richardmarin2538: I've been saying all along that whether or not the story for the expac lands, DT has been doing a lot of work all along to improve upon content itself. It's the first expansion since stormblood to have both a fieldop, a diadem like space and a deep dungeon, the first expansion since stormblood to create new types of instanced content, and the content they are making keeps getting better in creativity and just fun, and seeing the Arcadion go out with a blast makes me feel deeply validated on that take. I'm glad to have been here for this raid series. Inb4 heavyweight savage blows everyone's minds and further redefines what an 8man raid can be.

edit: actually EW came up with variant and criterion dungeons, so I guess it's more accurate to say it's the first expac since StB to create new types of raids, though quantum is also there as a 4man raid thing.

mennekeh6367: I think even if the raids were bad the characters and music would still make it a worthwhile experience. But the raids were fun too so im honestly super satisfied

coolin74: You forgot to link the video about wrestling you quoted btw

RainesamaXIV: I think Dawntrail has had some of the best battle content XIV has ever delivered - as you mentioned, hard carrying the other shortcomings that 7.x has suffered. I don't limit that to just Arcadion, but of course the raids have been the cream of the crop on this front.

Honey B Lovely is so iconic that it's been hard copied by Ragnarok Online, heart gauges and bee lines and all.

The cruiserweight tier brought back skills that are very often absent in modern endgame raiding - add management. The yans, the mus, the plants on Abombinator - adds that did something besides act as a damage sponge before exploding, that interacted with the boss mechanics. I am not a fan of tanking because I don't find the gameplay very engaging, but I was very happy that I tanked for one of my groups during cruiserweight, and got to build skills that aren't just damage optimization, which added a lot of depth to the encounters.

The music has been amazing - not that I didn't enjoy the layers being built upon the Abyssos themes or the remake of the final battle music from Tactics for Pallas Athena, but Arcadion's variety of themes with so many different singers has really given each fight an extra serving of identity and atmosphere.

When hearing of excess punishment, I am always reminded of the body checks on the Harrowing Hell encounter, and as much as I like that fight, I did think that its design did not serve the content difficulty well - it was fine during prog, but reclears just became such a slog and fairly early on, no one was looking forward to reclearing that fight because one out of position player during pairs often meant a reset.

I have high hopes for the final tier and suspect the developers will deliver! Enjoy and thanks for the video.

RadRain11: The Arcadion is a new peak for FFXIV raiding, but is also one of the only things that helps 14 in it's current state feel like a video game at all instead of one of the worst point and click adventures in the industry.

I hope they keep making raids at this quality.

KaldurHunter: it sadly just doesnt matter at this point. raids are cool but any content rests on the "pillar" of gameplay and job design has been anti fun for well over 2 years now

maik5201: for a moment, when we saw all the fighters with different weapons, I thought: what if they become part of job quests?

Soress9: I think having the announcer was key to the fights. Hearing him call out when a person fell/when they got back up, when the fighter does something illegal or their unique attack.

I felt like they learned from that too with Doomtrain with our conductor calling out asking if we were okay or Doomtrain constantly destroying the carts getting more exasperated.

MrRamo14: About the announcer they did incorporate some of that into the Second Walk alliance raid too so I don't think it'll be something they'll only do for Arcadion.

The NPC you are going through the raid with will call out heavy hits, rezzes, failed mechanics. "An ally has fallen, get them back up" stuff like that.

robertomacetti7069: it's just

so incredibly fun

especially the raids but actually there is not a single duty in the whole of dawntrail i have major complains about

loved this expansion so far

and yes, the arcadion is the best thing about it by far

ole88bluegmc: Arcadion story was better than MSQ too by a HUGE margin.

Spicynugz223: The thumbnail doesn’t match your excitement/enjoyment of this tier. It wouldn’t be click bait to say it’s the best given how you feel about it, which is very valid

brachyzoid: Mechanically, I still prefer Alexander's

I'm getting tired of all raid being just moving out of the danger. Alexander had more things to interact with than just doing your rotation for 10 minutes dodging AOEs.

