The Current Status of FFXIV Patch 3.1 and How to Address it Moving Forward

[Alahra]

It'd be interesting to know how many people who couldn't beat A3S prior to having weapons from Thordan extreme obtained them and went on to beat A3S.

I'd imagine it's "not enough," judging by Yoshi's comment about item level not being enough to help with the DPS checks. It's possible Thordan was just too little too late though—I'd imagine some groups that had been at the AS3 wall for awhile when 3.1 dropped had already given up out of frustration. If the weapons had been available earlier they might have been able to have a greater impact than they seem to have.

Once mid-core groups get there, they can get away with not having food/pots, as they are generally geared well enough to make the DPS checks without them.

I'd say a lot of midcore players still buy them, too. Hell, when my static cleared FCOB, we beat the DPS check at the very literal last second. Bahamut's final attack (was it Terraflare? I don't remember) finished its cast bar, the animation played, and then we got the fade to black from the last bit of his health ticked down. We wouldn't have done it that night if it weren't for food and pots.