Post Dawntrail Vibes – Future expansion ideas?

[savarna]

Hey guys,

I know things have been a bit rough for the game lately. It’s definitely seen better days, but I still think it’s good for us to share feedback, as long as it’s constructive and not just tearing things down or spitting venom sideways. Whether it’s about jobs, systems, or content structure, discussion helps. But I also wanted to throw out a more fun topic:

Now that Dawntrail is behind us, what do you think the next expansion could be about?

Personally, I’ve always been into Heavensward lore, dragons just hit the right fantasy vibes. It had a great mix of heroism (a bit cliche at times lol), sacrifice, and chivalry, and it was all decently done. Ever since then, I’ve been kind of low-key obsessed with the idea of going to Meracydia. There’s still that little thread with Midgardsormr that never really got explored, and it left that lingering “what if.” What if we could pick up that story again? Or what if we got to see what the world was like when he first came to Eorzea? Yoshi P even hinted at the possibility of time travel, probably he was not being serious lol but hey, who knows? What other civilizations existed back then? Were there magic based kingdoms? What happened to them?

Sure, the Allagans were around, and we’ve seen plenty of them, but I really liked how Shadowbringers handled the Ronkan Empire lore. Yeah, it was on the First, but it was refreshing to see an ancient civilization that wasn’t just another demented bunch trying to conquer everything. It felt different, and I’d love more of that kind of storytelling.

Honestly, I’d be all for an expansion that leans more into classic Final Fantasy themes, magic, floating continents, lost civilizations, more dragons ofc, the whole deal. It feels like it’d be a great way to reconnect with the series in an old school fashion.

Anyway, just wanted to share my thoughts. What about you? Any guesses or hopes for where we might go next?

Please keep it civil down there!

[Haru304]

Without spitting venom... urggh.

Well. I'd be on board with Meracydia, though we know so little of it that it's hard to feel hyped.

I'd also have been interested in a Void themed expansion, what with all of the world building it had, but I feel like Endwalker post-patch already cashed in on it. Similar thing happened when I imagined a 'Fall of Empire' sort've expansion around five years ago.

At this point, I'd be interested in just being isekai'd to a fresh shard where nobody knows the WoL, with a whole new set of rules to play by, with fresh world building all around. Maybe some new and interesting characters, along with some major repercussions for the Source. No Scions. Just, a dedication to building some new characters. Shadowbringers 2.0 but, hopefully, even better. I'd just, honestly, regardless of where we end up, want a place where I actually care about even the background characters.

[AntoniusQuil]

I think that with some new suspicious group interested in interdimensional travel, a journey to a new reflection isn’t out of question. Although personally I would definitely prefere something set on Eitherys, maybe a trip to Meracydia or Hingashi?

[Ath192]

The nicest thing I can say is I don't really think about it anymore so as to not be disappointed. Hopefully a departure of the redundant formula and approach to releases that has been stagnating the game for years. I would like to see Meracydia, we don't have Egyptian theming and its close-ish to it.

[Khryseis_Astra]

I definitely want to go to Meracydia… I wouldn’t mind some shard travel later on in the new arc, however long it goes. But much as ShB was my favorite expansion, I want to explore some of the interesting areas we haven’t gone to on Etheirys first.

Overall, even though the DT story got more interesting to me after Alexandria (mostly because of the Krile stuff I had been waiting for!), I’m getting kinda tired of the ultra high-tech vibe. I want another dragon expansion… I know the Allagans had their own advanced tech, but I want to get back to a more fantasy feel for awhile, and dragons will always pull me in. I hope as we explore the key more, it delves into a more magic & mysticism feel. Occult Crescent is giving that a little, but it’s not as story-heavy as the regular MSQ, and I have other issues with that content.

[savarna]

I definitely want to go to Meracydia… I wouldn’t mind some shard travel later on in the new arc, however long it goes. But much as ShB was my favorite expansion, I want to explore some of the interesting areas we haven’t gone to on Etheirys first.

Overall, even though the DT story got more interesting to me after Alexandria (mostly because of the Krile stuff I had been waiting for!), I’m getting kinda tired of the ultra high-tech vibe. I want another dragon expansion… I know the Allagans had their own advanced tech, but I want to get back to a more fantasy feel for awhile, and dragons will always pull me in. I hope as we explore the key more, it delves into a more magic & mysticism feel. Occult Crescent is giving that a little, but it’s not as story-heavy as the regular MSQ, and I have other issues with that content.

I agree, I think we could benefit from a fresh air of 'Fantasy'. Dragons in fact are a perfect fit for the theme, I have always felt fascinated by Midgardsormr's lore and I strongly believe SE can pull it off with the same level of MSQ execution like they did with Shadowbringers.

