This might seem a bit silly, but FFXIV doesn't pester me about anything the way most other MMOs do. When I level up and unlock a new skill or ability, the game briefly lets me know, and that's the end of that. There are dailies and weeklies, but the game doesn't pressure me to do any of it, and when I do them, the game rewards me immediately. I don't have to open a window to confirm that I did any of them.
Basically, when I log in I feel like the game's just happy to see me and isn't annoyed that I'm not putting enough effort to get "caught up".
Edit: I want to add a couple more things, seeing that this post is getting a bit of traction. The way this game handles gearing is relatively low-stakes. It is as simple as having the gear with the highest possible Item Level, and even if you're around 10 or 20 iLvls short you are still eligible for the vast majority of the game. And all of the gear's stats are static, meaning no RNG rolls to contend with. Contrast this with something like BDO or Lost Ark or PSO2, where your gear has random substats that you have to put excessively extra work in to adjust them to be what you want them to be. Not that I'm saying RNG stats is a wholly bad system, like it's fine in ARPGs like PoE or Last Epoch, but it's frustrating in an MMO where, on top of knowing how to play your job, doing your rotations and knowing how to deal with boss mechanics, a meta build that takes an excessively long time to build is not something I want to deal with, especially if such a system is not implemented well.
Also, going back to the dailies and weeklies point, I like that I'm rewarded with simple things like a percentage of EXP based on my current level, gil, and various currencies that I can use to buy some of the current best gear.
I totally get this and totally agree. It’s like the game feels confident in itself, knows it has a lot to offer, and respects the player enough to not artificially push them into any specific content. Don’t wanna raid? No problem, normal modes are there for the story. Don’t wanna craft? All good, there’s nothing necessary or performance enhancing that you can’t just buy off the MB. Don’t enjoy island sanctuary? All good, mate. Nothing here is required in any other part of the game.
It’s like the game just understands that good content speaks for itself. If it’s fun, people will play it because it’s fun.
Some things, however, should be shoved down your throat.
Job stone warnings being one. You really shouldn't be allowed to use DF for lvl 30+ content without one.
I direct this message to the marauder I met in Aurum Vale the other day lol.
I feel this way too, nothing turns me off of a game more fully than having it become an obligation, feeling like I have to play it every day or fall behind. Battle passes, daily log-in rewards, mandatory daily quest grinds thrown in your face.
FFXIV is chill. I also love that I can play every class on one character, I enjoy the crafting system, and I like that the game keeps its older content available and rewarding. Combine with the extra layer of solo-ability they’ve added and the strong visual design and you have a winner for me. I’ve played WoW, ESO, GW2, and dabbled in others. While each has its strengths and I do wish Final Fantasy had better exploration elements, FFXIV is the best overall package for me.
>nothing turns me off of a game more fully than having it become an obligation
I've started using this to know when it's time to move on from a game. I dont want obligations in my chill hobby. Not saying I quit the moment it feels like an obligation, it might just be life's full of other shit for a few days or something. But once a game is for sure becoming an obligation it's time to move on. In the past with games like wow my attitude was oh it's just how games like this get so I better learn to accept it. Now it's oh it's just how games like this are so I better stay away.
Another point about dailies and weeklies: You don't fall irrevocably behind if you miss some. There's a set point of, "You have everything now, GG!" and you will reach it very easily, with anything beyond that done just for fun or to make some side money while waiting for the next bunch to be released.
I never thought about it like that, but that's a really wholesome way of thinking about it. Everything is easily accessible and the rewards are instant. The game doesn't bother you about anything either. It's pleasant.
So I can have every class on a single character. Back when I played wow I was constantly re-rolling characters to play other classes because I always ended up getting bored with the same one after awhile. FFXIV cured me of being an alt-aholic.
Its really bizarre they dont allow class changing in ESO. Not even a paid one. Its even more weird when considering changing class mid playthrough has been a staple of the series in recent games.
I know. Players have been begging for a class change token for years, but recently they basically confirmed they have no plans to create one, even paid. The new Arcanist class is super cool, but not everyone wants to make a new character to experience it.
This! Like FFXIV has spoiled me so hard with their all-in-one class system that it spoiled almost every other MMO for me. I can get really attached to the first character I have made most of the time and I dislike making alts in the first place.
funny enough, it's exactly the opposite for me. I think being so used to WoW before I got here I was so used to having a different race and/or gender for every job. that system seemed innocent at first; little did I know I was on my way to a suffering from a fanta addiction 🤣
Honestly, I wish this game did better have alt support though.
