FFXIV Patch 7.4 added a glitched level 1 “nothing” antelope deer mob — naturally, it’s being worshipped cult-style, and even the devs are in on it

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Final Fantasy XIV’s latest update, Patch 7.4, launched this week on Xbox, PC, and PlayStation. It continues the Dawntrail storyline and adds new raid challenges. Players will also enjoy the freedom to customize their characters’ appearances without class restrictions. As a fun addition, a new creature has also appeared in the Coerthas region.

Patch notes highlighted a problem in the Coerthas Western Highlands where enemies were appearing incorrectly, prompting players to investigate the Heavensward zone. It turned out these were unusually weak, level 1 versions of the Steinbock creatures – a type of antelope/deer enemy – and they didn’t display names.

These creatures sometimes appear alone, but often in groups. Players have jokingly nicknamed them “nothing does” or similar, and some even playfully act like they’re worshipping them – just for fun!

Players across many Final Fantasy XIV servers are gathering at specific locations in the Coerthan Western Highlands to interact with unusual, unnamed creatures. They’re showing these creatures affection by petting them, kneeling before them, and taking pictures together. It’s become a funny trend because when players try to interact with them using in-game emotes, the game displays messages like “gently pats the .” due to the creatures lacking names.

Some players are deliberately harming these magnificent creatures—which have 40 health points—and one player pointed out that killing them upsets others. Fortunately, they respawn just like any other game creature, seemingly proving their special status.

As a researcher, I’ve come across a lot of creative content inspired by the antelopes – photos, memes, fan art, you name it. But my personal favorite is a short clip showing a group of players seemingly performing a ritualistic sacrifice – a bare player, no less – to one of the antelopes, as a bizarre way to try and ‘level it up.’ I’ve included that clip, along with a few other interesting posts, below.

Square Enix, the company behind Final Fantasy XIV, is playfully acknowledging the popular ‘level 1’ meme. The official English-language account on X (formerly Twitter) simply posted “Level 1 .” on Thursday. The French account went a step further, tweeting “Little Lv 1 . got lost near the Falcon’s Nest, have you seen it?” and adding a pleading emoji.

People are guessing that these unexpected appearances might be due to early testing for the upcoming Beastmaster job in Final Fantasy XIV. Beastmaster, planned for Patch 7.5 in 2026, will allow players to capture and summon monsters during fights. However, this is currently just speculation.

It’s not the first time players have seen strange things spawning in the Coerthas Western Highlands. During the Heavensward expansion, there was a similar issue where polar bears would sometimes appear floating in the air and get stuck – players jokingly called them “Skybears.”

People are reacting to Skybear in a similar way to how they’re currently celebrating the level 1 experience, and it’s always enjoyable to see players bonding over funny moments like this in online games.

Unfortunately, the popular “nothing” deer in Final Fantasy XIV might disappear soon. There’s emergency maintenance scheduled for today, December 18th, from 10 PM to 2 AM Pacific Time, and it’s likely this glitch will be fixed. If you want to see this unique creature, now is the time – it might not be around after the maintenance!

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2025-12-19 00:40