How Good is FFXIV Dawntrail, So Far?

My first impressions on Dawntrail's content, one week in.
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[@zakashin]

The tankbuster from EX1 really feels like the boss is trying to kill the party. The fact it doesn't just aim at you from the front, but actively moves side to side to get just one hit in feels different from other bosses. Love that they are now account for invuln cheesing and the perma burn is great for healer involvement. If they can stick the landing with the raid tier this will honestly be my favorite expansion gameplay wise

[@tkute7059]

One thing I really liked about ex1 was the timed marker above your head for the fire/lightning/ice debuffs. I enjoy that much more than watching my debuffs or party list for the whole fight and I hope to see more of that going forward. If something like Wroth Flames utilized a similar idea, I think you could keep the core mechanic intact while also eliminating the utility of Automarkers.

[@DeadEye935]

yeah this is massively appreciated. Being able to resolve mechanics and position around players by simply looking at them is way, way better than trying to read the party list for tiny debuff icons

[@Asmodelta]

They used the same markers in EW, I'm guessing they just don't enjoy using them too often as it makes mechanics a lot easier (especially if they put them in Ultimate).

[@15ironreaver]

A neato trick with the giant turtle in the 99 dungeon is pull it to a wall and when it does the giant out just stand between it and the wall. The knockback won’t knock you out of melee range and it’s simple enough to just heal the party through it. Learned that lil trick from a tank yesterday in roulettes and I like it.

[@just905lc3]

I also found out while doing that dungeon in leveling roulette that while you can’t stun the turtle it is vulnerable to being interrupted by sleep ironically enough

[@orbmac]

And you can stun it if it's sleeping.

[@yukiotida8485]

​@@just905lc3 omg a use to repose?! Eureka flashbacks

[@Th3Crazy]

Bakool is the perfect person to put on the thumbnail excellent work

[@RinBanana]

bakool ja ja and his brother bakooler ja ja

[@DrForester]

The theme park 100 dungeon was great. Also hilarious that they reused Emet-Selch's Hades rig for a clown boss.

[@1337penguinman]

I'm just surprised at how hard the trash hits in the 100 dungeons. Ran them on DRK both the first time and was seriously questioning whether I should drop to single pulls.

[@Lyuze]

The first boss in that dungeon has absolutely trash hit boxes. I'd love that dungeon if not for that boss

[@ich3730]

@@Lyuze And you get silenced for touching them. I heckin love not being able to play the game!

[@alexninten8818]

It was more hilarious that they actually redid the infamous fixing the trolly quest again. It’s even the same NPCs again just their Source counterparts. Even the game jokingly acknowledges bringing back the worst part of shadow bringers

[@luckytanuki5449]

@@Lyuze For me it was the first AND second boss. As you said, trash hitboxes for the first boss and its not fun having to wait to play the game... The second one, it gives me motion sickness with all the spinning, which is saying something since i dont get motion sickness for anything, not even VR games. Those two bosses make me loath getting that dungeon.

[@garrettpollak6989]

What really blew me away with the casual content was how well-balanced it was. For example, during the meltdown mechanic in trial 3, the LB bar is immediately filled after it ends, so when a big chunk of the party inevitably dies, you have a healer LB3 ready to use. That and every duty having less of a reliance on vuln stacks, which makes bosses *feel* harder without actually being more punishing.

[@Jahkrel]

The 2 dolls doing the living liquid bootyclap aoe non stop until they die is my fav part of these amazing dungeons.

[@mosley3485]

I think it's a very cool idea but it does so little damage that you can just ignore it. You'll accidentally heal through it with things like assize/asylum while just focusing on the tank. I would love to see them expand on this and have trash that do things other than hit the tank and basic telegraphed AOEs. Or even just trash that does unavoidable party damage that makes you consider using some AOE healing for it.

[@Jahkrel]

@@mosley3485 you're absolutely right but I'll take any step in the right direction

[@Aurryuken]

Being scarcely interested in battle content usually, DT definitely showed me how FUN it can be. There was not a time where I felt like the game was holding my hand *too* much while also constantly nudging me slightly towards that faster, harder step. And I feel like DT will be the entry point for tougher content for a lot of people. It definitely has the elements that could help bridge the gap between casual and hardcore players.

[@metaboi488]

I think presentation is also important as the mechanics themselves. Mountain Fire is a fast but simple mechanic. It is just a repeated swap tower tank buster with conal safe spot that changes location each time. But what it feels like is tank stopping the attack from Valagrammanda and party hiding behind it. Passage of Arms but done with the boss. I have so much expectation with final trial Boss, they even had an EX like mechanic on the middle of it and that was utter chaos when I first saw it. Not only that many of the bosses on the I went like "I can't wait for the EX... wait a second this is a dungeon boss!" They did really well with the casual content. I have a friend which is currently on 5.4. I can't wait to see his reactions to the mechanics. For the story: I liked it but I wish it went slower with more time learning and interacting the cultures that we've met. But then we wouldn't have gotten Vanguard so... Overall solid 8/10 expansion would die to dungeon boss mechanics again.

[@cressposting]

A problem with the one tanky mob in pulls is that they kept making them also physically bigger. It would make sense to target that one mob for targeted aoes and single target abilities but you cant because of their size. If you target them then the aoe will miss most of the pack. It increases the lengthof the pull

[@1337penguinman]

Truth be told, the story is really the only part of DT I didn't like. The problem is that the story is one of the most important parts of 14 for me. It's the thing that really sets it apart from other MMOs for me.

[@MissKashira]

It's hilarious how story skippers are the happiest people in DT right now.

[@WaltRBuck]

I'm trying my hardest to see if the story is going to go somewhere. It's a very long slow slog right now. It's miserable and has me considering quitting for a while.

[@eiriksundby]

@@MissKashira opposite for me

[@gasparguruoftime5475]

@@WaltRBuck It does get a lot better. The final third of it had me pretty well glued to the MSQ because of the intrigue and to see what happened next. It wasn't like peak MSQ or anything, but it was very engaging.

