MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV improves on its most annoying dungeons with radical measures – and it works
In the last major update, Final Fantasy XIV adjusted a whole range of its dungeons and sometimes drastically changed them. The originally annoying instances are now better than ever.
Although FFXIV is one of the most popular MMORPGs in the world in 2022, there are still a lot of construction sites that the devs are working on. One of the biggest of these is getting into the MMORPG.
There are hardly any players who would describe their first steps in the game as “exciting” or “exciting”. The beginning is rather sluggish and is therefore being revised more and more by the developers.
In August 2020, large parts of the mandatory quests below level 50 were adjusted and flying became possible in the old areas to speed up player progression to the higher levels.
Patch 6.1 brought more adjustments, like redesigning the most annoying and unpopular dungeons in FFXIV, and they’re surprisingly well done.
Mud puddles, standing around and 50 minute dungeons
As an MMORPG, FFXIV is structured in such a way that most of the old content is still relevant today. This means players will continue to run the ancient dungeons that were introduced 10 years ago. The dailies give them big EXP bonuses and currency that can be used to buy high level armor.
Unfortunately, these dungeons were hopelessly outdated until recently. Content like Copperbell Mines or Toto-Rak mostly caused me and many other old players to sigh in annoyance when ending up there in the Daily Random.
- Copperbell Mine is one of the first dungeons you enter in FFXIV. His boss fights consisted of a mix of trash mobs that died in a second or mechanics that players could only stand around for in the middle of the boss fight.
- Toto-Rak is a dungeon in which players were thrown dozens of exploding poison eggs towards the end. Also, the ground there was covered in a slime that made walking slower. It wasn’t challenging or exciting, just annoying.
- Cape Westwind was the first 8 man content and was considered a meme within the community for how ridiculously easy this boss fight was. The pre-fight cutscene lasted longer than the altercation.
- The 8-man content Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium were riddled with cutscenes like Swiss cheese and both easily lasted 40 to 50 minutes. The enemies in it died extremely quickly, most of the fights didn’t have proper mechanics and the bosses were destroyed within seconds.
It wasn’t a good experience for newcomers either. Castrum and Praetorium in particular were originally the climax of the FFXIV base story, in which you competed against the legendary Ultima weapon. They were supposed to feel epic, had become laughable due to increased item level.
In a large dungeon survey on reddit Toto-Rak, the Mine and Goldklamm, which was also adjusted, landed in the top 3 most disliked dungeons. Nobody liked her.
The development team was also aware of this, which is why these and some other dungeons have received more or less major revisions.
“Wow, is that really Praetorium?”
The dungeon changes are not a surprise. They were announced months in advance in producer streams and were also in the patch notes for 6.1. It was the way these dungeons were changed that surprised me.
It wasn’t just a few numbers that were adjusted or something removed here and there. Some dungeons feel like entirely new content and definitely better than before. But the 8-man content was hit the hardest:
- Cape Westwind has been turned into a personal instance where you now fight the boss solo. It now feels like you are actually fighting a powerful commander of the evil empire.
- Castrum Meridianum removed loads of useless mechanical stuff and cutscenes that slowed down progression. The group size has also been reduced to 4 players.
- Praetorium has probably changed the most. Not only can you now enter the content with 4 players, it has also been divided into 3 parts.
- The main part is a dungeon with Gaius van Baelsar as the final boss, in which many superfluous passages and cutscenes have also been removed. The mechanics of the boss fights in it have been revised and made a lot more exciting.
- The fight against Ultima is now a two-part trial, which also has many new mechanics. Above all, they reinforce the story significance of the fight and are visually more beautiful.
- Praetorium’s final boss fight against the Ascian Lahabrea is now a solo instance, similar to Westwind. Again, there are new better combat mechanics and the boss no longer dies within a few seconds.
When I first landed in Toto-Rak after the rework because I wanted to take my summoner’s daily EXP bonus with me, I hardly recognized the dungeon. A friend of mine from the guild I did another random content with afterwards asked in disbelief, “Wow, is that really Praetorium?”
Content felt sleeker, more enjoyable, and better fleshed out. This was particularly noticeable in boss fights, which actually introduced certain mechanics very early on. This included, for example, AoEs that are not visibly marked, or tank busters and stack mechanics.
Hopefully this will ensure that new players in 24-man raids don’t run off to Narnia in panic when they really need to be with everyone else in the future.
Adjustments at the expense of individuality
While I really like the changes overall, I still looked a little grim when I saw Toto-Rak’s new map. The previously branched dungeon with many different passages was now reduced to a hose.
I understand why. Most of the junctions you see in the left image haven’t been entered by players for ages. The detour just wasn’t worth it, so it was removed.
Toto-rak is of course by far the most extreme example. Most of the other changes in dungeon layouts were small or didn’t change much from the original “tube” layout. However, I would have preferred a different solution to the problem.
It would have been more interesting if something had been added to these side streets or junctions that actually made the detour worthwhile. Special items, maybe a collectible item, similar to the Mokoko Seeds in Lost Ark.
So I still hope somewhere that the devs will find a middle ground between the two extremes. Caustic dungeons like old Toto-Rak or Praetorium don’t have to be, but the crass linearity of the “modern” FFXIV dungeons isn’t a good solution either.
At the moment, the head of the MMORPG, Naoki Yoshida, has other concerns:
Final Fantasy XIV: Boss of the MMORPG is disappointed because the best players don’t play by his rules
Reference-mein-mmo.de