FFXIV's Echoes of Vana'diel Raid - My Thoughts & Predictions

[@SmugJay]

I can't wait for the first boss to be PlayOnline.

[@tiraud105]

Underrated comment😂

[@crissaegrim9921]

I really think it's going to be a long lost civilization rather than a shard. We already have Reisenjima and Alzadaal as existing locations on the Source, and the FFXI race minions we have all refer to them as "possible (but improbable) ancestor of the X" in their respective texts.

[@DerWaffel]

Shantotto showed up at one point from (if I'm remembering correctly) "a distant world". There's a third option there as well - it's unlikely, but Vana'diel could be an entirely different star. I wouldn't put money on that one due to the similarities between playable races, but the XI races are definitely not direct copies with different racial names like we see on the First.

[@dianauwu1312]

We're on a new continent, so it's entirely possible.

[@BlakeAustin2011]

I wish this was the exploration arena. It would be awesome to explore Selbina and the Dunes, Zi’Tah, Sky, and other areas. Also, Gustaburg is also an iconic musical item as it’s already been orchestrated.

[@Krescentwolf]

Far as OG tracks go...Vana'diel March, one of the og battle tracks, and some version of Memoro de la Stono are a given.

[@TorManiak]

They could pull a Bozja on this and make an exploratory content a few expansions down the line based on this alliance raid series though. Not like it _has_ to be done, but there's enough material for it, even if we don't know what will happen in it yet. We could get some hidden hooks the same way Ivalice got a teaser for Bozja with the Garlean Empire studying Construct 7 at the end of the raid series cutscenes.

[@HidingFromJessica]

I get ptsd even thinking of valkurm in the early days lol

[@shawnscouten5184]

I mean considering 11 is the inspiration for 14s field zones, it would be weird if they didn’t do an 11 based one at some point.

[@awtodor]

Give us Tavnazia Archepelegio with the music

[@Kuraerisu]

UNLOCKING THE RAID: Step 1: Walk to the raid location in real time, including any boat and airship travel Step 2: /shout to get 23 other people for the alliance Step 3: Make sure someone has that one item to make the boss vulnerable to damage Step 3a: Item only drops after killing mobs in the overworld, drop rate is 0.5%

[@bphbph2k3]

Now THIS would be a true tribute to 11. I actually wouldn’t mind something kind of like this.

[@hippopotatomoose]

Everyone is level 10 in the Dunes and the first boss is Valkurm Emperor.

[@horaciohernandez2850]

@@hippopotatomoose I was always more terrified of the roaming Bogies, to be honest.

[@Tzimisce]

@LefeinNoel Pop items are so newfangled though.

[@tenormartin277]

What? No ???

[@hippopotatomoose]

The tribute to XI is going to be Dunes, Sea, Sky, Promys, and catching 10,000 carp.

[@GmanMoose]

I can see them bringing the yagudo, quadav, and orc superbosses in for the first raid tier. They are iconic, and the battle team can probably do some fun things with them.

[@EmmaEmbla]

Honestly what I am most excited about is the potential return of EVEN MOAR XI GEAR!!! I absolutely love the gear design in XI and there are still lots of them that haven't made it to XIV that could look really good here.

[@Malacite]

My money is on Koenig armor for tanks, which would be awesome. I miss that set. What'd be absolutely sick is if we can get all the Empyrean Armor from Abyssea. Those designs were amazing

[@NajaSide]

I would adore if we basically got the XI equivalent of job artifact gear. I know that they're distributed by role, which might make doing that a bit tough, but maybe having the three different tiers will help with that a bit.

[@EmmaEmbla]

@@Malacite well! I highly doubt Koenig is going to be a part of it since we got that as a crafted set for tanks back in ARR, it's named Wootz here and maiming got Ares that same patch

[@Malacite]

@@EmmaEmbla huh, weird I don't remember that at all :O

[@EmmaEmbla]

@@NajaSide Yeah as much as I would love all the JSE especially the relic RDM it's probably more likely for us to get more general things

[@paradoxicaldragon]

