Letter from the Producer LIVE Part XII (01/14/2014)

[Cutriss]

And we'll likely see new zones added too in 2.3 or maybe even in 2.2 (or some expansion of the current ones). Shiva still does not have a proper location and there's no stronghold for her beastmen tribe. If she's set to appear in a couple patches they'll have to add those in. Also worth pointing out that the Amdapori survived (alongside Nym I believe) their Umbral Era and ice was involved, maybe Shiva was too?

Yeah, there's so much of Coerthas that's missing. I haven't finished the new MSQ yet (I know, I know) but has anything been said yet about Owl's Nest? I know the fate of Falcon's Nest is kinda up in the air.

I just think it'll be really weird if they suddenly add in South/East/West Coerthas and we've been walking through it this whole time but just not stopping. I still hope those zones come back though.

I was still really expecting 2.1 to bring back Crimson Bark and Turning Leaf for Thornmarch but I guess that whole area's been nuked for good.

[Xanthe]

Yeah, there's so much of Coerthas that's missing. I haven't finished the new MSQ yet (I know, I know) but has anything been said yet about Owl's Nest? I know the fate of Falcon's Nest is kinda up in the air.

I just think it'll be really weird if they suddenly add in South/East/West Coerthas and we've been walking through it this whole time but just not stopping. I still hope those zones come back though.

I was still really expecting 2.1 to bring back Crimson Bark and Turning Leaf for Thornmarch but I guess that whole area's been nuked for good.

I think they just decided to retcon Thornmarch into the Briar Patch. It at least makes sense thematically.

[Edelweiss]

Yeah, there's so much of Coerthas that's missing. I haven't finished the new MSQ yet (I know, I know) but has anything been said yet about Owl's Nest? I know the fate of Falcon's Nest is kinda up in the air.

I just think it'll be really weird if they suddenly add in South/East/West Coerthas and we've been walking through it this whole time but just not stopping. I still hope those zones come back though.

I was still really expecting 2.1 to bring back Crimson Bark and Turning Leaf for Thornmarch but I guess that whole area's been nuked for good.

Western Coerthas is currently (gameplay and lore-wise) inaccessible, so there's no way we're travelling through there. You also happen to dig out the body of some Ishgardian's wife who was buried in the avalanche that coincided with the formation of the giant ice wall that's blocking access to the western portion. Eastern Coerthas is probably in better shape, since it's merely locked behind a fortified gate (the Griffin's Crossing, a short hop from the Observatory), but it's also in the same trans-region/zoning travel situation as Western.

[Vuitton]

We're also missing Western Shroud. It's currently blocked off.

[Alkar]

Yeah, there's so much of Coerthas that's missing. I haven't finished the new MSQ yet (I know, I know) but has anything been said yet about Owl's Nest? I know the fate of Falcon's Nest is kinda up in the air.

I just think it'll be really weird if they suddenly add in South/East/West Coerthas and we've been walking through it this whole time but just not stopping. I still hope those zones come back though.

I was still really expecting 2.1 to bring back Crimson Bark and Turning Leaf for Thornmarch but I guess that whole area's been nuked for good.

Owl's Nest is not mentioned in the new MSQs but that part should be safe and simply locked atm?

[miokomioko]

The area shown at the very end of the intro cinematic, when the title comes up, is the future area of (southern?) Coerthas between North Shroud and our current Coerthas Central Highlands. You can see the aetheric "splash" from various parts of the Black Shroud and it's illustrated here as being south of the central highlands (can you even see it on the horizon from there?).

http://www.mmochronicles.com/wp-cont..._highlands.png

[mightyg]

I mean come on guys, obviously Shiva is the cause of Ishgard freezing. Not sure if they'll give her a beastman tribe, but they do have the Gigas up there already.

[Kyte]

This is just blind speculation but maybe in 2.3 we might see one of these useless unused-yet-marked-on-map locations like The Garlok's Lair west of Costa del Sol, or one of the not-visted Castrums (probably better suited for something main story related) used as a new dungeon.

Also with Ruins added South Shroud will have 3 dungeons in one zone, tied with Coerthas.

There's another location like that in North Shroud by the Ixal Logging Grounds that's pretty obviously supposed to be the entrance to a dungeon sometime in the future.

[Cutriss]

The area shown at the very end of the intro cinematic, when the title comes up, is the future area of (southern?) Coerthas between North Shroud and our current Coerthas Central Highlands. You can see the aetheric "splash" from various parts of the Black Shroud and it's illustrated here as being south of the central highlands (can you even see it on the horizon from there?).

http://www.mmochronicles.com/wp-cont..._highlands.png

Interesting, hadn't looked back at this since launch. You can see there are four zone indicators that don't have zone lines yet, five if you include Ishgard. There's one on the road to Falcon's Nest, one north of Natalan to Eastern Coerthas, one east of the Observatorium at Griffin's Crossing, and interestingly, one NW of the Stone Vigil that seems to say "Dragon's Area", perhaps "Dragon's Aerie", but in XI that was called

竜のねぐら

.

[Abandon]

Nah, 4 walls coming to a central location. Doing enough damage to one pushes it back, but the opposite forward. They randomly go immune to damage, spawn bees, and if any hit the middle, game over!

go fuck yourself

[Seravi Edalborez]

How about, it actually spawns bees from Qarn and not gnats and I can stop telling people to fuck off for calling it the wrong mob type.

[Rocl]

that wouldn't make sense, bees are vilekin and gnats are voidsent

but i have a well documented hatred of retards who can't tell a bee from a gnat

[Seravi Edalborez]

Aren't taurus also voidsent, yet the one in Qarn summons bees? Or are they just "there"? I need hard lore evidence.

[Rocl]

Unsure of taurus classification, probably voidsent.

But the bees summoned in Qarn are dung wespes so maybe they're just bees living in the taurus' shit!!!

[Gokulo]

So he's just farting them out.

[arus2001]

go fuck yourself

Don't shoot the messenger. D:

[Niiro]

Bees don't live in shit, it would actually be more appropriate if they were gnats (I guess).

[Alkar]

I mean come on guys, obviously Shiva is the cause of Ishgard freezing. Not sure if they'll give her a beastman tribe, but they do have the Gigas up there already.

The Gigas aren't linked with Shiva, at least not the types we have in the game right now. All beastmen share elemental affinities with their own primal and the Gigas have no real link with ice (enspells, spells they cast, general abilities). On top of that their model is taken from FFXI unlike every other tribe involved in Primal summonings. They came up with a new look for the Sahagin so it's safe to assume that the tribe worshipping Shiva will have the same treatment.

[Skai]

I thought Yoshida mentioned gigas' primal is Shiva. Don't have the source at hand but I remember it was mentioned in an article or live letter.

[Rocl]

They also "officially" previewed the Ramuh fight music.

Then used it for Ultima.