A8S J Storm's Gale Force doesn't reduce a final punishment stack ("Your HP is now X")

[Baba_Booey]

This seems to be the same bug reported here:
https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/521618

I wanted to add more info to clarify what the bug is exactly, it should make it much quicker and easier to fix too.

It seems to me like the issue originates from a change to how mechanics that set your HP to a single digit are implemented.

Prior to patch 7.3
the game probably calculated how how much HP a person had minus some random single digit number, and then damaged the player for that amount. Leaving them with a single digit of HP. Example:
HP = 11014
random_digit = 3
damage = HP - random_digit = 11011



After patch 7.3
the game writes to the battle log "Your HP is now X."
which makes me suspect it instead just sets the HP to the random digit, without actually inflicting damage.



Getting damaged is a crucial part in A8S because it reduces a stack of final punishment.
Since the single digit HP mechanic implementation was changed, it no longer does that, effectively breaking the fight.

I checked this at least twice with a party of 8 people and I have screenshots of the battle log to show what I mean. (The J Storm's Gale force was bugged for all of us)

I imagine a solution would be to either make this an exception and not include it in the new implementation, or to add some boolean input to the HP setting function, that indicates that damage actually needs to be inflicted.

The group I'm in has been blind progging this for a very long time, we would appreciate being able to continue playing the game.

Date & Time: 15.08.2025 19:27 server time
Frequency: always (after patch 7.3)
World name: Ragnarok (chaos)
Character name: Baba Booey
Monster name: Brute Justice - specifically the 4 "J Storm" that spawn in the fight
Class/Level: MNK 60 (synced), and also everyone else in the party, so job is irrelevant
Party or solo: party of 8
In-game time: 5:55 (but again irrelevant, since it repeated)
Area and coordinates: alexander - burden of the son (savage)

Steps:
1. Go into A8S
2. Get to the "gavel" mechanic (no need to wait for the cast, it's enough that the tornados spawn)
3. Run into one of the tornados

Connection Specs and hardware software are irrelevant
This repeated for different ISPs in different countries with different PCs and OS (laptop / desktop)
This is clearly an implementation issue in the game post patch 7.3

[Jeeqbit]

I did test this unsynced on my own when it was reported previously and I was able to lose some of the stacks, but obviously that was unsynced on my own, and isn't the same.

[Baba_Booey]

You can lose stacks to the boss auto-attacking you and by running into the orbs
I doubt it was the tornados that reduced your stacks
If you went in solo, the auto-attacks from the boss would've been enough to reduce the stacks to 0, so it was most likely that...

[Commander_Justitia]

effectively breaking the fight.

I agree that this seems to be a bug, but does it really break the fight? (I think it is easier for healer, as orb damage will be easier to heal even?)

The tanks get autoattacked and will lose their 4 stacks final punishement.

The dps with Final Judgement Penalty 3 and 2 penalty stacks, instead of going for their tornado, they share the first orb with the south grp (like the healer who has final punishement 3, their 1st orb, SW traditionally). They lose 1 stack. Afterwards the dps get a tornado each. To get their 3 debuffs. They do not need healing that fast, as tornado wont kill them. They only need to be higher than min HP tank. During gavel cast they are healed, they pop the last orb.

The healer who has 1 punishment stack, needs 1 hit, after their tornado they just share an orb (NW I guess). This healer needs to have a personal instant heal for himself to make it smooth I guess.

These would be the only adjustments, if I remember the mechanic right, maybe I dont. It is true u cant play after guide anymore. But you are saying you play blind so go for it.

[Commander_Justitia]

I did test this unsynced

The usual problem with unsync is, that you are able to evade autoattacks and I think even orb damage. Which made it a requirement to quickly adjust e.g. take an orb as maintank lol...

[Baba_Booey]

Thanks for the advice
I also noticed that the fight might still be possible if the DPS share a ball with the healer that has enfeeblement 1
But the other healer that has enfeeblement 2 also needs to take a ball
This means there are more people taking orbs at the same time, which increases the damage per person
If 3 people take an orb at the same time, our healers would have to use shields on themselves to have a chance at surviving
The damage with 3 people per orb was higher than the max HP for the healers

I agree that the fight might still be possible, but this is still definitely not how the fight was originally planned, and is a bug
It also opens up more limitations for future mechanics and future issues if square has no way of causing "health setting" abilities to count as damage
They should at least be made aware of the fact that the fight has been altered...
I hope reverting specifically this mechanic, or causing these "your hp is now X" mechanics to count as damage isn't too hard

The group I play with (I was mostly filling in for A8S) doesn't have enough sessions per week to bother testing new ideas for fights that are this hard
We had a vote between trying this strat or just having the group move to A9S and they've decided to continue to A9S
Having the fight suddenly change actually made us cancel a raid, and someone left the group since it was so demoralizing
I even had to watch a guide with them for gavel to make sure we're not imagining things and that there's even a bug

On a personal note I think it's a shame that one of the most notoriously hard (and cool) savages in the game is now bugged, even if it's still possible