August 2026 Version Update

I'll just patiently wait for the filler gear from the NMs that closes the gap between current endgame and future endgame. Surely they'll run out of excuses and make new endgame content once the gaps are closed...

Surely...

SE finally releases gear that usurps Emp+3 and OdyR30

I don’t expect them to make deep and fun events ever again. The best and most interesting and flavorful event they ever made imo was the original salvage. Between the cells, the branching paths you had to choose between, the nm spawn conditions and the uniqueness of each of the 4 wings flavor, it was a fantastic event that you could tell the devs put a lot of thought behind.

We haven’t had interesting end game in a long time. Escha is the most interesting of anything post rhapsodies imo. Oddy sortie and limbus are all very hollow, with oddly probably being the best of those options. Event design nowadays is just throw a bunch of trash mobs in a pile and tell players to have at thee, with the odd nm here and there. It’s something to do with friends to spend time with people you like, but the content itself isn’t terribly interesting.

I know it means I'm of an age, but this is the correct take.

Ewwwww!
No but seriously, Salvage was GLORIOUS. Despite being a noob at the time, with no means to get money, no useful jobs either etc, I worked very very very hard to complete my Usukane Set (took me ~1 year of pretty regular runs?).

Salvage was great. In hindsight I'd say a few paths/nms/drops were a bit off and should've been rebalanced, and also the cells handling was annoying inventory-wise but IN GENERAL it was such a great, vast, intense, fantastic event.
Salvage II never felt as good as the original if you ask me. Is it just me? Am I being biased and idolizing the original one?


I think despite many flaws, a few boring choices and things I don't agree with, I'd dare to say Gaol fights V25 are also some of the best (and most challenging too!) content FFXI ever saw in its entire history.

Also I'd dare to say there's potential in Sortie as well, in hindsight many of those potentiality didn't play out well and there's way too much walking to keep it interesting after a long time of daily runs (the daily cap and the fact runs last 1hrs is also another bad thing in the long run) but despite all the hate it may get I think Sortie wasn't really all that bad?
"Revamping" it making it even better without giving Primes for free would take like 1 day of work on their end, it's sad they won't ever do those small fixes.

They did Gaol lazily by separating it from the huge WoE/Sheol zones and making them 1x entry fights that you needed points from an entirely separate KI farm to enter. It should have been a revamped WoE/Delve, with "Gaol" being the final boss area that unlocks when you complete a certain amount of objectives.

Alliance content navigating through either of the Sheols, and at the end, you needed enough "Izzat" to unlock the final boss. Then you fight the appropriate wave boss (Atonement 1 for Sheol A, Atonement 2 for Sheol B, and Atonement 3 for Sheol C). Delve II, but way harder. Could have even kept the no-sub and no-repeat jobs thing, if you wanted to.

They had a bunch of interesting elements that made for a big challenge (Bumba V25 is ***, throwing Unity stuff in there was weird too), but their decision to break it up into 4 separate wings, 3 that use the same daily KI and one that needs points from either of the first 3 made it more of a slog and felt like they implemented it lazy.

With all that being said, Gaol was the most fun and uniquely designed content I enjoyed in FFXI, right next to Salvage 1. Salvage II never felt anything close to the original IMO. But are there really any Sophomore events that actually feel just as good or better than the original?

Limbus 2 and 3 sucked
Odyssey (WoE/Delve 2/3/3) feels worse than WoE and is completely different than Delve in structure
Ambuscade is nothing like Legion
Salvage II is watered down version of I
Sortie is about equal to Vagary
HTBFs I suppose are equal to the original mission fights
Incursion -- idk wtf that's supposed to be, its an original event, was there ever a part2?


I can't think of a single instance where SE got it "Right" on the second or third iteration, Master Trials maybe? They've just run out of juice on the content front.

OG salvage was *** lol cmon

You needed two inventories worth of meds and mnk was the only DD available until the patch that added the starter chest. When that was patched in, the event was nearly perfect.

Why not perfect? The drop rates that were so *** atrocious that probably the biggest exploit in the games history had to be discovered to made the drop rate “not terrible”.

This is why it was great. MNK was the show for all of 10 minutes, because nobody else could do a damn thing xD

I farmed the full skadi set with my salvage group at lvl 75. Lagsave was their shell name. Played on fenrir back then. At the time my only job was thief, and it took about a year to get the whole set. We only ran 2 or 3 days a week. But the group was very effecient with their paths and optimizing the best touts to get the most people their stuff based on who was attending. It had a dko system where everyone picked a top first priority item and a lower second priority, and once that was obtained you could pick another for that slot. If someone went too long without getting their top priority item extra effort would be made to get it. It was fun both organizing and running with them.