Another route they could go down is a similar to one to the FFXI events in FFXIV: taking advantage of the timey-wimey shenanigans that come with the involvement of Iroha. Echoes of Vana'diel might be a more fully-fledged story than those FATE events, where we are guided by Iroha to vanquish various foes in a bid to combat the Emptiness. There might be some interesting cheeky nods in continuing that acknowledgement where Iroha, for some reason, "feels" as though the XIV player character is reminiscent of her master/teacher (the XI player character. It's cool because this is a nod to the one behind these player characters, *us*, the player). This also means that it would be "easy" to explain why we explore such a diverse range of FFXI locations. What I have in mind here is if CBU3 goes down the route of each alliance raid being a focused exploration of 1-2 expansions. E.g. Alliance raid #1 is base and Rise of Zilart, #2 is Chains of Promathia, #3 is Treasures of Aht Urhgan, or something like that. I am not saying I necessarily prefer this over a more in-XIV contextualisation, such as taking inspiration from Vana'diel to tell us a story about an old, lost civilisation. As others here have mentioned, I think going down the in-XIV history route has a benefit of providing some context behind why we see the existing XI references in XIV (Reisenjima, some enemies, etc.). A route like this would carry greater narrative justification, I think. To give another example, I am quite a big fan of how the FFVIII references in Shadowbringers was handled. It referenced the old *and* gave those who played FFVIII something new by way of XIV's reinterpretation. Additionally, at no point did the story or battles *depend* on the references; those who did not know VIII did not get anything narratively incomplete. I think one funny little thing they could do is add a little reference to the completion of Echoes of Vana'diel in future FFXI x FFXIV events. That is, Iroha will maybe say something based on whether a player has finished the alliance raids or not. Would be a cheeky reference to a reference, from a reference! As for music, I am moderately confident that we will hear Vana'diel March #1 in some way. It's so incredibly iconic, and it captures the heart of *any* FFXI player that hears it. It is also such an immediate track - as a player would only needed to have gone as far as the title screen to have heard it. Any time I hear that motif, it's like it pierces all the way to my soul. It is quite interesting that you had a similar-ish problem to me. While I did scream my ass off at Fan Fest when hearing the news, when I was later asked by my friends on who I thought would appear, where we would go or what we would hear in the raids - I also didn't find it terribly easy to come up with very quick, straightforward answers. There is a lot to choose from. Additionally, some of the reasons why the bosses, locations or music hold such importance to us XI players is because of our *lived experiences* of them. It's hard to convey how iconic Alexander and Ragnarok is without knowing how much of a spectacle Alexander was for FFXI at the time, for example. I think there's a lot of potential, and I am really excited to see what takes place. I'd also find it really cool if Naoshi Mizuta was brought on to collaborate with Masayoshi Soken for the music. Would love to know what they can cook up together!

[@BeauxPhades]

What really want out of this alliance raid is us sending Iroha home. If they make that crossover permanently open as an intro and setup, it could involve us and Iroha trying to start the events of Rhapsodies and accidentally going to the wrong points in time repeatedly.

[@TomRupert]

That's a smart idea!!!

[@rhaganadoomslayer]

"Dynamis isn't just a form of energy, it's also a place!" *Every ffxi player gets war flashbacks*

[@Tzimisce]

I'd love to see a raid in a Promyvion zone, but I agree ZM or CoP are the best places to pull story from.

[@Corey_82]

I used to go to bed with my character idle in the sanctuary of Zi’Tah to fall asleep to the music. Absolutely one of the best tracks in the game.

[@HidingFromJessica]

Agreed

[@Titanxzero1]

Something like what they did with the Ivalice raids where they were incorporated in XIV's world.

[@troikas3353]

I think it'd be funny if the raid gave us Duty abilities with the 2hr's from XI for the associated class. Ninjas randomly exploding and being surprised it kills them, white mages with a full heal that catapults them to the top of the threat list with nearly impossibility to get it off them, dragoons being confused about why they suddenly have a pokemon. The thought just amuses me. Also I don't think bosses need to actually be bosses. Like it'd be hilarious if the first "boss" was actually the Valkurm Dunes ferry ride with a pirate attack and a subsequent Sea Horror spawn.

[@NajaSide]

For music, I would almost be shocked if they didn't have some rendition of Memoro de la Stono. I'm not wholly familiar or intimate with XI personally, but the greatest and first exposure to the game I had was through Distant Worlds, where that song was played- it was even the performance that brought Uematsu to bring on Susan Calloway to sing Answers -and I know that the game is absolutely chock full of many, many versions of the track.

[@Dubh13]

I can see Tenzen being in it since they already talked about him in the 4 Lord quest line. Kam and Eld should def be in there. Also I could see Overlord Bakgodek, Za'Dha Adamantking, and Tzee Xicu the Manifest

[@Krysta1Rose]

If they add Tenzen it could lead to time travelling Shenanigans. Or if it's another shard it could be that world's version

[@JinzoMask656]

I just want the Rune Fencer job. I really liked its gameplay mechanics. For a boss I'd like to see Shadow Lord as main antagonist

[@Tzimisce]

The FFXIV implementation of DRK is basically as close to RUN as you're likely going to get, given the lack of the elemental wheel.

