Now that I have experienced Pagos for several lockouts, I wanted to write out my initial impressions. I’ll preface this “review” of sorts by openly acknowledging they aren’t positive. If you enjoy Eureka: Pagos, all the power to you. I wish I could be you; truly I do. I want to enjoy this content. I simply... don’t.

Anywho! Let’s begin.

Pagos is, quite frankly, one of the most mind-numbingly boring experiences I have had whilst playing FFXIV since starting my adventure near Heavensward’s launch. Never before have I awoken to a patch upon release and a few hours thereafter considered playing a different game. Three hours and my wrist physically hurt from the sheer abundance of Blood Demons and Worms multiple groups and I slaughtered in hopes of spawning a Notorious Monster. We were greeted by Ash Dragon eventually, which I thought “Okay. This is awesome! Maybe it’ll pick up now!” It didn’t as an hour passed and we timed out before ever seeing Glavoid.

Friends and acquaintances across various discord cited similar results—some claiming to have gone entire three hour lockouts with only two or three Notorious Monster spawns. And this was day three. I appreciate even Anemos had a slow start. I was there, at release, grinding. Unless my memories fails me, I don’t recall it being this bad.

While supposedly working as intended; grinding mobs is, apparently, the purpose of Eureka. I cannot fathom how that is good design. If I am to be frank, FFXIV possesses lackluster combat due to its extremely rigid structure. Fortunately, this aspect is routinely masked through mechanics—the actual engaging part of combat.

Pagos highlights precisely the opposite.

Trash mobs are devoid of anything beyond the most basic attack patterns and pose little to no threat unless people are needlessly careless. They do nothing whereas Notorious Monsters offer the mechanical variation seen in 24 man raids, dungeons, Trials and other content. They may not be quite as ambitious, but they still provide a degree of nuance which helps alleviate the monotony of endlessly pulling the same monster for the 500th time.

In layman's terms, Ash Dragon is cool. Blood Demons are boring. Five hundred Blood Demons are soul crushing.

What should be the highlight; the driving force that makes killing mobs worth all the hassle, isn’t. Those Notorious Monsters are essentially an afterthought; nuts sprinkled on ice cream gone sour. In an odd manner, Pagos feels almost... punishing somehow. The sheer commitment required simply isn't validated by what rewards await. At best, I am bored and little else, which is not how a new patch ought to feel.

Not once have I contemplated walking away from a piece of content FFXIV offers. I have multiple Animas done, I went back and did Zodiac relics, I have almost every PotD weapon, I have cleared floors 200 and 100 of each Deep Dungeon, respectively. I have cleared Savage multiple times and am progging Ultima. I even have the Whisper-A-Go-Go.

I have grinded in this game, and enjoyed a good portion of it despite some frustration along the way. But Pagos is where I finally ask myself “Is this worth it? Is it worth even bothering?” When leveling a third and fourth alt simultaneously, or simply moving on to another game until 4.4 comes around both sound more appealing. I have to wonder is it just me? Is Pagos simply not my kind of content? Perhaps. I certainly cannot speak for everyone. But that doesn’t speak fondly to the content when anything else grabs my attention more.

Maybe this all becomes a moot point in a week or two. I certainly hope so.


Now to combat frequent rebuttals before they even come up:

Pagos is optional content!

Unfortunately, it isn’t. Not if you want the relics. Previous steps allowed multiple avenues to progress. They may not have been efficient, however they remained an alternative. Even the often maligned Book phase at least has you partaking in different FATEs. While by no means a fun step, it lacked the same monotony of Pagos. There, I have precisely one choice. Kill thousands upon thousands of the same mobs until a Notorious Monster finally spawns. Maybe.

Hours of a dull grind rewarded with ten minutes of fun.

You simply want things handed to you!

I want to be entertained. Killing the aforementioned thousands of mindless trash mobs with no mechanics is simply not my idea of entertainment. If I wanted that, I could spam dungeons. At least then I’m interrupted by a boss every 5-10 minutes. Or I could elect to play Black Desert or Blade and Soul—both of which do the Korean grind better.

This is meant to be like FFXI

If I wanted a rendition of FFXI, I would play FFXI. Now I can only speak from hearsay as I never played that game, however many have highlighted content like Eureka and other aspects since lifted were implemented far better in FFXI than their FFXIV interpretation.

Well, I think Pagos is awesome!

I’m glad. Please respect the fact I don’t. And as this is a thread where I share my thoughts, they will be subjective in that regard. Like I said above, I wish I could enjoy it the way you do.

What would you change then?

That depends. In the short term, I would request Notorious Monster spawns demands be drastically reduced. Nerf their EXP if need be while perhaps buffing mob kill EXP. The former remains relevant due to crystals, but the fun aspect of fighting giant internet dragons stays intact.

In the long term, I would prefer a tiered system where you kill trash mobs that spawn a mini-boss of sorts. This boss would be exclusive to your party, thus preventing other players from stealing credit. While nothing overwhelming per se, these mini-bosses would have mechanics to keep things interesting. And upon parties killing enough of them, that is what spawns the Notorious Monster. Or perhaps take it a step bigger and bring back the one aspect of Diadem that proved fun: Emergency Missions.

All of this is, of course, brainstorming on the fly. Certain things would need to be adjusted, such as a potential EM not being ruined by one player. Regardless, the purpose would be highlighting boss encounters. That’s when FFXIV Is at its best.