Ivalice in FFXIV

[Nalien]

Doma actually strikes me as the angle we'll approach Garlemald from. Other than the cave behind Coldhearth, I can't really think of an area in Gyr Abania that would function as a "path" to Garlemald... The path to Ishgard was naturally quite obvious, as was the path into Gyr Abania (although they didn't use that dead end in East Shroud for an actual physical zone line I guess).

Of course, we could always just take an Airship, or some form of magical transportation (somethingsomethingFFTWarpspell), but right now I see our approach being from fantasy Asia. Doman Enclave has some gates to nowhere that could lead to the area south on the map and clear up those clouds... It's also more or less the approach Alphinaud is taking, although I imagine we'd go around the Burn rather than through it... Not to mention the Doman Adventurer's Guild even flat out suggests "maybe we'll be able to explore the area under those clouds some day" after the latest upgrade to the Enclave is finished (I want that map as furniture, btw SE), which just makes me think going south from Doma and around the Burn is the next place we'll be visiting...

Although looking at it... That kind of route would be more suited to a "Not actually Garlemald yet" expansion, with Thavnaria as a likely stopping off point on the way just due to its proximity to such a route... If you fill out the rest of the eastern map, there's still a lot of ground to cover between there and Garlemald, I suppose it is all still technically Garlean territory though... Where exactly is Dalmasca estimated to be on our bizarrely cloudy map anyway? It would definitely be nice to revisit the area at some point, and given we currently access it from Kugane (although that's likely more to do with the fact that its neutral territory) I'd assume its closer to the Doma side of the map. I suppose when the map is updated, the area south of the Burn might just end up as a "This is where the Ivalice raids took place!", but I've no idea of the geography of it all at this point... Given Hiens reasoning for Garlemald having to come at him from the Burn, I assumed Dalmasca must be either west or south of the Burn? Maybe I'm thinking too much on the map though, for all I know there could be a whole bunch of ocean under much of that cloud cover... Hope we get an updated version soon... If nothing else it would be nice to see the 24man raids as physical spaces on the map... Crystal Tower was nice because I knew where it sat, Void Ark was kind of hit and miss for that (could at least point on the map and say "Weeping City is around here" and you could actually see Void Ark flying around), Return to Ivalice? I'm lost... The areas are nice and all, and I definitely wouldn't mind fleshing out the region a bit more, but they feel so disconnected from the rest of the world right now... I think that makes the fact that they're fanservice areas a bit more heavy, where as something like Crystal Tower was a bit more grounded in Eorzea than just a "It's Crystal Tower from FF3!".