[@JinzoMask656]

@Tzimisce yeah but DRK imo feels horrible. I mean with RUN they could make it so it's a melee physical / rng magic dps hybrid. Although impractical I know, but something I'd still wish for

[@Sandberry]

That's just Red Mage again@@JinzoMask656

[@JinzoMask656]

@Sandberry Yes and no, rdm primarily stays range and has a melee phase. RUN can be the opposite with it being mostly melee and then it's burst phase being rng. Each rune used gets qued like NIN, then you spend it to create different abilities.

[@Tzimisce]

@JinzoMask656 RUN (from what I remember) was never at range though, just did magic stuff while still in melee. And while thematically it might be different, mechanically it probably wouldn't be much different than RPR.

[@Riposte8]

If Shadow Lord shows up, I bet Zeid as a Roe show ups as well. It could even be a Talekeeper themed story, like the most recent FFXI's 'mini expansion'. If Zeid is a legit Galka or there is some other Galka, it would be funny if he met a female Roe and experienced some kind of horror / disgust / confusion.

[@MinatoFujimiya]

In the same vain for us cat boys meeting mithra’s and getting swarmed

[@xierotron]

Who else when they announced FFXI before saying alliance raid was hoping they said "FFXi is coming to PS4/5, Xbox and Steam (if it isnt already, i play console) and will be included in your FFXIV sub" or even FFXi classic

[@IntegrityGames]

There's references to the Automatons from FFXI in XIV, I forget where.

[@HiroesX81]

If you make an ff11 story summary and lore video Ill watch it

[@Steve-YT383]

Echoes makes me feel like a previous Astral/Umbral era. Loved FFXI. Made it through Wings of the Goddess.

[@QuixoteX]

The thing is the shards of FFXIV are particular to FFXIV, there is little indication that they are specific universes we see in other games. Just some might be very similar. However, there is some travel between FF universes. (Iroha is still wandering around) Those would be outside the 14 shards of FFXIV. FFXIV is it's own sorta self contain multiverse, and then most of the other games are separate universes/ possible multiverses.

[@ToastyCoyote]

Sanctuary of Zi’tah is a fun song, I play it on BRD sometimes. I should practice it some more. If Vana’deil is something from a past astral era I think that would be better. If incorporated well ofc.

[@user-qj5iw4pp9r]

I'm guessing the easiest way to explain the raid would be to treat it like they've done with FF cross-over events. Iroha or Shantotto come back and we get glimpses of their world (perhaps via the echo). That way it isn't a shard or part of Hydaelyn, it's simply another dimension. I also wonder if they'll do Dynamis, Sky, and Sea. You could cover a lot of the story up to and including CoP if you featured those. First raid is going through the city states fighting beastmen, ending with Dynamis Lord (a way to cover the base game by showing the alternate history where the Shadow Lord won). Second raid is exploring the history of the Zilart and Kuluu leading up to Tu'Lia. Third raid is working our way through Promyvion, Tavnazia, and Al'Taieu. Should be fun! I'm predicting we'll have Matsui as a special guest at JP Fan Fest for more info.

[@silvinity4939]

If they tie it in with the crossover events already in the game though then that makes the entire raid become non-canon to the rest of the story. I would much rather have it be something like Ivalice or crystal tower.

[@darschpugs4690]

Matsui retired from producing XI march of 2023, his previous work fo SE include Final Fantasy XI 2002 Battle Data Designer Final Fantasy XI: Rise of the Zilart 2003 Battle Data Designer Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia 2004 Main Battle System Designer Final Fantasy XI: Treasures of Aht Urhgan 2006 Main Battle System Designer Final Fantasy XI: Wings of the Goddess 2007 Main Battle System Designer Final Fantasy XIV 2010 Lead Battle Planner/Battle System Director Final Fantasy XI: Seekers of Adoulin 2013 Producer Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn 2013 Battle System Director (2.0) Final Fantasy XIV: Heavensward 2015 Special Thanks Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood 2017 Special Thanks Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers 2019 Special Thanks Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker 2021 Special Thanks I can totally see them bringing him on stage and revealing he is the lead designer of the new raid. I honestly can't think of a better person to do it.

