Thoughts about future lower stakes adventures we can have?

[Sparky_Mage]

With the goal for a bit to be lower stakes adventures (supposedly) after the end of 6.x so we can go back to being adventurers, I was wondering what sort of stories are we the community hoping to see on Ethirys and beyond.

I personally am hoping for a Hingashi expansion based on another War of Blood breaking out and all the warlords of the island vying for power. The set up is already there for Hancock to call us in to try to help one of the more moderate clans win so that the port of Kugane isn't closed forever, (somewhat reminiscent of us being wards of house Fortemps in Heavensward) and we have already seen some of the strife brewing for such an outcome with the Kugane Castle dungeon story where the merchant tries to take over the city of Kugane by hiring Yojimbo.

[Palladiamors]

We were adventures for maybe twenty levels before we got pulled into the Scions, I have no idea why people have such nostalgia for that.

For my taste, I'd like to go back to mid-sized journeys. Not world ending but not grocery runs for the local waifs either. Another aggressive tribe or country, stakes that are important for us on a local level but not some cosmic threat.

[Sani2341]

Honestly I'd love some of the scattered garlean legions (or some other new upstart Empire) to try and go conquering allies of the WoL's allies.

Make them threatening not by trying to make them even stronger than the WoL (at least lore wise, we all know there's a need for trials and dungeons) but by being a genuine threat to all the allies we are not currently with. Have the WoL essentially play a game of cat and mouse With the villains.sure we could stomp them if we caught them, but make the story about breaking their war machine and their ability to evade the WoL and the Scions so we have to work not to be stronger than X but to get the chance to smash their face in in the first place.

[Absimiliard]

I wouldn't mind some good old fashioned mercenary work. Not because the WoL is some great hero, not because they need to bail the Scions out from the consequences of their own actions for the umpteenth time, but simply because some people had need of an adventurer's services and were willing to shell out cash to get it done. Could maybe work a variant of hunt logs into the MSQ, too. Just some nice simple monster hunting for no reason other than the fact some random settlement, group of people, or rich guy is paying you to go handle business on their behalf(s).

I wouldn't mind being given a war to fight in either, but this would be under the assumption the WoL is there as a soldier and not being constantly deployed against rival factions as a walking WMD. We already know the WoL holds back in nearly all of their fights, so why not provide the opportunity for them to be a simple soldier for a while? They can bust out the super saiyan crap later on when some kind of primal or monstrosity of science inevitable gets introduced.

[Bonoki]

I just don't see how we can go back to being a simple adventurer again in a compelling and interesting way. That's how we had 4.1 dungeon and they vaguely tried with 6.1. Which missed the mark but considering that's SE's idea of being a humble adventurer again, I'd rather stick with the saving the world high stakes stuff. I just don't think in a realistic way, a person ever goes from being a beacon of hope and a legendary hero back to simple tavern quest picking up adventurer. Like we'd legit be getting ARR Titan and 2.X ARR quests all over again if we did.

[Absimiliard]

I just don't see how we can go back to being a simple adventurer again in a compelling and interesting way. That's how we had 4.1 dungeon and they vaguely tried with 6.1. Which missed the mark but considering that's SE's idea of being a humble adventurer again, I'd rather stick with the saving the world high stakes stuff. I just don't think in a realistic way, a person ever goes from being a beacon of hope and a legendary hero back to simple tavern quest picking up adventurer.

Trauma is a hell of a drug. Just about anyone who has seen combat is altered by it forever. In the WoL's case, they've been subjected to things so much worse than your average soldier wading through rivers of blood. Maybe they go back to being but a humble adventurer simply because it's what they want? At least for a while, since they probably realize there will eventually be another existential threat they have to face down. A vacation of sorts, if you will. Just not one of the Scion beach episode variety.

[Bonoki]

Trauma is a hell of a drug. Just about anyone who has seen combat is altered by it forever. In the WoL's case, they've been subjected to things so much worse than your average soldier wading through rivers of blood. Maybe they go back to being but a humble adventurer simply because it's what they want? At least for a while, since they probably realize there will eventually be another existential threat they have to face down. A vacation of sorts, if you will. Just not one of the Scion beach episode variety.

Yeah I guess my other outlook is that as long as we are going anywhere together with the other scions, we're going as heros not adventurers. If we want a real vacation, it's gotta be done kind of alone. Making our own journey.
Maybe I'm alone in thinking this way, but if I went on a vacation with my co-workers, I'd probably would feel that it's a work trip.

[Tahbitha]

You know what I want to see?

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, Reborn.

Uhh... JK! JK! Put down the pitchforks please!

(hides)

[Johners]

Square Enix are presented with a rather interesting challenge on how they top the big bad and a decade of story development. Even if there's still interesting parts of the game world left to explore, how can they do it in a way that's convincing whe nyou consider we're literally a god that has defeated all these crazy powerful characters. In any other medium that's not an MMO, Endwalker 6.0 is where a franchise ends. It's also the mistake Blizzard made with Warcraft, going to the Legion homeworld and facing off with Sargeras was the defining moment of ALL Warcraft lore (I'll ignore how they handled it) and everything after has absolutely sucked (including making up a bigger bad).

[MahthildisMMORPG]

Yeah, this is why I stopped even paying attention to the story, I just want to be a normal adventurer, not a god slayer. Sadly FFXIV is my only MMO option (only really popular mmorpg that has promising longevity, especially with active player count), being I hate the WoW community and came here as a WoW refugee. Went back to WoW for one month recently, and just decided to delete my entire Blizzard account so I won't be tempted to come back. So I'm kinda stuck with the OP Main Hero plotline, ARR is where I actually paid attention to the story, but after that, really didn't bother paying attention anymore as the story just gave me sheer boredom.

I also hated how Blizzard started to do the same thing too, "Oh hello, Mawwalker". Like I wanna create my own story for my character, not because the story insists that I'm important. But I guess Warrior of Light is kinda FF's thing, so I'll have to get over it.

Remember the Adventurers Guild? T.T