[@LookItIsHope]

It really does feel that way from seeing differing opinions from friends & other people on how mixed people are with the story. I play FFXIV for gameplay first, story second (& not really a priority to me), so the gameplay to me has felt amazing. I always skip the cutscenes first time around & have an alt that's there once I finish leveling on my main, where I will watch the story the second time around. But man, I just love the leveling experience this time around & how jobs play.

[@DawnAfternoon]

It's like, a super 7/10 for me. Probably the flattest MSQ I've ever played. There's no big fall (post-titan ARR scions or 2.56), there's no big highs (ShB or 3.3), it's just a straight line.

[@churchren3899]

Battle content is top tier, it's the best and i hope they continue with this harder hitting, faster pace casual stuff. I don't need ultimate level mechanics in dungeons and trials, but I want more chaos and more mechanics that aren't afraid to punish players but not the party

[@Myrtneough]

I love how the dungeons in general can and WILL kick you in the face if you're playing with your brain in a haze.

[@anteprs7908]

but that what the dung are made for ,casual content where you can relax. if you need to focus you aint relaxing so it ruins the point of being causal content,not to say their shouldnt be difficult content but it shouldnt be in causal content

[@bighatastrea]

I might be the exception but I'm a casual player and tbh these aren't hard at all, not super annoying either. The hard part is just figuring stuff out the first time, like the ice stuff in the 2nd dungeon or the first carnival boss. You figure that out the 2nd time. I don't think they're "fun", it's more like they make you do... something, so it's infinitely better than old content dungeons. I don't really like how some of these simply require you to react quickly instead of smartly. Some of these throw so much obscure stuff at you that it feels a bit unfair the first time. They're really good overall though. Much preferred over the super old stuff and should be the new standard. I wish they'd calm down with the damage sponges though, bosses can have 10% less HP.

[@Fulbergt]

@@anteprs7908 I believe things are not hard enough for them to render the new dungeons casual unfriendly. I think a good chunk of the people that find them to be too difficult right now are merely generally unfamiliar with the mechanics. Part of the reason I think things are fine now is due to our kit, we have the means to tackle what they throw at us

[@DawnAfternoon]

@@anteprs7908 There are casual content. Gathering and crafting. People who wants to use their brain gets their cake here at the increased mechanic density in dungeon. People who don't can just craft, gather, hang out, and go to social cafes.

[@anteprs7908]

@@DawnAfternoon that not causal content that crafting content it can also be midmaxed so it content for all causal content is msq and dung. that a false opinion of what casual is 80% of this playerbase arent crafters and only hang out in club that not what the 80% of the playerbase do aka casual we simple dont do difficult content we enjoy content like ew relics, questing,normal dungs,msq and island santuary .the content you talking about is variant dungs not normal dungs.

[@Kittycat7070-]

For me, i think in terms of everything but the story itself DT is a 10/10, the zones are great, music is great, the trials and dungeons are great and the extremes are a lot of fun. My favorite dungeon and trials in the game currently. The story itself tho is only above stormblood and not very well written, and although its still good, its far from the masterpieces that are EW, shb and HW.

[@TheMexRAGE]

My only problem with rotating cups,the way they rotate, if your framerate isn't great or consistent, it is borderline impossible to keep up with them

[@kman6004]

Skill issue

[@DawnAfternoon]

I say keep the speed but keep a bit of trail for easier readability

[@chrones56]

I enjoy the gameplay mechanics. We're level 90-100 now; most people at this point are skilled players. We deserved this upping in difficulty.

[@The_Yukki]

I would disagree that most people are skilled. To this day I see melee doton or to give a newer class example picture using holy in white for anything else than last resort movement option etc.

[@Thebub44]

If I could actually get to the battles that would be great. Instead I’m running from marker to marker to marker and honestly just skipping. I can honestly skip like 10 cut scenes and still understand what is happening.

[@forcefulstorm6187]

Bosses are seemingly trying to kill me now, which is rude, but very welcome.

[@prismmirrorsis]

It really is Stormblood 2: awkward storytelling alongside strong encounter design. Hopefully it'll also follow Stormblood in having better patch content than the base MSQ.

[@SuperRamos619]

Imo, I'd rather have amazing content with a weak story. If that's what we get, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to accept. I didn't do shit in EW, except CC for 2 years.

[@ninethreefivesix]

Comparing it to Stormblood is insane. Stormblood was messy but it was actually great.

[@DawnAfternoon]

@@ninethreefivesix Nah Stormblood's Lyse is just irredeemable. She is literally the token character of the writers who has never read the history of a leader of an ex-colony claiming their country's independence, and Lyse is everything BUT a colony leader figure.

[@ninethreefivesix]

@@DawnAfternoon Lyse sucks but Stormblood is more than her character and I still think it's a way better story than whatever Dawntrail tried to tell.

[@DawnAfternoon]

@@ninethreefivesix Lyse sucks but the conclusion of Stormblood is DIRECTLY tied to Lyse's character which is Ala Mhigo's independence. How they achieved their independence is literally unearned. Ala Mhigo did not do anything to work on the divide et impera tactics the Garlemald used and Lyse promptly forgets absolutely everything she was supposed to learn in Doma, everything was magically in order and Ala Mhigo got their independence for completely free. Lyse is such a nonsensical leader figure and the centerpoint of Stormblood, and Ala Mhigo gaining their independence despite all the problems they don't tackle is nonsensical at best. Stormblood is way underground compared to Dawntrail.

[@Sazandora635]

The encounter design feels like an improvement over EW, though it's unfortunate the job design hasn't evolved much since then.

[@drob8220]

I can not wait for the raid. All dungeons and trials so far have been epic

[@Snummy]

New Rinon Vid for my crafting binge thanks love ♥

[@Jahkrel]

The Valigarmanda Ex was so fun on heals. For the first time I felt like I was feeling pressure as a healer. During Prog I ended up just fully tapped on resources. Just 60s of non stop raidwides was wild.

