First off this thread is not about the PS3 release date that will happen when it happens ^^

What I would like to talk about is how these changes to zones, the coming threat and the storyline could be very different for new players compared to what we have experienced. SE is making a lot of changes and I think it is great that they are trying to tie everything together in a big storyline.

When you think about it though at the minute we have quests and NPC's telling us about this coming threat, could this threat effect the core story and if it does then what will happen when the FFXIV is released on the PS3. The threat will already be here, the zones will be changed, Companies will be in place, all the build up quests to the coming threat and the emergence of the Companies will no longer be needed as they are already here.

Will SE change the core story for it's release to dealing with the threat now it has emerged? There are a lot of unanswered questions but there are also a lot of possibilities that would enable SE to kind of take a fresh start approach.

A thread popped up yesterday about the coming Umbral era and how it will be tied together and I jokingly suggested they should do the update and when you login you are treated to a CS showing the threat emerging and Eorzea's destruction, then you would wake up exactly where you started in the game. So if you started in Limsa you start on the boat but the difference would be you still have all your ranks and gear but the everything you had done so far would be played off as a future Echo. As you get to Limsa though you notice things are different. This would be the zone changes that have taken place, the problem with that idea though is that the threat is here now so it wouldn't make much sense.

So as a new idea what about if we login and are taken straight to a Cutscene with the threat destroying Eorzea but this time as you "wake up" you find that 10 years has passed since the threat emerged, this would give time for lands to regrow and rebuild but the fight is still ongoing. This would allow them to make the changes they need and still tie everything together. Even the Jobs storyline could be tied in. The GLA for example when the threat emerged a group them set up a PLD guild to better themselves for battle with the threat.

Now when the new players start after these changes have been made they would start from the same kind of wake up scene and everything we had experienced would be like some giant prequel to the game.

Anyway what are your thoughts on how they could tie all of this together and how it will effect new players coming to the game after it is all in place?