A new difficulty level: after Extreme... it is Unreal!

[LalaRu]

It seems so, looking at the notes on patch 5.3 special site.
Just an Extreme for the level 80, or something really... unreal to beat?

[Seraphor]

We don't know that it's specifically higher difficulty than Extreme.

It seems more like it would be a weekly duty that around the same difficulty as an Extreme, kinda like providing an equivalent to weekly Savage reclears for Extreme level players.

[Recon1o6]

Its the old hard or extreme trials bumped up to 80. they have said this numerous times

Hell the reason its OG shiva is because it was originally going to be titan, but they considered Titan hard/extreme to be too difficult as it was on par with a savage level fight at release both times (though as its synced to 80 i doubt it would be on account of absurdly good healing kits now which was part of OG titan's difficulty- you had to beat him before the scaling tumult damage started out pacing the healers healing power)
I find that a bit insulting tbh, everybody did titan hard because it was the last step in the first stage of your relic and yes, it was challenging, but that was more due to server ticks and very little gear creep available

there was no need to go straight from the hardest to the easiest primal at 50! Should give it to ifrit as he was the first primal and middling in terms of difficulty.

[Pepsi_Plunge]

It's not a new difficulty, it's just a remake of older trials. Hence the name: it's not the 'real' fight.

[Nestama]

Since it's just level 80 Shiva Extreme, it's safe to say this Trial will be easier than all of the ShB Trials. Only thing that really trips people up in this fight is Glass Dance and Avalanche... and the tank swap, I guess.

[RyuDragnier]

Since it's just level 80 Shiva Extreme, it's safe to say this Trial will be easier than all of the ShB Trials. Only thing that really trips people up in this fight is Glass Dance and Avalanche... and the tank swap, I guess.

Didn't they say there would be a few new surprises as well to trip up players?

[Aldora]

During the previous Live Letter, they basically said that these trials would be below Savage level:

Unreal Trials and Faux Hallows


(01:10:34)
In Unreal Trials, not only are primals scaled up to level 80, but they are also re-balanced accordingly. If we were to keep introducing new Unreal Trials, we’d have to spend a tremendous amount of cost to re-balance every trial all over again when the level cap is increased in the future. As such, our solution was to change the featured primal with each patch.

Some members of the development team felt that Titan deserved to be the first Unreal Trial, but Titan’s difficulty on release was around that of current Savage fights, which we felt was too difficult for the first Unreal Trial. Instead we decided on Shiva, as she had recently made a sort of appearance in Eden’s Verse.

[Doozer]

but they considered Titan hard/extreme to be too difficult as it was on par with a savage level fight at release both times

Titan Hard was Savage level at launch?

Maybe I'm better at the game than I thought. I never found it to be too difficult back then. I mean there were wipes and stuff sure, but I never struggled with it personally.

[Vahlnir]

Titan Hard was Savage level at launch?

Maybe I'm better at the game than I thought. I never found it to be too difficult back then. I mean there were wipes and stuff sure, but I never struggled with it personally.

It was bad. It was REALLY bad. The fight itself wasn't difficult, but at the time it was probably the biggest learning curve in the game and many people failed to complete it initially. This lasted for at least a month. It took that long for me to get a clear, and I only got it when I did because a group was offering free carries. Luckily I lived until one of the final landslides in the last phase so I still don't consider that to be a carry. I knew my stuff but made a mistake. Many other people could not even make it past the Heart phase.

As to the topic, someone already said that it was old trials being scaled up to 80. The way they were talking about it though I'd be willing to bet that they are the Ex versions.

[Doozer]

It was bad. It was REALLY bad. The fight itself wasn't difficult, but at the time it was probably the biggest learning curve in the game and many people failed to complete it initially. This lasted for at least a month. It took that long for me to get a clear, and I only got it when I did because a group was offering free carries. Luckily I lived until one of the final landslides in the last phase so I still don't consider that to be a carry. I knew my stuff but made a mistake. Many other people could not even make it past the Heart phase.

Hm. I don't remember having that much trouble, and I definitely played it when it was still fresh. Maybe I just got matched with a good group back then.