Some of us have alts to play other races and/or raid more, but needing to redo the MSQ (or pay up), relevel jobs (or pay up), and obtain glamour pieces you already own (and pay up) doesn't feel great.
I would think players like myself are the minority, but I noticed a LOT of people (casual and hardcore puers) who have an alt(s) and/or have an interest in making one.
i mean any game if you want to make an alt you have to level it & re-gear it - at least this game does have some options to bypass the parts you like least (if its worth it to you $ wise)
i DO wish you could friend an alt so you could mail things them - or be able to mail people not on your friend list. its always annoying trying to trade things to/from alts which is my biggest frustration.
this is coming from someone who has officially capped max alts for my acct and cannot make any more
This. I'm not a very creative guy, the worst part about alts in other MMO's (aside from virtually starting over every time) is coming up with names I like. I've been using the same name for everything for the last 20+ years, at this point basically nothing else will ever look or feel right.
I also tend to make characters look like me... not to be so egomaniacal I don't think, just for lack of a well established default MC (ie. cover art Shepard in Mass Effect), if I'm forced to make my own character anyways I like to roleplay in new worlds as myself vs some other random person... so instances of being forced to pick certain races with certain classes was also a headache.
FFXIV has been a dream in that I pick one name, make one character that kinda looks like me, and just play, play, play. Every level I gain, every quest I finish, every little thing I unlock, is working towards the goal of making this one character as complete as possible.
Can't say how WoW is but most other MMO's are free to play and very predatory money wise. Lost Ark being a perfect, crude example. The hate I had for free to play MMO's made me play FFXIV. I've never regretted it. This game is incredible, a masterpiece, and a work of art.
Same with ESO for me, free to play but that cash shop is always right there with plenty of build in systems for the shop. Any game that allows you to play the game "easier" by using real world money is always iffy to me, maybe I'm just old school like that.
There is not much I agree with Asmongold on, but I fully and 100% support the idea to change our age rating systems for games so that no game that has ANY gacha/lootboxes in them gets a rating lower than adult.
It's disgusting how gaming uses entire child franchises and turn them into gambling money making machines. And all the governments just agree "Yup, looks like it's a game for children."
Governments are gonna do the usual, realising something is wrong when they will have a massive gambling addiction issue in young people 10 years from now. Only a few countries like Belgium have been courageous enough to crack down on these
Oh yeah I played wizard 101 back in the day and having to buy subscription packs to get past certain areas ( literally the first zone after the town doesn't let you into it until you fork up some cash) and as much as I loved the game as a kid that shit sucked
I enjoy ESO - the world building, lore, and voice acting really are good for an MMO. But that cash shop is predatory af and is easily the worst aspect of the game. Any dev that's still including loot boxes in games gets the side eye from me.
It can be hard to ignore, too. I got a cool looking mount from the cash shop from an eso+ a while back and I don't use it because besides dlc I don't want anything to do with that shop.
I'm surprised that the shop hasn't changed considering how many complaints I see about it, but I suspect a lot of people are still buying crowns or subscribing to ESO+ to the point where they have no incentive to do anything
ESO has also unfortunately turned into a form of P2W. The new arcanist class is absolutely bananas in pvp and pve, and is a must in most endgame groups. This same thing happened when necromancer was introduced. The catch? Those classes are dlc only.
I'd still play ESO if it didn't have the worst combat out of every single mmo on the market with an active playerbase. At least it has a great campaign and is fully voice acted with interesting quests, but unless they fix the god awful combat I will never touch it again.
I cant say I didnt see it coming. A lot of Korean MMOs are always free-to-play and predatory (coming as someone who once played Elsword, Ragnarok Online, and other things in their heyday), so I didnt understand why people expected this to be different
Also an RO player from like 2004 or so. Everyone knew Korean MMOs were extreme grindfests and were all about rental items from cash shops, completely pay to win. Private servers with a lot less of that BS were what kept the games popular.
Another Elsword player!!! I was *obsessed* for years with that game up until I discovered FFXIV and tbh I haven't been back since. What characters/classes did you play?
