Final Fantasy XIV has really good NPC support since the Shadowbringers expansion. Therefore, I prefer to play the story of the game with those NPCs. However, in Dawntrail, there’s an NPC who definitely needs to visit the role trainer again.
Square Enix introduced a really cool feature with the Shadowbringers expansion in 2019: The content helpers. This system provides the player with NPC fighters for certain group content that can be taken along instead of real players.
This has several advantages: For the current release of the Dawntrail expansion, for example, as a player of a damage dealer class, you can skip the very long content wait times currently expected for these roles. On the other hand, the NPC companions are also aware of the mechanics that await you. This allows you to learn them in a relaxed manner.
If you want to see who goes on adventure tours with all the NPCs in Dawntrail, you can check it out in the trailer:
And story enthusiasts will find joy in the little dialogues and screenshot opportunities that the NPCs provide. It really does make a difference when, instead of GG
or First Time
, for example, the character Alphinaud admires the wild flora and fauna in the chat.
I myself prefer to play the story of Final Fantasy XIV with the NPC companions now. On one hand, for the immersion and the lore that certain NPCs provide. On the other, because of the wait times.
Of course, there is again NPC support in dungeons in Dawntrail. Newly included is Krile Baldesion as a Pictomancer. However, she has made my life extremely difficult recently.
NPCs versus Players: That’s why I play with AI first
First of all: I have nothing against my real players. Dungeons with friends or even strangers in level roulette always bring me joy. You meet new people, make silly jokes in the chat, and as a dragoon, after my anticipated death, I provide my assessment of the arena’s ground layout.
Playing with real players is the most fun in Final Fantasy XIV. But.
When I play, it’s usually after a long day at work. So I’m not entering the content fresh. Most of the time, I just want to relax and play with nice people. Be it dungeons, (hard) trials, treasure maps, or playing hide and seek with the free company.
However, I am usually already tired and mentally not sharp anymore. This leads to me making mistakes in dungeon mechanics. Or overlooking an enemy.
If the dragoon dies on the ground once, it’s funny. But when the dragoon is permanently incapacitated and cannot contribute anything but dumb jokes? Then it doesn’t make my teammates happy, and honestly, neither does it for me.
I prefer to tackle new content whose mechanics I don’t know with the NPCs. If I die, we just start over. This way, I don’t waste anyone’s time and can learn the bosses at my own pace.
After the first clear, I usually feel confident enough to jump in with real people. The practice with the NPCs gives me self-confidence and experience.
Sometimes they also drive me to despair.
The New One in the Team is Goofy
The programming of the NPCs in Final Fantasy XIV actually leaves nothing to be desired: The tanks tank, the healers heal, and the attackers attack.
In Dawntrail, there’s now a new NPC fighter that you can take into dungeons: Krile Baldesion. The Lalafell has been a member of the core NPCs around the player character since the Heavensward expansion. But only with the new expansion does she play a) a more significant role and b) get her own class: The Pictomancer.
Since I have no time and energy to level NPC fighters between expansions (which can take a very long time), I go into the Dawntrail dungeons with the characters available there.
Currently, Krile is always along as well. And my goodness… I would like to send Krile back to the class trainer.
She plays her class well. Deals adequate damage. Yet she managed to wipe the entire group multiple times in one dungeon. I initially didn’t realize what was happening. It was actually about a very simple evasion mechanic.
The first two triggers of this mechanic were also a piece of cake for us. But on the third time, when the boss had only 10% health left, my character died, and I had to start from the beginning. And this didn’t just happen once. Only on the third attempt did I find the mistake: Krile.
While the Pictomancer ran to her position bravely during the first two attacks, she decided, during the third trigger, to simply stand with me and the tank. A small area attack directed at her killed us as a result.
This happened multiple times, as written. Until I identified the problem. I could have throttled her at that moment.
Due to the two new attacker jobs, the wait time for attackers in many group contents has increased. Here we present both of them:
Programmed Misbehavior against Lazy Players
We ultimately survived and finished off the boss. Sure, the few seconds of DPS downtime for me didn’t help much. However, I would have never thought that my reliable, predictable NPC, who never makes mistakes, suddenly made a position change.
But also: This is not the first time an NPC suddenly becomes independent
. In Endwalker, there was the first main story trial that could be completed with the accompanying characters. However, the said helpers were programmed to make mistakes:
Those who simply followed healer Urianger often stood in range of unpleasant boss attacks. In fact, at that time, only one NPC knew how to avoid all effects: Black or White Mage Y’Shtola.
At least: It keeps me on my toes as a player.
My conclusion is that I will recommend Krile visit the job teacher – in A-Realm-Reborn areas, there are NPCs that explain how to act as a tank, healer, and attacker. They can definitely explain it to her again.
Until she does that, I will have to keep an eye on her myself. Because even though the NPC companions are less error-prone and rage-prone than real players, I shouldn’t completely rely on them. Self-thinking is the motto.
How do you feel about NPC companions versus real players? Do you also circumvent long wait times by going into battle with the former Scions of the Seventh Dawn? Has Krile wiped you out too? Let me know in the comments.
As much as I like the NPC companions: Having to be out and about only with them and having no choice due to long queues makes the game extremely lonely. I noted this in my preview report on Dawntrail. You can read it in full here: Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail shows that the MMORPG is increasingly becoming a single player experience
