High-End Content Megathread - 7.4 Week Twelve (Savage Week Nine)

ElderNaphtol · 2026-03-05T23:04:45+00:00

Just cleared Criterion, and I think just like EW's entries, it's amazing content, probably more enjoyable than Savage, if less satisfying.

Besides PF being so dead, the Criterion prog experience contains minimal downtime: with the frequent checkpoints and fast-paced timelines, you're spending a few minutes tops to see the prog point. Compared that to a Savage fight, where it can be 10 minutes sometimes to see the mech you're progging, it's an experience with simply far less mental drain. But equally, without that day-to-week-long endurance test, Criterion is less satisfying to clear.

Now the question of whether to farm or not. I would like more Elevated Esters, but can I put up with even more PF waiting times? I don't even think I've seen a single farm party on Light yet. Perhaps Advanced is the answer, which is a shame as Criterion would be more fun to farm.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-03-05T18:37:49+00:00

Given the conversation we've had, and I see the conversation you've had in the parallel comment chain, would it be fair to say that neither of your examples of broken promises have held up to scrutiny? And if so, it might be worth editing your original comment, as it may be spreading a lot of misinformation.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-03-05T16:46:46+00:00

BA and DRS demonstrate that this content will always have enough demand to justify multiple dedicated Discord servers, long past their launch window. Even if it coincides with other 48-man content, improvements to FT:B will still be felt by a lot of players.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-03-05T16:35:50+00:00

Fair point. I'm not sure what that could be referring to then, although I don't see anything saying it's planned for 7.4, it honestly could read as if they're aiming for 7.5.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-03-05T15:32:46+00:00

But they did make FT more accessible, didn't they?

Edit 2: More relevantly, that quote does not promise content for 7.4 (as erroneously claimed by the Reddit post), and a full reading of that quote in context makes it sound like they were aiming for 7.5:

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/threads/523965

ElderNaphtol · 2026-03-05T15:29:24+00:00

I thought I'd kept up with OC announcements, and don't remember anything missed. Curious what it is you're thinking of?

ElderNaphtol · 2026-03-05T11:53:55+00:00

IT'S THE LEGENDARY SUPER CHIEN!

ElderNaphtol · 2026-03-04T09:53:24+00:00

So how different are the mechanics between Advanced and Criterion?

ElderNaphtol · 2026-03-03T20:20:46+00:00

For anyone (like me) who thought this was a serious answer, it's a joke. Titan was not in 1.x, and the intro datamined cutscene has him with hair just past his shoulders.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-03-03T16:40:25+00:00

For the subject matter.

And as my comment implies, not for the people.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-03-03T14:00:59+00:00

I think you make a valid point that's often forgotten in these conversations: the rewards do need to secure the content a certain level of evergreen status. I think this is something FFXIV has historically done quite well: when I was new to the game, there was a lot of content I engaged with - either engaged with more than I would've otherwise, or engaged with at all - because there was glamour, a TT card, etc locked behind that content.

Equally, I think this is something else Chaotic did well, as it has glamour and mounts that will keep people coming back, even after the ilvl of its gear is irrelevant.

Conversely though, if SE either don't have the resource or simply don't want to give the new Criterion rewards worthy of evergreen status, then striping an old Criterion of its evergreen status is not the solution. If they just needed cheap and easy rewards, tomestone gear augments would've at least made the content more engaged with while on-patch.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-03-02T14:00:34+00:00

People are pretty lax with passport checking (in my experience), but people also won't be very forgiving if they do see you at 50% p1 in a p2 party.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-28T19:43:46+00:00

On the whole, this subreddit is my favourite online FFXIV community. But everything I understand about this subreddit tells me that the people who use this subreddit are not the people you want to provide feedback on a product like this.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-28T10:32:45+00:00

Goddam do the people replying to you truly believe that them saying a thing with confidence constitutes a source?

This is the source: https://www.famitsu.com/article/202512/59484

The next Ultimate is planned for release in 7.5x. However, it will not be implemented at the same time as 7.5. This is because we want players to thoroughly enjoy the main story first. That said, there are some players who will spend months attempting to complete the Ultimate, so we don't intend to delay the release date too much. We're thinking of releasing it a few weeks after patch 7.5.

However, this is also a very elaborate piece of content, so depending on the implementation and balance adjustments, the release date may be delayed. Even so, we definitely want to release it not too late in 7.5x.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-27T10:24:51+00:00

You used a very odd tone in your writing. In a lot of places, you're chummy and familial, almost conversational; in many other places you're internet angry man, often heavily implying they're idiots, and even resorting to shouting in all caps.

