FFXIV's New Dungeon Brings A Solid Challenge and Great Atmosphere

Yuweyawata Station continues the trend of increased difficulty in Dawntrail content. Major spoilers for the Dungeon and light spoilers for MSQ follow. You have been warned!

There's a lot to like here

Yuweyawata Station is an upgrade from Endwalker's high-level dungeons, which suffered from difficulty balancing and some strange telegraphing.

Relevancy: Yuweyawata Station flows naturally from the events of the MSQ, whereas some of the high-level dungeons in Endwalker really felt like stand-alone novelty set pieces.

Aesthetic: The game's graphical upgrades are fully on display here. The instance boasts high-quality foliage as well as indoor spaces with complex lighting.

Challenge Level: The difficulty will please veterans of the game and provide a solid challenge for new players. The full healer kit can be engaged and tank mitigations are useful. Go in close to min ilvl for an exciting experience.

The dark after the Dawntrail

The atmosphere of this dungeon heralds a return to the heavy intensity of the Shadowbringers dungeons. Callbacks to parts of the more sanguine earlier FFXIV dungeons are sprinkled in as well. I got vibes of Pharos Sirius' crystal-corrupted zombie sailors, the monstrosities from the Fractal Continuum, and Ala Migho's second boss, Aulus mal Asina. This dungeon moves the post-Dawntrail narrative in a new darker direction. I'm happy to see this exploration of some of the more mature themes alluded to in the MSQ but never really developed.

At one point I think I even saw blood on the lab floor! Was I playing Resident Evil or FFXIV? The bosses are equally bizarre and creepy, and they each have an interesting set of mechanics that need to be respected or will result in death. Leave your tank privilege at the door.

The difficulty ramps up

The bosses in this Dungeon are some of the toughest I've seen in FFXIV. The mechanics are tricky. Melee is forced out of range and casters may fight for uptime also, too many vuln stacks will actually kill you, there's poison, nasty bleeds, fatal falls, and the tankbusters unmitigated will make an impact.

In past dungeons I have just used CDs when it would be the "right" place to use it, and especially proactively when running with an inexperienced healer, but it did feel unnecessary and unsatisfying most of the time. But there have been moments in Dawntrail in the leveling dungeons when everyone was still in leveling gear where I felt Paladin's strength in having those extra party mitigations. Further, the party-wide attacks in Dawntrail dungeons don't line up exactly with the cooldowns of tank party mitigations as in the past. You could think a little about a mitigation plan if you are the optimizing type and have some fun with it. I have only done that in Savage before! I have seen more Mantras, Shield Sambas, and even Feints and Addles coming out in these dungeons than ever before, which speaks to the level of engagement the DPS have in the bosses as well.

Trust me

Many dungeons of past expansions could be completed by a group of new players with little command of their skillset with few to no wipes. With the increased difficulty of this dungeon, a party of all inexperienced players may struggle to complete it. Enter the Trust system! It really helps those newer or very casual players to not get walled on the story and provides a low-stress environment to practice boss mechanics at a self-defined pace. The Trust System frees up the FFXIV devs to increase dungeon difficulty to challenge a broader range of players.

What's next on the horizon?

The time and care put into this dungeon by the FFXIV team shines through in Yuweyawata Station. I'm looking forward to upcoming patches and the high-level dungeons to come!

What did you think of Yuweyawata Station? How was the difficulty? Any thoughts on the darker direction?