Honestly, I think they are not messing with it to make the back story easier to mess with for ARR. I would not expect them to get into specifics. Even in FFXI they advanced the timeline nebulously from expansion to expansion. The Crystal War was 20 years before game start, The Rise of the Zilart was after the return of the Shadowlord, and Chains of Promathia took places one year after the RotZ.
I tend to think the official timeline will read like this for ARR.
20 yrs ago Ala Mhigo fell.
5 yrs ago big doom rock went splode, people went into the poofy fun vortex.
and then we are at the start of ARR.
I find it better sometimes to work off of the flash points of history rather than the official dates. I realize that this can be annoying, but I tend to think SE is going to work off a being more flexible, than rigid. That is what they seem to have done in the past.
I tend to think the official timeline will read like this for ARR.
20 yrs ago Ala Mhigo fell.
5 yrs ago big doom rock went splode, people went into the poofy fun vortex.
and then we are at the start of ARR.
I find it better sometimes to work off of the flash points of history rather than the official dates. I realize that this can be annoying, but I tend to think SE is going to work off a being more flexible, than rigid. That is what they seem to have done in the past.
