Unpopular (probably) opinion about the Nier raids...

[Xaruko_Nexume]

*Possible Spoilers follow*

Loved this game the past several months ive done it. Even the stuff some people claim was tedious. Loved ARR and even the post quests. Pugged coils, Loved Stormblood, as im a sucker for a revolution story. Shadowbringers MSQ blew me away.

What is this Nier raid?? You meet some lalafels with beards, and behind a hidden mine there is basically a city no one knew anything about with A.I. fighting aliens? What?? It felt so out of place...Apparently this was a crossover with a game called Neir that I have never heard of.

This was also the first raid mechanically I failed so hard at but I think it was more to blame with the aesthetics. The colors and textures literally gave me a head ache. The white floors with the very lightly colored orange markers on the ground were very hard for me to see. It was very hard for me to tell what was going on most of the time. I never died so much in this game yet, it was embarrassing. Im not the best raider in the world but I do have heroic WoW and a little mythic experience.

Anyway, I did some googling and it seems this raid was very highly praised by most of the community, so I expect this to be an unpopular opinion but since day one I said I would be fair to the game when I found both positive and negative. I disliked it so much that if I ever make an alt I will go out of my way to not unlock the place. I hope they dont do something that far out there again.

[aveyond-dreams]

Mechanically I didn't find the NieR raids that difficult except in the hallway in Puppet's Bunker. Because casters don't exist, apparently. Besides that it was pretty great in terms of gameplay.

*however*

The story of these raids was so boring and full of filler and ultimately led up to: Nothing! It was really disappointing as someone whose actually played the NieR games. They've mentioned the possibility of collaborating again in order to get us the flight suit but if they do they need to write a better story for it.

[Claire_Pendragon]

The "story" (more so, lack there of) was so disappointing, I was about to unsub from the game, until a friend begged me to help them as they just started.
The raid itself i think is "technically" fine as a raid, but the way they made so much of the fight require looking outside of the arena, was something that bothered me way too much. But theres been fights like that before, so I think it was a combination of annoyances, from the lackluster attempt at a disjointed story, along with the constant camera spinning/moving to look for distant AoEs, and lastly, i was playing Shadowbringers DRK... which is so incredibly dull, I sometimes just AFK mid fight, as each boss felt like a ridiculous HP sponge, and I couldnt tell the difference between bosses and trash pulls, since they equally took forever to die. Having to spam 123 for what feels like an eternity when im already annoyed, was the worst experience ive had in the game.

Ive personally never went in again, even if it had gear upgrades i could use. I have no issues with prior 24man/EX/Savage raids, but this one annoyed me way too much. (again, Im probably being harsh on it, due to other factors being combined in my experience)

Unrelated...
Also, idk why i can still reply to threads in the forum, when i havent been subbed in over a month. Usually it stops me the day after my sub ends, or 1 week of not playing (while subbed) so idk whats going on lol.

[_Pigzig]

I haven't done it yet but I don't think it's a crossover. It's just designed by the same people? Void Ark was pretty weird too. Not sure how these ruins were hidden though I agree. Gotta do it first I suppose.

[Xaruko_Nexume]

The "story" (more so, lack there of) was so disappointing.

I have no issues with prior 24man/EX/Savage raids, but this one annoyed me way too much.

Basically those two things. The story was so out there, different, and frankly bad to me compared to everything else all around it. It felt forced, like maybe that the writers/devs were required to do a crossover with Nier, and were basically told to make it work. Enjoyed and never had a problem with any other content ive done in the game thus far.

[Claire_Pendragon]

I haven't done it yet but I don't think it's a crossover. It's just designed by the same people? Void Ark was pretty weird too. Not sure how these ruins were hidden though I agree. Gotta do it first I suppose.

Theres a night and day difference between void ark and neir.
Void Ark addresses far off locations, and history of the Machi people.
Neir is some Lalas who do unrelated events, and then theres a commercial break, where you go fight some unrelated bosses, in an unrelated location.
Nothing that happens in the raids effects the story to any real degree. it tries to pretend theres a connection, but really there isnt. (I used the word "commercial" because its THAT jarringly unrelated, Though, to be fair, the Lalas are the commercial, and the raid is the show. but the Lalas are 3-4 times longer than the show.)

[VelKallor]

I enjoyed it thoroughly.

[StriderShinryu]

I liked the story in and around the raids, though it definitely wasn't given as much time and space as it needed (which is understandable given it's place as a side content raid series). I also quite enjoyed the design and mechanics of the raids themselves.

All that said, I do absolutely agree with the general feeling that the raids don't really fit all that well into 14. I don't agree that they're the absolute disgrace and personal attack that some people seem to, but they're not really a good fit none the less.

[SannaR]

Not getting the story of the raid is normal. That's Yoko Taro's writing style. Even if you know all of the Lore of the series you can still end up going what the heck was that? Don't fret if you don't get it. When the threads that link each game come from some of the more what the heck endings. Seriously Nier itself came from an ending where the PC, it's dragon and the end boss get pulled from a medieval setting to modern day Tokyo.

I don't think many enjoyed the story. I do think the fights were enjoyed more. If you look at any threads that were made when the raids were still fresh a lot of players stated they became burnt out from the cross overs that had been put in up to that point. Not sure, if that's from the overall amount or if the Nier raids themselves soured people's want of them. All I know is many thanked the twelve when Endwalker's raids were to be focusing on XIV's lore.

[Benn]

What I don't like about them is that they are very very dull. It's just grey, grey blocks, grey enemies. Everything seems empty and... well, just boring.

Also bosses have waaay too much HP for alliance raid. I many times almost fall asleep on red girl or those two "brothers" robots with shields. It takes so long to kill them. And it's not like it's difficult. It's Alliance Raid so even if ppl die all the time it will get completed. So there is no point if making bosses so spoongy.

Story I just skipped it was so boring and Lalafels were uninteresting.

Overall I only do them when I get new Cryptlurker piece so I get 3 coins to upgrade it. ARR, HW and SB alliance raids are so much better, more interesting, designed and bosses are very interesting.