[@daichan7771]

Get better soon MrHappy ❤️♥️♾️

[@HiroesX81]

First area we port into is Valkurn dunes calling it now. Its the only way to start an ff11 raid

[@awtodor]

Yeah or possibly an omage to the 3 cities in Tavnazia opening cs

[@KyrenXIV]

Personal theories from someone who played XI from release to Wings of the Goddess! 1. If it ends up being a shard, I'd be 100% fine with that. After all, San d'Oria is where Ishgard would be, Bastok is where Ul'dah would be, Norg is around where Limsa would be. It vaguely lines up the same way the first did. I'd actually be more disappointed if Vana'diel ends up being part of XIV's history, because at some point I wouldn't mind a time travel expansion to see what was going on with the War of the Magi. 2. In terms of NPCs, we're almost certainly looking at Shantotto and maybe/probably Prishe since they have Dissidia recognition. Iroha would also be on the table since she was part of the previous FFXI crossover event we got. 3. Aht Urhgan would actually line up, to a degree, since that also had a Mamool Ja faction. It'd be pretty fun to see them bring in a form of Besieged and have random raids on the city. 4. I'd realllllly love if the raids were some form of Promyvion, Sky, & Sea. Dynamis would also be cool, but that might get a little confusing lore-wise since we just established Dynamis as something completely different in XIV.

[@VentusxBBSxSpero]

I don't know much about FF11, but I do hope Prishe features prominently. She was my main in Dissidia 012 and I love her sass.

[@Mrhappy1227]

She is indeed a fan favorite

[@lolRNG]

She was a badass in FFXI as well.

[@Jozaros]

I doubt it will be a shard because FF11 lore wouldn't make sense if they go that route. What makes sense is Etheirys being a copy of Vana'diel since their is multiverses of Vana'diel, and some of those Vana'diels have different names like Abyssea Vana'diel or Tartarus Vana'diel, a world that is in darkness and where Balamor is from. Also, Ra'kaznar is not all explained since it is not ancient Zilart technology or might be Olduum technology but same technology as Electrope. I'm not sure if Olduum is older than Zilart era, but what I know Ra'kaznar is old and was there before the founder king August arrived. That lore wasn't explained or finished and it does resembles Solution 9 zone but low on power since the Ra'kaznar stone needs electricity to function.

[@IceRuler]

I believe... that the raid is going to be some sort of ruin, because there's the word "echoes" and WoL is going to get a lot of visions there telling the story, except this time the Echo is actually very real and WoL is forced to fight through the vision. Also, I think we'll actually going to get the lore behind job crystals. I'm also reminded that there used to be a FF11 collab involving Shantotto, though that will most likely not tell anything or anything like that, though I will be VERY disappointed if we're not going to fight Shantotto. Would feel like a missed opportunity.

[@kgjung2310]

The ultimate boss will be trying to find a party at Valkrum Dunes.........as a THF. Next will be getting through the various genkai level breaks and battling Maat for his cap. It would be pretty cool if we got a version of Divine Might and an uber earring as an award.

[@MrPetpet111]

I kind of can see Arch Angel being a thing with Viper having an identical stance as Arch Angel HM.

[@willsword8100]

So here is the thing, Across FFXIV We've gotten FFXI, FFXIII, FFXV, and FFXVI as crossovers which could make them work as shards, just fastly different. Vana'diel, Pulse, Eos, Valisthea all with a FFXIV Flair would work. Given how the Thirteenth is an homage to FFIV it could happen. However The Fourth, Eighth, Ninth, and Eleventh shards remain unventured as presently so who knows what will happen.

[@Adramelk]

My Only hope would be this, that they add music from Dynamis

[@dogwithsunglasses4051]

My guess its maybe something like that a Major NPC from 11 takes hold into the body of somebody we knew, akin to what happend with Shantotto and the Blackmage Quest, and they explain that for some reason a part of Vanadiel reappeared on our world. Each tier, another iconic part of vanadiel appears, commulating at the End to maybe the goddess in their attempt to bring her World back

[@Horstveratu]

t1 a streamlined dynamis xarabad with DL as the last boss and beastman leaders as sub bosses. t2 streamlined sky t3 steamlined sea/limbus mix with the 3 kings as bosses

[@1Mrstephen]

Hope your cold passes quickly. Thank you for the video.

