FFXIV players bewildered by Japanese server’s party finder loot distribution system

Final Fantasy XIV players have been blown away by the recent reveal of Japan’s party finder loot system, in which all players receive equal chances of loot.

Square Enix’s hit MMO Final Fantasy XIV has seen a tonne of success in recent years. With the release of the Endwalker expansion, the game saw the conclusion of its several-year-long story. Alongside this, we also received the raid for the expansion titled Pandaemonium, which saw the Warrior of Light explore a research facility in Elpis.

Pandaemonium, like the other raids before it saw 12 fights in total, with four releasing occasionally in the after-patches of the main expansion launch. These fights would offer a new story to discover, as well as the savage difficulty which granted players some of the highest-level items available.

These items could be rolled for by the eight players who completed the fight, with the highest roll winning out on the loot. Not all classes need certain items from the raid, meaning players could potentially yoink an item another player might need. This is even more so in EU and NA party finders, where players can join other players’ parties to run the content. The Japanese servers however do things a little differently, impressing many players on EU and NA.

Final Fantasy XIV players bemused by fair loot distribution system

Japanese FFXIV content creator yabi yabi explained in their video how the L > R or “Take from Left” system works.

The system, which is used mainly in Japan and sometimes OCE servers see players roll for one piece of gear at a time. If the player ends up gaining the highest roll and receiving the loot, they leave the arena so that others may have the chance for loot. This means that out of the eight players in the party, at least four will walk away with one piece of gear, alongside the book they receive for clearing.

This is in stark contrast to NA and EU party finder, where free for all remains king. Free For All means players can roll on all pieces of loot, even the ones they didn’t need. This could result in one player gaining all four pieces of loot and the rest of the party leaving empty-handed.

Many players were blown away by the incredibly fair system, complimenting the approach.

“Thank you for the revelation, I never imagined that this is how things worked in JP. I really like the community-based approach to problems like this in online games,” a user chimed in.

Some also pointed out that it made sense from a community point of view, as the player base would all become stronger, helping the public party finder immensely.

“In the bigger picture, it makes sense: a more equal distribution of loot means the entire player base gets stronger and makes the content easier in later weeks. The way NA handles it means potentially only a few people get stronger while a lot of other people don’t. That can have a large impact on future PFs in later weeks.”

Whilst the system seems absolutely fantastic, some were disheartened knowing it wouldn’t work on NA or EU, stating the player base was too greedy.

“That’s so fair! I’m amazed people actually stick to that rule, it’s amazing. It would never work on EU or NA though unfortunately. People are way too greedy,” one player commented.

Only time will tell if other servers adopt this more fair approach to loot distribution, similar to the way OCE has already.