by theygamesFF14 Dawntrail has been a real triumph when it comes to combat content so far. Its dungeons and trials are some of the best the decade-old MMORPG has ever seen, its group FATEs are proving an extremely popular and fast way to level your alts, and we’re just on the cusp of the release of new FF14 raid The Arcadion. At Japan Expo 2024 in Paris, game director and producer Naoki ‘Yoshi-P’ Yoshida talks a little about the return of field operations, and teases that 24-player savage raids could one day be on the cards again.
Alliance raids are one of the most delightful parts of Final Fantasy 14. With 24 players all flying through their majestic zones and tackling all manner of magnificent boss encounters, they offer some of the greatest spectacle moments you’ll find in the MMORPG. Endwalker’s offering, Myths of the Realm, might be my favorite of them so far, and it’s similarly beloved among the community – but many have called for a harder version.
While it’s fine for large-scale group content to be relatively approachable, many of the game’s alliance raids have become so trivialized by players in more powerful gear that a lot of the most interesting mechanics get skipped. Even in the most recent Endwalker alliance raids you won’t see some of the coolest moments today, such as the balance check during the Nald’thal fight, because the boss dies before it shows up.
It’s even more notable in older alliance raids, where many players simply ignore the majority of mechanics to focus on pure DPS. That factor, juxtaposed with just how cool and dramatic the Myths of the Realm alliance raids are, has led a lot of FF14 players to ask Square Enix for more challenging versions.
It’s worth noting at this point that we have actually seen a 24-man savage raid before, specifically for Delubrum Reginae, the duty that acts as the climactic finale to the Bojza story in Shadowbringers. Its Stormblood equivalent, Eureka duty The Baldesion Arsenal, only has one mode but is generally considered to be at a high level of difficulty equivalent to savage raiding.
Speaking at Japan Expo, Yoshida says, “I can’t go into too much detail yet, but I’m trying to create savage that has 24 people, and we’re about to start a new series of large-scale exploration content, starting with 7.2.” While this quote has been machine-translated, my knowledge of Japanese numbers stretches just far enough to catch Yoshida’s “savage 24-player” comment for myself, as seen in the clip below from ‘Modiiie.’
Now, given the context here, it’s likely that if we do see a 24-man savage raid any time soon it will be tied specifically to whatever this new equivalent to Bozja and Eureka ends up as, rather than being a modification of older alliance raids. Elsewhere during Japan Expo, Yoshida mentions that the team took the best parts of Bozja and Eureka and analyzed what didn’t work to ensure an amazing experience for fans in this new addition.
The return of such content is likely to be welcomed regardless; while the introduction of the FF14 Island Sanctuary has been very enjoyable, the absence of field operations in Endwalker became very noticeable as the expansion dragged on. But if these ideas prove a success, I’ll certainly add my voice to the chorus calling for Myths of the Realm Savage.
For now, make sure you’ve grabbed your FF14 Dawntrail free Fantasia to make sure your Warrior of Light looks just right, and check out all the FF14 Dawntrail Aether current locations to secure flying in every zone.
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