6.0 Predictions: Will it be Garlemald, Sharlayan, or Meracydia?

[RyuDragnier]

The story is going use Fandaniel, and by extension Zodiark, as the main villain and their attempt to cause 8th calamity/rejoining. Could that mean the empire? Maybe, but its just as likely as any other location to hold a McGuffin that could cause the 8th calamity/rejoining.

My money's still on Meracydia for this. You expect me to believe 4 Elder Primals are coincidentally born on the exact same continent, all within a relatively short(ish) time span? No way in hell, something powerful is there that could allow such a thing to happen.

[Kesey]

That would seem a little odd to me given we just spent all of ShB averting the 8th for them to then go "Surprise! it's the 8th calamity again!" Also re-joinings require a shard to be absorbed back into the source and from all we know the Aciens do it one at a time and it takes them a lot of time to do each one, with the First saved and the unsundered gone it's unlikely they just have a second ready to immediately go, Fandaniel would also need to do this from one of the shards, so unless it's just all going to happen off screen we'd have to shard hop after him, something I don't see them pulling again given the lengths it took to get us to the first.

No, the 8th calamity caused by Black Rose/Flood of Light has been averted. Yes, we've created a new future but that doesn't conclude all the possible plans and contingences at the Ascian's disposal. Their end game is to cause an 8th calamity and allow Zodiark out of the moon.

In case you forgot, ARR was about giving the Empire Allagan weapons to use against beast tribes and Eorzea for the 8th calamity (stopped by us @ ultima weapson and stopping the primals), then tried to manipulate the escalation of the dragonsong war (stopped by us, again) to bring the 8th calamity, then use the unrest caused by the liberation of Doma and Ala Mhigo to unleash Black Rose to cause an 8th calamity (they also gave the nidhogg eyes to summon Shinryu escalating the liberation too), not to mention they were playing Ardbert and the others on the First at the same time to cause an 8th rejoining with the flood of light. Noticing a pattern yet?

We don't know much about Fandaniel, but what little we do know is he has a plan, and going by what we know about Ascians is they are all about causing calamities/rejoining to get to Zodiark. So until Fandaniel belies otherwise, we have to assume he is tempered by Zodiark and is working towards the same goal.

Zodiark and the Ascians need an 8th calamity. That's the only way they win. Everything else is just a means to an end, including the empire and Zenos.

[MikkoAkure]

My money's still on Meracydia for this. You expect me to believe 4 Elder Primals are coincidentally born on the exact same continent, all within a relatively short(ish) time span? No way in hell, something powerful is there that could allow such a thing to happen.

It's no secret, we've already been told that the ascians are responsible for the summonings. Plus faith, urgency, and aether on a greater level than that of anything the Eorzea beastmen are capable of. The now dead civilizations of Meracydia were powerful enough to stand up against the Allagan Empire at its height for at least a little bit. Take that and the ascians whispering the secrets of summoning and you have a recipe for the Warring Triad. Then there's Bahamut, who was summoned by beings practically swimming in aether.

But given what we know right now at this moment, there is no reason to go to Meracydia. It is a dangerous and mostly unlivable wasteland with nothing in it and no civilizations beyond scattered tribes. Right now we have 2 separate side-storylines where we've started or will start to liberate the very southwest and southeast edges of Ilsabard. It was already frustrating as a player and for the characters themselves in the game that the WoL was randomly pulled into doing something else just as the war with Garlemald started heating up and there was action in the borderlands. It would be odd if they did the same thing again, especially since now the Garlean Empire is fractured and in the middle of a civil war.

The ascians are similarly unorganized now that we've killed all the ones planning everything for the past 10,000 years. Unless the few remaining ones form up around Fandaniel to cause ruckus somewhere else in the world, or something we didn't know about and wasn't in the game yet suddenly comes to light in the next 2 patches, I don't see us going anywhere except Ilsabard for 6.0.

[BlitzAceRush]

Except we don't even know if Fandaniel wants to bring him back, he might be content with just blowing up the Source, he pretty much threw a party at the unsundered being gone saying he can do what he wants now, hell he might be trying to help Zenos just because he wants to see what happens if you release a 7/14 Zodiark. We have no idea if he wants to keep the agenda or if the remaining can even do it anymore, Eledibus literally says they can't do it without him, which is why he cannot afford to lose to us, well he dose which means if the remaining even intend to keep trying it's likely not going to be how they've been doing it up till now.

[Kesey]

Except we don't even know if Fandaniel wants to bring him back, he might be content with just blowing up the Source, he pretty much threw a party at the unsundered being gone saying he can do what he wants now, hell he might be trying to help Zenos just because he wants to see what happens if you release a 7/14 Zodiark. We have no idea if he wants to keep the agenda or if the remaining can even do it anymore, Eledibus literally says they can't do it without him, which is why he cannon afford to lose to us, well he dose which means if the remaining even intend to keep trying it's likely not going to be how they've been doing it up till now.

