How Would They Implement A "Calamity" Again?

[MilkieTea]

I've been curious, seeing some responses people have posted that say they think SE may implement another calamity, or at the very least that they hope they do ahah. So I guess my only question is how do you think they'd do this?

Would we all start at 1 again? Would we have some sort of WoW-esque level squish? Would we have the same level but different skill sets/have to learn our class over again?

I personally wouldn't mind starting from scratch, but it would suck having to relearn the classes I know/am going to know. I wonder if after EW it would be some sort of harder reboot than 1.0 to 2.0?

(As a side note, do you think they'd be better off just making a new MMO at that point and relegating XIV to the status of XI? I don't, I think XIV makes them WAY too much money for them to scratch it.)

[Malmstrom]

I just hope they don't have terrible Big Bads after the conclusion of the Hydaelyn/Zodiark story.

Kind of like Warcraft story kind of took a dive once The Lich King was defeated. You had a villain they had been building up for ages across multiple games, and then when he was finally defeated the next couple of Big Bads felt like random mcguffins to develop Horde / Alliance leaders.

Sort of like Zenos at the start of Stormblood, he's just sort of there.

[Enkidoh]

Considering what the Calamities really are in the game's lore, and given that Endwalker is winding up that original storyline, and thus SE will be taking the story in a new direction after that, using a Calamity as an excuse to wind up the game like what happened in 1.0, simply will not occur again

(Calamities are how the Ascians 'rejoin' a Shard of Hydaelyn with the Source as part of their plan to recreate the original world they inhabited which Hydaelyn split in order to break Zodiark's power.

EW's 'end times' story almost definetely will not be reflected in the greater game world other than some graphical imbellishment and battles that will be exclusively instanced, as the game world has to be consistant for new players after all. You're simply not going to see a repeat of the 'Seventh Umbral Era' events 1.0 had in it's last months as there is no reason to do so.

You have to remember that the Seventh Calamity was specifically set up gameplay wise to not only send the original game off with a bang, it was also meant to explain the changed zone maps between 1.0 and ARR. ARR has no reason to be replaced in the same way it replaced 1.0 given it's immense and continuing success.

[Bright-Flower]

I really hope they do NOT do another calamity.

I also find it highly unlikely they would. They just got through updating the ARR zones for flight and streamlining the msq in some places.

It made sense with how 1.0 went down to reset the game, but the game's going strong right now. There's no reason for them to hit the reset button again even with the current story ending in 6.0. And the ARR changes are the closest thing I think we'll get to a WoW Cataclysm.

Another calamity would only really be feasible if the current iteration of the game was failing and going to be shut down. But the game's doing well and honestly I'd rather see them make a new game than hit the reset button again here. They have three, going on four expansions worth of ocntent on top of the base game, it just wouldn't make sense.

[Reap00]

I just hope they don't have terrible Big Bads after the conclusion of the Hydaelyn/Zodiark story.

Kind of like Warcraft story kind of took a dive once The Lich King was defeated. You had a villain they had been building up for ages across multiple games, and then when he was finally defeated the next couple of Big Bads felt like random mcguffins to develop Horde / Alliance leaders.

Sort of like Zenos at the start of Stormblood, he's just sort of there.

This is a company that has been putting together some of the best rpg stories for over 30 years. You are in good hands in the future. I also look forward to all the Zenos nay sayers big turn around during Endwalker.

[MilkieTea]

ARR has no reason to be replaced in the same way it replaced 1.0 given it's immense and continuing success.

Oh trust me, I know well enough how successful XIV has become! It was just a simple question borne out of curiosity from scouring the forums the last few days. I've seen maybe 5 or 6 people mentioning that they either think or hope a calamity might happen again, I just want to see how people think it would be implemented, ahah.

[Edax]

I've been curious, seeing some responses people have posted that say they think SE may implement another calamity, or at the very least that they hope they do ahah. So I guess my only question is how do you think they'd do this?

Would we all start at 1 again? Would we have some sort of WoW-esque level squish? Would we have the same level but different skill sets/have to learn our class over again?

I personally wouldn't mind starting from scratch, but it would suck having to relearn the classes I know/am going to know. I wonder if after EW it would be some sort of harder reboot than 1.0 to 2.0?

(As a side note, do you think they'd be better off just making a new MMO at that point and relegating XIV to the status of XI? I don't, I think XIV makes them WAY too much money for them to scratch it.)

It would be funny to see a calamity recreate everything in HD. I don't mind having to relevel but I do mind seeing great glams disappear in the transition. I love my SAM glam too much to give it up and I had to sit through a lot of hours of Eureka to get it.

[MilkieTea]

This is a company that has been putting together some of the best rpg stories for over 30 years. You are in good hands in the future. I also look forward to all the Zenos nay sayers big turn around during Endwalker.

I love Zenos as a character. Villains don't have to be super complex anti-heroes with ultimate end goals to be good. (On the other hand, that doesn't make the current iteration of villains bad either!) I think we've grown to expect that good storytelling involves these elements, but some of the best hero-villain stories involve pretty black-and-white characters. Zenos is a villain because he is bored, that's his motivation - WoL provides him some measure of relief from that boredom, so most of his interactions involve some form of storytelling surrounding that - him manipulating people, him discarding his weapon for a better one, him just doing some heinous acts. He's bored and we're the meme that's made him huff under his breath a little, if not the one that made him literally LOL.

[MilkieTea]

It would be funny to see a calamity recreate everything in HD. I don't mind having to relevel but I do mind seeing great glams disappear in the transition. I love my SAM glam too much to give it up and I had to sit through a lot of hours of Eureka to get it.

BIG MOOD on the glams. I love my current MNK glam (even though it's pretty darn basic, all things considered). I'd hate to have to figure something out if the items all up and disappeared.

[MicahZerrshia]

Nah, resetting everyone's progress would be the worst decision they could possibly make and almost guarantee the death of xiv. They didn't even reset our progress from v1 to ARR, so it would make no sense to do so now. They already did say we are getting a number squish but it would only be in the numbers that are behind the scenes so to speak, not in actual power, because the numbers are getting out of control.

However, even from a story telling pov, another calamity would be weak. You could look at other games to see how it has been done. In ESO and in ffxi each and every expansion, outside of rhapsodies, was it's own separate story. Complete with its own zones, bosses, content, etc. and does not require you to complete the other expansions to access. There would occasionally be overlap where you would have to talk to an npc from a previous expac, but it was never anything that did not make sense. Just think of characters from your favorite books. They end one storyline and in the next book they start, more or less, fresh. They still retain their powers, skills, gear, etc. but they travel somewhere new and start a new adventure. You don't need to bring the world crashing down around them to start something else. Not only is that not satisfying from a narrative pov, but it is also not really a conclusion since you would still be dealing with the aftermath.

Resetting the world made sense when they went from v1 to ARR just because everything from the battle system to the map itself changed so drastically. But using a world shattering calamity to transition to a new story would make no sense and the reset of characters would upset more players and prompt them to walk away than anything else.

What I hope is that they do have new "starter zones" that people can run around in and they allow people to choose which story they want to pursue first. If nothing else it would allow new and old players to engage with one another much more easily.