Raiding with excess whole tone ( to another World )
One expression that ’s often praised in Final Fantasy XIV is that there ’s always something for everyone . Some people are here to enjoy the story , while others favour to cool nearby an Aetheryte with their friends wearing the best Glams they have . Some find pleasance in leveling their job and living up to their phantasy of becoming an expert marksman or uncovering ancient arcane magicks .
But of course , there ’s also the Hellenic raiding surroundings for those yearning for a worthy challenge : the high - end duties , being those the Extreme , Savage , or Ultimate subject . These are more challenging than your average Daily Roulette Trial and often involve everyone to be on the same page regarding which strategy they ’ll be using .
For that , we have the Party Finder at our disposal . Players can set up an instant recruit announcement for the trust duty and which strategies ( often popularize through video guidebook ) will be used , and wait while others can link . It ’s quite messy , but it works in its own way-out ways .
Or at least it used to be , before some Data Center ’s Party Finders became genuine waste even on the ordinarily most - convoluted days .
Open a Door, Close a Window
Back in 2022 , a extremely requested feature was introduced to the game : Data Center Travel . We could now visit and meet with our friends in the nearby Data Centers . No need to give a transfer fee ! I can finally visit Balmung and … ehh , countenance ’s leave that for afterward ( and with later I mean never ) .
RP - ing aside , this was huge for the raid community . Now it was potential to team up up with everyone on NA . No parties on your own Party Finder ? adjudicate another Data Center ! It only takes a few second to change , after all . Nothing risky would ever bechance , right ?
( You bonk that nothing proficient ever comes after that phrase . )
Where all problems began | Screenshot by Prima Games
Related : How to habituate FFXIV Teamcraft – Final Fantasy Teamcraft Guide
As any raider - to - be will quickly hear , Party Finder is always an interesting experience , to say the least . When raiding with friends or a Static , you kind of acknowledge what to expect in your progression / clear . But you never know what you ’re getting into in PF . Reclear company wipe on the first bed cover / stack grease monkey is simply your average Tuesday here .
PF is almost a saline solution aquifer on its own . It ’s almost “ normal ” to get wind hoi polloi say that people in PF are downright forged , both in gameplay and manners . The raiding side of the community can be quite nasty sometimes , but Party Finder is still the best mode to enjoy difficult content for those who cannot / don’t want to institutionalise to a stable group .
Actual depiction of the current PF state
But amidst the NA community , Aether has always been have it away as the “ raiding Data Center where all the sound players are ” . So after we got DC Travel , it did n’t take long for the hivemind thought to occur:“My DC Party Finder sucks ! Let ’s hit Aether to bust with some actual gamers ! ” .
People would do it once , then double , then always . Aether is better anyway , so why nark with those cretin back in Primal who can not resolve a uncomplicated Limit Cut?Well , that ’s how we started to see almost no gamey - end party in Data Centers that are n’t Aether .
While it ’s still possible to fill a group in other Centers , you require to be more patient than ever , specially if your grouping miss a tank or a healer . But even then , most duties today only have one or two parties up at a time . From those , none are for their prog point or do n’t have a one-armed bandit for their Job . So what will everyone conceive ? “ Eh , it ’s Aether time for me ” .
Primal
The Neighbour’s Party Finder is Always Better
To show how bad the situation has turn , here ’s a compare between Primal and Aether Party Finders on a Monday around 20:00 EST.This used to be a practiced time for filling company quickly . Monday is also a day before the weekly reset , so bear lots of late fellas hoping for a percipient .
It is n’t a with child problem for thing like elderly Raids and EX riding horse farming . But the difference between “ in high spirits - remnant tariff ” ( the regal picture ) is just wondrous . I would n’t expect over 100 dissimilar parties at once , but seeing such a low number as 14 makes you think that no one here likes to raid . Would you rather look in your own DC or travel somewhere you know there are people willing to do the fights ?
You surely observe by now , but this is my experience as an NA actor from Primal . When I noticed how bad things were , I started digging a little turn and found out that , to the surprise of none , more masses are get a similar thing .
Aether
This thread from the prescribed forums points out that a similar force is happening in other region , with the “ raiding JP Data Center ” allegedly kicking out players from different direct current from their party . While I can not confirm these claim myself , I would n’t be surprised if Aether players started doing on the nose that in a while .