WarriorWerchii: The biggest upgrade between EW and DT raids is that the bosses don't jump to the middle for every single mechanic. Yeah it still happens, but it is way less often and way less noticeable when they do.

liquidefreet: They did say they would focus on the fights design this expansion. It gives hope with the fact they also said that they would be focusing on the job design with 8.0.

WolfmanXD: "my lives 9, my soul I spilt."

"enough is enough, get off my stage!"

"I'll blow you...... To smithereens."

"nothing personal, but I must have your soul."

I remember the first 4 much more than the cruiser weight in all honesty, and I haven't done the heavy weight enough yet to have them stuck in my head, though "you'll be a stain on this ring," is a WILD quote.

And the music has been top notch the entire way through. A couple that I would call weaker, but the bar is so high that even the weaker ones is still at least a 6/10.

mismismism: Arcadion is the best part of Dawntrail for me by a massive margin. So much of the expansion flopped colossally but Arcadion was great.

NemNemNemy95: Honestly. I wanted them to maybe add one extra thing, and that's solo duties akin to Omega. I really wanted to help in rescuing Neyuuni, stopping the fight between Black Cat and Wicked Thunder, failing or succeeding a TV interview(like the Chai Nuzz hyping scene), and having the title defending match against Brute Bomber. It would have tied everything together. Even so, the fighting content was peak and I hope they continue the next raids with what they have done.

fredd3218: I love your review videos Rinon, now a days with the hyperbolic, doomposting and videos with obvious hidden undertones of bigotry or usa politics. It's refreshing to see someone who is just reviewing and making videos pure of FFXIV just cause you have fun and you want to keep having fun.

tituslupus5454: While these might have been some of the weakest raids on a narrative front, it's hard to understate just how much fun they were to play. Patch day I was pushing through every DDoS to play more. I was stuck there through wipe after wipe and wasn't even vaguely frustrated. That Tuesday I was so absorbed in FF14 I couldn't stop smiling. I will admit, the sudden debuffs barrage on M12 did make me scoff a bit since I felt like my death my first time was a bit cheap, but otherwise it was a perfect day. Every time I get queued into one of these raids, I'm still excited and eager. Though I'll admit that's something that happens with me on most current raids. This might be the first time I ever want to go into a savage tier on patch.

Dawntrail may have made some obvious missteps, but the gameplay front has been stronger than it has ever been in years and I've played more these past two months than I did collectively over two years now.

karenpojar2514: The raid fights are fun, the story and music are far, far better than the DT MSQ by a country mile.

But it comes at great cost to class design, which can really be felt in ALL other content.

arbrawlchamp: I'm already missing M8S. Doing that was the highlight of the week everytime for me. Fingers crossed these fights will give me that much recurring enjoyment.

gorp2116: I hope the bats do those chasing tethers like the second bit of the Ark Angels from Jeuno and pop an instant defam when they make contact

LuxLuciferVT: my only real problem with the end of the raid tier's storyline is the excuse they gave for the tyrant to kill the president being to keep the warrior of light from "sullying their hands." like even if you don't consider your player character a stone cold killer, you've iced enough people on the way here that there's no way you don't have a bodycount significantly larger than the entire raid roster combined, even factoring in that they've been fighting to the actual death for 30 years. it feels a bit kill stealy and like the writer for this tier wasn't necessarily in the room with everyone else.

arbrawlchamp: Also, Let Howling Blade become our new rival in the MSQ!

techdeth: Literally everyone loves a collusseum part of a game: elder scrolls fighters guild, the collusseum in ff7, and so many others. Im going to look back very fondpy on this raid tier, its been amazingly fun and entertaining. Btw Everything Burns is a KILLER track, cant waot for savage man... and they better make an Arcadion Ultimate!!!

Dec 24 2025

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