You're right, this does seem to offer a gray area that will have to be better explained as they flesh out Fandaniel. The lack of unsundered could mean a few things, like maybe that means Fandaniel can be reckless in calamity planning; maybe it means he doesn't care about resurrecting the Ancient's Amarout and just wants Zodiark to wipe the world clean. We also don't know his relation other sundered Ascians and what their plans are now and what worlds they are setting up to rejoin.

[MikkoAkure]

Except we don't even know if Fandaniel wants to bring him back, he might be content with just blowing up the Source, he pretty much threw a party at the unsundered being gone saying he can do what he wants now, hell he might be trying to help Zenos just because he wants to see what happens if you release a 7/14 Zodiark. We have no idea if he wants to keep the agenda or if the remaining can even do it anymore, Eledibus literally says they can't do it without him, which is why he cannot afford to lose to us, well he dose which means if the remaining even intend to keep trying it's likely not going to be how they've been doing it up till now.

Now that I think of it, I wonder what it even means for Zodiark now that its heart is dead. Can Zodiark even be fully revived? What was the nature of the Elidibus we know to Zodiark and how did he get separated?

I hope these are things that we learn in 5.4 and 5.5. I hope at the same time that Zenos doesn't last to 6.0 because I'm kind of sick of him tbh.

My dream 6.0 would be to finally fill in some of the Ilsabard map. Don't need to fill in all of it and I hope they don't because having 6 zones representing the biggest of the 3 main continents would feel cheap. Even with Stormblood, a lot of Othard isn't represented by the 3 zones we go to. But Ilsabard has been teased enough that I wish we could go. We've already had multiple NPCs run around there already and seen and played their flashbacks. Now we're going there ourselves, but only barely. Shadowbringers has been really neat and it was something completely different and unexpected, but I think it's about time to get back to what we're expecting.

[Kesey]

Now that I think of it, I wonder what it even means for Zodiark now that its heart is dead. Can Zodiark even be fully revived? What was the nature of the Elidibus we know to Zodiark and how did he get separated?

I have these thoughts too. Let me add this mystery: that Venat implies at the end of Anemnesis Anyder they aren't gone forever and can return in the form of their choice after becoming the Heart of Hydaelyn. I don't know who or what Venat is now, but I'm thinking they can clear up these questions.

[BlitzAceRush]

I actually like Zenos, so I'm cool if he persists, though I feel they need to do something else with him if he dose, the "frenamy" idea is fine but not as lead big bad for two expansions, I feel if he makes it into 6.0+ he needs to either, become a side plot along side the main story or go the Vegeta rout of him working with us, not saying he ever needs to be redeemed or actually become a "good guy" but just that our goals align, after all he can't fight us if the world ends, so I could see that kind of motivation for him, perhaps he even notices we fight so many crazy things that he can get his murder fix if he just follows us around, who knows.
Either way I'd like for him to stick, but I agree him headlining twice shouldn't be how he is handled if he remains.

[Kesey]

I actually like Zenos, so I'm cool if he persists, though I feel they need to do something else with him if he dose, the "frenamy" idea is fine but not as lead big bad for two expansions, I feel if he makes it into 6.0+ he needs to either, become a side plot along side the main story or go the Vegeta rout of him working with us, not saying he ever needs to be redeemed or actually become a "good guy" but just that our goals align, after all he can't fight us if the world ends, so I could see that kind of motivation for him, perhaps he even notices we fight so many crazy things that he can get his murder fix if he just follows us around, who knows.
Either way I'd like for him to stick, but I agree him headlining twice shouldn't be how he is handled if he remains.

I'm of the mind Fandaniel and by extension, Zodiark are the main villains going forward. I think Zenos is getting the thing he wants from Fandaniel (a reason to have us show up and fight) and either is getting fooled by or, more likely, doesn't care about Fandaniel "masterplan".

[FrightfulNight]

Now that I think of it, I wonder what it even means for Zodiark now that its heart is dead. Can Zodiark even be fully revived? What was the nature of the Elidibus we know to Zodiark and how did he get separated?

I hope these are things that we learn in 5.4 and 5.5. I hope at the same time that Zenos doesn't last to 6.0 because I'm kind of sick of him tbh.

My dream 6.0 would be to finally fill in some of the Ilsabard map. Don't need to fill in all of it and I hope they don't because having 6 zones representing the biggest of the 3 main continents would feel cheap. Even with Stormblood, a lot of Othard isn't represented by the 3 zones we go to. But Ilsabard has been teased enough that I wish we could go. We've already had multiple NPCs run around there already and seen and played their flashbacks. Now we're going there ourselves, but only barely. Shadowbringers has been really neat and it was something completely different and unexpected, but I think it's about time to get back to what we're expecting.

It is my hope that 6.0 is Finally Islabard and while i do not see all of it being explored i can at least see the parts important to the story like Garlemald being a location, maybe the moon is just a dungeon or something instead of a zone and we have 6. Maybe some other zones in Islabard are added in other questlines like the Raid series, trial series, or whatever the next Eureka like questline will be. At some point down the line after the Hydalyn/Zodiark saga has ended i do see there being a globe trotting expansion where instead of an entire area with multiple zones around it added there are instead multiple zones added throughout the world and this includes more of Hingashi, and multiple unexplored zones in both Orthard and Islabard