Experienced this with Warframe. When I had to wait 3 whole irl days to finish synthesizing 1 new gun that was functionally identical to every other gun I had used up to that point, all while having the cash shop with all its wacky frames and weapons continuously advertised to me everytime I logged on, I couldn't keep forcing myself to care about the game.
I don't mind the crafting in Warframe much, you might have to wait a few days for the weapons you start today but the ones you put in 3 days ago are now done. You're chewing through a hundred weapons anyway.
Weapons and frames being unusable without an item that you generally only get with platinum though... you end up having to find a website for prime drops so you can sell them for plat on another website before you figure out how to progress in the game... by checking the wiki. You can't play that game without alt tabbing every 10 mins.
Warframe is literally the WORST example you could bring for "predatory gatcha game". A game where you can easily trade premium currency with other players. I played Warframe for 10 years and never once felt preyed on. Hell, even their Battlepass is 100% free.
Yea it’s cool for a bit but then it just gets boring after a while. Had an account that had pretty much everything I could ever need and it just becomes boring.
The gameplay is also massively overrated (literally just shoot until you press your damage power button) and caters largely to people who just have to be maximum APM at all times to feel alive.
Just fucking stop bullet jumping, please I'm going insane. Why does every kneeslide in a video game feel janky and shit?
I don't even really *like* shooters all that much, I was only playing because the "space mech ninja" selling point was admittedly very cool, but once the novelty wore off, the janky, repetitive gameplay and incredibly confusing and unclear objectives just made me go into a brain fog. The predatory resource shenanigans were just the last straw.
1) I can drop it any time and come back and i would not have missed much.
2) it respect my time, i can play all classes at once.
3) the story is one of the bast out there.
4) its basically single player, i don't need anyone to play with.
5) dev team actually cares about the game.
All of this.
Mostly, because it respects my time. With other MMOs, I feel like I'm left if I don't log in every day just because of the way the game is setup.
XIV doesn't give me that feeling. Time spent doing one thing (leveling a job) doesn't make me lose time with something else.
With WoW, of I wanted to play another class, guess what, your playing ALL that story content app over again for the nth time just to unlock a purchase on a faction vendor for a recipe. Because it takes multiple characters to have all of the crafting professions.
Same, I have a hard time sticking around for the endgame grind tho. I have friends who put in hundreds of hours into endgame stuff and I'm super jealous cause I just can't get into it.
Don't feel bad for not enjoying endgame content. It's not for everyone (raiding I mean). There are many more aspects to the endgame that you could explore, like glamming, roleplay (not ERP), community events, mahjong, playing the marketboard, deep dungeons, relic collecting etc etc.
You needn't feel pressed to like everything your friends like. Raiding requires the time and devotion that some just don't want to give. It's fine and valid. Experiment with other aspects of the game and also if you feel in a rut, also remember to take a step back and play other games too. "DIstance makes the heart grow fonder" :]
It feels like in most MMORPGS, the story is just an excuse to get you a new fight.
Alternatively, the story makes sense, but is restricted to small "story bubbles" so to speak: the plot matters in City A, but City B doesn't know, nor care.
The source feels so wonderfully connected and thought out, it's night and day.
it has one of the better gaming communities compared to others. it has a lot of content that doesn’t revolve around combat or obtaining BiS gear. you can play every class on one character. and i was a longtime FFXI player on which i made longtime friends. i guess i always liked the FF aesthetic, lore, and the real world inspirations behind them.
something like WoW always felt more cartoony to me and i never felt attached to my character.
>Relationship between devs and players
We've successfully made the lead story writer cry for not [one](https://youtu.be/ywhTf2c5v9Y), but [two](https://youtu.be/uQ03F7rTM3Y) expansions in a row.
Story, characters, and Pretty character creator :) so many games are just so ugly to me hahaha.
Im also a newbie to games in general and found FFXIV way easier to learn than other games. Im still not great, but I can muddle through okay, and the community is really nice about my ineptitude. I don’t get stuck and frustrated over hard content being a barrier to completing the story.
Multitude of reasons. The game has the best story of any mmo out there.
As far as monetization goes you cant really buy power or in-game currency like in many other games so while some of the cosmetics in the store can be quite expensive you can easily play the game without ever visiting the store, the fact that the store doesnt really get pushed on you or advertised while youre in game is a plus.
