3.5/4.0 Speculation & Discussion (Spoilers)

**Belhi** · 11-25-2016 07:40 PM

Maybe. The thing is they have been pretty open that its the Garleans we will be fighting in 4.0. Garlemald is the powerful unyielding powerhouse which is what makes it impressive. Yeah it has disasters, setbacks and losses but is such a large, powerful and tenacious enemy that it will regroup, adapt and return again. A faction of the resistance doesn't strike me as a really effective threat to that, even if they are desperate. That said, I am certain we will have conflict with the more extreme elements of the resistance.

I think that when we ally with Garlemald, at least at first, it will be against the only power outside the Ascians on Hydaelyn that can pose a real threat to Garlemald, Garlemald itself. I think somehow the events of Stormblood are going to lead to a major power struggle in Garlemald and we are going to be dragged right into the heart of that. That I think will be in 5.0 and I think Zenos will very much act as the wick to start that fire.

Edit post Live Letter:

Ok scratch that. I have no idea why we are heading to Ala Mhigo. I thought the dungeons might give a hint.

**Cilia** · 11-26-2016 02:48 AM

"The Far Edge of Fate," huh?

... Baelsar's Wall as the new Story 4-man, past even Castrum Oriens. Well... let's see how the Castrum gets razed.

Sohm Al HM. Hmm.

Final Shadow of Mhach instance is Dun Scaith, Scathatch's fortress in the Land of Shadows. Fitting. I wonder if we'll finish off Diabolos this time...

Yep, it's a two-parter.

**Theodric** · 11-26-2016 03:02 AM

So just a little under two months until the first part of 3.5 - I can live with that. Between FFXV releasing in a handful of days and the Christmas/New Year period a lot of people - myself included - will be pretty busy. By the time stuff starts to calm down again the patch will release.

I assume this is simply the preview for the first part - the next Live Letter will detail the stuff coming in March, right?

At the very least the second part will have more story quests and lead directly into 4.0.

**Anonymoose** · 11-26-2016 08:01 AM

While I am still very much in the "wait and archive" mindset, I'd like to nudge attention towards a section of the patch art that's garnering a bit of excitement and speculation.

A tattoo seems to be missing...

**Belhi** · 11-26-2016 08:05 AM

I saw that too but with the angle of the head in the art work and the fact it might be just accidently left out or something. Still, it adds to the speculation fire. I really wont be surprised if they are false tattoos. Yda never really seemed to be someone you would find Sage tattoos on.

**Anonymoose** · 11-26-2016 08:14 AM

Originally Posted by Belhi

Yda never really seemed to be someone you would find Sage tattoos on.

Erring on the side of caution, I'd been giving Yda the benefit of the doubt for a while on account of 1562 Thancred; an easily-distracted seventeen-year-old with, ahem ...a secondary objective... to all matters. Any case against Yda's sage-ness would likely extend to his own. Yet learning that his schooling was in the survivalist techniques also gave credence to Yda not needing to be intellectually adept. All around, it seemed safer to assume the tattoos were legitimate... and yet...

We'll see soon enough! (Wouldn't be the first time the tattoos were skipped on artwork, lol.)

**Hinoto-no-Ryuji** · 11-26-2016 01:56 PM

We really are lacking a Call to Action for Ala Mhigo, aren't we? While that was the case in 2.4 vis-a-vis Ishgard, I'm honestly a little worried about what kind of buildup we'll actually get, considering:

(1) The 3.x series has less quests to work with than the padded nature of 2.x.
(2) 2.5 used both its parts to build up to Ishgard, but we'll apparently be raiding the Wall in 3.5 Part 1, unless they plan to hold off one of the dungeons an extra two months.
(3) On TOP of all that, the general pattern has been for them to shove the new Story Dungeon into the second quest of the MSQ, so that people don't have to play through the entire story to unlock their new Roulette.

If all of those prove to be true, then we'll be thrust in the direction of Ala Mhigo within one or two more quests (!!). Now, naturally, there's still a lot we don't know, and the storytelling has only been improving as this game goes on, so I really hope they realize that there needs to be more buildup than there is and adjust their patterns accordingly. The most likely thing is for somebody - Ilberd, Nero, Zenos, whoever - to cause an emergency right out the gate, but after the nicely-paced story of 3.4, I was hoping things wouldn't go back to feeling as rushed as 3.1-3 sometimes did. Fingers crossed!

That aside, did anybody else catch how they drew attention to Dun Scaith being the THIRD, not FINAL part of "Shadows of Mhach"? It makes me thing we're gonna get a Trial or something in Part 2. Very curious about that. Tokyo FanFest can't come soon enough.

**Belhi** · 11-26-2016 03:08 PM

Yeah, that caused me a double take. A follow up to the 24 man raid is a surprise. A trial perhaps though it seems strange to have after a 24 man.

**FJerome** · 11-26-2016 08:04 PM

Originally Posted by Belhi

Yeah, that caused me a double take. A follow up to the 24 man raid is a surprise. A trial perhaps though it seems strange to have after a 24 man.

It's probably for Diabolos, after all the complaints back in 2.2 that such a classic summon deserved more than just being a dungeon boss.

**PArcher** · 11-27-2016 12:35 AM

Originally Posted by Anonymoose

While I am still very much in the "wait and archive" mindset, I'd like to nudge attention towards a section of the patch art that's garnering a bit of excitement and speculation.

A tattoo seems to be missing...

I don't see them on Papalymo either. So my guess is just the artist forgot them (EDIT: Someone on Reddit pointed this out too: https://twitter.com/MissSynful/statu...85792550731776 )

My bigger issue is the centerpiece of the artwork...what is that staff doing this patch...

Thread: 3.5/4.0 Speculation & Discussion (Spoilers)

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