After the ludicrous success of the (extremely good) Endwalker expansion, Final Fantasy XIV is receiving its most challenging update in over two years today. Ultimate raids are the most difficult and hardcore content the game has to offer, with only three released before now. The fourth, Dragonsong’s Reprise, was COVID-delayed out of the previous expansion into this one, and the community has been chomping at the bit to get their hands on it. Today at 3am PDT, finally, it will be released, and the world first race to defeat it will begin.
Ultimate raids are grueling 20 minute encounters with complex mechanics, few indicators, and requiring top-level gear and play from everyone involved. Here’s the World First clear video of the previous Ultimate raid from late 2019, The Epic of Alexander. That raid group, Thoughts per Second, is the favorite to also take the world first for Dragonsong’s Reprise, being the most accomplished players the game has to offer.
As compared to other MMOs, most notably World of Warcraft, FF14 releases almost no information about content before it is available. This means players have almost no idea what to expect when they enter Dragonsong’s Reprise, and any similarities to previous content – a long fight with multiple, distinct phases against different bosses, some sort of trick to defeat the final one – are assumed, not guaranteed. That makes it an exciting watch for fans everywhere.
While Thoughts per Second don’t stream their progress, the vast majority of FF14 content creators get involved, either through their own attempts or through the MogTalk Twitch channel which is running six hours a day of analysis and coverage for the race with multiple streams. Mogtalk is also raising money for Doctors Without Borders. The FF14 Twitch category will likely be packed with folks to choose from – stal was the first streamed kill for the previous Ultimate, while I’ve personally enjoyed RinKarigani for other content in the past. The race is expected to last at least four days, and likely the full week before the hype dies down. Popular raid tracking site, FFLogs, is also putting together a world first page to track progress of different groups.
The rewards for defeating the fight will be new weapons which, while technically the best in the game, won’t remain so for more than a few months and are only very marginally better than what’s already available. However, the unique look of these weapons (also unknown until the servers come up) is considered highly prestigious by the community, as is the title your character receives for having downed a particular Ultimate. For the rest of us who aren’t likely to get it done, at least not for a long time, it’s exciting to see what the FF14 raid designers can do with the brakes off, as well as new music and usually quite thrilling visuals.
The race begins at 3am PDT – around an hour from now. We’ll keep you updated on developments.
Written by Ben Barrett on behalf of GLHF.
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