Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 22 hours ago
Some extensive context needed for this one! Please read the description.
I got this run over a year ago when my rival SeeSoo aka Antsu started voicing intentions to aim for a sub 34 time. Unfortunately, I lacked motivation to try to do any better because I assumed it was beyond my ability at the time, and that it would require an insane grind that I wasn't willing to commit to, so I settled for this time.
Not long after, I got a notification from speedrun.com that my time had been beaten by a 33.883s run, so I lost all motivation to revisit the category, because back then milliseconds weren't taken into account, so first place had basically become unbeatable (luckily, this has now changed). My run didn't line up with my upload schedule when I got it and by the time it would have, it had already been beaten according to the leaderboard. Since I was so disappointed and disillusioned (details below), I chose to keep it private and only shared it with a few friends.
This is where it gets controversial... the other main reason why I hadn't shared this run publicly until now, or done any more attempts.
In order to break the 34 second barrier, SeeSoo had used the BLM ability "Between the Lines", which allows you to teleport to previously placed Ley Lines, which was a significant time save compared to previous strategies.
I personally thought this was unacceptable because you can't do that on a fresh run without first getting on the tower to set up the ability, which in my opinion should count towards the timer, but the run was somehow approved anyway. At that point I was so fed up with it all that I chose to not voice my concerns and let things be, because I seemed to be the only one who cared and I didn't want to come across as a sore loser.
Everyone I discussed this with agreed with my point of view, but they weren't directly involved in the community, so it took a very long time for this concern to be brought up with the moderators. That brings us to the present.
Thanks to pressure from a new moderator (shoutout to Jacklyn!) who requested feedback and showed interest in making things better, many positive changes have been recently made in the speedrun.com XIV page for jumping puzzles, including the addition of milliseconds (which I believed was a lost cause) and the listing of all other official puzzles, except for time limited ones, such as Moonfire Tower / Boat... bummer.
As part of this feedback, and since things were looking up, I decided to voice my concerns about the use of "Between the Lines" and expressed my disagreement with the top run having been approved. Since some others shared my concerns, a public vote was held to determine whether it should be allowed or not.
That voting period is about to end in a few hours, and at the time of upload, the votes are 74% in favor of disallowing the use of abilities that require a pre-setup in the tower before the run begins, so SeeSoo's old sub 35s runs should be invalidated shortly after, which is a good opportunity for me to share this old world record run that never got any recognition because of the aforementioned events.
That being said, my rival is more talented than I am, and to be fair his run was just as good as mine or even a handful of frames faster, if we disregard the use of the controversial ability. He'll likely get a legitimate sub 34s run within the new ruleset in the very near future, if he hasn't already, since he has been working towards developing new strategies and optimizing existing ones. He deserves the recognition. I simply wanted to share this run I should've been proud of back in the day, but couldn't be for one reason or another, and set the record straight, since the public hardly ever hears about what goes on behind the scenes.
Sorry for the lore dump; I felt it was important to clarify things.
With that out of the way, I'll say that at my current level I could probably improve my time some more, but I just spent two weeks grinding like a madman at the Moonfire Faire and my vacation ended, so I don't think I'm in the mood for another crazy grind for the time being. We'll see what the future holds.
#FFXIV #JumpingPuzzle #Speedrun
Some extensive context needed for this one! Please read the description.
I got this run over a year ago when my rival SeeSoo aka Antsu started voicing intentions to aim for a sub 34 time. Unfortunately, I lacked motivation to try to do any better because I assumed it was beyond my ability at the time, and that it would require an insane grind that I wasn't willing to commit to, so I settled for this time.
Not long after, I got a notification from speedrun.com that my time had been beaten by a 33.883s run, so I lost all motivation to revisit the category, because back then milliseconds weren't taken into account, so first place had basically become unbeatable (luckily, this has now changed). My run didn't line up with my upload schedule when I got it and by the time it would have, it had already been beaten according to the leaderboard. Since I was so disappointed and disillusioned (details below), I chose to keep it private and only shared it with a few friends.
This is where it gets controversial... the other main reason why I hadn't shared this run publicly until now, or done any more attempts.
In order to break the 34 second barrier, SeeSoo had used the BLM ability "Between the Lines", which allows you to teleport to previously placed Ley Lines, which was a significant time save compared to previous strategies.
I personally thought this was unacceptable because you can't do that on a fresh run without first getting on the tower to set up the ability, which in my opinion should count towards the timer, but the run was somehow approved anyway. At that point I was so fed up with it all that I chose to not voice my concerns and let things be, because I seemed to be the only one who cared and I didn't want to come across as a sore loser.
Everyone I discussed this with agreed with my point of view, but they weren't directly involved in the community, so it took a very long time for this concern to be brought up with the moderators. That brings us to the present.
Thanks to pressure from a new moderator (shoutout to Jacklyn!) who requested feedback and showed interest in making things better, many positive changes have been recently made in the speedrun.com XIV page for jumping puzzles, including the addition of milliseconds (which I believed was a lost cause) and the listing of all other official puzzles, except for time limited ones, such as Moonfire Tower / Boat... bummer.
As part of this feedback, and since things were looking up, I decided to voice my concerns about the use of "Between the Lines" and expressed my disagreement with the top run having been approved. Since some others shared my concerns, a public vote was held to determine whether it should be allowed or not.
That voting period is about to end in a few hours, and at the time of upload, the votes are 74% in favor of disallowing the use of abilities that require a pre-setup in the tower before the run begins, so SeeSoo's old sub 35s runs should be invalidated shortly after, which is a good opportunity for me to share this old world record run that never got any recognition because of the aforementioned events.
That being said, my rival is more talented than I am, and to be fair his run was just as good as mine or even a handful of frames faster, if we disregard the use of the controversial ability. He'll likely get a legitimate sub 34s run within the new ruleset in the very near future, if he hasn't already, since he has been working towards developing new strategies and optimizing existing ones. He deserves the recognition. I simply wanted to share this run I should've been proud of back in the day, but couldn't be for one reason or another, and set the record straight, since the public hardly ever hears about what goes on behind the scenes.
Sorry for the lore dump; I felt it was important to clarify things.
With that out of the way, I'll say that at my current level I could probably improve my time some more, but I just spent two weeks grinding like a madman at the Moonfire Faire and my vacation ended, so I don't think I'm in the mood for another crazy grind for the time being. We'll see what the future holds.
#FFXIV #JumpingPuzzle #Speedrun
