Oh what a wonderful world!

[LD]

They wont make COP completion a requirement, it's already seen as too much of a road block. It's more likely that expansion zones will be links to the new areas.
I just hope they add something so people who went through the trouble of saving the fucking world get a different Cut Scene.

Spoilerish The Shikaree goodbye CS is in mhuara, the one where she tells you her name is in bibiki bay, the one after the blue rkaken fight

[Rocl]

I can still dream

and thanks I'll have to go rewatch those all someday soon

[Dohorehn]

i think i see the panama canal on that map

[Kaylia]

Ah, I was going nuts in Port Bastok looking for the NPC and not getting the CS
(I don't visist Bastok much )

And the mithra girl ( I can't remember either of her names, Shikaree Z?) going to the south is :O

One can always hope you have to complete CoP and it's final cutscenes for the next expansions so Tenzen and Mithra girl will welcome you to their homelands :\

(Or at least bypass some early missions since you already know people higher up)

It wouldn't be hard to make 2-3 introduction cutscene and proceed from there. One for people who know Tenzen and have CoP finished, another for CoP unfinished and a 3rd for people who never seen Tenzen before. After the introduction, it doesnt really matter.

[Rocl]

Ah, I was going nuts in Port Bastok looking for the NPC and not getting the CS
(I don't visist Bastok much )

And the mithra girl ( I can't remember either of her names, Shikaree Z?) going to the south is :O

One can always hope you have to complete CoP and it's final cutscenes for the next expansions so Tenzen and Mithra girl will welcome you to their homelands :\

(Or at least bypass some early missions since you already know people higher up)

It wouldn't be hard to make 2-3 introduction cutscene and proceed from there. One for people who know Tenzen and have CoP finished, another for CoP unfinished and a 3rd for people who never seen Tenzen before. After the introduction, it doesnt really matter.

Well they did it for CoP Dynamis, so we can always hope >.>

[Zilong]

Ah, I was going nuts in Port Bastok looking for the NPC and not getting the CS
(I don't visist Bastok much )

And the mithra girl ( I can't remember either of her names, Shikaree Z?) going to the south is :O

One can always hope you have to complete CoP and it's final cutscenes for the next expansions so Tenzen and Mithra girl will welcome you to their homelands :\

(Or at least bypass some early missions since you already know people higher up)

It wouldn't be hard to make 2-3 introduction cutscene and proceed from there. One for people who know Tenzen and have CoP finished, another for CoP unfinished and a 3rd for people who never seen Tenzen before. After the introduction, it doesnt really matter.

Well they did it for CoP Dynamis, so we can always hope >.>

They also have separate CS depending on progression in CoP for Diabolos fight.

I think it's 1 for 3-5, 6-4, and CoP end.

I remember seeing the dialogues extracted on the updates.

[Eldelphia]

Do you think this game will last long enough to include expanding that far? Aren't people going to want shinier graphics etc etc?

I can see one more expansion being feasible but much as I love FFXI I think if I were SE I'd be more concerned with dragging FFXI peeps to a newer MMORPG...

However they're not famous for releasing anything quickly... so who knows.

[Kaylia]

Ah, I was going nuts in Port Bastok looking for the NPC and not getting the CS
(I don't visist Bastok much )

And the mithra girl ( I can't remember either of her names, Shikaree Z?) going to the south is :O

One can always hope you have to complete CoP and it's final cutscenes for the next expansions so Tenzen and Mithra girl will welcome you to their homelands :\

(Or at least bypass some early missions since you already know people higher up)

It wouldn't be hard to make 2-3 introduction cutscene and proceed from there. One for people who know Tenzen and have CoP finished, another for CoP unfinished and a 3rd for people who never seen Tenzen before. After the introduction, it doesnt really matter.

Well they did it for CoP Dynamis, so we can always hope >.>

Yeah, dynamis/diablos, but they did that as well for ToA mission with Naja (depending of your assault rank). It can't be that hard for them to make a sequel and allow everyone to enjoy it.

In any case, leaving Tenzen story as it is would be simply evil. I thought at first ToA would be a sequel, but so far, story has absolutely no link with the rest, and plot is pretty weak. (hilarious tho)

[Trythison]

Do you think this game will last long enough to include expanding that far?

