FFXIV: Dawntrail’s Arcadion Is The Hardest Normal Raid, But It Doesn’t Need A Nerf

’s Arcadion raids are noticeably harder, and the hike in difficulty might be too much for casual players. Released on schedule only a couple of weeks following the expansion, the normal raid features several painful tank busters and raid-wide AOEs, some pretty nasty damage-over-time effects, and more than a handful of unique mechanics that trigger in rapid succession. After a decade of reusing several of the same mechanics for new fights, however, the introduction of new gimmicks was a welcome change for many players.

[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Final Fantasy XIV]However, one thread on the forums has spawned hundreds of pages after a portion of the community voiced their concerns over the direction of the MMO’s difficulty. The expansion’s MSQ hinted the Warrior of Light should expect some interesting challenges, with dungeons and trials introducing both new mechanics and identifiers to adapt to. While the vast majority of battles in FFXIV are scripted, the new raids may appear chaotic to some players – especially given how frequently teammates tend to die while learning. Yet, just because new content needs to be learned doesn’t mean it needs to be nerfed.

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While was a critically acclaimed expansion, many complained that much of its more challenging content felt formulaic. For example, more than a few extreme trials could be steamrolled so long as a player who knew the mechanics was marked and followed – even for players who’d never seen the fight before. The issue was further exacerbated by the homogenization of the MMO’s roster of jobs and the two-minute burst window that all classes must adhere to for optimizing their DPS.

In response to comments on ’s difficulty during an interview with Famitsu, YoshiP acknowledged SE might have overdone it when they took steps to make “stress-free.” The