Snowcloak (hard) and Keeper of the Lake (hard)

[Yuella]

What would the lore be if we ever have those dungeons. With the Dragonsong War over, it's kinda tough to think of a reason to go back to those places. Same with all the Heavensward dungeons although Matoya might have some reason to send us back to Gubal library.

[CyberGoblin]

I can't remember where it was stated but as I understand it they have confirmed we will find out what is under Lake Silvertear, so it stands to reason that would be why we go back to the Keeper. Snowcloak... I dunno, maybe a training course again?

[Frizze]

I dont know, it seems like you could come up with reasons relatively easy if you wanted to. All of these are off the top of my head, and took as long to think of as this post did to type. Keeper of the Lake hard could be Midgarsormr(however you spell that) calling us back to clear out an infestation of ________(more garleans maybe that he doesnt want disturbing the area?), or further testing our skills as we get ready for _______. For Snowcloak you could have an ishgardian conservationist-type come to us with rumors of a clutch of pups Fenrir left behind and we need to go back clear out the cave again to get them so they can be studied/prevent them from being a nuisance when they grow. The Vault(hard) makes sense as an ishgardian training ground(like halatali hard and hullbreaker hard for ul dah and limsa respectively) - and bonus points for being close enough to town to make use of. Alternatively someone from the Brume could send us there Oceans 11 style to steal back something that was taken and try to clear a family name. Dusk Vigil redux could be a request from the new head of House Fortemps to clear it out before they try to re-establish it as an outpost in CWH - a first step in trying to reclaim some of the land. A return to the Aery could be at the behest of Hreasvelgr(spelling again), as the dragon is worried that the swirling winds of the storm that protected it should have died by now, so we are sent to reclaim some artifact to calm the skies of the Churning Mists. And if i were designing a return to Sohm Al, id do it in reverse like they did with Pharos hard. So the great Moglin has lost something of vital importance, and we need to climb down the winding paths of the mountain to find it. In the end it probly ends up being a rare type of kupo nut, because moogles.

[Hinoto-no-Ryuji]

What would the lore be if we ever have those dungeons. With the Dragonsong War over, it's kinda tough to think of a reason to go back to those places.

If the dungeon releases follow the patterns they have thus far, then it's not an if - we WILL be going back to both those places. Silvertear's importance goes far deeper than just the Dragonsong War, and I'd bet my left arm that Keeper Hard will be another story dungeon, but Snowcloak is definitely a bit more of a question mark. Maybe next patch will be two sidequest dungeons, since the story is back to a prologue-like state ala 3.1, and we'll need to fetch something from within for somebody. I'm honestly going on pretty much nothing there, though.

(Come to think of it...has a Hard Mode dungeon ever served as the patche's Story Dungeon before this? It hasn't, has it?)

Same with all the Heavensward dungeons although Matoya might have some reason to send us back to Gubal library.

I've always been of the opinion that the various Heavensward dungeons SHOULD have made up the missing "third dungeon" each patch in the 3.x series, especially considering there's just enough to fit each patch (not counting the ARF, but that's more of the 3.0 Castrum/Praetorium anyways). It would have been interesting to see what they did with each place.

[PArcher]

There's a lot of possibilities for Snowcloak; going in and saving heretics from an invading force (rogue temple Knights, monsters, voidsent), going in and clearing it out to study the ruins (for the temple Knights, again overrun by some monstetd), stuff like that.

Keeper...very likely to be an Msq dungeon, going back to do *something* with/for Middy.

[LineageRazor]

Didn't Snowcloak used to be a passage between the Western and Central Highlands? Maybe they want to reopen the path, but need us to clear out the nasties, first. Once we finish, the construction crews can move in and, thanks to MMO time, never actually finish! The poor workers will be stuck in NPC limbo, never making progress, never finishing, until the stars go out.

[Frizze]

Had one more thought later in the day after i posted here and decided i had to share. A different way to do a return to Dusk Vigil would be to tie it in to the Scholasticate quests. Our investigation leads us to learn that the missing evidence was hidden there. As we're getting ready to go get a first-hand look, a lakey of the jerk high-born student comes running in asking us to help because said jerk is trapped by some horrible menace and there isnt much time. We fight our way through probly some more undead and maybe even a voidsent that seems to hint at dark things inside(awesome alternative: garleans have been sneaking over the border and are using this as a staging point to a bigger invasion of ishgard and the kids stumbled into their nest). We get to the final room of the dungeon - a room big enough to host a banquet or meeting with the heads of multiple houses, and the boss-intro cinematic starts. A bigger version of whatever we've been fighting is sitting there staring us down(void baddy, legatus, whatever), when all of a sudden one of the walls collapses inward with a great crash and a kaiser-style behemoth rushes in and eats the would-be boss. It looks our way and roars. Now we have to fight the thing without multiple alliances worth of players, all while stuck in a tightly enclosed space. We cant hope to beat it, but if we get lucky we just might hurt it enough to make it run off in search for easier prey. I can picture a version of this with heavy environmental usage(crashing a chandelier or collapsing section of wall on him to interupt key mechanics as an example), and a version thats just a rager of a straight fight. Both look amazing in my mind.

[Morningstar1337]

Dusk Vigil

Maybe its just me, but wouldn't a HM of that be in 4.1 at earliest with the Scoalasticate quests wrapped up by then>

[Frizze]

I have no idea. The OP just said that it would be tough to think of reasons to go back, so i was thinking of reasons to go back. And i think tying a dungeon or trial into the Scholasticate quests would be neat. You could do the exact same dungeon set up(undead to imperials to behemoth crashing its way through) with Aymeric being the one asking us to go back in patch 4.x. A rumor of the missing Estinian being spotted in the area and he asks us to check up on his old friend. With that said, i dont see why they couldnt use a couple of the HW hard modes to fill out the patch cycle until then. I mean, what do we have left of the 50 and under dungeons to hard mode? We're down to like 6 arent we? Seems like reason enough to expand the pool and keep the players guessing.

[Nestama]

I feel SE should maybe change things up, rather than keep them predictable. Out of all the dungeons without a Hard Mode; Keeper of the Lake, The Aery, The Vault and Sohr Khai are the only dungeons I have trouble seeing a Hard Mode version. If we were to see more of Mor Dhona's lore, I'd personally prefer to see it in the form of a completely new dungeon.

Snowcloak may have the potential of getting a Hard Mode, possibly with us clearing out some monster infestation and unlocking a zone point between Western Coerthas and Central (because why not?).