The expansion on the horizon

[Cleretic]

We use other ships to travel from Limsa to Kugane and Sharlayan so "they're building a ship since ARR" doesn't mean too much. That unfinished ship is also mentioned in MSQ or sidequests in ARR so I don't think it will ever be finished anyway.

Fay pulling up that ship as some sort of huge plot hook is kind of a great example of how they're the sort of person who thinks every single thing MUST be some future clue, that nothing is allowed to just be a thing that's there because it's cool or makes sense. You know why there's an under-construction boat at the Moraby Drydocks? Because it's a dry dock and that's what dry docks are for! You know what happens when they finish building that boat, which probably isn't special? They build another one, and that one's probably not special either.

Not everything has to tie into some deep-seated web of mysteries hinting to the future, and not every future plan has to be teased in everything beforehand. Sometimes, a shoebill is just a shoebill.

And you don't need to unveil some 'papers on corkboards connected with string'-style conspiracy board to end on a prediction of the next expansion being in the New World or Meracydia. I agree that that's where we're going, I think most people with predictions agree, but the logic is less 'I have discovered secret hinted truths despite the developers saying there aren't any' and more 'that's a pretty ready-to-go adventure in a place we know just enough about to be interested'.

[Zero-ELEC]

Worse is, the Victory was already an integral part of the Limsa Lominsa starting quests, as part of the sahagin and Reavers' (and Black Masked Ascian's) plot to destabilise the region and kidnap thralls for Leviathan, as well as the side quests for the area. It did get used. It's might not be "just" a ship, but it already served it's purpose, plotwise.

It, like anything else in ARR areas, is now in the time bubble of "well, previous expansion areas can't get updated geometry" so even if they ever finished it in-universe, the thing is stuck there forever.

[Cleretic]

Worse is, the Victory was already an integral part of the Limsa Lominsa starting quests, as part of the sahagin and Reavers' (and Black Masked Ascian's) plot to destabilise the region and kidnap thralls for Leviathan, as well as the side quests for the area. It did get used. It's might not be "just" a ship, but it already served it's purpose, plotwise.

Yeah, this is the sort of thing that occurs to me with this sort of speculation; I didn't start in Limsa so I didn't know this stuff exactly, but a lot of these things have self-contained reasons why they're presented the way they are. If someone keeps insisting everything must be secretly planned as a plot hook for the future, they devalue the thing it actually is. The ship in the Drydocks is both a notable part of quests, and also an important way to communicate the actual purpose of the Moraby Drydocks, since... again, it's a dry dock, that's what they're for. An empty dry dock wouldn't communicate nearly as much to you, especially since dry docks aren't the most immediately identifiable thing to your average person.

Before jumping to the assumption of 'we see the entire planet from the moon, this must be a hint towards the next expansion', it's better to first consider that maybe the reason we can see the whole planet from the moon because of course you'd see the whole planet from the moon, that's the main aesthetic appeal of going to the moon.

[kaynide]

Especially since we know little to nothing about the New World. Not to mention 7.0 will likely have us hit level 99/100, which is almost always the ending level for jobs in any FF game. I've said it before and I'll continue saying it, The New World is the perfect place for them to introduce a new leveling system if they want us to continue gaining levels.

Agreed; I hope they cap at 100, then do so one other system to get better iLVL outside of actual xp grind.

Not saying it is the way to do it, but Guildwars 2 has a mastery system which unlocks other non-combat niche skills (think hang gliding/high-jumping or self resurrection out of combat). It also allows certain “buffs”, like a certain monster would near-insta kill you until you became “attuned” to its ancient magics. No ilvl boost or special gear needed.

I don’t know what FFXIV could do off hand..but surely there are alternatives to just xp grind.

[rainichan]

Agreed; I hope they cap at 100, then do so one other system to get better iLVL outside of actual xp grind.

Not saying it is the way to do it, but Guildwars 2 has a mastery system which unlocks other non-combat niche skills (think hang gliding/high-jumping or self resurrection out of combat). It also allows certain “buffs”, like a certain monster would near-insta kill you until you became “attuned” to its ancient magics. No ilvl boost or special gear needed.

I don’t know what FFXIV could do off hand..but surely there are alternatives to just xp grind.

FFXI had Merit Points at 75 (the original cap) where you grinded for Merits to dump into your stats. They raised the level cap to 99, people still grind for Merits, but now there's also Job Mastery and Job Points which... I think are similar to Merits but there's a LOT lol. Once you hit 99 you also get capped gear that is your endgame gear at i119.