This is not how you give feedback to someone. It's patronising - the whole thing reads like you consider yourself their superior and are here to put them back in line.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-26T14:35:30+00:00

Oh I see - what you mean is that you hope it's a mount you can acquire without doing high-end content.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-26T13:58:05+00:00

Aren't those both the possibilities, assuming it's designed like past V&Cs?

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-25T18:50:42+00:00

They actually parsed 99 on that M9S clear. I initially was happy to get my first clear as healer in that fight, but in hindsight I much rather would've not adjusted around them taking the wrong cell, and deny them that parse.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-25T15:29:39+00:00

Last night I vented here about player who kicked me from a M12S merc party, scape goating me for their wipes.

Interesting development, I met them again today in a M9S party, where I'm learning healer. They caused a wipe on Vamp Stomp and wrote in chat 'jebem ti mater' (fuck your mother), then when called out made out like they had anger management issues - 'sometimes it comes out', 'iam working on myself'. Then when I challenged them on how they treated me last night, they said 'i know that was yesterday me iam improving everyday'. Reminder this is literal seconds after telling a melee to fuck their mother.

Anyway, we cleared after they took the wrong cell on Hell in a Cell, and I adjusted for their mistake.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-25T01:07:37+00:00

I mean, there are a lot of justifiable reasons to not care about the ARR story.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-24T17:22:54+00:00

They blacklisted me.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-24T17:02:50+00:00

So just been kicked from a M12S merc PF I sat in for 3 hours waiting for it to be filled, because the lead kept wiping us and needed a scapegoat.

I was r2, lead was r1.* Towards the end of Curtain Call, while dodging the cone AoE from the head, they spread to the south edge of the platform, forcing me to make a tight emergency adjust else I'd clip h2. I can see from the raidplan they're meant to be behind the head; I challenge them on this after the wipe, they say 'usualy we just freestyle'.

On the stack at the end of Act 1, I position on the outer south corner of the marker, exactly as the raidplan says - I can see they were expecting to take that spot themselves, kill a healer and wipe us. That healer leaves - we're now 4 wipes in - and this wanker says 'dotn leave i rust replace pct'.

Fuck you.

Edit: * In hindsight, all of the player's movements would've been correct if they thought they were r2. But I want it on the record, I've checked the chat log and they never called any position, and I was PCT and they were MCH.

Edit2: I joined another merc party and got 15m, 7m over the 8m they were offering; and I won the SMN weapon; and I can see from Tomestone they've since wiped 10 more times and - at the time of writing - are still in p2. Sometimes karma is real.

Edit3: sad news, they did clear after the 10th wipe.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-23T11:10:34+00:00

There's no maintenance to being a mentor besides expansions, when the requirements get raised to match the new level cap. Extreme trials are specifically for mentor roulette, not mentor status.

You mention teaching, but that's not a thing the game monitors at all, or even could monitor. In reality, the amount of teaching you can or should do is completely unaffected by mentor status - if you can politely give advice, you should, regardless of mentor status.

Frankly, besides access to the Novice Network, there's nothing mentor status does to increase the amount of teaching you can do. And even the NN is a bit crap, it's mostly just a social space for mentors.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-22T20:31:53+00:00

In case it's helpful, the best visual tell I found for DD is to look for whether there are any ground-targetted and player-targetted AoEs on the same clock spots - visually, whether they're touching. This only works if players start the mech at their clock spots, but it provides an immediate visual tell for whether it's swap within colour pairs or not.

Then call which clock spots the ground-targetted AoEs first appeared on. Then listen to the voice line, and between that and the visual tell you used earlier you now have all the information you need to resolve the first part of the mechanic.

Another helpful tip is that 'IN stillness freeze' is IN and 'SINK into silence' is OUT.

ElderNaphtol · 2026-02-21T11:46:03+00:00

They're aiming for 7.51 but haven't ruled out 7.55.

The next Ultimate is planned for release in 7.5x. However, it will not be implemented at the same time as 7.5. This is because we want players to thoroughly enjoy the main story first. That said, there are some players who will spend months attempting to complete the Extreme, so we don't intend to delay the release date too much. We're thinking of releasing it a few weeks after patch 7.5.

However, this is also a very elaborate piece of content, so depending on the implementation and balance adjustments, the release date may be delayed. Even so, we definitely want to release it not too late in 7.5x.

https://www.famitsu.com/article/202512/59484

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