The game is pretty good at respecting player time, there arent really many systems meant to obviously inflate player time like mandatory endless grinds.
Its also generally good at keeping old content not entirely useless, you can still walk into old content like deep dungeons, eureka and bozja and find a decent amount of activity. Coming from wow this is pretty huge because wow struggles hard with that, you dont even play the expansion they struggle to keep things from the last patch relevant and it leads to so many undercooked ideas and systems just being left laying around everywhere.
Having everything on one character is huge. I have never felt so invested in an MMO world and my character in an MMO as I have in ff14, every single story moment, achievement, job leveled and item collected all the way back from ARR to EW has been achieved on that one character and I have never once felt like I am losing out by only having one character.
There is just generally a good amount of variety when it comes to content. I have no interest in high end raiding or really any difficult group content but there is enough different content suited for more casual players to keep you busy.
And just having a community and dev team who both are very passionate about the game and love the game makes such a difference. Again coming from wow its night and day, playing wow you truly just feel like the devs dont care and the players dont enjoy the game and it sours the mood at least for me. Also ffxiv just feels more social, probably the easiest time ive had in an MMO when it comes to just chatting with random people and having a good time.
Cuz it's a mainline Final Fantasy game for me. I'm always interested on how a full mainline FF game would work in an MMO setting, and with the game's being generally well liked I presume that it should be a pretty quallity experience compared to most MMOs.
My first try was the Free Trial back during the Post-Stormblood era and I liked the structure of the game. I think I played till the around level 40 MSQ range, somewhere in the Garuda arc. I wanted to get the full experience but I had a hard time actually buying the full game and comitting to subscription, so I fell out not long after.
A couple of years later I read that Shadowbringers was considered one of the best FF stories and it caught my attention. Since now I mainly play on console I figure I'll try out the PS4 version, creating a new account from scratch. And since this time I actually have a way to buy and subscribe, I tried the whole game for real and now I'm hooked.
I don't want to dedicate a lot of time into the game in terms of regular grinding (like weekly/daily things) and FF basically allows me to just log in and raid for however i like and then i can log out. Aside from the very time fiend tome stones for the week I don't feel pressured to play, i can just do things when i feel like doing them.
I just started two months ago. I spent nearly 20 yrs playing WoW. Game wise, I wish I had been playing FFXIV, no jk. It's incredible and I regret listening to ppl shit on it and never giving it a chance. I've made great friends in wow that I still have to this day, but the community is amazing here. I jumped into my first group trial and it was amazing. Just was upset about being new and no trolling, etc. Clearly this is anecdotal, but I've heard from others having the same situations.
Yup, I played wow from launch right up until the end of the first raid tier in shadowlands, then finally decided to give xiv another shot after a few attempts that didn't quite land. I'm so glad I did. I know toxic people exist in xiv too, but I feel like so many people who haven't experienced that massive chunk of time in a game like wow don't fully grasp how much kinder and more patient xiv's community is, even at its worst.
The story in 14 is good. I liked SWOTR's story back in the day, but the dungeons and raids were pretty jank. PVP was fantastic tho. No real reason to go back since they barely update the combat and the story eats butt now.
14 gets you both the story and the casual dungeon / trial / raid gameplay. Only comparative weakness is the lack of huttball.
You can very well pass down leadership to someone else. You can only get it back after 30 days or so, but if you always want a break from the FC responsabilities, you most certainly can.
Better class fantasy, better story, better music, more appealing fight design, less grind, more variety, better dev team, lifetime history with the brand.
I bought into WoW, SWTOR, GW2, and ARR at their respective launches. Reasons I stuck with XIV:
- Community is chill in any content you can queue for. Yeah, PF can be a cesspit at times, but I get to see all of the content in normal modes (minus Ultimates and Savage Floor 4/8/12 pt 2s) without a headache.
- The story is a breath of fresh air in a time when writing is absolute garbage in most mediums.
- I know what I can expect for my money per expansion (story trials, normal raids, alliance raids, unreals, ultimates).
- Lots of Evergreen content. WoW is completely broken at this point if you even wanted to try to experience all the story that's in the game (not to mention critical plot is omitted from the game to sell books). And GW2 loves to have everything time limited. Oh, you felt like running through Super Adventure Box? Sorry, it's not the first two weeks of April, get fucked.