[@Cadugaming]

This expansion story is the worst ever, i cant believe they though it was good😢. We could had a great pirate expansion along with beach vacation and what we had? Babysit to a insuferable npc. Oh how i envy Estinien...

[@mintssu2843]

Certain parts of the expansion made me heavily consider quitting the game but the dungeons and trials (EX included) have been so much fun that I now want to keep on playing just for them! Rly love how EX1 actually made me empty my entire SCH toolkit just mitigating those back to back raidwides, makes me feel alive! Also super enjoyed how in EX2, while you might start out following people to the safe spots for the swords, it feels so satisfying when you've learned how to tell them and now you're the one that people follow. Dungeons are rly fun now because it does allow people to make mistakes and as a healer, I've been using skills that I've never used in any of the SHB/EDW dungeons just to rectify those mistakes and I've rly enjoyed my time! Can't wait for Savage and Eden Ultimate :D

[@elliebean94]

I really, really enjoy your FFXIV content. Always looking forward to the next video!

[@seyahtan24]

I'm still in the first parts of the story where you get to the goblin village lol. After work I only have time to do my roulettes and daily checklists. Anyway, I play at my own pace and I'm not in a rush.

[@redgeoblaze3752]

I've only just started Valigarmanda EX, but I think the tank buster where the tank himself creates the safe spot by standing in the tower is a serious contender for the coolest mechanic in the game. You might be dethroned, High Concept 2.

[@ngwoo]

I'm not a high end raider, just a casual andy who dabbles in extreme if the normal trial excites me enough to learn it (both did this time). I'm having a blast, the promise of new lifestyle content and especially the inclusion of a new bozja-like thing has me super excited.

[@mus65814]

Its been genuinely the most fun ive had doing dungeons and trials, I'm a bit cautious with expectations but I'm very eager for the new savage tier

[@INeosIRex]

Best normal dungeons and ex trials in a long while. Great content. Worst story ever in 14.

[@snapboy300]

While I can't personally relate to wanting to skip the story and save it for later, I think what Dawntrail really managed to nail with it's launch was ensuring that no matter how you want to approach the experience, there's detail and effort put into every facet of Tural and the things to do there. I'm something of a "hardcore casual" player- I don't raid anymore due to anxiety/scheduling-related issues, but I invest a lot of time in other things- crafting and gathering, more casual battle content, etc. For example, Variant dungeons are exactly my cup of tea- being able to solve reasonably challenging puzzles and explore to find every possible route, all at my own pace. I like to optimize my gameplay performance even in things like expert roulette or story trials. So this is my own perspective, coming from someone who doesn't do high-end duties but approaches the rest of the game with the same sort of mindset. And also is a total lore fiend. Compared to Endwalker, one thing i've noticed in particular is that there are fewer sidequests, but the individual sidequests are far more interesting. If you care at all about the world and the minor characters in it, I highly recommend taking the time to read the sidequest dialogue. There have been so many times when a seemingly generic sidequest ends up providing some fascinating insight onto the setting, or calls back to the bits and pieces of knowledge we've had regarding the New World as far back as 2.0. It reminds me a lot of Shadowbringers, where a lot of the fun of the leveling experience there was exploring a world that was completely different from what we were used to, but with enough of a connection to it that attentive players could notice deliberate similarities. There's even things like a sidequest that foreshadows the S Rank elite mark of the zone it's located in. I did the MSQ entirely with duty support when possible, and it's clearly getting better with each expansion. Yeah, it's still far slower than a party of four human players, but the AI feels far more dynamic and does a much better job of adapting to how you are handling a mechanic, rather than forcing you to adapt to how they are handling a mechanic. (Such as choosing extremely specific locations for spread mechanics, regardless of if you are already standing where they've chosen to move to.) The trials in particular are extremely fun with duty support, because just like Hydaelyn in Endwalker, each of your party's individual personalities gets to shine, with them reacting to (or in some cases, failing to react to) mechanics in ways that suit them, usually with some amusing dialogue to go along with it. The more chaotic pacing and increased complexity of mechanics also makes the classic "copy whatever y'shtola or krile is doing" strategy less effective. If there's one thing i've noticed about the expert dungeons, it's that they do a very good job of teaching you the mechanics while maintaining a level of difficulty where you can recover from mistakes in a way that doesn't feel like the content is too easy- rather, that YOU did a good job at adapting and playing more defensively, even if you didn't do everything perfectly. I have a lot of trouble with the first boss of the final story dungeon, for instance, mostly because I can never remember exactly how large the O/X AoEs are. But since I know how to use my defensive cooldowns when they're most crucial, I can still survive the fight. Conversely, Barreltender takes a different approach, not one that's by any means a new concept to the game, but it's executed extremely well. The very first mechanic it does is designed to trick you into standing where the swole AoEs will overlap, thus you immediately see what the gimmick of the fight is. And then he does a fabulous pose immediately after, which makes the whole thing amusing rather than annoying. I also really enjoy the second boss of Tender Valley, because it's almost entirely just a single mechanic, but at such a face pace that the challenge becomes identifying where the next set of safe spots are going to be before the current set have finished resolving. The only other mechanics really just exist to provide a much needed breather, and to end the fight via a tankbuster and a stack marker if the party is sufficiently weakened. And, of course, regarding the last boss, screeeeee. I feel like i've been engaging with the game a whole lot more than I was in Shadowbringers & Endwalker. While I really enjoyed both, I started to realize that I just wasn't bothering to do group content other than first clears of new patch content and weekly final raid tier fights for tomestone weapon tokens that I frequently never ended up getting anyways. Oh, and scoring way higher than everyone else at ocean fishing. Do they even know how to blind triple hook?? I mean come on. Dawntrail has been different. I don't know why, but i'm extremely excited for the future, both in terms of the story, and because i'm starting to actually want to do roulettes and treasure maps and all sorts of other things again. It probably also helps that, as a Ninja main, this is the first expansion in a considerable amount of time that doesn't appear as if it's leading to a complete rework of one or more of our job mechanics before or during the first major post-launch patch. (I still miss swoocing around with shukuchi and up to six forked/fleeting raiju dashes, as much as I acknowledge the flaws with the original design.)

