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

[Veloran]

It might be appropriate to say that the empire has already fallen. At the very least it's being carved up by civil war, rebellions, and Zenos' extreme tyranny of the capitol. Their chain of command has completely broken down and it seems to be every legatus and provence out for themselves.

[Seraphor]

I've always said, we're not (directly) going to war with the Empire. Any expansion that takes us there will have to come after some major upheaval or after the empire 'falls'. We've done the war, that was Stormblood.
So if that happens in 5.5, then that opens the door to an Islabard expansion for 6.0

[Kesey]

I think it is highly unlikely for this next expansion, i just do not see them doing it right after ShB, it would be to similar, also unlike the first which was nearly consumed by the flood but was able be spared that fate, the Thirteenth was Completely consumed, that's why it is called the void, not even the Ascians could use it for a rejoining, there may be a way to use Eden to undue some of it and cause it to rejoin with the source, but even if the darkness was removed, it would still be devoid of everything like the Empty, perhaps even worse. I also believe since this is the Hydalyn Zodiark conclusion it will almost assuredly be on the source, the world SE has set up over all these years with the characters we have come to care about for almost a decade now.

I agree. Most likely Eden, Gaia, and the Unukalhai and Cylvia plots are probably interconnected. This will probably set up that Eden can "fix" the 13th. If this is the set up to an expansion, it will be one down the road a few years or more, not the one they will announce in February.

[Kesey]

snip,

Except the scenes in the Empire aren't flags that we will go there, they are a just-so-you-know-the-villains-have-a-new-plan scenes. Zenos and Fandaniel aren't saying we're preparing the defenses or the trap in the Empire to capture the WOL, they are saying they are going to burn the world down and fight somewhere else.

The flags are all Sharlayan. Its suspicious that Sharalayans use the conch as their symbol and those same symbols are found in Amaurot dungeons. The oddness that both the Ancients and Sharlayans name their locations based on Greek words. Both cultures favor gardening, research and debate. Sharlayan has a questionable history as it was founded based on a Noah's ark story (the one in the peaks) but seems to leave out that to build an ark to save civilization requires you to have been apart of a previous civilization. Not to mention they didn't put their new civilization where the ark landed, most likely for a specific reason. They are strongly isolationist but this isn't ever well explained and often written off as "that's how it is" which is rpg code for "they are hiding something". Most of the world's knowledge of Hydaelyn comes from Sharlayan as the rest of the world deifies Azem or the 12 (which Azem is apart of). All of the scions are linked to Sharlayan as either being from there or being educated there. Y'shtola is clearly knowing something that she hasn't shared with the group, as her behavior with Runar's goodbye and npc dialogue from her sister and Matoya (who is also like our token Sharlayan) pre 5.4 implied the 5.4 meet up with Matoya, who we now know has a dungeon for us to go through also of Sharlayan origin. Finally, the Phoenix came up multiple times during the short stories associated with The Rising. This shows there is a clear link between Louisoix, who is Sharlayan and the twins grandfather, and having the knowledge to summon the 12--because summoning is creation magic--and the Ancients. Also, Louisoix turning into phoenix was probably part of Lahabrea's plan for the whole situation as we know he was the one that presided over the Battle at Carteneau and was also the Phoenix's creator.

Also, before anyone else says "but Sharalyan is one little island" please remember that Sharlayan is either descended from Ancients or have all of the Ancient's creation magic history. Sharlayan places like Anti-tower are created out of a hole in a mountain in Matoya's cave, The Baldesion Arsenal has doors that double you back on yourself through out the dungeon, and now Matoya's Relict is also going to be on an old map that doesn't have structure anywhere in sight. That island will be full of all kinds of fantastical places that won't be on a map. For one moment can we consider when Yoshi-p said we are going to subvert expectations again with expansion location he was really saying you will go to places that would never be found on a traditional Eorzean map, even though you will be on source?

[Kesey]

Very out of the left field and EXTREMELY unlikely but: It would be INTERESTING if the Empire "fell" in 5.5/55 and the fallout of that became the driving plot of 6.0. Esentially diving into a Civil War between the Optimates and the Populares. Said instability would allow us to explore Ilsabard, since the conquered nations would use the opportunity to liberate themselves (hopefully offscreen, so as to not rehash Stormblood's plot and fuel a "everyone is useless without the WoL" thing).

I'd GUESS the cause would be our very public defeat of Zenos (AGAIN, and hopefully for good), leading Fandaniel to lead the Optimates in the ensuing chaos, with Maxima FINALLY getting something to do as he rejoins the Populares (and, perhaps, rebuild the Empire as the Garlean Alliance, letting the nations that actually flourished under Garlean rule rejoind under their own rules).

Except Fandaniel has already said the Populares have been "taken care of" off screen and used Asahi's fortune to buy loyalty. There isn't a faction Maxima or Giaus have to fall back on. And Yoshi-p did an interview that said the ending of Sorrows of Werlyt and Bojza would give us a clear image of the state of the Empire at the end. Clearly the empire can just fall off screen.

