Rather than lounging on the beach as it should, Final Fantasy 14 players have stripped their pristine new island sanctuaries of all plants and resources to feed highly efficient machines.
This week’s patch 6.2 added Island Sanctuaries, a solo mode where you can tend farms, gather resources, craft items, and pet animals.As you explore the island and build facilities, you’ll earn unique XP that will increase your rank and make it available for purchase mounts and hairstyles (opens in new tab)for your character. Naturally, MMO players have found ways to turn this leisurely pastime into work by sharing spreadsheets, maps, and spawn rate details.
Reddit user lucario magic (opens in new tab) Circle the location of the plant on the island map to avoid exploring it for too long.Twitter user stalvtuber (opens in new tab) Now that we’ve gone further and provided the exact coordinates, we can create a linear path from each resource. and YouTuber Call Evics created a video warning viewers about “noobtraps” that interfered with the construction of island bases, and provided an entire Excel sheet of the items to create, as well as the Value Per Time (VPH) number for each.
Twitter and the gaming subreddit are full of people highlight (opens in new tab) The discrepancy between the mode’s intended purpose and how people actually treat it. MMOs have this problem a lot. World of Warcraft has implemented its own farms and other casual friendly features over the years. There’s nothing stopping you from churning out island life in FF14, but there’s also not much reason to speedrun.
2 hours in island sanctuary: this is so relaxing I love taking care of animals 🙂 12 hours in island sanctuary: mamets request a week rest and uniteAugust 24, 2022
For fellow Light Warriors hiding out in the island’s sanctuary, this trail is good for their copper ore needs! However, it may become a better location later in the island’s development.August 24, 2022
Multiple Reddit users explain in one popular article reddit thread (opens in new tab) Why they turned the island sanctuary into a mini management sim:
“I was a math/economics major. I love factory simulation and shit optimization. It’s just how my brain works.” spock 2018 (opens in new tab) I have written.
“It’s like a puzzle. It’s fun to rack your brain on how best to get things done with what you have.” Golbasho (opens in new tab) I wrote in the same thread.
For others, harvesting and crafting all the crops can wait, and FF14’s islands are a place to take a break from challenging raids and quests. pet animal (opens in new tab) Let your minion companion run free.Island of dreams tree house (opens in new tab) For taking photos of Warriors of Light or going out with friends.
FF14’s Island Sanctuary is similar to what it was like to see enthusiastic Animal Crossing players take on New Horizons when it launched in 2020. Virtually synonymous with chill, the game was harvested alive by players early in the pandemic with nothing else to do. People used the Nintendo Switch watch to fast-forward through the game, and his dedicated website and his Discord server were used to track turnip prices and maximize profits. Obviously, it wasn’t something Nintendo intended, but everyone did it anyway.
Now it’s Square Enix’s turn to witness hordes of players who seek nothing but the sheer efficiency of their fertile farms.
