Since April 26, the battle between hardcore players in Final Fantasy XIV against the new ultimate raid Dragon’s War (Fatal) has erupted. Players find themselves walking the fine line between fun and madness.
The situation in brief:
- Ultimate Raids are the absolute hardest type of PvE content in FFXIV, tackled by about 5% of all players. After over 2 years of drought, the next ultimate raid Dragon’s War (Fatal). was released on April 26.
- With the release, the race for the first kill of the raid began, involving dozens of hardcore players worldwide. Some groups stream their gameplay on Twitch, while others prefer to keep their progress private.
- Throughout the week, players have unlocked more and more phases and mechanics of the fight, where they were sent back in time, to save a beloved character.
- If the character survives, the future changes, and players are thrown into a much harder version of the fight.
Now, some groups seem to have reached the possibly final 8th phase of Dragon’s War (Fatal), which appears to be quite challenging. On Twitter, some of the well-known hardcore raiders expressed their dismay at the extreme difficulty of the new raid.
“This is no joke. This is completely ridiculous.”
These comments include: For already 6 days in a row, the toughest of the hardcore raiders in FFXIV have been grappling with the new fight and are being expertly taken apart by it. It’s visible in the numerous wipe clips, as well as in the comments and tweets that sound increasingly horrified.
- “PTSD” – @ShinaFlorem
- “I could really use a hug right now” and “I want to meet the developer of this fight, roll up a newspaper, and hit him on the nose: ‘No. Don’t do that. Bad developer.'” – @Sindalf
- “Micropixel safe spot, the ultimate.” – @FFXIVMomo
- “Maybe it was better that Haurchefant died.” – @FFsfia
However, most comments remain quite cryptic and do not specify why the fight is completely ridiculous. Also to avoid revealing how far their own group has progressed.
However, viewers of the streams can piece it together somewhat. It appears that the group Thoughts per Second has reached the currently last known phase of the fight, where they must face the dragons Nidhogg and Hraesvelgr simultaneously, and this phase is particularly tough.
The fights in FFXIV are choreographies of very fast and ruthless sequences of mechanics containing a certain element of randomness that must be perfectly executed by the entire group. Otherwise, a wipe occurs.
In contrast to the last two ultimate fights, Dragon’s War does not appear to have a “hidden, clever” mechanic that players must solve before proceeding. Rather, it is a brutal mix of relentless DPS checks and pixel-perfect positioning to avoid being hit by one-shot attacks.
Especially after time is turned back and the future is changed, the difficulty increases significantly. The already known mechanics of King Thordan are mixed with the mechanics from the first ultimate fight, Bahamut.
The fact that there is only one checkpoint right at the start after the first phase also contributes to the difficulty. Raiders must endure at least 6 phases of the fight with full concentration, which is very exhausting.
If one of the players in the group slips up and makes a mistake, it usually leads to a complete wipe, or the group fails the DPS check. They are sent back to the beginning of the 2nd phase and must endure nearly the entire fight anew.
But despite all the deaths and the mechanical madness, the raiders enjoy the fight and are getting closer to victory.
Meanwhile, the developers are fighting their own battle in PvP:
Those who say “Good Game” too often in Final Fantasy XIV PvP will be banned.
