The newest challenge in Final Fantasy 14, the Omega Protocol (Ultimate), arrived with the release of Patch 6.31 earlier today. The Omega Protocol (Ultimate) is the fifth Ultimate level raid to be added to the game since the category was added to Final Fantasy 14 during the Stormblood expansion, starting with the Unending Coil of Bahamut (Ultimate) raid.The latest update to Final Fantasy 14 came two weeks after the release of Patch 6.3, which saw new main story quests and an associated dungeon and trial added to the game in the form of Lapis Manalis and Mount Ordeals respectively. In terms of gameplay, Patch 6.3 saw a major rework for Paladins, some highly-requested changes for Machinists, and some adjustments to other jobs within the tank and ranged physical DPS roles. With the arrival of The Omega Protocol (Ultimate), it remains to be seen how these changes will impact raid team compositions going into the raid, and how teams will adjust to the task at hand.Earlier today, Square Enix released the notes for Patch 6.31 on the Final Fantasy 14 Lodestone page. According to the notes, in order to participate in The Omega Protocol (Ultimate), a full party consisting of two tanks, two healers, and four DPS is mandatory, with no duplicate jobs allowed. Plus, teams that want to take on this challenge will have to overcome another daunting raid first, as clearing Pandaemonium: Abyssos (Savage) is required in order to unlock the new Ultimate raid. Pandaemonium: Abyssos was added in Patch 6.2 in late August 2022, and was scrutinized by players for its difficulty curve and questionable design choices. Whether Square Enix decides to stay with that level or difficulty or not in the final Pandaemonium raid tier remains to be seen.
In addition to The Omega Protocol (Ultimate) raid, new music tracks and items were added to Final Fantasy 14, which are speculated to be associated with the new Ultimate raid. Also, some bug fixes were made to address some issues related to gameplay. The previously-reported bug associated with the Warrior's Shake it Off ability was among the list of resolved issues, which also included minor text corrections and additional bug fixes for Mount Ordeals (Extreme) and Alphascape V4.0 (Savage).
Back in December 2022, Final Fantasy 14 producer and director Naoki Yoshida stated in interviews concerning Patch 6.3 that The Omega Protocol (Ultimate) may not be as much of a grueling challenge compared to its predecessors. However, Yoshida stated that since it is still an Ultimate raid, it will live up to that moniker and that he will be keeping a close eye on how teams progress through the encounter. Only time will tell how long it will take before the new Ultimate raid is defeated, and who will claim the title of the world first clear.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now for PC, PS4, and PS5.
Source: Square Enix