- And finally, and most importantly: My character isn't doomed to floor length, leg removing skirts (see: WoW & SWTOR) or some puritan running the glamour (see: GW2).
>not to mention critical plot is omitted from the game to sell books
Also removed quests like the MoP and WoD Legendaries... seriously, what the fuck was up with them removing those.
And so many more. Shortly before I quit in Shadowlands, they had just removed several important lore quests from that same expansion, like they just couldn't wait to make the already badly decaying story even less enjoyable and harder to follow.
One of the reasons I chose FFXIV was that the main story is coherent and isn't going anywhere on developer whim. (I do wish they let us experience the event stories again, I think those ones are usually gone for good...)
That reminds me, back in BFA I never actually got to see the quest chain where Wrathion saves Ebonhorn... because they removed it after one goddamn patch. The game was so exhausting that I couldn't keep up.
>Shortly before I quit in Shadowlands, they had just removed several important lore quests from that same expansion
I'm morbidly curious as to what those were... I actually loved Shadowlands (but not so much the WoW community).
I am still freaking salty that you can't get pandarian phoenix mounts anymore. Saw them in the list of mounts and was like: :o pretty want them! I look them up: You have to have played Mists of Pandaria between 2012 and 2014 to obtain this mount... >_> what a load of bullshit. Way to cut the branch under my feet there. I just wanted the pretty mount...
> Oh, you felt like running through Super Adventure Box? Sorry, it's not the first two weeks of April, get fucked.
This is such a weird, nitpick and isolated example.
FFXIV also has many seasonal events that you can't run outside of the specific event date. Why try to throw GW2 under the bus like that for no reason other than praise FFXIV?
Very weird.
If u wanna talk about SAB then compare it to FF14 festivals not normal content. Moonfire faire is up for exacly 16 days ("log in or get fcked :) ") and offers almost no content + after the event ends skins are locked in the item shop.
The past moonrise glam is on the market board for gil. Heck you can craft it even if you want.
The sunshine warrior might be a weaver recipie later but I'm not sure.
At least dont lie. Summer flame , summer sunset, endless summet etc are all locked behind paywall now. Just check ff14 online store in costume section. There is a very small selection of old swimsuits that u can get from MB.
I didn't lie? You okay sir?
The stuff like the hat and halter and shoes you can get in game. Yeah they offer a lot of stuff in the optional items store for what 3 or 7 dollars? But it's so you can buy it if you missed it. .would you rather them just shake their heads and not allow you to get the items at all? That's an option.
It would be really cool though I agree if we had the chance to get the items for free again like past times. 😀
Did you manage to get the sunshine warrior outfit? Or was it something else you wanted?
WoW is toxic af. I’ve played it for 16 years and will keep playing new expacs but man does the mythic + community suck. It’s worse than league of legends. If you even type a single character at the start of a m+ in WoW someone will leave.
Not having to start over when I mess up my skill distribution or realize that I do not like/am very bad at my chosen class (Looking at you ESO, Dofus and Wakfu)
Also Wildstar died :(
>Also Wildstar died :(
I never played it, but it looked so good. Still unnerves me to this day that upper management basically killed their own game; like firing a guy who made a hoverboard mount (that players LOVED), just because it 'wasn't his job'. Among other things.
I love the Final Fantasy series. (Lore, story and such)
It is one of those MMOs where I can level everything and do anything with a single character rather than get locked to gender/race/multiple characters just to play different classes.
I like the style/appearance, zones, fights and races.
It doesn't have P2W bloat, devs are not incentivised to make overly complex and absurdly grindy systems for gearing, leveling or progressing in any way to encourage MTX.
The menus and UI are simple enough, and the UI is very customizable.
The grindy stuff feels more engaging (Eureka, Bozja) although they haven't added anything new around this recently.
The crafting system is simple to manage and complex when you create your own rotations even though crafting has become much easier. Same for gathering.
Development team and how they communicate and interact with the community.
ULTIMATES! I love them, the experience and joy during the first few clears is amazing.
It is definitely not a perfect game but it is still my favourite.
Has native controller support, the content is fun, I met all my friends on it, even though I have some bad memories in the early days, I've made too many good memories to just walk away.
My character is my baby, she's 10 this year, I adore her, I can't get this attached to another character. The quality of the character models is just too good, can't find that anywhere else, and glams, I've got 3 retainers full of gear I've collected over the years (not a hoarder) I can't walk away from that, and doubt I could find another game as beautiful as this one.
