Ultimate Legend btw
Yesterday, I cleared my first Ultimate raid in Final Fantasy XIV: The Weapon's Refrain, AKA UWU! If you don't play FFXIV...first of all, how's all that free time and productivity? It must be nice. But secondly, trust me when I say that this is a pro gamer move on my behalf.
OK, all silliness aside, I am so proud of myself and my group. Ultimate raids are a lot of fun, but they're also a marathon. We spent 21 total days raiding before our clear, and most of our sessions ran for 3 hours, so...you can do the math. I am grateful to have found a group where everyone had a good attitude, because things can get frustrating when you keep wiping on the same mechanic over and over (hello, Titan Gaols). Even when that happened, we focused on the fact that our longest pull record continued to improve week after week! It helps that our static leader meticulously kept statistics and made graphs to track our progress, so we could easily visualize how far we had come.
Shortly after I started playing FFXIV, I became interested in running high-level content. I remember finding a clear video of The Epic of Alexander when I was still playing through the base game plot. I thought it was one of the coolest things I've ever seen (and still do). I was amazed by how coordinated the players appeared. It was like less of a combat encounter and more of a meticulously rehearsed dance. And then the incredible music and dramatic enrage mechanic really added to the...well, "Epic" proportions of it all! I was enamoured.
But I never thought I would be good enough to actually run it. I saw that video and thought to myself, "It sure would be amazing to do that, but I never will. It's way too hard for me. Maybe I'll try some extremes sometime." And I did. I joined a MINE (minimum item level, no echo) party finder group for Ramuh EX on a whim one time. No idea why I picked a MINE challenge to start with, but I felt invigorated by the slow progress the group made. We didn't clear before I had to go, but I knew I wanted to try again.
The first high level duty I actually cleared while level synced was the first in the Second Coils of Bahamut series. Once again, it was MINE. Why did I keep doing that to myself?! I suppose I thought that was what "real raiders" all did, but now I know that is far from the case. After clearing that raid I started to feel a little more confidence in my abilities. I went on to clear some more extremes with my Free Company, including Hades EX, which was loads of fun.
After I completed Endwalker (a few months after the general populace as I was still going through Shadowbringers when it dropped) my FC pals suggested we try the first Pandaemonium Savage raid together. I was incredibly nervous, but guess what? After a couple of sessions, we cleared it! Little old moi, a savage raider? Now I was gaming. And that silly dream in the back of my mind started to seem...possible. Not likely, but possible. After I found a proper static, I went on to clear the entire Pandaemonium Savage series, bouncing from Warrior to Dragoon to Dark Knight. (I honestly love both tanking and melee DPS — don't ask me to pick a favourite!)
In the middle of progging those Pandas, sometime in 2022, a friend approached me asking if I could fill in a spot for their fresh UWU static. It didn't matter if I didn't know the mechanics, since we were probably just going to wipe a bunch anyway. I was shocked by how fast all the mechanics went by. Ultimate raiding is like playing the game on 2x speed. But I did my best to listen to the callouts, and just before the 2 hours were up...Garuda was down.
Wait, what?! Cut the cameras. I couldn't believe that I had actually cleared the first phase of an Ultimate raid, in one session, totally blind. That sure was an ego boost if I ever got one. As it happened, the person I was substituting for in that static wasn't able to permanently join, so I did instead. I was progging an Ultimate! WOAH!
We got to the final Ultima phase of the fight, but unfortunately, the static had to disband in autumn of 2022 as a bunch of members were going back to school. I was so close to clearing that I told myself I would just hop into party finder and prog the rest of the way. But honestly, I was too scared. I figured I would find a group, die a whole bunch, embarrass myself, and end up on that one Aether raider blacklist of crappy players. And then I'd be a loser forever.
So I stopped trying for a while. I told myself I'd get to clearing UWU eventually, but wanted to focus on Pandemonium for the time being. Then we finished up our P12S reclears, and I was free as a bird, and I still...didn't do it. The longer I waited, the less I remembered, and my confidence waned.
Happily, sometime in March of this year, a friend put out feelers to see if anyone was interested in forming an UWU static. It would mean re-progging the fight from scratch, but since it had been over a year since my last attempt, I figured it would be worthwhile to start over anyway. Plus, I'd be able to offer tips here and there as I remembered my experiences from the last static.
And here we are! After toiling away for 7 weeks, I've done it! I'M THE ULTIMATE FUCKING LEGEND, BABY! Ahem, sorry. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to finish up the fight with some kind and funny folks at my side. It's a really fun raid, especially toward the end as the orchestral theme of Ultima soars, and then we went in for the kill...my heart was pumping so fast!
Now I've cleared an Ultimate. I thought I would never, ever be this good at Hit MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV, but...I am! And after I play through the main story of Dawntrail, whenever I get a good chance, I'm going to start progging TEA, my dream raid. Because I actually, totally am good enough to do it. I feel like my weird video game impostor syndrome has melted away with this victory. I might even try to prog at least parts of it in party finder. Because you know what? I'M THE ULTIMATE LEGEND and I CAN DO IT!
If you want to watch our clear video, our static leader has kindly uploaded it to YouTube.
Sorry this entry was more informal and probably incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't played FFXIV. But hey, it's my blog. And not only is it my blog, but I happen to be the Ultimate Lege
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