Post Dawntrail Vibes – Future expansion ideas?

[savarna]

I definitely want to go to Meracydia… I wouldn’t mind some shard travel later on in the new arc, however long it goes. But much as ShB was my favorite expansion, I want to explore some of the interesting areas we haven’t gone to on Etheirys first.

Overall, even though the DT story got more interesting to me after Alexandria (mostly because of the Krile stuff I had been waiting for!), I’m getting kinda tired of the ultra high-tech vibe. I want another dragon expansion… I know the Allagans had their own advanced tech, but I want to get back to a more fantasy feel for awhile, and dragons will always pull me in. I hope as we explore the key more, it delves into a more magic & mysticism feel. Occult Crescent is giving that a little, but it’s not as story-heavy as the regular MSQ, and I have other issues with that content.

I agree, I think we could benefit from a fresh air of 'Fantasy'. Dragons in fact are a perfect fit for the theme, I have always felt fascinated by Midgardsormr's lore and I strongly believe SE can pull it off with the same level of MSQ execution like they did with Shadowbringers.

[savarna]

I sincerely hope they throw us a curveball and put Meracydia off.

Either sending us to a far away planet in The Source's universe or to another one of The Source's reflections.

They can still pull off what you're asking going that route as well, which I'd be totally cool with.

Heavensward is my all time favorite expansion, closely followed by Shadowbringers. So I'm hoping they'll pull off something with that level of passion, love, and quality.

That said, FFXIV getting it's own Wings of the Goddess type expansion would be cool to. I wouldn't mind getting to visit and save the distant past from FFXIV's own version of Reverse Flash or something, thereby saving the present and preserving the future.

I like this! I wouldn’t mind the time travel aspect, I just think WoTG in FFXI was kind of a mess and not the best example to go by for both, in terms of lore and content. I remember running around on empty maps with background battles for hours, feeling like a headless chicken given the lack luster lore and so little to do. The maps were not memorable nor held replay value other than for a few NMs. They tried to fix it later, but ended up overdoing it, overwhelming us with too much content across the board, which just made the whole thing even harder to follow. This was my cue to put FFXI to rest at the time.

Hopefully, FFXIV Devs can learn from that if they ever go in a similar direction.

[RagAndBoneLady]

Aerslaent and Farreach. It's gotta be partly wintery there. Yoship wanted wintery, right? 8P

And absolutely Meracydia.
Why did the Hellsguard progenitors go there first(Revelation Rock please)? What did they find? And why did it shape their faith and culture like it did?.

No bias. X3

[Keumjo]

It's hard to think of what I want from future expansions, I know what this game is capable of but I'm wary after DT.

I would like a general intriguing mystery, something localized to wherever we are. Being localized I feel will give us a chance to truly build a rapport with the area and the characters we'll meet in that space.
I would also like more puzzles, because I genuinely enjoyed that addition, even if they were super easy.
I would love interpersonal drama or romantic tension.

I don't need another ShB, I just want the same quality.

[Turethir]

I'd like it to be more fantasy-focused than sci-fi, and would love it to be somewhere on the Source (Meracydia, Ilsabard etc). I really don't have any interest in the reflections and I'm a bit tired of everything seemingly being connected to them - I know we'll inevitably explore them more, but I don't want this entire second arc to be taken up entirely with reflection-hopping.

[savarna]

I'd like it to be more fantasy-focused than sci-fi, and would love it to be somewhere on the Source (Meracydia, Ilsabard etc). I really don't have any interest in the reflections and I'm a bit tired of everything seemingly being connected to them - I know we'll inevitably explore them more, but I don't want this entire second arc to be taken up entirely with reflection-hopping.

I agree 1000%! Meracydia has so much untapped refreshing potential on the fantasy theme that I think this game needs post DT. I think the reflections were a cool concept at first, but it's starting to feel like a crutch for storytelling and besides (even if underexplored), there's a whole world on the source to explore and I also believe, there's potential of new characters outside the Scions, that could be centric for the WoL.

[Catwho]

On the source: Mericydia, Corvos, and some of the remaining chunks of Ilsabard that are still hidden behind the clouds. There's a lot more to Garlemald than just the capital (that is now in ruins.)

On another shard: The 4th, the 8th, and the 11th are still around, besides the 9th which is now partially fused with the Source. I suspect that one of those three will be going through a similar crisis as the First and the 9th did, and it'll be up to the Scions to travel to that shard (using the gate and the key) to stop the plot.

Thankfully, no time travel involved this time, ala the First.....

[Hallarem]

I hope they just tell a simple story with good characters and dialogue. And don't fit every character to just act according to the "themes" they insert. I want a human story, something that we can relate to.
A lot of Final Fantasies have a central love story, have us witness that in 8.0 with all sorts of political intrigue and drama happening in the backround.

No more space, no more super universes and edges of the universes and spaceships and pew pew lasers. Just give us a good story without a secret "zone that will surprise you" at the end where the story just disconnects completely from what we've been doing before.

[Boblawblah]

ISEKAI

[Shinku_Tachi]

I like this! I wouldn’t mind the time travel aspect, I just think WoTG in FFXI was kind of a mess and not the best example to go by for both, in terms of lore and content. I remember running around on empty maps with background battles for hours, feeling like a headless chicken given the lack luster lore and so little to do. The maps were not memorable nor held replay value other than for a few NMs. They tried to fix it later, but ended up overdoing it, overwhelming us with too much content across the board, which just made the whole thing even harder to follow. This was my cue to put FFXI to rest at the time.

Hopefully, FFXIV Devs can learn from that if they ever go in a similar direction.

Aye, I'll concede to that you're 100% right. A whole mess, and also released while only being half finished, lol. It's just the only MMO thing I could think of similar to what was was trying to describe. If they do time travel with FF14, I feel like going into the far distant past would be better than just 20 years (like WotG), especially after

we opened 2.0 leaping forward 5 years

.