Do you think Kugane will suffer the same destiny as Ishgard?

[Sanghelios]

Since ive first seen Kugane i was quite exited about that place, probably like most others here. I started to imagine how it will be and such things. However one thing that keeps me worried is that i fear that Kugane will just suffer the same destiny as Ishgard soon after release of Stormblood, because there will be a new equivalent to Mor Dhona/Idyllshire that will be used as "endgame" area and so Kugane may end up being a ghost town like Ishgard as soon as the majority of the playerbase reaches the expansions endgame. That would be a shame but i think that will be most likely the case?! What do you think?

[Odstarva]

If this new like-Mor Dhona/Idyllshire area happens to be Ala Mhigo... I'll be okay with it!

[Abriael]

Kugane has public baths. At least on Balmung, it will be very crowded :P

The new hub area is probably Rhalgr's Reach.

[Silverquick]

My only real concern with the expansion is that it really doesn't feel very Final Fantasy-ish.

Both ARR and Heavenward still felt very FF style...

The SB expansion from what I see, just really doesn't.

I am curious about the Kagane area and the storyline... but the Al Amigo portion just really doesn't interest me that much anymore. After Ilberd's Antics during ARR and Heavensward... I lost a lot of sympathy for the Al Amigo storyline... at this point I'm more along the lines of they deserved what they got.

While I am curious about the Kugane area and the Storyline there... at present it really just doesn't feel very Final Fantasy-ish.

[Rufalus]

Kugane is pretty and you can reach the markets from the aetheryte without having to change zone, so it's more convenient than Ishgard. It will be my main hub city to hangout, shop and avoid the RMT bots that lurk in the 3 starting cities.

[WellFooled]

My only real concern with the expansion is that it really doesn't feel very Final Fantasy-ish.

Both ARR and Heavenward still felt very FF style...

While I am curious about the Kugane area and the Storyline there... at present it really just doesn't feel very Final Fantasy-ish.

If I can offer a conflicting option, there is no such thing as Final Fantasy style. Almost every Final Fantasy has had a vastly different style than the rest of the series. Some are Fantasy, some Sci-Fi, Steampunk, modern, historical, or some blend. There is no set style to the series because each one is different. With that said, Stormblood fits well in the lore of FFXIV (where we have long had Ninjas, as well as far eastern gear, items, and stories) and older Final Fantasy games have also had Far Eastern characteristics such as FFVII's Wutai and the Samurai and Ninjas jobs.

[dragonkyn20]

Unlike Ishgard, Kugane is going to be one entire zone not split into two. I'm looking forward to it immensely.

[Abriael]

My only real concern with the expansion is that it really doesn't feel very Final Fantasy-ish.

Having played on quite a bit of land at the Media Tour, there's absolutely nothing in there that didn't feel Final Fantasy-ish.

[Enkidoh]

I am curious about the Kagane area and the storyline... but the Al Amigo portion just really doesn't interest me that much anymore. After Ilberd's Antics during ARR and Heavensward... I lost a lot of sympathy for the Al Amigo storyline... at this point I'm more along the lines of they deserved what they got.

In what way are they deserving though? The whole Griffin thing was purely Ilberd (being led on a string by Elidibus), neither the Resistance nor the refugees had anything to do with it. Ilberd was nothing but a scheming, jealous self-serving opportunist who manipulated some refugees into becoming nothing but a sacrifice to summon Shinryu - the Ala Mhigans themselves were not part of that plan (if they were, all of Little Ala Mhigo would have joined him in his false flag operation storming Baelsar's Wall, which they did not).

If anything, my only gripe is we didn't get to apprehend him and make him finally face justice for his crimes. Not to mention Laurentius and Yuyuhase are still alive and at large so there's still that hope that they can be eventually captured and convicted for everything the Fourth has done, even if their ringleader can't. But I'm on my soapbox again.

Getting back on topic, players choosing a 'hub' location to hang out in is kind of human nature that has been part of the game since.. well... before FFXIV even existed (it was in FFXI as well, where initially players would generally congregate in Lower Jeuno until the Treasures of Aht Urhgan expansion, when Jeuno was effectively abandoned for Aht Urhgan Whitegate - which became so bad it gained the unfortunate nickname of 'Laggate'. This continued through Wings of the Goddess until the Abyssea mini-expansions - originally the npcs to access Abyssea were only found in Port Jeuno, so 'Laggate' became depopulated overnight and everyone returned to Jeuno, causing just as many lag problems there. SE tried to fix the problem by adding Abyssea access npcs in the other cities, but players stubbornly stayed in Jeuno, it was just easier that way.

In much the same way, FFXIV has gone through a similar process - 1.0 Ul'dah became the hub, until ARR when Revenant's Toll was the hub town (unless you're on Balmung where Ul'dah is still the place to hang out for RP), then Idyllshire when Heavensward launched. History is just going to repeat itself in Stormblood. It's not a bad thing, it's just human nature - people will inevitably be drawn to one location and thus even when given alternatives, people will still insist on using the one place to go to, as it is just easier.

[KisaiTenshi]

My only real concern with the expansion is that it really doesn't feel very Final Fantasy-ish.

Both ARR and Heavenward still felt very FF style...

The SB expansion from what I see, just really doesn't.

I am curious about the Kagane area and the storyline... but the Al Amigo portion just really doesn't interest me that much anymore. After Ilberd's Antics during ARR and Heavensward... I lost a lot of sympathy for the Al Amigo storyline... at this point I'm more along the lines of they deserved what they got.

While I am curious about the Kugane area and the Storyline there... at present it really just doesn't feel very Final Fantasy-ish.

Nah.

The initial V1.0 of the game and V2.0 parts of the game borrows heavily from FF6. The core plot of all FF games is:
1. 4 Gems (Fire, Earth, Wind, Water)
2. Warrior of Light
3. Party of Rebels (more prevalent in FF4 and later)
4. Generally multiple "worlds" or dimensions exist. FF4 had the moon, FF5 had a parallel world that fused with the main world, FF6 had the world of Ruin, FF7 had a bunch of things prior to the world being open, FF8 had time travel, X had Zanarkand, XIII had Cocoon and Gran Pulse, etc.

So I think Ironicly, the change from V1.0 to V2.0 covers the subtext of point 4 easily. If you visit the Ishgard areas in V1.0 they were not frozen wastelands.

Point 1 is often reflected in Asian mythology, so that's pretty obvious.

The Party of Rebels was a core point of FF4,5,6,7,8,9 and X

With FFXIV v3.0 we finally got to see what happened to Ishgard and got some lore for the Eorzea land that was primarily Elezen before the arrivals of other races.

With V4.0 I suspect we will find Ala Mhigo (where the Hyur Highlander come from) under the same kind of conditions of FF6's South Figaro.

From the sounds of things, Kugane, sounds like Japan on a smaller scale. It also likely fits the theme of a city-state that nobody has managed to conquer.