The Volcano.

[Sonic_the_Hedgehog]

All possibilities. Here's another one:
The volcano may not even erupt in it's current cone. If the volcano is hot-spot related (typical of Hawaii-style volcanos), the earth may have moved over the top of it. If so, the path of least resistance for the lava could be somewhere unsuspected like, say, Bearded Rock for example. Disaster!!!

Although having the existing formation go bang would be so much more dramatic and we must never underestimate the value of a well-designed cinematic...

I think the volcano may be hot-spot related considering there aren't any noticeable island arcs, so it's not made by convergence.

[Catapult]

I'm actually looking at the Aldernard map trying to make sense of it from a geological and climate systems perspective.

I'm having very mixed results. Now I'm probably going to end up sleeping on it... >_>

[Brightshadow]

Maybe that dragon on the ship in mor will awaken and destroy Gridania lol.

[Aravou]

Maybe that dragon on the ship in mor will awaken and destroy Gridania lol.

It seems that dragon's goose was cooked, long ago. But who knows.

I doubt that SE is going to go by the book when it comes to the Volcano, if they have it erupt. But it is interesting to speculate. La Noscea is a bit remote, when compared to the rest of the continent. An ash plume, lava, and fire from the sky would definitely put the island in peril.

But, I would wager that if they do make the Volcano active, it would be similar to the volcano in FFXI. There may be visible smoke coming from it, but that would probably be the extent it affected the surrounding areas. They might open it up as a zone of it's own. Like a dungeon. Although, it would be interesting to log in one day and see rivers of lava flowing near Camp Bloodshore.

[Mack]

From the new screenshots Yoshi released it doesn't look like they're changing anything major with the maps...its unfortunate because this game's biggest problem is the fact that the maps are so big and dull with nothing in them but camps. Every time I log into the game I think to myself, what the heck where they thinking? this couldn't have been a conscious decision, no way, they went from FFXI which was beautiful and varied from zone to zone to this pos. I can't believe it...this game was so rushed, of all the games they could've rushed they decided to rush this one.