I do have to wonder if we'll hit 99 or 100 and then the next area we go into, like the New World or something will make us start at like... Lv1* where we keep our abilities until then, but then they just upgrade as we hit each milestone, and then when we return to 2.0-6.0 areas, we're back to lv99 or whatnot.

[Cleretic]

If it helps what people are speculating on, Yoshi-P did confirm early this year that 7.0 will end at level 100; there was an idea of ending it at 99, but apparently decided not to.

For what happens after that, they don't seem 100% sure yet; Yoshi-P thinks continuing to just add more and more levels sounds a bit half-assed (I'm not sure I agree, I'm a proponent of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it', but I get it), but it also didn't sound like they had a better idea yet. ...which, incidentally, means that there's not exactly existing clues as to what they're going to do for us to speculate on, lore or not.

[RyuDragnier]

If it helps what people are speculating on, Yoshi-P did confirm early this year that 7.0 will end at level 100; there was an idea of ending it at 99, but apparently decided not to.

For what happens after that, they don't seem 100% sure yet; Yoshi-P thinks continuing to just add more and more levels sounds a bit half-assed (I'm not sure I agree, I'm a proponent of 'if it ain't broke don't fix it', but I get it), but it also didn't sound like they had a better idea yet. ...which, incidentally, means that there's not exactly existing clues as to what they're going to do for us to speculate on, lore or not.

I'm hoping for the new leveling system, they look towards what they introduced in Eureka and Bozja. Essentially levels that aren't levels, but DO effect how much damage you take and do to the enemies (at least in the case of Eureka). Basically make ilvl the actual indicator of power.

[Mansion]

I'm sure I'll be okay with anything. I had a bad memory of Stormblood but playing it back on NG+ made me like it just as much as the other expansions so I trust them with that.
I admit I'd just like some time with "simple" threats and plot. Endwalker just blew the proportions off for the grand finale. It just seems off to me than anything comparable would add up on top of that (which has been the problem in WoW for instance, with how bigger the scope got in Legion and/or Shadowlands, it gets hard to keep up with that).

What if a first Brood told us "help my children in Meracydia find peace" and we did just that. Or get to the New World to make bonds with people there. It doesn't have to have higher stakes to be well written and thoroughly enjoyable in my opinion.

[Alleluia]

Fay pulling up that ship as some sort of huge plot hook is kind of a great example of how they're the sort of person who thinks every single thing MUST be some future clue, that nothing is allowed to just be a thing that's there because it's cool or makes sense. You know why there's an under-construction boat at the Moraby Drydocks? Because it's a dry dock and that's what dry docks are for! You know what happens when they finish building that boat, which probably isn't special? They build another one, and that one's probably not special either.

I'm not arguing a drydock can't just be a drydock, but I do want to point out that the particular boat *is* supposed to be special.

Worse is, the Victory was already an integral part of the Limsa Lominsa starting quests, as part of the sahagin and Reavers' (and Black Masked Ascian's) plot to destabilize the region and kidnap thralls for Leviathan, as well as the side quests for the area. It did get used. It's might not be "just" a ship, but it already served it's purpose, plotwise.

It, like anything else in ARR areas, is now in the time bubble of "well, previous expansion areas can't get updated geometry" so even if they ever finished it in-universe, the thing is stuck there forever.

I don't understand why they couldn't update the Victory not being in dry dock? Just put an invisible wall around it so you can't land on it and voila, you can phase tech it as needed?


My wild speculation is that Golbez is planning on connecting the 13th with the source in a bid to allow his people access to a life stream that actually lets them die, and also aether to sustain themselves. He's gonna succeed, creating a stronger void presence either in Eorzea or, more likely, on one of the unvisited continents. I'd prefer the New World, cus I want Tiamat's brood to catch a dang break. lol But yeah, we'll be dealing with that.

But, given the history of set up in patch storylines not really paying off until at least two expansions after they happen, I could see the above being 8.0 as well. We can stick to a mundane threat/exploration expac for 7.0, for all I care. But I don't think we're gonna have that, with Yoshi-P hinting that the end of the patch storyline is gonna be just as much of a paradigm shift as the 7th Umbral Calamity was, story-wise.

Other off the wall speculation: Who knows, we might get (more) aliens. That message Omega received at the end of EW's nostalgia questline implied there was at least one more species still alive out there. Or there had been at some point, anyway.

[SannaR]

The only way I could see them phasing the Victory out and doing a Timat type thing is if we had to use it as the way to get to the New World.