[@Unserioussam328]

I will say it. I *hate* the rotating cups. I don't hate that it exists, but it's definitely too much for me personally. I just.. can't track them. And I feel kind of stupid every time.

[@shirox11]

Story is hit and miss but the battle content is absolutely awesome.

[@sergel02]

I think overall the expansion is one of my too favorites. ShB is my favorite, but this one is up there with HW and EW, for various reasons. I loved exploring the different cultures and lower stakes, but also the themes of loss and family. I do think pacing could be better, and I do think they need to really vary quest design and exploration. Music was the best of an expansion too.

[@206Zelda]

If I'm being honest, the only thing I've grown to dislike over time from DT is Wuk Lamat. At the expense of what could have been stable backgrounds and explanations for the other claimants, she got a lot of spotlight with a diminished payoff; there was very little growth necessary for her since she was already aligned with Gulool Ja Ja's ideals and all she needed was a history lesson. Koana had more character development than she did in the Rite of Succession part of the story, and while I do approve of the darker elements to peace-keeping that came after the Rite, I'm not enthusiastic about how much hand-holding and clingy the narrative throughout is with the WoL and Wuk Lamat. Bakool was mishandled as an antagonist because the elements of pressure he was feeling that you get a glimpse of once you reach the Cenote was hardly present enough to give us a clue as to his suffering and any form of desperation during the rest of the Rite, causing his actions to be in conflict with one another on a narrative standpoint. As far as I'm concerned, I was asked to help my charge win the Rite of Succession. I was primarily going so that I could adventure a new place with my friends or even by myself, but I did not feel that attached to Wuk Lamat and steadily wanted to peel away from her the more often she wanted to cling to me, especially once the Rite was resolved and I thought that was the end of my task with her. The writing itself feels like it's trying a little too hard to get me to like Wuk Lamat, and it failed to do so due to over-exposure. If you went back through the story and had a drinking game involving the word 'peace', that alone would run you down before you were halfway through the Rite, let alone the MSQ overall. The dungeons are fun, the music (apart from the vocalized 'peace and harmony' being a bit much) has been great, the zones are simple but pretty, and I'm feeling more relaxed getting engaged with the expansion. That being said, I hope they deliver more of THESE bits and less of Wuk Lamat moving forward because I'd like to adventure and vacation with my friends. I want to discover more excellent battles, musics, armors, mounts, and story with the Scions that I've gone through so much with. That's what I was hoping for.

[@dunethewanderer8944]

Dawntrail's dungeons have got to be the biggest surprise win out of the entire thing for me. I've habitually leveled every single job to level cap since Heavensward, so I run the leveling dungeons a lot - not only are the glams for some of them absolute bangers (lvl 95 and 97 in particular), but the fights also actually *test* how well you know the job you're on. I had only a slight grasp on what Viper's gameplan was by 90, but by 97 I feel like I've improved leaps and bounds just from spamming the leveling dungeons.

[@Schattenkobold]

The Expert Dungeons absolutely floored me and I had basically the same thoughts on the matter as you stated in the video. Trying out tanking in extreme content starting this expansion I absolutely love the Valigarmanda 6x tankbuster. I feel very powerful in these moments. I loved the Hades Reskin in the expert theme park dungeon.

[@fishtrekgames]

i tanked the 99 for the first time the other day and thought i'd messed something up with the way those mobs are split.. i wonder if SE would ever patch something like that (doubt but hopeful)

[@JkPongo]

I don't know what the hell is going with people's opinions of the story. For every "the story is dead", I see a "story was pretty good" or the occasionally balanced "It was OK". I can't wait to see what will be the majority opinion when 7.55 rolls around.

[@adamosborne9440]

The story had it's moments. Overall not a very strong showing. ... but the gameplay has been super fun. And considering we have a eureka/bozja coming... I'm pumped.

[@soraplays_tv]

I am so glad, that I am not the only person that immediately thought of "Takeshi's Castle" during the level 100 trial! :D

[@crashzone6600]

I enjoyed ARR story more, while i like the actual gameplay more now. The story just isnt good.

[@NikiPaprika]

I always enjoy doing dungeons when the expansion first comes out, it feels like somewhat of a challenge. I just hope the dungeons still stay fun once we start gearing up, it seems like power creep settled in a little too quickly in Endwalker for my own taste, so we'll see how it pans out for DT. My friends and I haven't tried out the extremes yet, but considering my wife is a tank, I'm sure she'll be pleased about knowing there is more of an active role in Valigarmanda's one! Very nice change there. Looking forward to checking these out! Dawntrail has been quite the mixed bag, mostly full of good though I must say.

[@mrlewisteaches9875]

Honestly, is it worth skipping if you're new or returning but only just into heavensward?

[@Felinaxo]

About 6:40, the very tanky mob on each pull: I saw this trough Endwalker too, and I tought the goal was to grab the focus of the players, so they dump their "Does BIG potency attack but drops off for the other enemies" attack on them. I personally dont like it too much, but I understand the design principle behind it I genuinely think the entire dungeons are a banger this time around, and made me wish we had Mythic versions with the "tutorial mode" of each boss just skipped. Been playing mostly tanks and the only thing that makes me sad is the loss of rough divide/plunge, but other than that, its just more of the same from endwalker, with the skills/QoL people were requesting, more fell cleave, continuation for AoE, delirium+bloodweapon, its just, fun to play

[@RinBanana]

Yeah this is pretty much how I understand it too, they give you a defacto main target to AOE off of - this time around the mobs feel tankier then ever though to the point that one is left alive way way after the others have died

[@Peashooter521]

but they are usually large enough that if I aoe on them it misses at least half of the other mobs.

