Community plays a huge role in MMORPGs. This was also true for MeinMMO editor Alex, who found lifelong friends through a twist of fate and an ultimate stress test. The cause was a raid in Final Fantasy XIV.
It was the year 2020. Unbeknownst to me, I was scrolling through Instagram looking at some stories. One caught my attention in particular. An acquaintance shared her friend’s request, seeking interested players for an epic raid in Final Fantasy XIV. The new raid tier of Shadowbringers had just gone live, and she was primarily looking for tanks and healers for her friend group.
I thought for a moment because I had occasionally played challenging content before, but never really regularly with a fixed group, and at that time, I wasn’t particularly skilled as a healer or tank. Still, out of a gut feeling, I decided to contact her. It might turn out well. What I didn’t know back then: This decision would influence my life much more than I ever could have imagined.
Between torture and high-flying – a raid like no other and a few chaos makers
As it turned out, the request came from an old friend whom I had lost touch with over the years. She was also playing FF14 intensively by now and even had a very active guild of her own. She happily welcomed us, and soon the group was complete. Then everything happened very quickly.
It was to kick off with E5S, the Eden raid with Ramuh on epic difficulty. All players had little to no experience with epic raids and wanted to “just give it a try together.” Due to the existing setup, I joined as a Dark Knight in the role of off-tank and brought my friend along, who primarily played as a White Mage to fill the missing healer spot.
At that time, I had really little experience as a tank and had only played the role in dungeons before, but I thought: What could go wrong? I’ll learn it along the way. Yes… the plan was, to put it mildly, “exciting.”
Anyone who knows the raid knows: E5S is probably one of those fights with the most intricate and error-prone mechanics in Final Fantasy XIV. The perfect raid, then, to “just casually try it out.” However, since the raid was still very new, this hadn’t spread much yet, and we stubbornly pushed through.
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Anyone who is not familiar with the raid and wants to get an impression can take a look at this video from content creator ExObscur, for example:
Although mechanics like a chain lightning that had to be passed flawlessly to someone standing in a circle every few seconds or an add that had to be maneuvered through a minefield of electric orbs without collecting too many or touching anyone probably cost us our last remaining brain cells, we remained steadfast. I won’t even start on the tank buster where you had to stand almost precisely in the right spot and press an action button.
I would be lying if I said we weren’t really desperate at times. But in the end, it was exactly this initial ignorance and the high difficulty that forged us together. Because even though we invested several nerve-wracking sessions of 3 hours with a lot of repetitions, the feeling when the relieving “content cleared” screen appeared was priceless. You should have heard the cheers in the voice chat.
From strangers and acquaintances to lifelong friends
And as strenuous as it was: We had gotten a taste for it. Before we knew it, my friend and I switched servers and joined the guild. Every week we met for more Savage raids, as well as for hard trials, treasure maps, mount farming, and more.
Although some members of the “Raid Ultras” changed after the Ramuh debacle, a very solid core quickly formed that still ventures into epic raids together every Tuesday, 6 years later. Over time, the friendships grew closer, and we began to meet outside of the game as well.
The many nerve-wracking raid sessions and intense strategy discussions, as well as glorious victories when the boss finally hit the ground, created an unbreakable bond that perfectly reflects the magic of communities in MMORPGs for me.
Without Final Fantasy XIV and my acquaintance’s Instagram story back then, I probably wouldn’t have these friends in my life. Do you also have such stories about how you met long-time friends in games? Feel free to share them with us in the comments.
By the way, our adventures in Eorzea didn’t stop there. Half of these crazy raid ultras are also among those lovable characters with whom I have been playing the same Dungeons & Dragons campaign for years: I have been playing the same Dungeons & Dragons campaign regularly for years – that’s our recipe for success
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