[@qbee3642]

I'm just ready for all the orchestrion rolls they can give us! I hope it's even more than nier... And if Soken can cook up some fusion mash-up then it may automatically be my favorite AR. Also they should make the mechs more group oriented. Not too many people were thrilled about how easy, slow paced and simple Myths of the Realm is

[@wintorz01]

As a person who's never played 11, I can say I would be 100% more excited to face all the bosses you suggested would be good or likely to be included, and would have very diminishing interests in facing bosses already in XIV. Eden was done really well, so I'm not totally against the concept. But its still to fresh for me, and theres all kinds of other 'throwback' bosses (like Themis) that, I would like to add new bosses to XIV's lore than revisit the old ones. I would also love it to be an exploration of ancient history, or even just history of somewhere thats not Eorzea, but I'm not so married to that, that I would feel disappointed if it isn't. Just so long as its well written, and its structure isn't just 'big contrived lore dump at the end of the series.'

[@marcvongeldern847]

I am most likely WAY off base because my FFXIV prediction ability is batting about a .012 at this point, but here’s how I see the XI raids going… 7.1 will be the first one in which we venture into Dynamis San’d’Oria/Windurst/Bastok, doing battle with big ol’ Orc/Yagudo/Quadav bosses, before we’re transported to Xarcabard to battle the Shadow Lord. Patch 7.3 will have us battling Kam’lanaut and Eld’narche in various forms across the 4 battles within Dynamis-Jeuno. Finally 7.5 will send us through Zi’tah (We’ll fight some kind of guardian there, maybe a giant golem or doll? I doubt they’d have us fight the four lords…), up to Sky where we fight the Archangels in… some order. That’s my best guess, anyway! And it’s probably WAY off! Things I’m sure they won’t do… Abyssea, Addon Packs, content after Chains (ToAU, WotG, or SoA). I agree that I don’t want Vana’diel to just be a reflection. Even one that’s already been rejoined. The name “Echoes” makes me think that it’s a rejoined shard though, and there’s always that final quote from Emet: “Some of the civilizations in the reflections might surprise you!” And we’d sure be surprised if one of those civilizations was Vana’diel… as much as I don’t actually want it to be. XD We’ll see!

[@wilddragonchase]

i wonder if they'll go for more of the story route (Crystal War, RotZ, CoP story beats) or more of the homage route, which would be more showcasing things that players kinda memed about FFXI over the years. the Iroha event did quite a few of the latter, getting you to kill scorpions and crabs and all, but i expect to see some more nods that way. if they do more story, then i'd expect to see Ark Angels, Shadow Lord and Promathia in there.. and if they do more homage, then i'd hope to see Maat, Fafnir (with a telegraphed aoe where only the feet are safe zones) and a full Colossal Shantotto fight with voice acting for Ohohohohoho. for locations, definitely wanna see the iconic ones like starter cities, Jeuno, Sky and Sea. i think if we're lucky we might even get to go to the Tavnazian Marquisate. Shantotto and Kamlanaut will almost definitely appear in some form given that they both have Dissidia NT models.

[@cosmosofinfinity]

How about a piece of gear that gives Roegadyns a Galka tail?

[@andrewan1225]

Just give roe galka tails in 14 so they arent just Human But Big

[@Crusina]

I have never once heard of anyone say that place is a shard.

[@queenhecate8975]

I played on FFXIV. Named Zeldapower/Lucass. ❤.

[@Nalehw]

100% agree that XI shouldn't simply be one of XIV's shards. Back in HW I was perfectly happy with the idea that the other games in the FF franchise were the shards, but not anymore, not with how the concept has evolved. The shards are... well... shards. Fragmented echoes. The Source is held up as this unique world, more central than the others, with more aether than the others. So saying "this other game is a shard of ours" feels like it's denigrating the other game. It's far more respectful to take Vana'diel's concepts and _remix_ them to stand as a fully-fledged part of the XIV setting. Or alternatively, if you really truly want the WoL to travel to Vana'diel proper and tie the two games together into a single multiverse... do some sort of dimensional travel "beyond the shards" to an entirely new world. (Ideally involving that character from the crossover quest a little while ago!)

[@WilliamTheWatchful]

I hope that I'll enjoy the Alliance Raids despite my near-zero lack of knowledge about XI. I'll be glad if the FFXI fans enjoy it, but I cannot help but hope there won't be too many times I tell myself "I don't get it. Guess I had to be there.". Look, gimme some good glams, and I'll be all up for it.

[@garozulan3081]

To me, someone who didn't play FF11 and just know them from FFBE, all I want is for Shadow Lord to be the final boss of the first raid and I'll be sastified. His design is just so cool to me, if the free trial of ff11 is as generous as half of ff14's, I would have play it too just to fight him.