It ’s easy to see how this has affect the community in ecumenical . Just speak with a few raiders around here and they all complain about PF being slower in one elbow room or another . The Ultimate Primal Raiding Discord icon is literally a tombstone now . People are just give up at this point .
“ Just travel if you want to raid ” . Yeah , I ’ve done that during that last weekend . And many of my political party during my P10S prog were mostly composed of Primal / Crystal peep . I once had a company in Aether where literallyeveryonewas from Primal . But I ’m 100 % certain we would n’t play together at our own home DC because no one even bothers looking at PF anymore .
This gets annoying really fast | Screenshot by Prima Games
Traveling is quick , but it ’s also quite inconvenient . I can not DM my champion or spill the beans with my FC / Linkshells while I ’m in another DC . I can not take care of my Island Sanctuary . I can not gather elusive nodes from another reality . I can not access my retainers . I was thirstily waiting for the Jumbo Cactpot results last Saturday only to find out I could n’t lay claim them . The reason ? I was in freaking Gilgamesh instead of Behemoth !
Those are just “ pocket-size inconveniences ” , but they get on your nerves after a while . There ’s something depressing about gathering around various < traveller > waitress nearby an Aetheryte for a full party . I often finger like a stranger even though I can still do other thing usually around the game . All of that because I do n’t like losing my whole nighttime waitress for a party to fulfill at Primal .
“ But my Party Finder sucks!”My sidekick in Christ , you are the Party Finder!It ’s not a “ Data Center problem ” . the great unwashed lie about their prog points everywhere . You found some griefers in your reclear yesterday , I get you . But I ’m 99 % sure that you also griefed someone at least once in some other fight in the past tense . Does that mean you also suck and people should n’t be “ ram to encounter with you ” ?
Screenshot by Prima Games
This is just me generalizing , of path , but citizenry cause this elitist mindset caused the whole office to begin with . Everyone makes fault sometimes , and that wo n’t transfer disregarding of your DC . Besides , even if Aether histrion were really that superior , what conflict does it make now that 40 ~ 80 % of your party is not even write of Aether players ? I would rather just bust back at Primal .
Related : FFXIV : How to Get All New Viera Hairstyles in 6.4
Devs Finding Themselves Between the Rock and a Hard Place
Notice how Square Enix was barely mentioned here , and that ’s because they have n’t in public acknowledged that issue yet . Things set out getting really bad when the Anabaseios raid level dropped , which happened quite of late at the time of this writing . They might simply not see it as a big issue yet . But I would say otherwise .
Endwalker has been a great expansion regarding Quality of Life updates . We had plenty of goodish changes to system , glamor , battle , and various other thing in the game . Data Center Travel itself is a with child plus too . But that ’s where the problem lie : They can not remove DC Travel by now , but they can not cut back parties either .
The whole level of travel is to diddle with hoi polloi all around your region . How spoilt would it be for that to be taken off from us suddenly?There ’s no gentle resolution to this problem , and maybe that ’s why they have n’t mentioned it yet . This is mostly a residential district trouble , but something should definitely be done if it ’s move their customers ’ experiences in the game .
Maybe a Cross - Data - Center Party Finder ? We can travel between DC now , so that might not be inconceivable . But it would definitely not be as quick as regular PF . Another solution would be to bound loot somehow if you ’re not in your dwelling DC , but that might be too drastic . In special for Dynamis musician .
The Dynamis Data Center was made to extenuate the player flood back when Endwalker was relinquish , but players have been complaining about foresighted waiting line sentence in Duty Finder and a slow Party Finder since its introduction . That ’s because people would still make fresh characters where friends were play , irrespective of congestion . Oh , and that DC also came into existence a little bite past the initial EW plug railroad train , so perchance it was just dead on dismissal .
The introduction of Dynamis and DC Travel were well - intentioned solutions to really bad job , but now they might be causing more scathe than expert . Square might have to step in sooner or afterwards . People transferring their characters to a raid DC will cause them to be overflooded , which is exactly what Square wanted to avoid at all costs . But sometimes they bollocks hard likewhen they added the Gaia costume , which was n’t exactly what we bear .
But we should n’t forget that the residential district is also to blame for that . Everyone wanted an easy way of life to get their clear , and now the overall situation in Aether is not much dissimilar from any other DC . Was it even that better to begin with ? I can not be certain of that , but I certainly miss my retainers . I hope they do n’t litigate me for weeks of unpaid service of process when I get back from raid .
