New Year's Poem 2018

[Belhi]

I don't think we will see Varis dethroned by Elidibus and I don't think we will make an alliance with him to go to Garlemald. I think a much more likely set up is that whoever owned that glove we saw in 4.1 in the Garlean scene will be our point of contact and we will aid him in some fashion. I expect Garlemald may be a hotbed of factional intrigue so finding allies who aren't tied to these factions may require looking outside of Garlemald. That said, I don't rule of the possibility that Varis might end up sympathetic. I don't think he isn't responsible for the harsher government in Garlemald, cause that would make him seem pretty weak. I think the more likely situation is something akin to the third Fable game were you discover that the tyrant is being a tyrant because he feels it is the only way he can take the steps necessary to prepare his nation for a much more terrible threat. Perhaps as things fall apart we might end up working with him but I think things will have to go pear shaped before that happens.

Still, the fact he is so dismissive of his son and heir's death is somewhat of a negative.

[Balipu]

Still, the fact he is so dismissive of his son and heir's death is somewhat of a negative.

Not really because Zenos was a sadistic prick who tortured the population to make them rebell cause he was bored without bloodshed.

[Theodric]

Yeah, Zenos being completely deranged is worthy of dismissal. With that said, there's the use of '...' at the start of his sentence which suggests he feels something. Added to Elidibus stating that he wants to 'comfort' Varis then it could be that Varis does wish that things had turned out differently with Zenos and if Elidibus poses as him it adds further complications to the situation.

He's also lost his best friend recently, so he's suffered more personal losses than many in the story. I doubt he's emotionless - he likely just guards his emotions well...especially around someone like Elidibus.

[Balipu]

Wich is a smart move

[HongLi]

I'm voting for a time-travel expansion, specifically located during the War of the Magi.

The suggestion is that history will be the main subject of the ongoing story, and that the primary subjects of the next episode in that story will be the same subjects that the unknown author writes about. However, the author wrote about those subjects in an anachronistic journal, and is likely dead. If so, then that would mean that his subjects are likely dead as well. In that case, it seems best to infer that we will have to travel back in time in order to make the author's subjects the primary subjects of the next expansion (at least, if the unknown author isn't an immortal like Elidibus).

I think that this expansion will be located in the War of the Magi for a number of reasons. First, the only two past eras which are heavily references in-game are the eras of Allagan supremacy (third Astral Era -> fourth Umbral era) and the War of the Magi (fifth Astral era -> sixth Umbral era). We know that it can't be located before the first Umbral and Astral eras, because those eras did not have written history. We know that it can't be located during the second Umbral and Astral eras, because those eras were fervently pious and would not (likely) have people walking around talking about how the God's don't play a role in history. I highly doubt that it will be located in the eras between Allag and the three Magi kingdoms, because nothing of import seems to have happened there. That leaves the expansion to be located either in Allag or in the Magi kingdoms. Given just how prominent Allag already is in the story, I think it would make more sense for them to make a time-travel expansion located during the War of the Magi, letting players further explore this era.

So, my vote is for a time-traveling expansion located in the fifth Astral era and sixth Umbral era. Remember how we found that Arc from these eras during SB?

[Balipu]

The arc was during Heavensward. I'm all for time travel but I want the conquest of Meracydia. Magitech VS Tree people and real Bahamut

[HongLi]

The arc was during Heavensward. I'm all for time travel but I want the conquest of Meracydia. Magitech VS Tree people and real Bahamut

You're thinking of the Void Ark, I am thinking of the one we see in Gyr Abania during the MSQ. I can't recall the details surrounding it, though.

Edit: The ship I am thinking of is called Nyunkrepf's Hope.

[Belhi]

I don't see us doing Time travel just yet. We already have a lot of plot threads in the works which I don't want to leave behind for an entire expansion.

[Balipu]

I don't see us doing Time travel just yet. We already have a lot of plot threads in the works which I don't want to leave behind for an entire expansion.

True, but the post does suggest that things won't go in the direction we think it might go. Dealing with Gyr Abania, Othard AND Garlemald in one expansion sounds like a bad move. At this point following up Stormblood with an Ilsabard centric expansion sounds like the most likely. Which suggests that something else will come up. Maybe we will try to stop them from taking a new province.

[Belhi]

True, but the post does suggest that things won't go in the direction we think it might go. Dealing with Gyr Abania, Othard AND Garlemald in one expansion sounds like a bad move. At this point following up Stormblood with an Ilsabard centric expansion sounds like the most likely. Which suggests that something else will come up. Maybe we will try to stop them from taking a new province.

Yoshi P, before SB's launch, said in an interview that the Garlean story would probably play out till at least 6.0. As a result I think its almost certain that next expansion will revolve around them. At the same time, I don't see them doing 3 expansions focused on Garlemald in a row so whatever main story is going to play out with Garlemald, I expect it to do so in 5.X.