[@TheDarkThunder]

The Source should be a shard of FFXI. SE should make it a cs where we meet our main on FFXI.

[@craigwilde2162]

With reference to the Empty, Vana’diel could be to Norvrandt what Ivalice is to Eorzea.

[@thriftingtonpost]

Bosses I'd love to see: Leaping Lizzy, Valkurm Emperor, Mii Dgii the Punisher, Lord of Onzozo, Serket. The real bosses of XI

[@Nurr0]

I definitely don't think they'll make it a shard. They established that the geography of shards is very similar to the source which wouldn't make sense for Vana'Diel, and The Rift is tailor made for these kind of inter-game connections. Nothing to worry about!

[@Draylin41]

I feel like the Dynamis zones would be a good call for at least the first alliance raid. It's really either that or Sky for the Endgame content people remember from the Early years of FF11. Sky's biggest bosses have already been made into the Stormblood trails, so I really doubt they'd make another version of those. Meanwhile Dynamis is filled with beastmen that are uniquely different from the ones we have in FF14. The four major cities all had a Dynamis zone so it would be a cool way for us to see them again in FF14 if we have to battle our way through them.

[@charlzstorm5257]

I loved the music from the sanctuary of Zi tah, The Selbina Track was also great.

[@stephenwalker5820]

Would really like to hear Castle Zvahl leading up to Shadow Lord. Love its malevolent ambience.

[@idrnkwindex1664]

I forget what they were called, but remember those big white teleportation points that you would go inside to raid. Don't know much about what story or bosses would work, but those could be the locations.

[@HidingFromJessica]

I think we will see Shadow lord Maat and prish for sure. Maybe Promathia or aAltana. It would be cool if the raid took us through different XI areas. Im so excited to see what will happen.

[@darschpugs4690]

there are tons of references to xi in 14 hinting at XI being an ancient civilization in 14, such as the statue of an unnamed mage that looks like Shantoto, the black mage quest line having a huge reference to shantoto in the form of Shatoto, and all the XI minions such as the wind up elvaan and Mithra mentioning they were previous evolutions of Miqote and elezen. They sould easily tie Vana'diell to XIV like they did Ivalice,

[@andrewan1225]

Vana'diel cannot be a shard because a) Altana is an actual God. She actually created the different races, it wasnt a big oopsie-daisy like 14 and b) there are no aura hroth viera or femroe(galka) in 11 so....what, just an incredibly specific genocide for those races on that one shard? thats too stupid.

[@ScarletWinona]

I bet we are going to see Prishe, se is a fan favorite and maybe Dynamis Sandy, Bastok and Windurst? Maybe we will see what Lilisette was doing when she went to fight the endless darkness 😢 or something completely new xD I hope they make some mention to Tensen since we had our four lords version in FFXIV 😅 anyways I hope they change the formula so we can visit and interact more with Vanadiel and not just 3 raids and you are done.

[@Lorkanthal]

they gave our current alliance raid a sort of hub zone so I don't see why they couldn't do something similar and have jeuno be the mini-hub for the raid.

[@enlongjones2394]

@@Lorkanthal they’ve kinda done that for the past few alliance raids. * Shadows of Mhach has the Redbill Pirates’ ship. * Return to Ivalice has the Prima Vista * YorHa Dark Apocalypse has the mining tunnels (and technically the first two raids’ areas as exploitable locations) * Myths of the Realm has the Omphalos. There’s also stuff in 8-man raids, like the Empty for Eden, and the entrance hall of Pandæmonium.

[@ScarletWinona]

@@enlongjones2394 yes but in a lot of those you are alone and it's a very small area, that would mess the MMO inside a MMO inmersion 😂 now I wish this would be a large scale content or maybe it's both 🤔 one can only dream

[@Draylin41]

I'd like more story quests for the raids on the even patches where we don't have an alliance raid like they did with part of the Nier series. There's a lot of FF11 they could cover that way that doesn't necessarily require us to be actively fighting something.

[@gwenfranklin8242]

I hope getting enough kills/clears as machinist lets us have a puppet glam for our automaton queen

[@woogaloo]

Watching this makes me want to go back and play more FFXI... LOVED that game. I would think having the Arkangels fight would be really fun. That was a neat fight.

[@JaffaArchfiend]

I think they may tie it into the FF11 x FFXIV crossover event they've had already, with Iroha appearing in the FFXIV world. I'd like it if they handled it in the way that the FFXIV x FFXV crossover was, in that its another world entirely. We know that other worlds exist in FFXIV, so Vana'diel could be one of these other worlds out there. Something something portals, something something bridge, something something raid.

