Wow, Wuk Lamat is really single-handedly ruining the DT story...

[Maxilor]

Then there's a knock at the door.

HEY! IT'S WUK LAMAT. HEY! REMEMBER WUK! REMEMBER HOW YOU CAN NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER BE RID OF HER!? WELL HERE SHE IS!

[Aneshda]

Many players wrote in the last expansion that there was far too little to do. And did SE learn from that?
No, instead they had the brilliant idea of ​​having our WoL almost exclusively be a spectator during the entire MSQ!
It's not satisfying to just run around as a maid for Wuk Lamat and do her job so she gets all the credit.
So what's coming in 8.0? Can we just forget about buying the expansion and instead stream the game on Twitch or YouTube and watch Yoshi play the MSQ with some random NPCs?
I paid 95.57 euros for Dawntrail, with game time + retainers... just to sing the praises of an NPC I can't stand.
There's almost no negative response that could have been given to Wuk Lamat in the entire MSQ.
Yoshi P. should have made it very clear to the players from the beginning what was going on, but as it is I feel completely deceived.
He should have told the players what role they will have in the next MSQ and I'm pretty sure half the players wouldn't have wasted their money on Dawntrail.

[fioravictorine]

Sooo I got to Section 9 finally (Yeah I know im slow I have a busy life) and I was about to be let go to go explore section 9 and WL "come with me, not that im scared or anything" my response was fuck no give me a choice i wanna go alone but my character nodded... I officially wish WL would just fuck off for 5 minutes.

MSQ genuinely start off fine I wasnt too fussed but im tired of her now and I want my alone time with Graha who has had no screen time *angry auri noises*

Wow weren't you a fervent Dawntrail MSQ defender before?

Anyway buckle up you get to enjoy even more Wuk all the way to the end

[Alleluia]

Considering the quality of the EW patch writing, you'd think that would have been the test run for the writer that they failed and even more reason not to give them an entire expansion. Especially considering it's completely separate storyline. It's fine to give a new writer side content or an interlude storyline to give them a chance to prove themselves and get settled in, but here it feels like they simply assumed they would without ever checking the work and just gave them control automatically.

I don't know, maybe the positivity squad was still drowning out all criticism in 6.X? But then again, I wasn't really paying attention to the story feedback and even I heard some complaints. Like particularly about Zero being a very flat character and too central - So you'd think the editors would have been extra diligent when Wuk Lamat was pitched. There's a clear pattern of hyperfocusing on the writer's pet character emerging here.

Maybe they recorded all the lines super early and could no longer course correct, I don't know.

Zero never stole spotlight from other characters or us, actually grew gradually and visibly, and never struck me as flat in the first place. YMMV on that last one, apparently. But she is not these problems. Her presence supported other characters' stories, like Vrtra, and the bonds she formed with the rest of us all made sense and were paced well.

[BunnyQueen]

Wuk Lamat was my favorite character of DT.

[Alleluia]

I don't agree, they've tried to replicate Gaia and Ryne (and that one made sense because Gaia and Ryne had opposing elements) but it didn't work.

Wuk Lamat should not have that power level at all, we're saying she's topping Estinien which is completely absurd.
If it was a scene where her voice reached Sphene it would be okay, breaking through dimensions is not.

Also, Krile and G'raha, what? Don't care enough about us to dynamis their way back into the arena, too? G'raha?

And, while I see the parallels of both being queens with Wuk Lamat, G'raha and Krile have their connections to Sphene that could have been expounded upon and used too.

Krile is literally one of her people, having been born in Alexanrdria. And G'raha was a ruler who had to guide his people through an apocalypse on a dying world for a century, which arguably means Sphene should have related to him more than Wuk Lamat.

The bonding and writing spotlight should have been spread around.

[MeteorShan]

I'll need two posts for this! Sadly Wuk is written as a truly insufferable force of nature that we can’t get away from during the entire expansion and she suffocates everyone around her. The quality of writing throughout the entirety of the expansion is the major problem in all aspects, and Wuk is the major symptom caused by it. There are too many instances of quite clearly copy pasting almost exact lines from earlier expansions (e.g. “Hear, Feel, Think”) along with turning Scions into caricatures of themselves (e.g. Alphinaud firewood collecting once again), plus the constant callbacks by using OSTs from SHB & EW to try and invoke emotion / weight to the cutscenes they’re used in (e.g. Vrtra with Footfalls), which fails dramatically as players know (or should know) this is just a key jangling trope similar to what Disney Star Wars has become. The point of Dawntrail and this entire new saga they’re trying to create is supposed to be moving on from the ARR - EW saga, but they seem to be unable to let that go and need it as a crutch to try to support the poor themes and writing they’ve come up with.