I have good memories with my limbus group in the 75 era too. My old social shell from 2004 did cop missions together culminating in 18 man limbus runs. Original limbus had a lot of gimmicks too. You just don’t see event design like that anymore.

Limbus 1 was the best content. Prior to Limbus, endgame content was not equitable to all jobs. Limbus was the first content that at least tried to be fair, even if non-Homam jobs got a little screwed. You had AF+1, ABC gear, and Homam/Nashira gear.

The runs were short, the content was fairly varied, and you could really up your efficiency by alliance farming multiple zones at a time.

Original salvage and even salvage with the free box were a little too punishing with drop rates IMO. But it was fun and challenging.

Good job
Now SE is gonna read this and go “why are people complaining about the time it takes to R30 a limbus set”?

I liked Omen. It got beaten to death, but it was fun and engaging.

I enjoy sortie though I do wish the bosses were less zerg and more mechanics. I feel like they're limiting themselves with the 1hr cap on content. Busy work me appreciates it but at the same time I wouldn't complain about 90min if it gives more wiggle room for design

Every boss has mechanics. That's the point of the metals, they limit a key aspect of the boss and make it easier.

A/E you still have to remove poison stacks or you get one shot. Have to avoid water aligned damage.
B/F there's a 50/50 chance you get either hand, but you can proc. Absorbs light
C/G you can reset his damage or timer (I forget which) on Setting The Stage via light damage. Absorbs darkness.
D/H has proc abilities, and H has wings mode that changes his behavior. Absorbs element based on his last ability used.

But Sortie just evolved into zerg. Didn't start out that way, but the meta always adjusts. People just find the simplest way to clear the content you have to do hundreds of times to get your shiny and stick to that. Even Aminon has a clear strategy and mechanic behind it and players said "nope, ignoring all of that".

Same thing that happened to Omen, Ambuscade, Etc. If you make it too hard via mechanics, it turns into Gaol. Not a design flaw. Just what players do.

Honestly, I don't even know how you're "supposed" to survive HM Aminon. I assume there's a writeup somewhere, but it's one of those "never bothered to learn because the first TP move is laughably stupid enough that obviously I'm going to cheese it" situations.

Youre supposed to burn the entire hour procing and nibbling

https://www.ffxiah.com/forum/topic/57201/fujito-ruined-the-game

The Aminon page lists every detail about his mechanics. There's even a Seal to help you survive Bane of Tartarus once. You're supposed to spend one run clearing all bosses minus Aminon but grabbing the seal, and then the next run Aminon. Then rinse repeat.

9 Boss probably was never originally thought to be possible because the mechanics take at least fifteen minutes to kill. They absolutely never considered absorb TP/denial to be collateral damage to the "absorbs specific element/mode" mechanic (because they don't test their own content). So yeah. Meta adjusts. Sub 5m kills. Now everything feels braindead because "zerg". But that's what everyone wanted right? Easy fights you can spam nightly and not think? Otherwise, Gaol is literally right there.

And will still be there 5-10 years from now, collecting dust and making cobwebs.

The turbo-tisms will still insist how great it is though, I am sure.

Normal Aminon gets done mage setup, and they still do 9-boss (barely).

Gaol sucks, especially V25. Gaol is also where some of the best gear in the entire game comes from and therefor mandatory.

Mage strat ignores mechanics too. One guy holding the boss in range and 5 others standing away from any threat. Everything eventually turns into "how can I make this slog less ***than it already is?". Ditto for Limbus (hyper buff everyone and be done in 14 minutes, then CC/WC/+5 min MMM reset SPs and repeat 3 more times). It's just what it is.

The only content that forces you to abide by the mechanics are Gaol bosses (besides Bumba25, which is the epitome of circumventing mechanics). They had to come out with a WS wall on purpose because all everyone ever did was Savage Blade everything. Isn't there a Master Trial where the group literally has to stop Teodor from moving past a certain point or else it's over?

They aren't limiting themselves, every boss has mechanics and the way you are "supposed" to fight them. Thing is, FFXI players are going to be FFXI players, and will always find a crack in the dev's design to slip though.

I mean Bumba V25 kinda exemplifies that entire idea.

Gaol is mandatory, V25 isn't.