Final Fantasy 14's Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak was an infamous dungeon among players. It was introduced in patch 2.0 and was a beginner dungeon for players level 24 and up. Fans found it to be one of the least fun dungeons in the MMO, as it had hard-to-navigate tunnels, ground over that slowed players down, and an annoying mechanic that required collecting photocells to open paths.
Nine years later, patch 6.1 has come out, and the Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak is now like an entirely new dungeon. Navigating the dungeon is straightforward, as there are no photocells and even the ground cover that slowed players down is gone. The dungeon is also far more beautiful than it once was.
What The Thousand Maws Of Toto-Rak Used To Be
From 2013 to patch 6.1, the Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak was a four-person dungeon that veterans avoided like the plague. The dungeon was full of twists, turns, and dead ends. It was early enough that a lot of new players would go into the dungeon and get lost. More experienced players would have to teach the new players where to go and where not to go, and that was only if they were lucky. A lot of veteran players would also get lost as well if they did not play the dungeon for a long time, and new players were sometimes left on their own with no guidance, forcing them to learn everything on their own.
The photocells highlighted the dungeon's horrid maze design, as if players forgot them, they would have to travel back and get them. While most could be collected on the way to the dungeon's bosses, there were some that required traversing dead ends and running back. It was a headache for players to go back to get these if they were forgotten.
Then there was the poisoned floor covering the latter half of this Final Fantasy 14 dungeon as well as the spider webs that would separate parties. This floor covering slowed player movement and could not be avoided. The spider webs would appear between party members, leaving half to destroy the web in order to catch up to the others.
What Thousand Maws Of Toto-Rak Is Like Now
The difference between the 6.1 Toto-Rak and 2.0 Toto-Rak dungeon is jaw-dropping. There are absolutely no photocells and poison ground cover can only be found in the very last room in the final boss fight. The new map is extremely simplified and straightforward. Not only that, but the dungeon design is beautiful. Rather than dark catacombs, there are now places where sunshine filters in, high ceilings, more mushrooms, and more purple flytraps.
Players are incredibly happy about this change, and it gives them a reason to be excited about the future. Naoki Yoshida and the Final Fantasy 14 developers have mentioned wanting to update old content. If more is done like Toto-Rak, Final Fantasy 14 is going to have a positive quality change. The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak are just one of a number of dungeons players tend to avoid from Final Fantasy 14's early days. Others that could use work are the Aurum Vale, Dzemael Darkhold, Sunken Temple of Qarn, The Tam-Tara Deepcroft, and Cutter's Cry.
Fortunately, The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak is not the only old piece of content that got a makeover. Main scenario quests have been revised, character portraits are now included in old instanced quest battles, and a duty support system has been made for players to do old dungeons with Final Fantasy 14 NPCs instead of other players. The developers are making a good call for quality control, paving the game ahead while also not letting the early game content get dusty.
Final Fantasy 14 is available now on PC, PS4, and PS5.
