There may be a winner in the race to be first in the world to (officially) clear Final Fantasy XIV's The Omega Protocol (Ultimate) raid. Raiding group Neverland claimed a clear around 2:23 AM EST on February 1, 2023 (about 4:23pm JST), according to a tweet from group member Zeppe Monado. If recognized, this would make Neverland's the official FFXIV Omega Protocol World First Clear. For its part, community site FFLogs appears to have verified the clear as well, with the log stating that it took Neverland more than 1,000 attempts to beat the mammoth six-phase encounter.
https://twitter.com/ZeppeMonado/status/1620684220413935616
The race to surmount the challenge has been mired in controversy. After Team UNNAMED claimed the FFXIV Omega Protocol world first clear on January 31, 2023, evidence emerged that members had used third-party tools and hacks during the fight. Square Enix stripped the members of UNNAMED of the titles and achievements from the clear, and ordered them to discard the weapon rewards. Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida also issued a statement further condemning the use of such tools.
Neverland is itself not a stranger to controversy in the various races for FFXIV World Firsts. Neverland was the first team to clear the previous Ultimate raid, The Dragonsong's Reprise, back in May 2022. However, streams from the completion showed Neverland using third-party tools, such as one to automate callouts. At the time the Final Fantasy XIV team congratulated Neverland and recognized its achievement, but Yoshida spoke out publicly against the use of third-party tools afterward. Via a post on the Lodestone community site, Yoshida stated that the use of all third-party tools is banned, and that the team would prioritize investigation of uses of tools to make content easier to complete, modify the UI, or allow "packet-spoofing" techniques. As of press time, Square Enix has not yet officially acknowledged Neverland's as the FFXIV Omega Protocol world first clear.
Final Fantasy XIV is available on the PS4, PS5, and PC.
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