No. The map doesn't even make topographical sense. If the northlands are already enveloped in perpetual snow (near a pole) is it even feasible that an entire continent of beastmen hordes exists even farther north? Doubtful; if not, impossible. Not to mention it looks awkwardly small when compared to the other continents. Also, isn't it strange that rivers are shown on the western continent? Seems inconsistent. It would appear this whole thing is faux. What's being thrust on us here suggests an increase in the size of the game by about 3 times its current size. It would seem unlikely and impractical that, at the current pace of expansion release, SE will keep the servers active long enough to see something vaguley resembling a growth of this magnitude. I give it a few more days before one of us finds a snippet of a place that exists on the earth in that map somewhere. Gentlemen, start your GoogleEarth apps.

[Spira]

lol i think alot of the people replying still dont realise that the map was drawn by octoberasian, who explicitly said it was for point of reference..

later on in the thread, i tried to correct the scale of it for accuracy in point of reference.. but i think it does prove alot of interesting things about vana'diel.. such as future potential for expansion..

i'd logically jump at Far east being the setting of the next expansion, because its been mentioned more often than any other area out of the map in the game... after that i think that tsahya is quite likely.. so that we finally get some Manthra... lol

before that happens, hopefully we can see SE tying in the zilart/cop stories with the near east somehow (not cheesily please) as well as the fellowship mirror story..

also note that the world not necessarily has to be that much bigger because of the presense of so many 'virtual'/alternate plane places.

i hate to add to the whole wow/ffxi comparison shit.. but I've played both games before, and while ffxi is most certainly less expansive.. its more detailed and there are intricacies built into the various zones. partially due to the graphic style.. i think its also more immersive. there are zones where you can/should just turn on full gfx, music and weather and just stroll around and take in the sights. jugner is an awesome example of this. miseraux/lufaise coast too. I'm also going with the idea that the people who designed ffxi zones really understood the architectural qualities of the picturesque and the sublime. I was awe-struck when i first stepped into Tu'lia

[Everlasting]

How many big'ish MMOs have actually closed their doors and shut down the servers for everyone?

[Spira]

i think it really depends on their economic model but most of these MMOs (the large scale ones that actually boom once upon a time) will usually never fully die out because there will ultimately be people who will continue to play it till they die or something.

because of these gamers (and there are plenty), mmos will never truly die. maybe closing down of servers to condense the population.. but probably not shut down due solely on the fact that the game is past its peak.

FFXI will remain to be profit making for quite a long time i believe.. and probably has made enough for SE to cover its costs for a very long time to come... so I really don't think we'll see this one die at least.

[Dark Vincent]

Ah, I was going nuts in Port Bastok looking for the NPC and not getting the CS
(I don't visist Bastok much )

And the mithra girl ( I can't remember either of her names, Shikaree Z?) going to the south is :O

One can always hope you have to complete CoP and it's final cutscenes for the next expansions so Tenzen and Mithra girl will welcome you to their homelands :\

(Or at least bypass some early missions since you already know people higher up)

It wouldn't be hard to make 2-3 introduction cutscene and proceed from there. One for people who know Tenzen and have CoP finished, another for CoP unfinished and a 3rd for people who never seen Tenzen before. After the introduction, it doesnt really matter.

This is the most reasonable idea imo. And yeah I'm hoping for them to introduce the gdamn Far East and Mithran Homeland (more the Far East). Take the ferry from Norg (there is a NPC stating the weather for it, after all).

[Sagacious Sundi]

How does this sound:
Airship from Bastok -> Far East
Airship from Windurst -> Far South
Ferry from Selbina -> Far West
Airship from San d'Oria -> Far North

Since didn't they say they didn't want stuff from RotZ/CoP to be needed (although you can use RotZ beastmen coffer keys) to get access to ToAU? The Tenshodo in Lower Jeuno could also be involved, but it would probably be like the quest to get Aht Urhgan access.

If they do let RotZ stuff be portals to other areas, then:
Ferry/Airship from Norg -> Far East
Ferry/Airship from Kazham -> Far South
Teleport/Something From Rabao -> Far West (Airship landing in the oasis? >_>)
A Gigas ship from Qufim -> Far North

They could also add "secondary" teleports (or something) from cities from other expansions after you get far in the city's expansion and the expansion area you are going to. I can see:
Safehold/Sealion's Den -> Near East (Tavnazia + AU were close)
Norg -> Far East
Kazham -> Far South
Rabao -> Far West
Nashmau/something new -> Far North (Nashmau is up north...)

[chesh]

Ah where did that Mithra take the boat to again? Also I couldn't find the bard to replay the cutscene with Tenzen leaving. Man, I kind of wish I could do CoP all over again, I enjoyed the missions and the people I did them with. Even if all I got was a marginally decent ring (obviously I didn't get Rajas), I gained alot of new friends that stuck with me to their bitter end and a huge sense of accomplishment. With ToAU, the few of us who remain from the fabled Rocl CoP Static of Yore attempt to do what we can, and it's working, but I would very much like more challenging cotent and a much more epic storyline. Perhaps a BCNM with the 3 Beastmen Kings attacking at once I don't know. I'm generally disappointed with the story in ToAU thus far.