[@1337penguinman]

@@RinBanana I think the fight designers were really pushing the players to be swapping between AoE and Single target mid fight a lot this expac, which is why you have pulls like that. I expect we'll see a lot of add phases in the upcoming raid. Maybe even see off tanks getting used for something other than a second mitigation stack or debuff holder.

[@DawnAfternoon]

@@Peashooter521 A good alternative is if they include half-targetting from Rabbit and Steel to FFXIV. For context, Rabbit and Steel has similar tab target gameplay, but half-targetting lets you automatically pick the centerpoint of an entire mob pack to AoE.

[@Eurodite906]

great video! DT so fun!

[@aren_gee]

Too much Wuk Lamat for my liking. In fact, I liked Lyse more than Wuk Lamat.

[@Forien]

English dub I guess?

[@aren_gee]

@@Forien not just the voice acting direction. SQEX is to blame for that not the VA. since its been confirmed that VAs are usually handed scripts and given vague instructions with the lines. The screentime is the one thing I'm having gripes about.

[@nikidelvalle]

It's nice to hear the encounter design moving in a positive direction but all I can see in Dawntrail is how it didn't fix any of the most fundamental issues the game currently has. While this may be nice for current active players at the endgame, it does nothing to rectify the situation for players who still have hundreds of hours of old content to go through. The current state of job design (no jobs meant to cater to players who want more complexity or difficulty), role design (tanks have no responsibilities and healers only do when the fights are hard enough), level sync essentially erasing mechanics in old content by allowing higher level players in better gear to curbstomp it, lack of meaningful rewards (only cosmetics and higher numbers), lack of multiplayer elements (particularly ones where players in current content and players in old content can play together), the lack of meaningful gameplay to break up story progression, etc etc etc. The way the devs have decided to design this game is insane, all content is evergreen but the only part of the game that isn't boring as sin is the endgame, and every single time an expansion gets rolled back into level sync hell the problem only gets worse... and it doesn't just affect newer players but the players who get sync'd down to do all of this trash boring content on their trash boring jobs (that they already got good enough at to be pushed harder dozens of hours ago). It doesn't matter how good the content at endgame is, I just can't play this game until these problems are fixed, and I gotta be honest I have no faith that the devs will actually do this. Dawntrail makes me feel like the devs think just making the encounter design better is the solution, but it's not.

[@The-die-youve-created]

The difficulty increase was noticeable for me. I managed to work through it all the way to the level 100 dungeon. After countless wipes to the first boss (I didn't even know what killed me at times), and ridiculous que times, I stopped just shy of throwing my mouse at the wall.

[@DanielRamirez-mb5th]

For the extremes, I haven't had this much fun in a long time. Having a great time!

[@Kuusuna]

what is the ost at 6:45

[@Jules002_]

It's the final dungeon ost

[@lulkaku]

didn't even know that ferris wheel fell down. 😂😂

[@phoenixwright3752]

had an amazing time w battle content, but changes to jobs was the only thing really souring my opinion, with black mage, scholar (why is there still dissipation??) etc. Luckily, Pictomancer has been such a blast so dont regret switching from Healer after playing through every other expansion as SCH.

[@user-ik1ju4th2e]

I'm happy I got to use tons of heals in EX1, but maybe I'm too new to healing lmao

[@Corvus7159]

I absolutely love the pacing of dungeons this time around, and overall design has been quite nice for the most part. I genuinely hope they maintain at least this level of difficulty moving forward. Also: Mountain Fire my beloved. The absolute best Tankbuster in the game imo

[@CadeAid1]

I’m only a little half way through the MSQ, but I’m already thoroughly enjoying the content so far. Playing a healer especially feels infinitely more engaging and rewarding. Just adding more threatening and consistent room-wide attacks makes the healer experience a lot more fun. AoE GCD heals actually have a lot of value now, and feel almost required unless you know the fight well enough to plan ahead, which is absolutely fantastic.

[@Double0Anims]

It helps that there's wat less body-check mechanics that just wipe the party if one person messes up. (Hello, meteor mechanic in Zeromus) That way healers can actually repair things if they went wrong, while also just having fun with the base content itself. 10/10 battle content so far!

[@MorryOnTheFence]

The story itself had potential, but the execution was bad. It's slow when it doesn't need to be with multiple hours of walking/cutscene simulation, and makes you sit and watch exciting set pieces that should have been solo duties. The dungeons are pretty great.

[@silxer3154]

I have no opinions on Dawntrail as I'm not even there yet, and likely won't be for awhile sadly. But at least I know there's some fun content to look forward too (assuming it remains relevant of course).

[@MegaAndyGG]

Enjoy the ride!

[@youtousim]

I remember having a big smile on my face dying in the first dungeon, 'just checking it out' on duty support.

[@Glennkabob]

Fights were fun, but the story felt like it was done halfway through and then suddenly landslid to a world ending threat very rapidly

[@bauloprete3905]

Yeah, thats not what happened

[@Corvus7159]

@@bauloprete3905 It is, though. Wuk's story finishes, we get a brief intermission in Texas, then boom we have another near-world-ending scenario because Zoraal Ja had his minion obtain the mcguffin key behind the scenes.

[@1337penguinman]

I also really hated how it ended. I understand that this was all a setup for Stargate:Scions going forward, but we basically committed genocide and Wuk really shouldn't have been involved with the last half nearly as much as she was.

[@jorgedejesustorresperez73]

Something I just thought here while reading your comment, is that not every story has to have a world ending threat, if they did just some exploration and a "Ah! We rich!" at the end I would have been happy. Not everything has to be in world ending scales, just a fun story is more than enough.

