Getting buffed mid-fight so you can up your damage is a core part of raiding, especially in Final Fantasy XIV. But raiders in The Omega Protocol Ultimate (dubbed TOP by players) are running into a unique problem — they’re hitting FFXIV’s buff limit, preventing them from gaining more buffs, or in some cases, getting healed.
Believe it or not, Final Fantasy XIV has a hard limit on the number of buffs and debuffs a player can receive. This is supposedly a limitation of the game’s engine. When a player has 30 buffs on their character, any additional buffs will simply not be applied. This counts for negative status effects, personal buffs, and buffs from allies.
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However, in normal play, reaching this buff cap is highly unlikely. In a Dungeon, or Light Party, there’s simply too few players. And in most eight-man content, players would have to be incredibly unlucky to hit buff cap. However, some players will have unwittingly experienced this during content such as Eureka and Bozja, where large numbers of players, enemies, and additional buffs from the content will affect them.
But it turns out the buff limit is very real, and very much affecting players attempting to clear The Omega Protocol, as numerous streams and tweets from raiders have shown.
When players are hitting phase three of the fight, they have been hitting buff cap and it’s affecting their DPS. With buffs and debuffs from the fight, buffs from seven other level 90 characters, and players re-opening their rotations after the phase transition, this means the most recent buffs (and most often, the ones that up their DPS) are falling off.
This is incredibly frustrating for players attempting to race to clear one of FFXIV’s most challenging fights ever. It remains unseen whether Square Enix will attempt to fix this cap, or whether they’ll double down and say its a feature. Regardless, SE are in somewhat of a bind. Nerfing a boss or making balance changes mid-progression is a huge faux pas in MMOs, and one players rarely welcome — even if it will help them clear easier.
For more Final Fantasy XIV news, guides, and info, check out How to unlock and craft the Flamecloaked Barding in Final Fantasy XIV on Pro Game Guides.
Michael lives in the UK, but wishes he lived in Eorzea. A life-long gamer, Four years ago, he ditched a "real" job to write about video games for a living, and hasn't looked back. When not guiding players how to get the latest mounts, crafting recipes, and in-game goodies, he spends his time nurturing an unhealthy addiction to MMOs and gacha games.