[@kasaioni7680]

I kinda don't think FFXI's overall vibe lends itself well to how alliance raids in XIV go for intense bombast and excitement. My most memorable moments in FFXI are quieter and brooding. Would have enjoyed it more as an exploratory zone, but I guess we already got FFXI-kind-of with Eureka.

[@silvinity4939]

I'm also fairly certain this won't be on another shard. First, we've had lots of shard-related shenanigans for the past two expansions, so we need a little breather I think; let us do stuff on the source for once. Second, when they do stuff where we directly interact with shards again I highly doubt it will be in side content like the alliance raid. Sure we've indirectly interacted with the void through crystal tower and mhach, but those had less to do with the void as a shard and more with the fiends that come from there. With all the stuff we know now about the shards I doubt we'll get something that has to deal with a new shard that's as isolated as those were.

[@Lneti_VT]

Gonna end up maining my alt named and modeled after Ark Angel EV for this coming expansion just for this raid.

[@AzureGreatheart]

I don’t know much about the lore of FFXI (kind of a pain to get into the game nowadays, even if you have a tolerance for archaic game design), but I know enough to say that the Vanadiel of FFXI being a shard would be _utterly incoherent._ The five original playable races of FFXIV are present on all the shards (barring any reasons why they wouldn’t be, such as pretty much everything getting corrupted), and Roegadyn are *very* different from Galka. If this raid series is handled more like Ivalice than Dark Apocalypse (both are just as likely, and I don’t think issues like the latter had would necessarily be present in a true crossover), expect major differences from the Vanadiel of FFXI.

[@foomp]

I forget, was it ever established that Iroha arrived in XIV post-RoV? Because depending on the story timing of her arrival with the RoV storyline, it'd significantly determine what happens with the story here (assuming they use her again). Given her knowledge of the events in FFXI and the XI player characters involvement, I'd suspect she'll be a guide of sorts.

[@tenormartin277]

I think Lady Lillith and the spitewardenes would be interesting as two separate bosses. There are basically three spitewardens (not counting the ones that get added temporarily during the story), so it would be interesting to have a fight where basically all three alliance tanks have something to do the whole time and keep them in position.

[@Tzimisce]

While not necessarily that specifically, I would like to see alliance raids going back to forced party splits.

[@pavfeira]

My big question will be: vanilla FFXI OST tracks, or Soken arrangements?

[@coolyeh1017]

How about both?

[@Sandberry]

Probably mostly XI tracks. At most we'll get one Soken mix per tier like the Nier raid.

[@AzureGreatheart]

Yes.

[@shiznaztm476]

I fully expect the emergence of the Caturae as boss models as some kind of weaponized machina for at least one of the tiers. That and FFXI Iron Giants are the only two "unique" models we really have besides beastmen for FFXI *uniquely* to the Final Fantasy series. Shadow Lord and Beastmen are guaranteed at the very least. FFXI leans so heavily on Beastmen that they have to include the iconic three with the Shadow Lord.

[@DoctorPlato]

Didn't the Eureka minions mention Mythra being an ancient ancestor to Miqote? Even with that information the other shard idea kinda falls apart, which is a good thing. I hope they can blend the worlds together well like they did with Ivalice.

[@BeauxPhades]

That's more of a meta 4th wall joke than any serious lore. Mithra are LITERALLY proto-miqote.

[@carlosvargas4248]

What about Dynamis? we go through the dark towns/Areas into the emptyness :)

[@TheKuromeito]

Promathia being chained by altana is pretty much zodiark hydalean

[@nicgara8781]

Be cool if we experience the Dunes, Dynamis, Sky/Ark Angels, Sea/Jailers/Absolute Virtue, some HNMs.

[@steeldrac]

If there is a way to farm the FFXI music for my orchestrion I will farm the raid like crazy

[@petrus9067]

I agree that it would be cool if it's one of the civilizations from before the allagan empire. For example i *think* ivalice and ramza and the war of the lions thing existed before the 3rd astral era and that always felt cool to me. So Vanadiel could be like a super old kingdom or region in one of the 3 great continents tho i'm really interested how we would find it and how the bosses would be y know active. Ivalice had the whole dalmascan revolution and ramza's legacy to stirr things up so i wonder how for 11 it's gonna go. For the name echoes, i wonder if we just find the ruins of the place but we can like be transported back to a vision of the days it had these bosses and all that stuff😊

[@Samuraiphoenix7]

I wonder how the new raids are gonna tie into how Shantoto came here all that time ago for her event lol

[@klo8458]

i would laugh so hard if we get Maat as a boss XD Also i wonder what kind of armor couldl get if it comes directly from FFXI ?