[@layerex3957]

Yea, enemies hit harder now, I've had to hit Superbolide sometimes too

[@VinlandicSoul]

Did I hear correctly that you did a lvl100 bonus dungeon DAY ONE of early access?? @08:10 I Salute your conviction. I just Today Beat DT two weeks to the day after early access and even that felt like a grind

[@RinBanana]

Me and a couple friends get together almost every expansion and zoom through it, it's always a lot of fun!

[@honstermunter1302]

I found a lot of the dungeons to be really enjoyable but the only issue I had is my teammates would end up licking the ground while I’m trying to kill boss multiple times through the expac which was a little frustrating lol

[@RinBanana]

I feel you, with every expansion will come a bunch of people who only play once every 2-3 years to play MSQ so they just won't be as practised or good on mechanics, so it's good to give them the extra help so they can get through and enjoy their time as much as you are

[@chelsthegameruiner8669]

I had to clutch bosses with the tank multiple times yesterday while leveling Viper funnily enough. The first group was cheering us both on but the second one wasn't too happy. I basically told the tank to ignore them and keep fighting with me

[@coolseel]

banger vid

[@RinBanana]

banger comment

[@MorryOnTheFence]

​@@RinBanana banger reply

[@ana_leigh]

i hate strayborough deadwalk so much lmao i dread getting it in expert, love tender valley though

[@riaglitta]

I love Alexandria and will happily run it over and over and over, everything about that dungeon just makes my brain go brrrrrrrrr

[@nintando6495]

The dungeon improvements have translated well to Duty Support too imo. As someone who always DS's for first time runs, I never felt like I was baby sitting the group too hard and got to have fun bullying Wuk Lamat into W2W pulls. More often than not, the thing that slowed a DS run down the most was me learning the mechanics of a boss fight. Sure they're still not as fast as a halfway competent team of players but they don't feel like too much of a detriment. Honestly a refreshing change compared to before where the only fun dungeon to DS was Ktisis (I miss Twinklodaeus and his AOE skills). I'm not sure if this is down to the DS AI getting smarter, or the devs just understanding what they can and can't get away with in DS better.

[@1337penguinman]

I'm just happy that the supports can actually handle W2W now. It actually says a lot that the most painful part of leveling jobs, at least for me, is that 90-91 stretch.

[@sonata1275]

God the levelling experience in DT has been so great. Normally in an expansion there's been 2-3 dungeons that I'd rather just skip with roulettes and wait an extra day or two to level again but so far in DT I've been vibing with each one, having 6 classes at 100 now. Whereas with EW I dreaded the first couple of dungeons as well as the last for levelling, and ShB as a whole was relative hell for some classes with Holminster setting it off hard. I like the story as well. I know some people have been complaining about it, but I'd definitely put it at 4th. It's not as bad as Sb with lion girl just being a better Lyse, but it's not as amazing as EW, ShB, or HW. Which those are quite high hurdles to make to begin with, so nothing wrong with the relative struggle. Also the Expert roulette experience here for the time being is just so much nicer than the last two expacs. I didn't do much in EW because I just didn't like the dungeon options, and ShB had a couple that were really fun but nothing that kept me running the content. Right now I'm logging in each day and doing *all* of my roulettes, which is a surprise to me to say the least since that hasn't been the case since I started playing in ShB.

[@BFHtrooptrapguy]

I agree with pretty much everything you said! That said, as much as I enjoy the theme of the deadwalk dungeon, I horribly dislike the first and second boss. Getting hit on the first boss resulting in being stunned for like 10 seconds isn't exactly the greatest of times for me and both the first and second boss caused some sad melee noises, though I maybe just haven't found the tells for the second boss yet.

[@BFHtrooptrapguy]

@@zeening Oh you'll see lol

[@cina9218]

absolutely fantastic content so far, and while there are a lot of story critics, I loved that too.

[@RinBanana]

a based enjoyer

[@cina9218]

@zeening not any different from Speak to Alphinaud, where have you been

[@mosley3485]

I think it's way too early to even be speculating on whether Dawntrail is a good or bad expansion. I'll probably start to form an opinion on it around 7.2 or 3 when we've seen some more content.

[@Blaktimus]

"I skipped the story" Me, a story lover and needer in this game before i get to play the game *BAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY ZZZZEEEEDDDDD* *BASED*

[@TheAsheron]

As a story and raid enjoyer I win

[@ehko9989]

Skipped the last part of the video about the EX encounters (I'm in a blind group so no spoilers allowed) I have to echo most of what was said here. I'm glad SE seems to increase the overall difficulty of each type of battle content. The lack of job complexity/changes was a recipe for disaster but so far it feels fine thanks to the encounters designs.

[@the_monument_0]

The dungeons leave a pretty good impression for what's to come. At the very least, they're making me work a bit harder this time around and some of the ideas are unique enough for me to think that they still have the capacity to be experimental. EX1 and EX2 also show some promise for their overall fight design, I am excited to see what they'll have for savage and ults. The MSQ itself was very regrettable to witness to say the least, I say that as someone who played this game for story first. Also, myself lowkey criticizing 7:45 for not pressing buffs there only to realize who's playing, hmm...

[@shirosaki97]

I came outta Dawntrail more pleased than disappointed all things considered, that being said... I didn't particularly enjoy Deadwalk, not because the dungeon is bad, nah the fights are fun enough but stemming from the fact that I'm not near the data centre server I'm on and that first boss's very wonky hit detection with those walking mobs, more times than not I dodged one of them, sometimes went out of my way to break uptime because I knew I wouldn't be capable of avoiding clipping it if I remained, and still got hit despite not being anywhere near it, I'm not the only person who has the issue either, XIV has never been good with that specific kind of mechanic and as far as I'm concerned, still isn't. I don't like the cups too but that's just more me not doing well with that specific kind of mechanic. Dungeons are fun, honestly story was fun, if very weirdly paced, people don't like Wuk Lamat and compare the story to Stormblood but it's something that doesn't bother me, even if it did I don't think i'd be getting uppity over it or anything, I just enjoyed what the story was, which was an introduction to Tural and it's cultures. I just wished some parts didn't drag on and the second half of the story having an entire area of dead zone before dropping a genuinely interesting story beat that lends itself to lore speculation, but that's a minor gripe at best. EX's have been very fun honestly, I hope it's not just a one off and the rest of the content keeps the pace up.

