Quote Originally Posted by KageTokage View Post
I'm honestly not expecting this whole "void" story arc to last past 6.3 and think it's mostly just there remind us that the 13th is a thing that should probably be dealt with in lasting capacity at some point.

It feels a bit soon to have shard-hopping be the crux of another expansion and think we'll most likely end up building up to a journey to Ilsabard or Meracydia after the business with Azdaja and Zenos' avatar is finished.
Yep, obviously it has to be this way because of the completely fixed patterns of how they release content. Patches cannot have new outdoor exploration areas, so they can't take us to another continent or to the rest of Ilsabard or Othard, etc. The 13th is easy to confine to trials and dungeons since the whole thing is just a hostile wasteland, and then have it all be wrapped up before the next expansion can have whole new areas.

And though they said it wouldn't continue the same main story directly, your guess would be spot-on with their previous patterns - follow-ups for the first three patches, then two that act as a prelude to the expansion.