My obsession with Final Fantsy XIV ruined a friend’s MMORPG forever

Final Fantasy XIV regularly releases new, difficult bosses that need to be killed for fancy loot and status symbols. MeinMMO editor Sophia Weiss wanted to be among the first to take down a new boss. But her obsession with combat ruined one of her friends’ MMORPGs forever.

I’m not a particularly ambitious MMORPG player. I usually grind exclusively for glamor and new furniture for my character’s home. It’s mainly the story and the music that excite me about Final Fantasy XIV.

When Patch 4.3 was released during the Stormblood expansion, I was overcome with ambition: there was a new boss fight and the difficult Götterdämmerung version appealed to me.

One look at the possible fancy new weapons and I was hooked: I really wanted to make this fight. Now, for the release. Come what may. And with my toxic ambition, I ruined the entire fun of the game for a good friend.

About the stubborn daughter who drove me crazy

The fight in question back then was Götterdämmerung – Tsukuyomi. It will be unlocked once you have completed the normal battle during the story of Patch 4.3 and spoken to the Traveling Singer.

In total, Tsukuyomi has four combat phases that become increasingly more intense. First you will be shown the basic mechanics, then a DPS check follows and in phases three and four things really get down to business.

By the way, you can read more about their story background here:

The first thing I did was recruit all of my friends who were at the then maximum level of 70 with me. We filled the remaining spots in the 8-man group with random people from the group finder.

The beginning is the easiest part of the fight. We managed that without any problems. In the end, we failed again and again in phase 3. Here it is important to correctly place delayed falling meteorites in order to be able to survive the subsequent mechanics. While several other mechanics are going on at the same time.

Our problem? Time and time again we failed to place the meteorites neatly.

I’m really tilted – like never before and never again since

I really wanted to lay this boss. So starting on patch day, I logged in every evening for three to four hours to train. My ambition drove me to achieve top performance.

But the meteorites simply finished us off: once the tank stopped in the middle of the arena and its meteorite wiped us away. Other times a healer or attacker would forget where they should have applied their area effects.

I’ve been playing Dragoon, an attacker, since I started. Some of my attacks are stronger when executed from behind or to the side of the boss. These are so-called positionals. So I always know where a boss is in front, behind, left and right.

But if you don’t play a class with positionals, you don’t always automatically keep an eye on the boss’s positioning. If you a) have to look around first and b) first have to remember that a certain action requires you to do something specific, it’s no wonder the mechanic doesn’t get done.

But I didn’t understand that. And it drove me crazy. I was wondering if my PC is somehow misrepresenting the boss. Or whether my explanation is not good enough.

My friends on Discord witnessed my frustration live and in color. Oh… how I complained. Loudly. Dirty. I cursed so much. I remained as friendly as possible in the in-game chat and sometimes gave up the line when it was no longer possible.

But I was really frustrated. Sour. And then when someone messed up one of the other simple mechanics, I was even angrier. I was so annoyed by the whole fight and the disorientation of my teammates!

Happy end. But at what cost?

I don’t remember when, but we cracked Tsukuyomi after a few days. It was hard. It was exhausting. And one of my best friends has stopped playing Final Fantasy XIV since then.

We met again recently. There was someone else I was talking to about the MMORPG and we both asked if he wanted to continue playing at some point.

Only then did he tell me about his frustration at the time: he took part voluntarily. But that boss fight, all the mechanics, and the intensity with which I pushed them all killed the fun of the game for him. My obsession and the constant drive of oh come on, we can do it today made the game miserable for him.

If that’s current content and the way it’s presented, then it’s not what he wants to spend his free time doing. He would like to play with us again. But continue with Final Fantasy XIV again? No. Not that one.

I didn’t realize that my buddy felt this way back when we fought Tsukuyomi. That was about six years ago now.

No more hardcore – neither in raids nor other content

After our hard-fought victory, I personally needed a few months away from the game. Since then I have never left the game so frustrated again. I only fight boss fights in a relaxed manner and without the pressure.

Tsukuyomi is no longer the hardest boss in the game, but is still the most challenging boss opponent in her content type. But since we’re level 90 since Endwalker, their fight is worlds easier.

I still love Final Fantasy XIV to this day and enjoy playing it. However, I have more fun with the crafters and collectors than with the bosses, raids and ultimates.

Maybe my buddy will dare to go on a run again one day.

I would definitely be happy. And personally, I never want to be so toxic again. This just destroys me and my friends. So I learned something from the experience.

How are you? Have you ever tilted hard in a game? Or do you have a hate boss in Final Fantasy XIV? We’re exited about your answers.

So that in the future you don’t have to play with unpleasant people like I was back then, the game is getting a few new community functions with the new Dawntrail expansion: Final Fantasy XIV is getting a feature that the boss doesn’t want you to use uses