Thread: [Spoilers] The Patch 4.2 Discussion and Speculation Thread!

Originally Posted by ObsidianFire

Eureka is not here for sure. [...]

Long story short, SE has been heavily favoring the raiding community so far and I don't see that stopping.

As of 4.15, I can't disagree. On top of the usual extra boss phase for high-end raiding (Neo Exdeath), both Shinryu EX and Unending Coil aren't exactly casual content. Like I said, I really don't have a lot to do right now except for running Rabanastre once a week for an upgrade item. When Eureka is released, if it's just Diadem with some extra bonuses added on, it still won't be the sort of thing that's up my alley (or even doable right now) since I'm for most intents and purposes a solo player.

Originally Posted by Theodric

'Rise of a New Sun'.

Thank you! That makes me think the Steppe might be involved as well.

Originally Posted by Estherna

The thing were I'm a little bit curious is that 4.1 didn't really opened a new story. If we compare with 3.1, where the Warriors of Darkness were revealed and where there was the turmoils linked with the statute of Ishgard, in 4.1 we have the opening for the Anantas which seems to be pretty much closed by the end, the fact that Ala Migho is going to be rebuild thanks to the help of Ul'dah (is that me, or in this game, Ul'dah is the most important city everytime ? It was the same for Heavensward after all. Everything seems always okay in Limsa Lominsa and Gridania...), and that Raubahn is coming back home. Except from that, we have Gosetsu and Yotsuyu coming back in Doma, which we knew from the end of the 4.0 and the little talk in Garlemald.

So I get it that they don't reveal the plotline for the next expac before the .4 or .5, but at least there is an introduction of sort of what is going to happen in the transition. We had rebuilding of Ala Migho, now we will have rebuilding of Doma, with probably a story regarding Yotsuyu and her somewhat redemption, but after that? Don't get me wrong, I really like the story of FF14, but I kinda feel that 4.1 was lacking of an compeling start...

Also I would really like to see more of our friendly neighbours Ascians at some point. They are after all our worst ennemies no?

Ul'dah gets a lot of focus because it is the most dynamic (re: prone to conflict) of the city-states. Gridania is stuck under the rule of the Elementals and Limsa has Merlwyb as a strong-willed leader who isn't lacking in the political power department. Ul'dah has a lot of players and power spread around, making it very easy to have a power struggle come up. On top of that, Ul'dah is the wealthiest city-state, meaning the majority of funding for any major project is likely to come from there. As the main recipient of Ala Mhigan refugees, it is also tied more closely to Ala Mhigo than the other city-states. (I agree the attention Ul'dah gets is somewhat excessive, but see above.)

I believe that the main arc starting in 4.1 was intended to be Fordola moving toward the path of atonement. The 4.x series, as anyone could have guessed from 3.5 onward, was always going to be about rebuilding Doma and Ala Mhigo. (Did anyone actually think we'd fail to liberate them?)

The Ascians are our main obstacle, but they are mostly background instigators, not actors on the stage. Us having to fight and kill Lahabrea, Nabriales, and Igeyorhm directly and in such a short timeframe (approx. 3 months by my estimation) is highly unusual given how ancient they are, and considering the conflicts led to their deaths this will have undoubtedly pushed the remaining Ascians to playing a more conservative game.

Originally Posted by Theodric

It never sat well with me that Ul'dah received such a disproportionate amount of story focus in comparison to Gridania and Limsa. In particular, a lot of the potential issues with Gridanian society were hand-waved and lessened during the shift from 1.0 to 2.0 whilst much of Ul'dah's problems carried over in full.

That was probably because Gridania's 'problems' were mostly supernatural/metaphysical in form (the whole greenwrath/woodsin thing with the elementals), while Ul'dah's were mostly political (save for that whole raising the dead thing with Warburton) and thus made for much easier implementation (and thus is more believable).

It's also far easier to craft narratives around familiar concepts like political corruptions and conspiracies when it's just dealing with human spoken-led societies and not a magocracy dictated by a race of bad-tempered aetheric faeries who are nature personified.

As for 4.2, new info is up on the Lodestone - looks like some ideas from FFXI are now sneaking in. Besides Byakko being the new trial, none other than Tenzen from Chains of Promathia now has a Hydaelyn counterpart. If it turns out he has a katana with the power of a Primal inside it (*cough* Phoenix *cough cough*) I'll eat my Curtana.

Also, on the patch artwork, who is that bloke standing next to Cid? I recognize Biggs, Wedge and Jessie, but that guy with the shades I just can't place.