What if they did a "restoration" quest series...

[OccasionalToast]

...for the West Shroud?
Reforestation is the coolest thing ever amiright
No seriously, this would be so cool. I don't think it'll ever happen but it would be so cool.

[Shistar]

I'm into it! I'd really love to see their take on these areas that got nuked in the Calamity. We lost so much of Coerthas, too.
Now that we know we can balance out the elements to restore areas, I wonder if we could fix at least part of Coerthas, The Shroud, etc.

[IttyBittyShark]

this is something i have never thought of!!! this would be amazing. i mean hey, its been like twelve years now.

[Enkidoh]

Part of the West Shroud has already appeared in ARR as a battlefield for a specific PvP event a number of years ago but that was removed as I understand it (I don't do PvP so this information is second-hand). From what I recall it looked much like the rest of the ARR era Black Shroud, albeit with some parts partially crystallized with fire aspected corrupted crystal.

Either way as the place is badly crystallized it would essentially just be like Mor Dhona (apart from the aforementioned PvP battlefield), a crystallized wasteland and thus, not very interesting as a location, hence why the development team have kind of forgotten about it (it was never a really important location in the old 1.0 Black Shroud either as my less than stellar memory recalls, so little wonder it was ignored in the changeover to ARR.)

[Daralii]

Part of the West Shroud has already appeared in ARR as a battlefield for a specific PvP event a number of years ago but that was removed as I understand it (I don't do PvP so this information is second-hand). From what I recall it looked much like the rest of the ARR era Black Shroud, albeit with some parts partially crystallized with fire aspected corrupted crystal.

Either way as the place is badly crystallized it would essentially just be like Mor Dhona, a crystallized wasteland and thus, not very interesting as a location, hence why the development team have kind of forgotten about it (it was never a really important location in the old 1.0 Black Shroud either as my less than stellar memory recalls, so little wonder it was ignored in the changeover to ARR.)

Yeah, it was a Feast map. They did make concept art of its post-Calamity state, which makes me wonder if it was planned and got cut fairly late.

[Jeeqbit]

It's not just concept art. You can literally go to South shroud and look at it and it's just like that concept. ARR maps actually let you see what is in the nearby maps, whereas expansions don't bother with such passionate detail.



There is also The Lost City of Amdapor and its HM that takes place in that area:

[Tahli]

It's not just concept art. You can literally go to South shroud and look at it and it's just like that concept. ARR maps actually let you see what is in the nearby maps, whereas expansions don't bother with such passionate detail.



There is also The Lost City of Amdapor and its HM that takes place in that area:

Not just the South Shroud. You can actually see it from every single Shroud zone, including The Striking Tree (Ramuh fight arena). That much attention to have it constantly visible seems strange to me.

[Jeeqbit]

Oh right, I was looking to the south of Central Shroud. I found it at the west of Central Shroud, but it's a very close shot showing it's right next to Central Shroud. Odd as that is, it is really far away from the South Shroud perspective, I suppose. In North Shroud it's to the south and very close to the exit, behind the Dalamud crash there. It adds up for the most part. Just great attention to detail compared to what they'd do now.

Central Shroud:


North Shroud:


Striking Tree:

[OccasionalToast]

I'm into it! I'd really love to see their take on these areas that got nuked in the Calamity. We lost so much of Coerthas, too.
Now that we know we can balance out the elements to restore areas, I wonder if we could fix at least part of Coerthas, The Shroud, etc.

I desperately want to fix Coerthas. C'mooooon, Yoshi-P, Garlemald has the "colorless frozen hellhole" aesthetic covered. #DefrostCoerthas2025

[Jeeqbit]

That much attention to have it constantly visible seems strange to me.

As for it being strange, it's not strange for ARR. They have the La Nosean volcano visible from all the La Noscea zones, and I think Western Thanalan viewable from a distance? You can see Limsa Lominsa from a distance in La Noscean areas too. In Thanalan, you can see Ul'dah, Eastern Thanalan's bahamut damage from most areas, the Gold Saucer and the garlean place from Southern Thanalan. It's just the sort of love they stopped even caring about or that their overburdened procedures phased out.