[FrightfulNight]

Except Fandaniel has already said the Populares have been "taken care of" off screen and used Asahi's fortune to buy loyalty. There isn't a faction Maxima or Gaius have to fall back on. And Yoshi-p did an interview that said the ending of Sorrows of Werlyt and Bojza would give us a clear image of the state of the Empire at the end. Clearly the empire can just fall off screen.

But that is so Lazy, after all these years of being built up, of playing such a prominent part in the story, of having Such a prominent place on the map, it just fells off screen and we do something else, why, why cant it be a conclusion, A Satisfying Conclusion to most season 1 plotlines.

On your previous point I still feel Sharlyan has to be the Hub city, I mean if it is the end of the Hydalyn/Zodiark stuff it Has to be, but all those fantastical locations you just mentioned sound better as dungeons or raids or unique zones like Eureka, not the actual explorable zones, for those zones i Want to Explore more of the World, of locations that have been hinted at and Mentioned for years, we already had the Shard expansion to set up the stakes and tell us all we need to know going into the finale, I want to Explore more of the World of the Source, the Surface world I might add, I want them to take us to places on the Map, I want some of those clouds if not all of them to Finally be pulled back, not delayed another expansion, I get it, you want it to be anything but Islabard, but some of us don't want it to be anything but finally exploring Islabard (With Sharlyana as Hub city, and Moon as final mystery zone).

We have to think of the story, and right now Islabard has the most signs pointing to it, Sharlyan does to that is why it makes most sense to do both mainly Sharlayan as the Hub City and Islabard as the 5 or 6 zones. I dont think it will be us just fighting the Garleans since we already did that in SB, i still think it will be part of it, but i think there will be a new threat to face there added in these next patches, but it will be Fought in Islabard. Plus if it is misdirected away from Islabard again, then it will just feel repetitive and overused and make it into a meme, people who Want to go there may even get a little annoyed and see it as sheer reluctance to take us there. It worked in ShB because after Ala Mhigo we had no idea what would be next, it set up the stakes and gave empathy to the people on the 6 remaining shards, as well as told us the origin of the Ascians, Hydalyn, Zodiark, and the nature of calamities but after it i think with all the scenes there, which i might add was done for Ishgard before HW, i think it is about time we finally pull the clouds away, have a complete map of the three continents and Go To Islabard.

[RyuDragnier]

But that is so Lazy, after all these years of being built up, of playing such a prominent part in the story, of having Such a prominent place on the map, it just fells off screen and we do something else, why, why cant it be a conclusion, A Satisfying Conclusion to most season 1 plotlines.

Is it lazy? Or is it simply, "Without Ascians in the way, we can do an actual storyline dealing with human conflict and Garlemald in full!" A lot of the FF14 team worked on FF12, which delved heavily into politics and very human reasons for things going on. Without the Ascians in play, they could be wanting to go back to more HW style storylines where it's more about the people and the evils of the people themselves. Plus then rather than having the Garleans take a back seat to the evil magical godlike villains, the Garleans themselves take center stage, allowing for a more interesting expansion with a lot of areas they could pull in without any kind of pressure of ending the Hydaelyn/Zodiark plot.

[FrightfulNight]

Is it lazy? Or is it simply, "Without Ascians in the way, we can do an actual storyline dealing with human conflict and Garlemald in full!" A lot of the FF14 team worked on FF12, which delved heavily into politics and very human reasons for things going on. Without the Ascians in play, they could be wanting to go back to more HW style storylines where it's more about the people and the evils of the people themselves. Plus then rather than having the Garleans take a back seat to the evil magical godlike villains, the Garleans themselves take center stage, allowing for a more interesting expansion with a lot of areas they could pull in without any kind of pressure of ending the Hydaelyn/Zodiark plot.

Okay when it is put like that, that sounds like a much more interesting story beat then, they were beaten or fell off screen, I can get behind and fully support that. I am still hoping we can explore a little bit of Islabard this expansion since it is described as the largest continent and as such may take multiple expansions to explore, or more of Orthard since we still haven't seen all of it (I am still holding out hope for Hingashi to be fully explorable one day, and maybe even the focus of an expack). just something that removes some of the clouds.

[RyuDragnier]

Okay when it is put like that, that sounds like a much more interesting story beat then, they were beaten or fell off screen, I can get behind and fully support that. I am still hoping we can explore a little bit of Islabard this expansion since it is described as the largest continent and as such may take multiple expansions to explore, or more of Orthard since we still haven't seen all of it (I am still holding out hope for Hingashi to be fully explorable one day, and maybe even the focus of an expack). just something that removes some of the clouds.

That's actually why I'm hoping we don't go to Ilsabard this expansion. Because then they could stretch it out and give the continent the treatment it deserves, as there's a lot of areas there to uncover and explore that have been mentioned in the story. Enough for about 2-3 expansions, I'd wager.

[Kesey]

snip.

I think what you're missing here is I want the expansion areas to be justified by the plot. I'd also like to chill on the Empire (the people and politics) because they deserve better than be represented by Zenos and whatever Ascian of the month feels they can pull strings. I feel everyone can clearly see that a "reformed" Gaius is the future leader of the Empire because he is the lesser of all evils and doesn't bow down to Ascian manipulations. Let their military might fall off screen, and honestly, since you can do Sorrows and Bojza and MSQ you've really dismantled them all along here.