[@just905lc3]

So far I'm loving Dawntrail! When I first heard about the healer strike right before launch I decided to level WHM and commit to maining healer this expansion to see if the criticism was valid and the elevated normal content has given me lots to do. Slowly learning how to manage the faster mechanics in the leveling and expert dungeons was fun and made me think a lot about when to time my heals/cooldowns. I also decided to try and dip my toes into Extreme in party finder which while chaotic was also exhilarating when reaching the final push for victory. Finally, storywise I think Dawntrail was a solid 6.5-7/10 being slightly better than Stormblood for me but not as good as Shadowbringers or Endwalker. I admit there is some valid criticism surrounding the screen time of a certain character but also think its being exaggerated a bit especially since reading about the complaints often predisposes you to view the story harsher than you might have done going blind. I look forward to the battle content of the raids to come!

[@Ackwah_]

I feel like the odd one out here but I really hated the theme park 100 dungeon, the whole 'kiddy horror' theme really unsettles me even though im fully aware that its a trope, almost dont want to do expert roulettes in case i get it now

[@1337penguinman]

Truthfully I haven't run them much except to unlock them. Not because they aren't fun but my tanxiety tends to kick in on harder content and I'm always afraid I'm going to seriously screw something up. Too much WoW PTSD I guess. Even though I swapped to 14 back in SB.

[@reallightfield5314]

This is about to get heated isnt it

[@xL0stKIlah]

Yea. This determines the fate of ff. They have to get the jobs right

[@TheAlmBR]

One point that i need to say, im very happy to see FF14 demanding more from the player, requiring him to have more reactions in less time, making the bosses more fun, but as a Brazilian I have to say that this is also terrible, as it greatly exacerbates the big problem of even Today they don't have servers in Latin America, only in North America. I've never played "without lag" so even if my reaction is quick and I've moved the character I still take the damage, because the server didn't have time to register anything. That was already annoying in PVP but having this in dungeons and bosses is sad

[@TheAlmBR]

@@zeening My dear, I don't think you know how big the game is here in South America, or how big Brazil is for the gaming world, but ok. I never said that they shouldn't make more challenging content, in fact I highlighted that such content is good for the game. The only complaint is that Square Enix ignores the rest of the world and continues with the same servers without expanding to other parts of the world, leaving a large part of the world (not the players) with limited access to the game due to ping; When you increase the difficulty of the game based on response time you worsen the problem of global servers and prevent part of your community from enjoying such content, not because they don't want to, or because they are unable to clear such content, but solely because have been prevented from being able to participate And I know, at least I have faith, that it's not something Square Enix and the FF14 team do on purpose, but it's a problem that has been ignored for years and that doing so is aggravating this problem.

[@paulmd7747]

The first Dugeon of Dawntrail was more fun than I expected. Clearly a mechanical upgrade over Endwalker.

[@Maikshikari]

Dawntrail was going great for me, at least until one certain gemstone dragged everything on the mud. The last zone ruined my day, i get DT is the beginning of a new tale but the ending (from trial 2 onwards) left me feeling really disappointed. I'll wait and see where everything goes in due time, for now great until t2 but horrible for the finish line. Bosses are great thou, t1ex is super fun and im dying to to start prog on t2ex.

[@Maikshikari]

Also the first boss on the theme park dungeon is pure evil.

[@hasseo195]

I like the story mostly, from where I am now (directly before dungeon lvl 99). It’s a more calm story as the previous ones. What feels needed. It‘s nice to do again a normal job as advantures. And most new charas are nice to (everyone had flaws to work with). The trials are nice ideas and lead to some funny scene. And, fit for test, where strenght wasn’t all. They even managed to destroy every prediction I had. Except of a half prediction. The down side of the story is, that it was the most peacefully battle of the throne, I saw for a long time. You would imaging, that they would be more ruthless to obtain it. In addition does it feels questionable, that some trials was only spontaneous problems, the judges had. And wanted to be solved. I don’t even have the slightest idea, how one of the 4 solved the first/second trial. Or, if that person had a other trial. In addition is it weird, that all 4 of them was mostly each time by the same trial. When they had full freedom, to wich place they wanted to go. It feeled more naturally, that they would rarely meet each other. One trial even feeled to much set up, that it was only possible to solve, because they meted randomly a npc directly before the trial. And needed than his help. Her, does it feeled, that it had been better, if someone had leaded us to him, after the trial started. And not, to be a random encounter. In addition did I wanted a other main villain, instant of the one, whe have now. And, some changes in, when and how the main events came together. Lamaty was nice to watch. Even, when some parts of her motives and dialogues hit my nervs (allways the talking about smiles). My biggest disappointment was the clothes, whe have to obtain. I didn’t saw much of the sets of the first 2 dungeons. But, the ones whe are able to buy, are mostly only reskins of earlier dungeons. I had hoped, for more new stuff. Fitting, of the areas. And, it feels like, that they promoted the scion vs scion part to strong. Or, the people had imaged a harder battle as the ones, whe had at the end. From a around 90% finished point of view, am I satisfied with the story.

[@SupremeDirt]

just want to say, thanks for the no story spoilers.

[@Brutis3000]

Fantastic video! my liege

[@RinBanana]

fantastic comment my liege

[@RaptorianxdReviews]

Loving Dawntrail. Love the zones, love the fights, story has been fun and the music is great. I think they knocked it out of the park with worldbuilding as well, so many cool ideas that they can expound on for future content

[@JP-ri2or]

Didn't like the story. And as a BLM main, not a huge fan of what they did to BLM. Really like the dungeons and stuff I've done so far, but finding a group to run extremes or upcoming savage stuff is really difficult. Seems like if you don't have any experience running Savage, no one wants you in their static.

