And… we’re good. That was it.
I was excited about the Deep Dungeon before it launched, but I had understandable misgivings here and there about how all of its various mechanics would play together. I’m happy to say that those misgivings were addressed, and the net result is new content that’s fast, fun, repeatable, changing, and incredibly neat. It’s the sort of thing that serves as a real game changer for the game as a whole, so let’s step inside and see what there is to be seen when you venture into Gelmorran ruins. (At the behest of Wood Wailers who ought not be there, but that’s more of a lore discussion.)
How you advance
One of the big and confusing parts of the Deep Dungeon is the fact that it’s not very well explained by the patch notes. So let’s start at the beginning. You do a quest, you unlock the option of going in, you pick a class and a save file, and then you go to town.
There are two ways to enter the Deep Dungeon. Fixed party options are for solo progression, exploring with a smaller-than-normal group, or just regularly going in with a group of friends. Matched progression is probably what you’ll be using a lot of the time. You can queue up with matched progression while in a party; it’s just going to fill out the rest of the spots in the party with other people, same as always.
Once you have a save file going with a given job, you will always be using that job to enter the dungeon on that save file. So if you queue up with a matched party as a Monk, continuing that save file will require you to queue up once again with a Monk. There are no role restrictions or anything, so you may well wind up in a group with four DPS, or a healer, two tanks, and a single DPS. Levels are saved per file, with your character starting at level 1 on the first floor and advancing quite quickly.
The most important part of progression in the Deep Dungeon is not levels, however; those are easy to re-obtain. The most important progression is your weapons and armor. Your aetherpool gear advances on its own track, and it’s saved independently of your level progress. If you advance through the first ten floors on Monk and wind up at +3/+2, then start a new file with your Paladin, you’ll be starting at +3/+2. Needless to say, this is a pretty significant boost; you get synced down below a certain point, but you still wind up with a big power boost right off of the bat.
As a result, you’ll frequently progress through the dungeon, then delete a save and re-enter the dungeon. Deleting save files is nothing to be terribly worried about, nor are you permanently losing much beyond a save file that’s prepped for the last 10-floor run. Your overall progress is still saved… as long as you manage to make it through the 10th floor.
And yes, you will need to make it through the 10th floor each time. The first nine floors let you stock up on items and experience, but the boss at each 10th floor is just a straight-up brawl. These bosses are light on mechanics, but are still tough for their level. A moderately competent full party can take them out with ease; solo players will want to grind weapons, armor, and levels before taking one on, with the caveat that they will be difficult fights regardless. Luck is helpful.
Strategy and consideration
First and foremost, it’s important to be cognizant of your character’s entire spread of abilities. Even if you have a tank, healer, and DPS setup akin to what you’d find in a dungeon run, you will have need of abilities that you might otherwise not use very often. It’s also far more likely that you won’t run into a simple tank-healer-DPS-DPS setup, which will necessitate a different approach.
This is not to say, however, that alternative setups are not viable. I’ve had many successful runs with wildly different party compositions. The Palace of the Dead is much more about your party than your roles, so you’ll be running with a Scholar, a White Mage, and a Ninja more than you’re running with two healers and a DPS.
Pomanders are valuable, but they’re also limited and not entirely reliable. My usual approach is to make sure that I have at least three Pomanders of Sight running into the last three floors before the boss; that’s when things get far more crucial and I want to make sure that we’re not stepping on traps or wasting time on dead ends. Try to save a Strength or two for the boss to toss on your best damage dealers, and generally avoid Flight unless you’re using it for early (and less-rewarding) floors.
It’s also going to be important to consider who you’re dealing with. Safety is very useful if you’ve got a Bard or Machinist in the early levels; kiting things about is very powerful, and sometimes it’ll even be worth it to drop that with Sight in place. Witching can be great for taking down tricky opponents when you’re a bit underleveled, to boot.
Don’t be afraid to grind your levels a bit, especially if you’re on DPS; leveling past things can be super useful. I’m not saying that you should spend the whole time grinding, but you are not under any obligation or expectation to go in under-leveled, either. Be as overpowered as you possibly can for everything.
It’s important to note that you can go from a fixed setup to a matched one, but not vice-versa. If I had to recommend one save file to save, it’d probably be a fixed setup if you intend to go back in and explore with the same group of people; you can always drop down to matching later if needed.
Also, I’m not entirely sure, but I believe it’ll be quite easy to kit out your jobs with 235 weapons once you’ve hit that +30 weapon; you’ll just have to get through the full 50 floors first. Time-consuming, yes, but not hard, and applicable at a variety of gear levels.
So why is it great?
One of the things that FFXIV has done well since launch is making sure that there’s a reason to play together no matter what level differences exist between players. What this has usually meant, though, is leveling down to the lower-level player’s point, not really leveling the playing field. The Deep Dungeon does the exact opposite; it puts players of many different tiers on the same footing and lets everyone advance together rather than encouraging or demanding a downward motion.
Furthermore, it does all of this while feeling rewarding on several levels and for a variety of purposes. Whatever level your character is, you can get stuff out of the dungeon. It doesn’t prioritize rewards above all else, but it feels as if I’m sufficiently rewarded for my time.
And it’s fun. I can’t get over that enough. Gaining levels and power is fun and satisfying, even if I know it’s all rather predictable. It’s fun coming up with strategies with different groups, it’s fun being able to run content with everyone without having to sync down to something that’s challenging for them and easy for me (or vice versa). The changing shape of things, the traps, the hazards… it all combines to make content that is predictable in its overall execution, but is always shifting and changing.
If I had to compare it to something, I’d pick deckbuilding games. Sure, you know all of the parts going in from the time you start up, but you don’t know exactly how things will combine. That means that you’re always having different experiences, and you’re always making new decisions and trying new stuff. I’ve been diving into it repeatedly, and each time I can’t wait to go back. And sure, I want that high-end weapon for game mechanics, but that’s not why I keep going back.
Sad that there’s not more lore on Gelmorra in there so far, though. But perhaps with lower floors.
Feedback, like always, is welcome in the comments below or via mail to eliot@massivelyop.com. Next time around, I want to speculate about the next expansion – not in terms of jobs or regions, but in terms of leveling.
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.
