With a few weeks of FFXIV Patch 3.1 behind us, I feel like we’ve finally had time to absorb all the content that came down the pipe. I will admit that Void Ark, the newest 24-man raid, was one of the things I was looking forward to most. So far, it doesn’t quite edge out my favorite raid, Syrcus Tower (RIP), but it does a good job in continuing the more casual style large group raids that the Crystal Tower introduced in 2.0 patches.
I am not a raider and I doubt I ever will be. I know not every raid group and raid environment is the same, but my impression of hardcore raiding is that it becomes more job than fun. I’m sure there are people who enjoy the challenge of slamming up against a virtual brick wall over and over again, to finally accomplish victory over a boss.
I’m just not one of those people. That sounds like far more stress than fun. And for someone who prefers a casual grouping environment, I never thought raiding would be a thing for me. Until I met raiding in FFXIV.
24-man raids, such as Void Ark and Crystal Tower, aren’t the typical MMO raids. They’re nothing at all like I imagined a raid would be. In fact, I was late to even try Crystal Tower simply because the word “raid” was tacked on to it. Back then raid = not for me.
But then, patient Free Company members encouraged me to give it a shot. They told me this was far more casual than I expected, and that due to the large group make-up, it was actually a good deal easier (and more fun) to clear than some 4 or 8 man content.
I didn’t believe this until I tried it. I then discovered what everyone ways saying was true. 24-man raids in FFXIV were designed with slightly chaotic, but fun action in a large group setting. Sure, there are mechanics to deal with, but the larger groups help to mitigate situations where individuals make mistakes.
I feel that the latest installment, Void Ark, has its own moments of challenge, but follows in the footsteps of Crystal Tower just as I hoped it would.
Story. After the ho-hum story that came with Alexander, I’m happy to see that the story surrounding Void Ark is much more engaging. We have a cool crews of sky pirate NPCs who are in conflict with each other (searching for treasure), which prompts you to check out this huge, ancient ghost ship in the sky. I was surprised at how much history was woven into the final cutscene that explained the ship, where it came from and the kind of voidsent danger our characters now faced after disturbing it.
Atmosphere. Like Crystal Tower, the Void Ark itself feels larger than life. Seeing that it’s a huge ship covered in giant coffins, I expected something more undead and emo in feel. Instead, between the music and the level design, we ended up with something that felt ripped out of a dark circus. Similar to other raids, you have platforms that send you through the air from area to area, pieces of the ship falling down around you, and air currents that suck you through halls and spit you out. These are always nice, playful touches that I appreciate.
Challenge. Considering this is a casual raid in the line of Crystal Tower, I feel the challenge is pretty spot on. Normal folks with the required ilvl 175 gear can come in and clear the raid just fine. But if you start getting sloppy and mess up the mechanics, the later bosses are brutal and don’t take prisoners. The first week the raid was out, our party of mostly new folks wiped to the boss Chuchlainn at least 6 times… maybe more. We had a few impatient folks who dropped, but after people started learning mechanics, we did finally clear that boss and finish the raid.
Rewards. I was surprised at how good Void Ark rewards are, to be completely honest. Bosses drop ilvl 200 gear, though you can loot only one item per week. While it can’t be upgraded like Eso armor can, it’s still a very good option to folks who may not be so excited to run dungeon roulette every day to gear up. It’s also extremely good for gearing up secondary jobs in that it provides a drop of Law tomes and a smaller drop of Eso tomes each run.
On top of that, every player who completes Void Ark received one Mhachi Farthing each week. You can take this item to Bertana in Idyllshire and trade it for items that upgrade any Eso gear you do currently own.
I have to admit the gear sets from the Void Ark also look pretty nifty!
Wacky Queue. I don’t know that this is really a Void Ark problem, but some nights, the queue is just way out of hand. I know that there seems to be some change to the overall queue system that makes it harder for groups to form, and thus cause queues to be longer. I’ve seen it when I’ve tried duty roulettes, but I really see it when a group of FC folks want to get into Void Ark. Last night’s queue took a group of us over 40 mins to get in – a lot of which was caused by people withdrawing once the raid popped. It’s still super frustrating to have waited for the pop, then be tossed back into a queue with just 3 or 4 people… or worse, be stuck at 12/15 DPS! I know there have been recent hotfixes deployed to help with the situation – we’ll have to see if it’s been fixed or not.
Bosses. I know I’m contradicting myself with the “challenge” section above. But some of these bosses… man. It’s going to be a love/hate relationship with them and me going forward. Mechaincs for Irminsul and Sawtooth too often cause wipes that shouldn’t be – too many players or adds getting eaten by Irminsul. Cuchalainn is by far one of my most detested boss fights (maybe in the game) right now. There are just so many different phases and mechanics to the fight that it’s hard to quickly break it down to new players. I suppose in these raids, there always has to be at least one boss you groan about every time you play it.
Overall, the Void Ark is an instance that even a picky instance-runner like me will play repeatedly. Once people become more familiar with the fights, I think everything will be just fine for the casuals who want the fun of a 14-man raid. I know that I’m not the only one who welcomes another source of end game gear, which is something Void Ark provides liberally.
I know that Diadem is holding a lot of attention right now, but if you haven’t checked out Void Ark and you meet the gear requirement, give it a shot. Just make sure to look up some of those boss mechanics first!
