Final Fantasy XIV has made a number of adjustments to its dungeons in the last major update, with some changes being drastic. The originally annoying instances are now better than ever.
Although FFXIV is one of the most popular MMORPGs worldwide in 2022, there are still many issues that the devs are working on. One of the biggest is the entry into the MMORPG.
There are hardly any players who would describe their first steps in the game as “exciting” or “thrilling.” The beginning is rather sluggish and has thus been continually reworked 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 accelerate player progress into the higher levels.
With Patch 6.1 came further changes, such as the redesign of the most annoying and unpopular dungeons in FFXIV, and they are surprisingly well done.
Mud Puddles, Standing Around and 50 Minute Long Dungeons
FFXIV is structured as an MMORPG such that most old content is still relevant today. This means that players still run the ancient dungeons that were introduced 10 years ago. The dailies provide them with hefty EXP bonuses and currency to buy high-level gear.
However, these dungeons were unfortunately hopelessly outdated until recently. Content like Copperbell Mines or Toto-Rak usually caused me and many other veteran players to sigh in frustration when we landed there in the daily random content.
- Copperbell Mines is one of the first dungeons you enter in FFXIV. Its boss fights consisted of a mix of trash mobs that died within a second or mechanics where players could just stand around during the boss fight.
- Toto-Rak is a dungeon where players were thrown dozens of exploding poison eggs towards the end. Additionally, the floor was covered in a slime that slowed down movement. It was not challenging or exciting, just annoying.
- Cape Westwind was the first 8-man content and was considered a meme within the community for how absurdly easy this boss fight was. The cutscene before the fight lasted longer than the confrontation.
- The 8-man contents Castrum Meridianum and Praetorium were riddled with cutscenes like Swiss cheese and both took a good 40 to 50 minutes. The enemies died extremely quickly, most fights had no real mechanics and the bosses were destroyed within seconds.
It was not a good experience even for newcomers. Especially Castrum and Praetorium were originally supposed to be the highlight of the basic story of FFXIV, where you fought against the legendary Ultima Weapon. They were meant to feel epic but had become jokes due to the increased item level.
In a large dungeon survey on reddit, Toto-Rak, the mine, and Goldsmith, which was also adjusted, ranked in the top three of the most unpopular dungeons. Nobody liked them.
The development team was aware of this, which is why these and some other dungeons received more or less large revisions.
“Wow, is this really Praetorium?”
The changes to the dungeons are not surprising. They were announced months in advance in producer streams and also in the patch notes for 6.1. It was the way in which these dungeons were changed that surprised me.
Not only were a few numbers adjusted or something was removed here and there. Some dungeons feel like completely new content and definitely better than before. But the biggest changes happened to the 8-man content:
- Cape Westwind has been turned into a personal instance where you now fight the boss solo. It now feels like you are really fighting against a powerful commander of the evil empire.
- Castrum Meridianum has removed a lot of unnecessary mechanical stuff and cutscenes that slowed down progress. The party size has also been reduced to 4 players.
- Praetorium has changed the most. Not only do you now enter the content with 4 players, but 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 unnecessary passages and cutscenes have been removed. The mechanics of the boss fights in it have been revised and made significantly more exciting.
- The fight against Ultima is now a two-part trial that has also received many new mechanics. They primarily enhance the story significance of the fight and are more visually appealing.
- The final boss fight of Praetorium against the Ascian Lahabrea is now also a solo instance like Westwind. Here too, there are new better combat mechanics and the boss no longer dies within seconds.
When I landed in Toto-Rak for the first time after the overhaul because I wanted to take the daily EXP bonus for my Summoner, I barely recognized the dungeon. An acquaintance from the guild, with whom I did another random content thereafter, incredulously asked, “Wow, is this really Praetorium?”
The contents felt slimmer, more pleasant, and better crafted. This was especially noticeable in boss fights that actually introduced certain mechanics very early on. These included AoEs that were not visibly marked, or tank-buster and stack mechanics.
Hopefully, this will ensure that new players do not panic and run away to Narnia in 24-man raids when they actually need to stand with all the other players.
Adjustments at the Cost of Individuality
Even though I generally really like the changes, I still looked a bit grimly at the sight of the new map of Toto-Rak. The previously branching dungeon with many different paths has now been reduced to a linear one.
I understand the reasons for this. Most of the branching paths seen in the left image had not been entered by players in ages. The detour simply wasn’t worth it, so it was removed.
Toto-Rak is, of course, the most extreme example. Most other changes in the layout of the dungeons were rather small or did not change much about the original “linear layout.” I would have still wished for a different solution to the problem.
It would have been more interesting to add something to these side alleys or branches that actually makes the detour worth it. Special items, perhaps a collectible, similar to the Mokoko seeds in Lost Ark.
I still hope that the devs will find a middle ground between both extremes. Dungeons like the old Toto-Rak or Praetorium do not need to exist, but the extreme linearity of the “modern” FFXIV dungeons is also not a good solution.
At the moment, the head of the MMORPG, Naoki Yoshida, has other concerns:
