Is the Warrior of Light Too Powerful in FFXIV?
If you've been playing Final Fantasy XIV for a while, you might feel like the Warrior of Light has reached godlike status. The FFXIV story has gotten pretty wild! How can the Warrior of Light be threatened when they've saved the world so many times? But that's what we call power scaling in MMORPGs - you have to get stronger as the story goes along, otherwise, there's no challenge.
What Is Power Scaling and Why is It a Problem in FFXIV?
- You start out as a newbie in A Realm Reborn - just another adventurer in the Final Fantasy XIV universe! As you play the Final Fantasy XIV story, you get powerful! So now the enemies need to get stronger as well!
- This whole 'power scaling' problem happens in tons of games - even anime and TV shows have it - It's kinda like a never-ending game of 'catch up'. But when it comes to FFXIV, the Warrior of Light has saved Etheirys. Think about that!
Hasn't the Warrior Already Achieved Too Much?
You might be right, since the Warrior has already handled serious stuff - the "Final Days," for example. This was a huge problem in Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail. Those events could end all life - imagine that. So the Story feels less impactful when the Warrior is super stronger than those bad guys. And with the Warrior already being super strong - maybe those bosses are too much of a pushover! It makes those battles feel less challenging. The Warrior could be taking on every challenge all by themselves and maybe that's not such a good thing for the Final Fantasy XIV story.
So How Do They Fix The Power Scaling in FFXIV?
The creators at Square Enix actually did something neat with the latest Final Fantasy XIV Expansion: They tried to give the Warrior of Light a different role. You know, instead of being the main fighter they should become more of a guide! They are a mentor now, and that's a new way of dealing with the power scaling.
- It's totally fine for the Warrior to be a leader - a wise guy with the awesome Echo! But those crazy boss battles make the story feel a little bit weak - just a tad. The enemies just aren't scary, right? So they need to shake up the power a bit to make the game really exciting.
- There's a great example from the new The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Remember Link? He was super strong in Breath of the Wild! They kinda had to 'downgrade' his powers - give him a less intense power, and this worked out. They needed to find a way to make it feel fresh!
- You can kinda do that with FFXIV and the Warrior of Light. This might mean some changes in the story and it'll mean they have to work differently as they face new challenges, which would make FFXIV much more entertaining and even more exciting to watch those events play out!
This might change everything, from FFXIV trials to FFXIV raids, FFXIV dungeons, and even how those classes and jobs work together.
This could mean that Square Enix would need to add more story lines about new, powerful villains, and it could be fun. Who wouldn't want a new story arc centered around a challenge, like how the Warrior learns how to deal with those challenges!
So we can look forward to more cool Final Fantasy XIV lore, awesome FFXIV classes and FFXIV jobs. But also get ready for a new adventure that is focused on this new story - maybe this might mean a level cap gets upped - that’s a classic for any MMORPG! The possibilities for the story of Final Fantasy XIV are totally endless!
