So ff14 did a big event making players part of the lore, when it origionally launched. Now we have 2 big events taking place; the endwalker exspansion which marks the end of the overall arc of arr; additionally the games become so popular and flooded with players to the point of stoping the sale of the game.

One of the key aspects starting out was their was many warriors of light, that disapeared [we know why] and you're now the important peice. How about a significant amount that had disapeared reappear after endwalker as a sort of node to this massive influx.

Start with lore that places the players within history, why not end/start with lore that places players in history. Maybe i'm sightly inspired by marvel, having recently rewatched endgame. But hey theirs an chance here to potencialy create a story with the players at heart, and to turn this sorta negative aspect to a posative.

1. People return on mass, triggers event where people battle or whatever to become the best of their role/class.
2. a tournament event where these players face off.
3. Result of these events become like history in a exspasnsion. Say bob wins the tourney, or some archer cheeses it and jumps on a box to beat bob.
This could lead to a colloseum storyline or something.