[@calvinwilliams1125]

Man I had that on day one ps2 HHD still has it by the way😊 I miss windurst so much I stopped two months out there last expansion for that game I miss it

[@danthedeer8]

I love the random ff11 lvl 20 summoner fight :D That was such a fun addition to the game and oh the nostalgia

[@xbon1]

kwsk

[@Illumas]

Looking forward to your run downs of the story, since it is definitely not something I plan on sinking time into.

[@MetalSmith]

I hope that we see Zeid, Lion and whats his face from SanDoria

[@GhostLP799]

I just hope they use XI's artifact Armor as armor in the raid. God, is it frustrating that we only have one proper Samurai armor in the game and, frankly, the genji-set looks kinda bad. They could've done a better job with it. I'm still waiting for them to give Tenzen's armor to players or something like that (I'm Still sad that one quest did not reward that armor >_>)

[@GarnetDust24]

The glam is going to go so hard!!! Gimme that AF gear!!

[@teo7503]

Having XI and XIV happen in the same universe wouldn’t work at all. It would break the global FF canon. Dissidia and especially Stranger of Paradise confirmed they’re distinct dimensions. So I hope they either take the Ivalice/FFIV route or the XV/XVI crossover route. EDIT: I just remembered there already was an XI crossover with Iroha being transported from Dimension 11/Vana’diel to Dimension 14 so I hope they just expand on that instead of going the Ivalice route

[@bloodyninja2411]

I hope they do something similar dynamis xarcabard

[@Windflare88]

I'm actually hoping for some FFXI backstory stuff. Like the shattering of the Dark Protocrystal or (what would be a better fit for the Dawntrail setting) the long lost kingdom of Ephramad, that Aht Urhgan invaded, pretty much annihilated and built it's own empire upon. But, going from the title of the entire thing, I wouldn't put it past them to just give us the Walk of Echoes that lets us enter certain parts of a parallel dimension of the actual Vana'diel or something. If they do give us the shadow lord then I want to experience an "Expedition to the Northlands" scenario with Cornelia, Ulrich, Raogrimm, Francmage and the like, please :< ...let's just hope it won't be the Delkfutt's Tower again, like in Stranger's of Paradise and Dissidia NT. x_x

[@allanon80]

I would like to hope they would use memoria de la stono the main theme of CoP

[@TomRupert]

I agree that Vana'diel shouldn't be another shard but it definitely could be a world outside of Hydaelyn's reach.

[@lilliannastar3208]

My money is on them having you fighting some of the older characters that were part of the world or story in some capacity. Fighting Shantotto for example, or Zeid, Lion, or maybe even Aldo since they've got Tavnazia in the background for the art for it. With Mamool Ja becoming more of a thing with Dawntrail though, I could totally see a trip to Whitegate or a variation of it. Besieged content on 14 would be amusing as hell lol. As for a silly guess, maybe have a whole raid of 18 people fight Tunga or just an XI version of a Chigoe, the little bastards lol.

[@ikeaira8701]

it would of made way more sense for this to be the Relic Grind, and throw out Hildabrand(or return Hildabrand to side quest only). But hey at least we're getting more FFXI

[@xbon1]

The final boss has to be released in a state where it takes 6 hours to clear to be a true ffxi raid

[@blindSharingan]

All I want is a Homam styled set I can wear on NIN in 14

[@lordsaladito]

due to the raid announcement it tried to play ffxi, but it felt weird, like idk were to go at the start or what to do

[@dazzlemasseur]

Emet : "What about Meracydia ?"

[@Fox.with.a.Dragon.Tattoo]

As an old school FFXI and FFXIV alpha player.. my first Linkshell I called Wolves of Vana'diel.. this makes me so happy XD

[@darkheartt302]

Let’s hope for an 18 hour super boss like ffxi had with absolute virtue.

[@kolebowyer3837]

Yeah but how many of the characters do you hope are gonna show up? I really want y'shtola to meet shantotto, ect.

[@yes7281]

I hope other 11 adjacent content from 14 is given extra dialogue or something, maybe even make 4 Lords required before being able to do the raids not unlike ivalice being required for bozja. I dont think that's the way they'd go but it would still be pretty cool.