[@steveh1474]

not mentioned, the highlight moment in the final boss trial, a castbar that takes forever to charge and as its nearly full a textbox appears "5 seconds until whatever" instantly tells everyone "this is a Tank LB3 mechanic." weve seen it in 15 other fights, we know this means tank LB3. and then it isnt actually a tank LB3. it refunds your LB if you manage to survive the onslaught of unholy chaos all over the everywhere, but you couldve Melee LB'd during the countdown and got it refunded anyway, i think! and how many groups still died to that mechanic anyway? my first clear team did. ive done it in roulette and both healers died to it, so we were forced to hop off the edge. its not hard, its still just a casual trial, but compared to Innocence or Zodiark, this final boss is *absolutely brutal*

[@GhostNishiki]

Endsinger was Endwalkers final boss

[@chelsthegameruiner8669]

My group and I were all confused that we survived. The healer used the LB3 to raise us all before it went off and I went "We're fucked" only to see we can survive it

[@sinom]

​@@chelsthegameruiner8669funnily enough in my run more people died to other random shit than to that mechanic

[@GatheredMyst]

Like you, the highs are all related to the battle content and music. The knocked it out of the park. It's by far the best the game has been, period, at least in my opinion. I'm genuinely excited about what they might do next. ... Where it falls flat is the story. It's not that it's terrible, but after the incredible highs of Shadowbringers and Endwalker, I was left disappointed. They set a very high bar for themselves. Returning to the cadence, delivery, and pacing of Stormblood was not the best decision. Interesting how things have flipped between 6.0 and 7.0: where before we were lauding the story and groaning about the battle content. Now? We're loving the content and groaning about the story. Regardless, I hope they figure out their narrative moving forward. It's a key motivator for me playing and enjoying the game.

[@herebejamz]

I really liked the story, but I think it's mostly setup. Shadowbringers is so good because of all the stuff it used from previous expansions.

[@GatheredMyst]

@@herebejamz Agreed, but Shadowbringers is also good because if the immaculate pacing, world building, and character development. It was Ishikawa's Final Fantasy: her own world, characters, villains, and plot. She developed everything in that bubble near flawlessly, even putting aside the fact that it was built on the back of previous lore. For whatever reason, they decided to give Dawntrail to two writers. The last time this happened was Stormblood, and while the results aren't as bad as that expansion, you can tell there are two visions for how this story was to be told. That left half an expansion for each to develop their concept and character, leaving a number of things feeling underdeveloped and half baked. Each idea had its merit, sure, and I could see what they would have been able to do if they each had a full runtime... But sadly, that's not what we got. Again, it's not that the writing was bad. We've just come to expect better than "average" from this team, and that's what I feel we got.

[@herebejamz]

@@GatheredMyst I'm not going to say StB isn't the weakest plotwise, and really needed two expansions, I am a Stormblood defender from time to time. That being said, I found everything here pretty internally consistent and well developed. Pacing was definitely a bit wack in the second quarter and I do think that might've made it difficult to click with some people. Probably could've been two expacs, but this is definitely not the first time, and I doubt it'll be the last.

[@bauloprete3905]

This its the start of a new arc dude. If you exoect shb that need 10 years of build up. You will get dussapointed. What were you expecting? Have common sence

[@bauloprete3905]

​@@herebejamzagain with the 2 expansion excuse

[@HippeusOmega]

I think I should've skipped the story for now like others did and played it at my own pace later. It's been so draining watching hours of cutscenes for 1 new duty.

[@AKAReynolds88]

Story wise I thought the first half was mid but good trial boss. The second half story i really liked..till the 6th and final area and boy did that kill the momentum of the story. I was so bored in that area, it seems like such a waste, you wander around doing nothing, and expect you to be invested in the endless. Then the final dungo and trial were great. Also that song that played at the end was so out of place, sounded like it should be in a disney movie. Anyway 7.0 for me was a 6.5/10, atleast the dungos and ex trials are fun.

[@Nasurek1]

I can't believe you didn't mention Absolute Authority, you want chaos? It doesn't get more chaotic than that in mandatory content. A shame that Wuk Lamat comes in and ruins the vibe and steals our kill. It really doesn't add anything to the story or narrative. Feels like just a grab to try to recapture the magic of Endsinger's surprise final phase.

[@Double0Anims]

No it's Hades. Its the same as when Thancred burst in to help after the Hades trial. Except Thancred has teh decency to wait until AFTER the fight is done, lmao.

[@yrtert7138]

Music, I didn't like endwalker music but I love different tracks Soken made for us this time

[@maxmuller6791]

I figured you skipped the story since you had a good time lol

[@RinBanana]

i'm out here enjoying my day

[@cloud380]

pretty mid for me 5/10 i enjoyed arr and sb way more

[@xela4854]

The story was so insufferably boring the first half. I enjoyed the second half a little bit. I've enjoyed all the dungeons, trials, and all that content.

[@Lorrendogge]

I think the problem with the first half was that, although we knew our character was going on “vacation”, the sightseeing and learning about new cultures wasn’t engaging enough. This is still a video game after all. They could have done stuff like making the pelu trading a mini game, Bruk Evu PoV fixing the hanuhanu float mini game, etc. Also, plot-wise, I think having our WoL interacting like a main character instead of a fly on the wall was a major positive of this game in previous expansions.

[@xela4854]

@@Lorrendogge your mini game ideas remind me of Genshin Impact's Fontain quest. It had you as the prosecutor playing a phoenix-wright mini-game. Athough you couldn't lose and it was easy, it was still a fun and engaging way to play through the story.

[@despahotaru]

Story wasn't good imo, but they deliver in the gameplay on the dungeon and trials. I enjoy those a lot. Also viper and picto are great to play

[@inannaaeval9571]

Battle content S-Tier..... Music S-Tier...... story just skip cs