Ultimate hiatus feedback

[Bandia]

Dear development team,

The 2018 Dengeki interview revealed there are no plans to continue the “Ultimate” series until the next expansion. The community’s concern over the pace at which Ultimate released was cited as the reason for its hiatus. We feel the opposite and would like to take this opportunity to give our feedback. This statement is a collaboration between many players.

In Heavensward, you reached a compromise between the general player base and raiders by introducing “Normal” and “Savage” variations of each encounter. Savage requiring more time and effort to complete than the previous raids unintentionally alienated the mediumcore raiders. Towards the beginning of Stormblood, you reapproached this divisive topic with a new compromise: the introduction of an “Ultimate” series aimed at hardcore players. This allowed the Savage series to be targeted towards mediumcore players, providing much needed revitalization in Final Fantasy XIV’s raid scene, while continuing to challenge veteran raiders. It was a solution that managed to satisfy all.

That is why some of us are perplexed, if not disheartened, by the decision to halt further Ultimate releases until the next expansion pack. Those anticipating the third installment in the Ultimate series feel as if a third of Stormblood’s content was taken from us. Although Savage is fun and more accessible than Ultimate, it does not challenge hardcore raiders the way Gordias and Midas did. Thus, Ultimate remains the primary motivation to enter Savage.

Hardcore raiders are far from the only ones affected. Streamers, and the fan base surrounding those streamers, are also affected. Both Ultimate releases generated the largest viewership of any other content released by a significant margin. This speaks to the inclusiveness of Ultimate even though few players actually clear it. It inspires upcoming raiders to invest in the game and awes players without time or ambition to tackle it themselves. Such enthusiasm is critical to the health of the game.

We appeal to you to reconsider the decision to halt Ultimate development in Stormblood or, at the very least, request a challenging piece of 8-man PvE content is added in its place. We are very passionate about Final Fantasy XIV and want to see it succeed and continue to provide amazing content that can be enjoyed by everyone. However this news leaves us with no content to look forward to for a very long time and has many of us questioning whether this is where we want to continue spending our time.

Thank you for reading!

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