Fuck yes. My CoP static tried to carry over to TAU until we realized that we didn't actually need a static for it... we've kind of stayed together for Assault, but I don't think we've ever had more than three of our original members for it since the first month of TAU release.
I'd really like to redo CoP just because the story was soooo spread out for me -- I was only level 60ish when it was released, and my social was taking it all very slowly due to different levels and lack of some jobs; then when I was 75 and Sea suddenly became (sort of) worthwhile I rushed to finish it. I have some friends who are still on Promyvion but a lot of them aren't at a level where they'll be able to finish it if we static; not to mention the general difficulty of fitting a weekly commitment into a busy endgame schedule where I barely have enough time to make enough gil to keep up on food and reraise, much less piles of medicines for hard CoP fights.
I'm enjoying the TAU story, but it's nowhere near the bar set by CoP :/

[Septimus]

No. The map doesn't even make topographical sense. If the northlands are already enveloped in perpetual snow (near a pole) is it even feasible that an entire continent of beastmen hordes exists even farther north? Doubtful; if not, impossible. Not to mention it looks awkwardly small when compared to the other continents.

Actually, Fauregandi and Valdeaunia became a cold wasteland after the destruction of Fei'Yin. Before that they were climatically similar to Sarutabaruta. It was stated in official materials that the Orcs traveled south through Uleguerand Range to get to Ronfaure. (I believe it was mentioned in the Uleguerand Range map quest, but it might have been in the Vana'diel Times.)

[Khamsin]

No. The map doesn't even make topographical sense. If the northlands are already enveloped in perpetual snow (near a pole) is it even feasible that an entire continent of beastmen hordes exists even farther north? Doubtful; if not, impossible. Not to mention it looks awkwardly small when compared to the other continents.

Actually, Fauregandi and Valdeaunia became a cold wasteland after the destruction of Fei'Yin. Before that they were climatically similar to Sarutabaruta. It was stated in official materials that the Orcs traveled south through Uleguerand Range to get to Ronfaure. (I believe it was mentioned in the Uleguerand Range map quest, but it might have been in the Vana'diel Times.)

And as far as it being awkwardly small, Antarctica is awkwardly small, too.

[Therin]

No. The map doesn't even make topographical sense. If the northlands are already enveloped in perpetual snow (near a pole) is it even feasible that an entire continent of beastmen hordes exists even farther north? Doubtful; if not, impossible. Not to mention it looks awkwardly small when compared to the other continents.

Actually, Fauregandi and Valdeaunia became a cold wasteland after the destruction of Fei'Yin. Before that they were climatically similar to Sarutabaruta. It was stated in official materials that the Orcs traveled south through Uleguerand Range to get to Ronfaure. (I believe it was mentioned in the Uleguerand Range map quest, but it might have been in the Vana'diel Times.)

And as far as it being awkwardly small, Antarctica is awkwardly small, too.

Eh? Antarctica is huge, twice as large as Australia. <_<

[Khamsin]

No. The map doesn't even make topographical sense. If the northlands are already enveloped in perpetual snow (near a pole) is it even feasible that an entire continent of beastmen hordes exists even farther north? Doubtful; if not, impossible. Not to mention it looks awkwardly small when compared to the other continents.

Actually, Fauregandi and Valdeaunia became a cold wasteland after the destruction of Fei'Yin. Before that they were climatically similar to Sarutabaruta. It was stated in official materials that the Orcs traveled south through Uleguerand Range to get to Ronfaure. (I believe it was mentioned in the Uleguerand Range map quest, but it might have been in the Vana'diel Times.)

And as far as it being awkwardly small, Antarctica is awkwardly small, too.

Eh? Antarctica is huge, twice as large as Australia. <_<

Australia is small, too!

It's no less awkwardly small compared to the Americas, Asia, Africa, etc. than the Far North on that Vana'diel map is compared to Quon, Mindartia, Urghuum (or whatever the Aht Urhgan continent is), etc.

EDIT: Speaking of Aht Urhgan, why is it that the SE developers can't even spell their own empire name right? Just noticed SE made a typo in their official map in the OP. lol

[Therin]

EDIT: Speaking of Aht Urhgan, why is it that the SE developers can't even spell their own empire name right? Just noticed SE made a typo in their official map in the OP. lol

. . . . . .

Do you people read? For the 50th time, it's NOT an official map.