The Forbidden Land, Eureka

The Forbidden Land of Eureka is a unique series of 144-man instances introduced in patch 4.25 of Final Fantasy XIV: Stormblood. It is an island with thick atmosphere of various aspects of aether, a veritable land of elementals. The island is the displaced Isle of Val, which was thought to have been destroyed during the events of the Seventh Astral Era.
The area is accessed by speaking to Rodney in Kugane after clearing the sidequest "And We Shall Call It Eureka", which unlocks after clearing the main scenario quest Stormblood. Its main purpose is to let players to obtain and evolve the new Relic gear, and to investigate the mystery about the isle's original disappearance.
==Differences from other instances==
Unlike other instances, players can enter Eureka by themselves, even without the Undersized Party option. Upon entering, the player's item level is synced to 300. There are no definitive objectives to clear and any objectives given are never listed, requiring the counseling of other players to help complete them. The instance will last until the timer runs out, though players are free to immediately reenter.
Players start in certain settlements and can interact with several characters to either monitor the weather, repair gear, redeem acquired Lockboxes, etc. as well as change classes. Parties can be formed or disbanded, letting players plan out their next attack while assisting lower-level players. The Return ability teleports back to the settlement. Though the instances can be entered and played solo, it still requires the assistance of other players and party formations due to the vagueness of objectives and increased strength of enemies.
Eureka usually receive updates to add additional areas to explore as well as new content.
===Elemental EXP and the Magia Board===
Similar to the Palace of the Dead, Eureka uses a different leveling system: Elemental Levels. Players can level up normally by defeating enemies, with the max level being capped depending of the instance. Due to the thick atmosphere that permeates the land, the player has to attune to the elements as the monsters on the island are elemental-based.
Each player is given a Magia Board, which attunes to any of the six elements of the player's choosing: Fire, Lightning, Ice, Earth, Water and Wind. By clicking on the board, the player can redistribute points by rotating them to any of the elements, though this can only be done five times before the board will need to recharge, which can be done by interacting with the Magia Melder at the settlement, or by defeating enemies.
After achieving certain level milestones, Krile will inform the player of Magicites, which are located in various areas. In Anemos, collecting these will allocate additional points to chosen elements, further enhancing strength. In Pyros and Hydatos, obtaining items from certain fates will allow the player to add 2 more magicites for the magia board.
Elemental damage and EXP gain can be further enhanced by encountering Elementals, special fairies which provide an EXP and damage buff to those who stand within its area of effect. These elementals are also be targeted by enemy monsters and must be protected.
When the player reaches level 6, extra caution must be taken as a penalty will be invoked if the player is KO'd and chooses to return to the starting Aetherye instead of being revived by another player. They will lose a portion of their collected EXP, and if reached level 11, level down, similar to Final Fantasy XI.
===Aetherytes===
Aetheryte shards are scattered through out various areas. The one at the settlements of each instance can be attuned to since the beginning, but other Aetherytes requires certain levels to attune with. They can be used by interacting with them, leaving the Teleport ability disabled.
===Notorious Monsters===
Notorious Monsters spawn as FATE bosses, which have their own elemental affinity. Completing these battles rewards all participating players a large sum of EXP and Allagan Tomestones of Mendacity, along with Lockboxes and Crystals, which can be redeemed for additional items. Notorious Monsters spawn after defeating a large number of enemies within a certain area. Some also require certain weather to appear.
In Pagos, Pyros, and Hydatos special FATEs related with "Happy Bunnies" appear.
===Relic Gear Augmentation===
By defeating mobs and Notorious Monsters, players can receive Protean and Anemos Crystals, which can be redeemed when speaking with Gerolt to enhance the player's Lv. 70 job relic gear. By exchanging gear and Protean Crystals, the player can obtain the proper version of their weapon and gear along with +1 and +2 variants. The strongest variant is the Anemos gear, which can be dyed any color.
While the gear can be bought by exchanging Anemos Crystals and the correct +2 gear, the weapon requires the +2 variant plus three feathers of Pazuzu to augment, which drop for gold-ranked players whose level is 19 or higher. Though the Anemos weapons can be dyed any color, they produce a unique magical aura, the color dependent on the job class. The player can exchange Anemos Crystals for a large number of Protean Crystals to buy more gear
===Baldesion Arsenal===
After completing all of the Eurekan quests, players will have the privilege to participate in a new 56-man public dungeon called the Baldesion Arsenal, the hardest content in Eureka, and can only be entered in Hydatos. To enter, players must meet certain requirements: Attain Elemental level 60, complete the Eureka story in Hydatos, and complete the FATE called "I Don't Want to Believe," which only spawns in the Umbral Turbulence weather, only triggering when at least one Level 60 player is present in an instance.
Completing the FATE at level 60 will give the player Hydatos Lockboxes and Crystals, as well as the Aetherially Primed buff allowing the player to find one of 48 Aether Nodes on the map and enter the dungeon. The Blue ones are unstable, while the Red ones are stable. There are two ways to use them; by using an item called the Aetheric Stabilizer, or wait 5 minutes to allow the Nodes to turn red and enter manually. For the former, the will need a Aetherially Conductive Plate, which can be obtained from the treasure chests from Happy bunnies, a Hydatos Crystal, which can be obtained by completing FATES, and a Sharlayan Oil, which can be obtained from Moisture-Warped Lockbox, or by collecting 100 Anemos, Pagos, and Pyros Crystals each.
Later on, there is another FATE called "The Baldesion Arsenal: Expedition Support." In order to spawn it, the players inside must find a portal that transports them to the 2nd hallway, then they must enter the secret rooms with secret switches that will close the doors, and spawn two sets of enemies in each room. Completing the FATE will spawn eight additional Unstable Aetheric Nodes (it used to spawn stable nodes instantly, but a later update has changed it so it spawns the unstable ones after completion, as well as obtaining the Aetherially Primed buff while within the FATE area only due to a portal sniping controversy), which, unlike the first 48, spawn in random locations, and weaken Absolute Virtue. Completing the dungeon requires proper communication from the group and with as few deaths as possible.
Eureka Fragments can be obtained as rewards from the chests left behind from defeating bosses, as well as chests scattered about the dungeon, which are used to augment Elemental Gear even further and the final stage of the Eureka weapon. The fragments are not required to complete an Eurekan weapon (it will have already been completed), but they will grant a bonus to the player's Elemental stat, while Elemental Gear will be upgraded to the +2 version which also grants an Elemental bonus. The chests will also drop obscure logograms, and sometimes special materials that can be exchanged for armor that has little use outside of Eureka, but grant a large bonus to Elemental stats, have five materia slots, and even reduce the recast time of all spells and abilities while inside any of the Eureka instances.
The following will result in a failure: All players die while inside the dungeon, the timer runs out, "The Baldesion Arsenal: Expedition Support" fails to be completed within the time limit, or all players are removed from the dungeon from Proto Ozma's Black Hole.
Successful completion of the Baldesion Arsenal will reward any players currently alive the Demi-Ozma mount.
=== Echo ===
As of patch 5.1, the Echo was added to Eureka, increasing players' maximum HP, damage dealt, and healing potency. As such, it is much easier to progress through the content without the need for full parties.The Echo does not take effect within the Baldesion Arsenal.
==Instances==
*Eureka Anemos (Elemental level 1 - 20)
*Eureka Pagos (Elemental level 21 - 35)
*Eureka Pyros (Elemental level 36 - 50)
*Eureka Hydatos (Elemental level 51 - 60)