I tried so hard for the first few zones in the game to try to like Wuk and let her grow on me, I’m the type of player that does every single side quest and takes on board every piece of lore in the game (four full playthroughs of the FFXIV including doing every sidequest available). MSQ 90 to 93 is a real chore in Dawntrail compared to HW through to EW, every previous expansion still had the same formula of two quests from NPCs taking you to two separate zones which build up the lore in each of those two areas. The HW to EW starting quests had way more intrigue, interesting dialogue and compelling world building than anything DT had to offer.

As I posted in another thread, the instanced fight at level 94 is what finally broke me and I finally accepted that this expansion wasn’t salvageable, where you have to fight Bakool Ja Ja as Wuk Lamat which is utterly ridiculous. People who are defending it and think Dynamis is what caused her power boost are fundamentally wrong according to the lore:

"Dynamis is another form of energy distinct from aether that permeates and conforms most of the physical universe, and in pure quantity is the more abundant of the two, accounting for approximately 68.3% of all known energy. However, its effect on the material realm is much weaker than aether's and is almost completely drowned out in the presence of equivalent amounts of aether. As such, dynamis only shows tangible effects when in large quantities, most notably outer space, away from comparatively aether-rich planets."

Humanity was sundered by Hydaelyn so that we had a chance to defeat Meteion by being able to interact with Dynamis in her own realm at the edge of existence, this is not possible on Etheirys as it is rich in aether.

[MeteorShan]

In 6.55 it's visibly shown to us that she can barely handle a large talking parrot and is physically shaking due to her nerves and lack of combat prowess. So regardless of her having been previously trained by the Dawnservant Gulool Ja Ja, she is quite blatantly lacking in the combat department. During the initial level 90 MSQ quests at the start of Dawntrail, whilst each claimant is walking out one at a time from the palace, it is widely stated and recognised by other NPCs that she is significantly weaker in combat than the rest and has no achievements to her name. Then at level 90 MSQ during the Hanuhanu quests, Wuk attacks Bakool Ja Ja when he's threatening to destroy the Hanuhanu float. She literally says "I attacked him with everything I had" after he has blocked her and knocked her back with ridiculous ease, she's probably the equivalent of an average Marauder from the Marauder's guild in Limsa, nothing more.

The fact that she then steamrolls him at level 94 MSQ in the solo instance mentioned above is a complete joke, I was expecting her to at least have the presence of mind to stand aside and let us have that solo instance to toy with Bakool Ja Ja as we put him down. The only reason she is capable of this fight herself is plot armour and terrible writing.

THEN in the second half of the story, where she has absolutely no place being due to the fact she has zero experience of dealing with world ending catastrophes or any level of technological knowledge that could prove some insight or be helpful, she can somehow match Zarool Ja in hand to hand combat and destroy his soul regulator. This is beyond obscene as Zarool Ja had earlier defeated Bakool Ja Ja in a MSQ 92 cutscene with one attack, whilst holding back on the advice of Sareel Ja. Furthermore, Zarool Ja has also had an extra 30 years of combat training along with possessing vastly advanced weaponry and armour. He would be able to just one shot her without even trying, the power scaling in Dawntrail for their Mary Sue / Blackhole Sue is inexcusable, simply believing in yourself and "the Power of Peace" does not make you a vastly more proficient fighter I'm afraid.

Furthermore, she is practically put into the position of team leader during the final two zones, navigating us through this catastrophe when in reality she wouldn’t have a clue what was going on or what to do.

And then the final fight she of course has to burst in midway through (a lame copy of Thancred & Gaia in SHB plus Zenos in EW) and having dreadful pleading dialogue with SPEEEEEEN, tanks a full blown hit from Sphene with no issue and can practically solo the final trial on her own, becoming a god level killer for no logical reason whilst giving us, the Warrior of Light, a buff just due to her “inspiring presence”. At this point I think we can agree that the Warrior of Light gave in to despair and we swore under our breath at Emet-Selch for recommending us to seek the fabled golden cities of the New World…

[rofland]

ngl idk why people get mad at zero. she's meant to be an unrelatable alien with an ethical code that doesn't make sense, slowly rediscovering humanity through her interactions with people and then sharing that 'light' with golbez to rekindle hope for the 13th
she never kill-steals us, her power level is consistent and develops over time, and i would have hugely preferred adventuring with her over wuk lmao

[Dogempire]

ngl idk why people get mad at zero. she's meant to be an unrelatable alien with an ethical code that doesn't make sense, slowly rediscovering humanity through her interactions with people and then sharing that 'light' with golbez to rekindle hope for the 13th
she never kill-steals us, her power level is consistent and develops over time, and i would have hugely preferred adventuring with her over wuk lmao

I liked Zero, she started out a stranger and went through an entire character arc, and ended up changing as a result of the world around her and her experiences in an environment that's utterly alien to her.

Wuk Lamat just warped the entire world around her so that she didn't have to change as a character, and there's no tangible difference between her at the start of DT and the end of DT aside from combat strength