Cleretic]

Is that Blue Mage story stuff? That's pretty much the only story I haven't done yet.

Both the 5.4 MSQ content and the Endwalker melee DPS role quest are Limsan content, and specifically focused on Limsa dealing with the fact their colonialism really screwed over the natives.

That's the 'colonialism' story you'll actually find in FFXIV. Personally, I like it, it was refreshingly direct and honest.

[Erendis]

I keep remembering Merlwyb's grand speach on the first trip and this change in manner seems way too sudden. Even when Y'shtola chastised her about it she was like "whatever..."

On the topic. I only mentioned Wakanda as it came to mind when secretly hitech Africa was mentioned. Personally I would really like to see ancient Egyptian god related stuff. Of course there are other African cultures I am not very aware of, it would be nice to see those too.

[Beytran70]

Did anyone here ever play Rise of Legends? It was made by the same people as Rise of Nations and Age of Empires, but it was a fantasy gamed with three distinct factions. One of them was basically an Aztec/Incan/Mayan sort of culture that had cyborg aliens crash in their area that took the form of their gods and began to rule them, combining their tech with their magic. It was really cool, honestly, and I've not really seen anything else quite like it, so something along those lines would even be cool I think.

[LystAP]

I imagine to get us to Meracydia will be Dragonsong 2.0 with Tiamat free & returning to there I can't imagine that it'll go over well with tribes that have lived there for last many year sin her absents from the land, so I imagine we'll get a new man dragon conflict.

I wonder if we'll see it from the dragons' side. We're the ones that woke Tiamat from her stupor, and potentially freed Bahamut and his thralls from their torment. As hostile as the inhabitants may be, the dragons of Meracydia might be nicer to us in particular.

[SilverArrow20XX]

Both the 5.4 MSQ content and the Endwalker melee DPS role quest are Limsan content, and specifically focused on Limsa dealing with the fact their colonialism really screwed over the natives.

That's the 'colonialism' story you'll actually find in FFXIV. Personally, I like it, it was refreshingly direct and honest.

That's not what I meant.
I meant setting up colonies in the New World and "braving the frontier" into the "Savagelands".