(SPOILERS)What do you think was meant by hints for the next expansion in Heavensward?

[Gemina]

Which is fair, though they said the whole current ark, including Garlemald ends with 6.0, so while they could drag it out that would kind of go against that, from their own words Garlemald in it's primary antagonist role ends next expansion.

Based on their words, we also thought that the struggle with the Ascians would end with Elidibus. We were wrong there too.

[Powercow]

I think the next expansion is going to be entirely Vath themed.

Final Fantasy XIV Patch 6.0: Ravana's Ravenous Return. Please look forward to it!

Also, is nobody going to mention all the talk of time travel in SHB, the apocalyptic future, and the fact there's a literal giant time traveling robot just sitting in a HW zone?
"Oh, but the Alexander raids are optional, they can't have those be part of the MSQ!" Yeah, so was the Crystal Tower.

Edit - Hah, didn't even see the OP mentioned Alex. My bad.

[kaynide]

Personally in-game lore-wise, I want to know more about the primals themselves. Like we know the Ixal are genetically created race from Azys Lla. Was there a doctor overseeing that project who raised the first batch that eventually become deified as Garuda? Who else was genetically created? Were we?

Are our 12 gods actually deified Ascians? Primals? Allagan?

Current speculation from Urianger is that Azim (of Azim Steppe) and Azeyma (Goddess) are based on the Ascian/Ancient Azem (Who is strongly suggested to either be the WoL or an un-sundered version of what the WoL once was)

I could be wrong, but phonetically, Azim (Ay-Zim), Azem (Ah-zim) and Azeyma (Ay-zee-mah) have a resemblance to the zone Azys Lla (Ah-Zees Lah).

Considering Dalamund was a mispronunciation of “bahamut” this would not surprise me.

I wanna say in addition to the lore threads in FFXIV itself, we should also look at other FF's for inspiration as to where they might go.

Some examples:
FF4> The Giant of Babil (similar to Alexander; climbing a giant machine..so maybe no). a "world below" that had dwarves (also maybe no since dwarves on the first). Visiting the moon. (The moon had a sort of crystal tower also). The Great Whale (spaceship).

[Gothicshark]

Funny how everyone says "we're going to the 13th Shard!", forgetting we've already done that (it's the World of Darkness) - there's literally nothing there other than a few crystallized platforms/rocky ruins and a whole lot of voidsent). So we're not going back there (also the Crystal Tower raids were ARR content, not HW).

More likely Yoshi's 'Heavensward refresher' remark probably is calling back to the Warring Triad, where there was a bit of dialogue during one of the Warring Triad storyline's cutscenes that in hindsight was actually foreshadowing the revelation in Shadowbringers about the Ancients' Creation magic (I can't remember the exact context of the line though so don't quote me on that). I'd completely forgetten it in fact until I suddenly recalled it while typing out another post in the Lore section.

We'll find out either way.

You must have forgotten the Void Ark, and the sky pirates. All Heavensward, and frankly some really interesting Void Lore. but yes, he could also be doing an FFVI call back as well. The lack of any real info means we can speculate about every tiny detail. Heavenward has a few loose ends after all.

[Crushnight]

why go to Sharlayan story wise.

There are a few reasons to go to Sharlayan;

1. Knowledge, they hoard knowledge and anything they deem too sensitive to be allowed more public they snuff out any that try to do so. It is also possible Sharlayan has found information on the Ancients and are refusing to share it, Elidibus led Urianger to the Great Gubal Library to show him what he was saying is true, whether an Ascian told the author or not I can't say but the fact it was written down and in the library means Sharlayan does have knowledge of the Sundering and did not share it, so who knows what else they found.

2. Alisae and Alphanaud's father is a member of the forum (the leading body of Sharlayan) and his children have just been in a comatose state for a period of time, while out of it now, that news may not have reached him. Their father is also someone with different ideals to his children and father but doesn't begrudge them for it and allowed them to follow their own path, but he is still a father and one that did spoil his kids based on how Alisae and Alphanaud have acted in the past(Also Krile's mentions of their student days). Lastly he has a full model in the 1st Lore Book, it looks like he was meant to show up at some point but they dropped his plot point completely, a plot point that could resurface (like Tiamat).

3. All the main Scions except us and Tataru have a deep connection to Sharlayan and they played it up this patch even more than the cat girl and Apothecary.

4. The Antitower, this place alone gives a strong indication of Sharlayan as a good place to go for finishing Zodiark/Hydelyn arc. This place was the only time our body and soul meet Hydelyn and I find it highly likely Sharlayan would build a second tower after the Exodus, I mean why would you stop all research on the aetherical sea just because you went back to your main homeland, especially if your motto is Knowledge Seek No Man. Sharlayan wouldn't give up a chance to pursue further knowledge from the aetherical sea and I think it is also time to speak to Hydelyn and more importantly Venat, a second Antitower is currently the best bet of doing that.

I however do not think we will go to Sharlayan alone for an expansion, it may be split between Garlemald or maybe Thavnir.

Also they could completely clear up Garlemald in 5.4 and 5.5, it currently is the only thing we need to be worried about as characters as anything else that cause 'drama' is coming in suddenly even Sharlayan stuff is going to be an abrupt interference. 3.3 had Warriors of Darkness still lingering and Yda+Paplymo, 4.3 had ElidiZenos, 5.3 the duo(trying to keep as spoilerfree as possible), the subsequent patches were dealing with them so 5.4 and 5.5 is either going to focus on Mr. Moneybags or Mr. Dreamer or both.