[CidHeiral]

Meracydia seems like the obvious choice, but that could also be why they end up sending us elsewhere. They like to throw a curveball now and then.

[Shinku_Tachi]

Hey guys,

I know things have been a bit rough for the game lately. It’s definitely seen better days, but I still think it’s good for us to share feedback, as long as it’s constructive and not just tearing things down or spitting venom sideways. Whether it’s about jobs, systems, or content structure, discussion helps. But I also wanted to throw out a more fun topic:

Now that Dawntrail is behind us, what do you think the next expansion could be about?

Personally, I’ve always been into Heavensward lore, dragons just hit the right fantasy vibes. It had a great mix of heroism (a bit cliche at times lol), sacrifice, and chivalry, and it was all decently done. Ever since then, I’ve been kind of low-key obsessed with the idea of going to Meracydia. There’s still that little thread with Midgardsormr that never really got explored, and it left that lingering “what if.” What if we could pick up that story again? Or what if we got to see what the world was like when he first came to Eorzea? Yoshi P even hinted at the possibility of time travel, probably he was not being serious lol but hey, who knows? What other civilizations existed back then? Were there magic based kingdoms? What happened to them?

Sure, the Allagans were around, and we’ve seen plenty of them, but I really liked how Shadowbringers handled the Ronkan Empire lore. Yeah, it was on the First, but it was refreshing to see an ancient civilization that wasn’t just another demented bunch trying to conquer everything. It felt different, and I’d love more of that kind of storytelling.

Honestly, I’d be all for an expansion that leans more into classic Final Fantasy themes, magic, floating continents, lost civilizations, more dragons ofc, the whole deal. It feels like it’d be a great way to reconnect with the series in an old school fashion.

Anyway, just wanted to share my thoughts. What about you? Any guesses or hopes for where we might go next?

Please keep it civil down there!

I sincerely hope they throw us a curveball and put Meracydia off.

Either sending us to a far away planet in The Source's universe or to another one of The Source's reflections.

They can still pull off what you're asking going that route as well, which I'd be totally cool with.

Heavensward is my all time favorite expansion, closely followed by Shadowbringers. So I'm hoping they'll pull off something with that level of passion, love, and quality.

That said, FFXIV getting it's own Wings of the Goddess type expansion would be cool to. I wouldn't mind getting to visit and save the distant past from FFXIV's own version of Reverse Flash or something, thereby saving the present and preserving the future.

[savarna]

I sincerely hope they throw us a curveball and put Meracydia off.

Either sending us to a far away planet in The Source's universe or to another one of The Source's reflections.

They can still pull off what you're asking going that route as well, which I'd be totally cool with.

Heavensward is my all time favorite expansion, closely followed by Shadowbringers. So I'm hoping they'll pull off something with that level of passion, love, and quality.

That said, FFXIV getting it's own Wings of the Goddess type expansion would be cool to. I wouldn't mind getting to visit and save the distant past from FFXIV's own version of Reverse Flash or something, thereby saving the present and preserving the future.

I like this! I wouldn’t mind the time travel aspect, I just think WoTG in FFXI was kind of a mess and not the best example to go by for both, in terms of lore and content. I remember running around on empty maps with background battles for hours, feeling like a headless chicken given the lack luster lore and so little to do. The maps were not memorable nor held replay value other than for a few NMs. They tried to fix it later, but ended up overdoing it, overwhelming us with too much content across the board, which just made the whole thing even harder to follow. This was my cue to put FFXI to rest at the time.

Hopefully, FFXIV Devs can learn from that if they ever go in a similar direction.

[Shinku_Tachi]

I like this! I wouldn’t mind the time travel aspect, I just think WoTG in FFXI was kind of a mess and not the best example to go by for both, in terms of lore and content. I remember running around on empty maps with background battles for hours, feeling like a headless chicken given the lack luster lore and so little to do. The maps were not memorable nor held replay value other than for a few NMs. They tried to fix it later, but ended up overdoing it, overwhelming us with too much content across the board, which just made the whole thing even harder to follow. This was my cue to put FFXI to rest at the time.

Hopefully, FFXIV Devs can learn from that if they ever go in a similar direction.

Aye, I'll concede to that you're 100% right. A whole mess, and also released while only being half finished, lol. It's just the only MMO thing I could think of similar to what was was trying to describe. If they do time travel with FF14, I feel like going into the far distant past would be better than just 20 years (like WotG), especially after

we opened 2.0 leaping forward 5 years

.