A Final Fantasy 14 soloist has completed a 100-hour grind to clear one of the MMO's Deep Dungeons in the hardest way possible, all as preparation for an even worse challenge.
Earlier this year, streamer Aurora Moon finally beat Final Fantasy 14's Palace of the Dead solo as a Conjurer – a feat so difficult it took around 800 hours of grind over two years. How do you follow that up, exactly? Taking on a challenge that's just as punishing because you joked you would.
And so, Aurora Moon found himself staring at Palace of the Dead again, though he's doing it solo as a Thaumaturge this time. As Final Fantasy 14's precursor job to the Black Mage, it offers some symmetry as the Conjurer comes before the White Mage.
While the two jobs differ greatly in design, they share some commonality in making for an awful challenge. So much so, that Aurora swerved Palace of the Dead to complete another Deep Dungeon, Heaven-on-High, to better prepare for the daunting task.
"The damage you receive is a lot higher here compared to Palace, so the staggered movement and slide-casting optimizations I've slowly been honing for will transfer wonderfully," he says. "It was part of why I shifted to clearing this Deep Dungeon first. It's a wonderful way to learn not only to solo a Deep Dungeon, but learn how to use a job or class for the rest! Enemies aren't nearly as threatening in the others with few exceptions.
"Unfortunately, the massive run-ending hurdle of Thaumaturge is Behemoth which Heaven-on-High gives zero practice with. So I'm still in for a world of hurt. Not to mention Godfather being almost close to impossible for it as well with how bad the kit is. The challenge remains overwhelming!"
Aurora explains that the Thaumaturge is difficult to play as it's the "squishiest" class in the MMO, with no healing tools and "near non-existent mobility compared to even Black Mage." Many other classes have something to offset being one- or two-shot by enemies, but not the humble Thamaturge. As Aurora puts it, "you're simply playing a glass cannon without the cannon attached."
Then you have to factor in that Aurora is a "healer main at heart." While clearing Palace of the Dead as a Conjurer was a brutal two-year grind, he at least had some experience built up before hand. The Thaumaturge? Not so much.
"I personally think Thaumaturge feels the worst to play in a Deep Dungeon," he says. "When my back is against the wall with both classes, only Conjurer really allows for crazy plays. Thaumaturge has a very rigid and barebones kit so it kinda just dies instead. Conjurer I have years of practice with thanks to Palace of the Dead, so Thaumaturge never had a chance."
Thankfully, clearing Heaven-on-High as the Dark Mage's predecessor has done the job. Aurora is "really surprised how much I've learned about Thaumaturge thanks to Heaven-on-High," and is now ready to face Palace of the Dead once more after a wee break. We can only hope it won't take another two years to clear this challenge.