I'm actually very interested what areas are going to be used going forward into 5.4 and 5.5.

[Shougun]

I'm saying moon, as that was in the ending of Heavensward, and because Yoshida said Sky, Sea, Moon a long time ago.



Now the question is there a civilization or interior to the moon? Or maybe Yoshida will actually drop another Dalamud but in the way of time travel we'll have to fix an unraveled future (ShB Part 2! lol). Zodiark is freed, moon exploded in the sky, huge parts of our shard melted lol- on the very edge of extinction at the 'end of time'. I know it's not FF but I think an end of time like zone would be pretty cool (Chrono Trigger).

It's impossible to never say something that wont come true but he tends to say something and it means something. Like how he described Blue Mage back in ARR's beta.

He told us the order of features, for sky sea and moon. (In so much he said exploring the sea, sky, and moon but he thinks sky is more classic so they'll probably do that first and guess what happened lol).

Unfortunately that timescale doesn't mean it has to be in the next expansion. But I believe he's planning to have some calamity of some sort (related and or unrelated to the moon), and we'll be going to the moon. That he said look to HW, and HW ends with the moon makes me think of his comments on that.

[EirolOcarrol]

I think the next expansion is going to be entirely Vath themed.

Final Fantasy XIV Patch 6.0: Ravana's Ravenous Return. Please look forward to it!

Also, is nobody going to mention all the talk of time travel in SHB, the apocalyptic future, and the fact there's a literal giant time traveling robot just sitting in a HW zone?
"Oh, but the Alexander raids are optional, they can't have those be part of the MSQ!" Yeah, so was the Crystal Tower.

Edit - Hah, didn't even see the OP mentioned Alex. My bad.

It is indeed one of the major things connecting Heavensward and Shadowbringers, along with the Warriors of Darkness. I definitely thought to look for some hints there.

But I can't imagine much they could do with it. Perhaps Square Enix find the shuttered, ruined timeline a loose end? The closed timeline loop of the original Alexander raids doesn't seem to leave room for much else, such as being reawakened by anyone. And there could be made some kind of exception, like with Crystal Exarch.

So that leaves travelling to G'raha Tia's old timeline. If that's even possible. It seems like a broken off and disconnected timeline, now. But anything could be possible.

Or, some kind of apocalyptic event that would necessitate a similar time travel as G'raha's ruined timeline, in a desperate attempt to survive. But there's no way that could happen, again. Because we need to be able to travel back to all previous areas, something that terrible would be seen as "cheap" to do a second time. Not only would it be really awful, and great tragedy. But it would be the second time. And completely invalidate all of the areas we've been to, unless we traveled to an identical version of the world at the time left hopping to a new one. Leaving all of the places we normally travel to, basically identical.

That seems like the least likely scenario. The timeline we exist in isn't suddenly going to be destroyed, unless they wanted to create another Realm Reborn and reboot Final Fantasy XIV again. And Final Fantasy XIV is currently at its most successful point. That would be huge risk for little reward. Or unless through some time travel shenanigans, we time travel to exactly the point the Warrior of Light left off at. That seems technically possible, and more probable. But still unlikely as I think it would cheapen time travel at this point.

The Echo gives us a way to see into the past, which is like a form of time travel. But there's no need to assume that Alexander would be involved in any way. Not only would it interfere with the time loop of Roundrox's diary. But presumably, the only thing that would be necessary to see any part of the past we like, would be mastering the Echo. Of which Alexander doesn't seem to be connected in any way.

Seeing into the past with the Echo doesn't need and doesn't seem to be boosted in any way by Alexander. And Alexander doesn't require the Echo to allow time travel in others, only a 'pure heart'.

[Seraphor]

'Moon' could be an interpretation of the First, as a satelite world to the Source.
Would need to know the connotations of the Japanese term he used, as Japanese is a context heavy language.

[Crushnight]

It was a great time snip

Mide and Dayan don't leave Alexander in the future but in the past, they become the very founders of the tribe they belonged to (like Fry from Futurama situation) , speak to Backrix in Hinterlands Watcherbook III-3, Alexander created a timeloop to ensure it's own creation and it's own imprisonment.

Alexander is a neat as it can be with time travel and bringing it back a 3rd time is asking for headaches, we're still not sure on everything from the 2nd attempt(ShB) , Time travel is just asking for issues and hope to Yoshi P we are damn done with time travel. Alexander is about the only plot point in HW I don't want to see return in a story.

[Ursa_Vonfiebryd]

Honestly, the clues are aimed at Garlemald, but this could be a bit of a red herring, as the main subject of the expansion could be elsewhere. We might actually finish off Garlemald for the most part before the next expansion, or in the early chapters of it. As to locations of interest, Sharlayan is possible, there is also Several lost empires mentioned during heavensward, we might get more Dragon content as well, plus we have a few worlds to learn about, might want to prevent their eventual rejoinings, and we should deal with the Void World.

Honestly we have a lot of work in the future, as to what they focus on, hard to tell.

Isn't Sharlayan basically the Hinterlands? That was where it was located before the calamity (thus being where Gubal Library is). I mean I'm sure they relocated somewhere, but I feel like that society has basically been scattered to the winds and taken refuge in other nations. I'm pretty sure we'll see Garlemald in the next expansion and maybe Thavnair.