The FF14 race to world first is over as Dawntrail's final savage raid falls, and despite DDOS drama the winner is clear

The FF14 race to world first has come to its conclusion, and this time there’s nothing close about it, although continued DDOS frustrations certainly managed to put a dampener on the event. Rounding out a trilogy of wins across the entire Dawntrail raid series, Japanese team Lucrezia managed to take home the victory once again, and did so with well over an hour gap ahead of second place, making it tough to argue with the result despite repeated disruptions for several North American teams.

The FF14 7.4 savage raids have been a fabulous conclusion to the Arcadion. Its pro-wrestling theme has brought some especially unique and memorable encounters to the MMORPG, from the enticing idol Honey B Lovely to gundam-catboy Howling Blade. Its final tier, the Heavyweight Division, includes a dominatrix (in the game’s own words) who dramatically steps on any accusations that Dawntrail treats us too much like a child, and a pair of surfer bros that barrage your party with combined fire and water attacks.

The real question on everyone’s lips, of course, was what the final part of M12S – the last fight in the series – would be. In traditional FF14 fashion, upon clearing the first part of the encounter, the boss dramatically transforms into a second stage. This time (and here’s your spoiler warning), the giant Lindwyrm is reborn wrapped around a humanoid figure capable of growing multiple clones. These then tether to specific players to unleash all manner of attacks. Nevertheless, Lucrezia was able to figure out the strategies to come out on top, and you can head to the 4:33:00 mark in the video below to see the climactic moments.

Of course, the race to world first is no stranger to drama; typically this has come in the form of teams using third-party plugins, which are against FF14’s terms of service. Hopefully, we shouldn’t see any such issues rear their head this time – all of the teams clamoring for the top spot were streaming their attempts live, and Lucrezia is a well-established favorite with a trusted reputation. It’s just a team of very, very good players, who managed to power through with just a brief couple-hour break to rejuvenate themselves.

As mentioned up top, the big frustration this time has been disconnects, which have specifically affected players and teams in North America. It’s a problem that’s been notably persisting since the end of last year; Square Enix has acknowledged these “network technical difficulties caused by DDOS attacks” multiple times, most recently on Tuesday January 6 alongside the release of the savage raid.

Ultimately, while it sucks to see such an issue continue to plague players (regular raiders have been affected just as much as the world-first racers), it’s tough to think that the result would have been any different. Knowledge is often as important as practice, and it’s hard to hide that when the best teams are showing their progress live on the internet.

At the time of writing, more than two hours hours after Lucrezia’s clear, the only other team to finish is Banana Codex, and they did so in private after hanging up their streaming boots for the day. With such a dramatic victory, you’d be hard-pressed to argue against Lucrezia’s claim as the Arcadion’s undefeated champion.