In what is likely to surprise absolutely no one, I’ve been very much enjoying Patch 3.3 thus far. So, as I do every patch, I’m going to offer you an overview of the patch as I’ve explored it thus far while trying to avoid spoilers as much as humanly possible. (Yes, even though we have that useful little spoiler collapse.) Let’s talk story, let’s talk trials, let’s talk dungeons, and let’s talk moogles.
The story’s end
On some level, I was kind of surprised that the story ended here, and in the way that it did. Not to say that it was completely out of left field, but just that it felt like there would be more of it. We’ve had two patches highlighting just how much needs to be done before either side can let go of the pain surrounding the conflict, but this patch brings a pretty decisive end to things. Not that this is exactly a surprise based on all of the promo materials promising the end of the Dragonsong War.
However, it also does make a certain amount of narrative sense, and it’s cathartic as heck. The last two patches have had stories showing off how easy it is to maintain old hatreds and lingering hurt; this patch is a story showing how difficult it can be to give in to hope. It’s something that’s been building for a while, and it brings in at least one character whom I hadn’t expected to see back in the story but who serves a narrative purpose marvelously.
So it’s good. Brief, in spots, but good. The follow-up quest line I was less enthusiastic about, not because it was bad but because it felt like padding; still, I expect players who have been following the expansion thus far will be neatly satisfied. Players who are just getting up to it, though, are in for a treat — assuming they can get past the Final Steps of Faith, which segues nicely into my next point.
Less free running
People were right-ish to be concerned about the Steps of Faith coming back around! The new trial is obviously not a rehash of the last one, but it threw up roadblocks for people moving through content, and this one does the same. It’s better than the original incarnation in several ways, though, without the possibility of knowing that an attempt will fail well before the attempt can actually be reset and restarted; it’s just tough in several spots.
A few things to consider, on that note: The DPS check before his big attack ends before his roar-and-pushback, so don’t think you have more time than you do to kill the adds. Burn them down quickly, and don’t be afraid to unleash a limit break. Stay close to the boss to avoid Hot Wing, and take advantage of his huge hitbox when you need to; you can step pretty far away from Nidhogg while still being able to do damage even as melee.
The general feeling of the larger content in this patch isn’t so much that it’s unseen levels of difficulty, just that it’s more ornate than players have grown accustomed to. Both Final Steps and the Weeping City feature some mechanically heavy encounters, and if you’re trying to just ignore mechanics or bull-rush through them, you’re far more likely to die. That’s not new to the game; it’s just not the case for the last storyline trial or the last 24-person run, and so everyone has gotten out of the habit of recalling that mechanics will make or break a fight.
Of course, most of that went into the larger content, not the dungeons…
Fun but easy
I’m not sure whether I like Hullbreaker or Sohr Khai more at the moment. The latter features a trio of nifty bosses and a lovely aesthetic; the former has one of the more unique boss fights in the game and an equally gorgeous aesthetic sensibility. But both of them feel much, much easier than their predecessors, to the point that one boss in Sohr Khai seems to be responsible for the most wipes just because it’s the only one with some mechanical might.
This is fine, in and of itself. It’s nice to not have to explain simple mechanics and then watch them get screwed up repeatedly (looking at you, Black Mage who cannot be bothered to face away during Neuro Squama despite being out-damaged by the Machinist) in content that’s really meant for daily runs. But it also makes the runs feel a bit more perfunctory than prior experiences. There’s less to overcome and more stuff that you can just sort of glide through, like lower-level dungeons. I recall feeling much the same way about the first couple of dungeons in Heavensward, actually, like the design was fairly bland (albeit not nearly as pretty as Sohr Khai or Hullbreaker).
But then, I could be underselling the challenge a bit just due to my own preferences and experience; certainly the dungeons work. Even if there are more chances to recover and pull together if things go wrong, the dungeon bosses aren’t bland or uninteresting on a whole, and it’s nice to see a final boss who is just a person rather than one of the many beasties we’ve fought time and again. So I suppose it’s a minor issue, on the whole.
Ah, yes, Weeping City
I rather love the “Wiping City of Mhach” nickname the place has already acquired. It’s not really that hard, though; I’d place the level of challenge about on-par with World of Darkness. It’s got two big failure points, and the mechanics in the area are more complex than what exists in Void Ark, as well as still being unfamiliar to may people. But that’s about the long and short of it.
Ozma is obviously what’s throwing many people off, which comes down to the fact that there’s no universally accepted set of rules for how to handle the meteors on a whole. You can make it work with two spaced out on an arm of the platforms, you can make it work by placing one on the arm and one on the back of the platform, and you can coordinate so that each party goes a little bit to the left or the right, but you can’t make it work if everyone uses a different standard. Then meteors explode and kill people.
Once the community starts deciding on a standard and sticking with it, it likely will get easier. Right now, it’s still on the harder side, but it’s a satisfying sort of hardness. If we’re a few weeks in and people are still wiping to it left and right, that will be… less satisfying, and may well indicate that the mechanics are a bit too heavy. I look at it and see a doable challenge thanks to years of playing the game; others may not.
Feedback, as always, is welcome down in the comments and via mail to eliot@massivelyop.com. I’m well aware that there’s a bunch of stuff that I haven’t covered that was also released in this patch, but there’s only so much space in a single column! That’s going to be my focus next week, as well.
The Nymian civilization hosted an immense amount of knowledge and learning, but so much of it has been lost to the people of Eorzea. That doesn’t stop Eliot Lefebvre from scrutinizing Final Fantasy XIV each week in Wisdom of Nym, hosting guides, discussion, and opinions without so much as a trace of rancor.
