Let me get the bragging out of the way: I cleared the Ultima Weapon Ultimate, also known as UWU. Is it the “easiest” of the Ultimates? Some are gonna roll their eyes and say, yeah, whatever. But it’s an Ultimate, which only about 2% (generously) of the population has cleared by the most sensible estimates, so I get to have this moment.
Admittedly, with a new job and the urge to touch grass (or rather, the concrete and/or brick of dance clubs and EDM shows) I’ve been on-and-off Final Fantasy 14, minus some timely content here and there. More importantly, I hop on for my static nights, where my group tackles and progresses through this type of high-end content. And it’s been a while since I talked about my static, right? “Static” here meaning, “a mostly consistent group of players for raiding,” hence the term “static.”
My static knows me well, so when we started talking about learning UWU, everyone who’d attempted and/or cleared it in the past looked at me, playing the Black Mage job that requires me to stand still for two seconds at a time, and bluntly asked: “Are you sure?” And not having any other DPS classes up to 90 at the time, I went: bet. Now, I’m on the other side of that with a shiny new weapon and title, and an annoying amount of pride that can only be expressed in the form of a slightly-pretentious article.
If you’re looking at this and going, “How the hell?” …here are a few kind reminders about high-end content in general to keep in mind.
Study Your Own Way (So Long As You Study At All)
Admittedly, I was a horrible student in college. Have I mentioned that before in the context of raiding? I feel like I might have. In short, due to no shortage of attention- and serotonin-related disorders I slack off when it comes to studying, for the most part.
But high-end raiding doesn’t really tolerate that sort of thing, unless you genuinely like bashing your head against the wall repeatedly until somebody figures out what’s happening. In fact, there are people who take days to weeks to do so upon release, which–thank you, for the record, for your dedication to the craft, because when you’re done, it’s time for me to stuff it all into my less-wrinkly brain.
Once enough people have bodyslammed the content well enough to know how to get through, there’s a plethora of resources that will help you. Now, frankly speaking, I cannot retain information in chart or lecture form to save my life, but you know what I do hold easily? How mechanics execute, plus a half-decent muscle memory in order to pull things off (like how I maintain a consistent 90+ wpm but will not remember a name the first three tries if you get my drift). There are quite a few third-party, custom “simulators” now that saved me during this prog, and if you find ways to help you learn, then take full advantage.
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Level-Headed Guidance Is A Gift
In regards to leadership, I could talk for a while about the namesake of our raid all night, Rer, who started having done zero high-end FFXIV content, rounded his World of Warcraft raid skills back up, and has become a recognizable figure in our data center for those doing niche high-end content. In short, he does a solid job rounding us up and handing out advice where need be, and he and our co-healer “Zahar” are absolute ace shotcallers who compliment each other extremely well. But he’s just one example of the sort of attitude that’s essential for making it through this kind of activity; note that I said “guidance” instead of “leadership.”
A few permanent and rotating members of our static had actually done UWU before, which means we had the gift of extra wisdom. But wisdom means nothing if it’s neither given nor received well, and part of the fun of our static that everyone who rotates in, permanently or as a substitute, is chill in that regard.
When something happens, there’s a gentle but firm chime-in, with varying levels of directness depending on the case and role. And that’s all there really is to it—though as simple as it sounds, I’ve absolutely been in pick-up groups with people who are… not great, with an aggressive tone and who will act like you’re an idiot for messing up on your second try at a mechanic. Which leads to my next thought—
Your Most Valuable Skill Is Patience
Look, very often it is a Victoria-personal skill issue that I just cannot get through things, because if we somehow ran a tracker of “whose fault was it this time” for our static as a whole, I’d probably be the top winner (or loser?). But when there’s a team, there’s going to be a lot of really odd or messy fumbles as everyone tries to get a hang of every little nuance of the battle.
It shouldn’t need to be said that it takes patience to get through something with a ridiculous length and number of permutations. At the end of the day, people are people, and part of what makes high-end content in any game difficult is that we’re prone to mistakes, because we’re human at the end of the day.
But patience isn’t just for other people—it’s for yourself, too. Because lemme tell you, if I let my frustration toward myself actually get to me, I wouldn’t have made it more than two months in this prog. That understanding that we’re human should apply toward oneself, too. If you’re giving high-end content your first go, seriously, don’t beat yourself up. It takes a lot to learn how to learn, as I’ve talked about in the past.
Sometimes, It’s Really Just The Game
Okay, so we can be honest here: sometimes, game mechanics actually just kinda… are not great.
In fact, honestly, that’s why we started doing UWU to begin with: our healers made into P8S, the current end of the raid tier at the time, and went, “Man, uh, what if we simply do not.” So, we didn’t, and somehow UWU was a better time, as anyone who did both UWU and P8S would have agreed.
And yet, even in UWU, we were pretty damn pressed because a mechanic or two just wasn’t great. Titan Gaols? We had to make some weird, unspeakable team concessions to get through that one. And Predation? When there’s only one spot we’re able to stand in, and that spot is goddamned tight, we’re likely gonna lose a few people.
So don’t always be hard on yourself. Really, just be fair to yourself, because that’s gonna keep you sane for the varying lengths of time you’ll spend trying to get through stuff like this—and plenty of other things in life.
While You're Here...
Check out our Guide To Playing A Black Mage