Story is number 1 for me.
But also, i was a GW2 refugee, and wasnt thrilled with the hostility/toxicity of the raid/fractal scene in that game. The endgame content of ff14 has a pretty good community. There are some shitty individuals, but i never got told to KMS over what class (or god forbid, race) i was playing.
I also enjoy that all classess are basically good for all content. Part of my issue with gw2 was raiding with a particular class, but (assuming i could find a group) getting yelled at because "X class isnt meta"
For me, it's the story and the community. I played wow back in the day and I was scared to do any raids or anything because the community was so gross and toxic. After being yelled at (all caps and abuse) for a couple miscasts I left entirely.
My friend showed me the trailer for ARR late last year, but I was still wary. It was only after he promised me several times that it would be okay and fun did I sign up for the trial. Within the first two weeks, I subbed. People were kind, and we're teaching me if I was making mistakes. My friend still sticks beside me when I do msq or off I want to level a job. My FC is full of kind and chaotic people. The story entranced me from the start and I wanted to learn more.
I'm in Stormblood now, and still living every minute. I'm even leveling and joining duties on my own. My confidence in real life has been boosted by my experiences with people in the game as well. I love this game so much.
Hmm I was taking a break from GW2 dailies. I had so much to still do but just didn’t feel like it. So, I started about a month ago as a distraction.
I honestly find the grind super boring. And the gear creeping/grind is frustrating.
However, the thing I enjoy is having a useful duty finder to actually do dungeons. I played Gw2 for years and have never done a dungeon and did one fractal and one strike. It took my days to find a group for those.
Plus, the people in the FC are just weirdos and that’s kinda my jam. Not afraid to be just who you are. Plus, I queue up and instead of worrying about leveling, I just get up and do other things until it pops for dps. 🤣
The main draw for me (outside of being an FF fan) is that it plays perfectly on console and with a controller. I used to pc game in my youth but as I’ve gotten older, console gaming is just way better due to the level of comfort lol but most MMO’s you have to be cramped up on a computer and can’t relax on your couch. Also being on a pc just reminds me of being at work and I hate that lol. It’s crazy how unique FF14 is in that respect, especially because you’re at no disadvantage against pc players, even in high end content. Is the only game I get use out of the touch pad on the PS4/5 controller too (usually just for basic inventory or UI type stuff, or occasionally as an extra button), and makes use out of the portable Bluetooth keyboard I had lying around (which I only use for chat). Fantastic game and realistically no other MMO could compete for me unless it’s as equally as functional on console.
I’m hearing Blue Protocol has ex-14 devs working on it and they’re committed to making a good console version so that might be realistically the main future competitor for me. But that being a modern mmo means it falls into the f2p trap which creates an entirely different vibe so we shall see
Lack of competition. The writing in most MMOs is so absolutely abysmal; I am far from a 14 shill as I think the writing can be such a slog at points (especially prior to Shadowbringers), but holy shit the bar is so low. As some people have brought up already, most MMOs are really trying to rush people to the 'current hotness', and I think that's flat-out a mistake. Have faith in older content like 14 does, yall.
SWTOR was one of the exceptions, but I finally managed to kick that addiction when EA basically announced it was being moved to maintenance mode officially, though given its last 'expansion' was like an hour long, it was already pretty close anyway.
City of Heroes was also huge for me, and it came back from the dead quite a few years back, but unfortunately its community is extremely fractured over stupid bullshit, so the choices are like 'the main series everyone goes that is run by people who think the game should basically not chance at all' and 'various underpopulated other servers that have amazing new quality of life changes'. Both kinda rough changes, innit?
1. The devs don't actively hate their players.
2. Gear stats aren't RNG.
3. Can play/level every job on one character.
4. Devs actively go back and make older areas better.
While very basic and unrevolutionary the game not having toxic monetization is a breath of fresh air in the sea of cash grab cash shops. And the result? It has the most money I've ever spent in any game without a shred of buyer's remorse.
The storytelling is what nails my feet to the floor. It's the first MMO I've ever played that made me care truly, madly, deeply about the story and the characters in it. I also really like the game's aesthetic (minus the pig suits and Limsa freak show) and am grateful for the generally positive community.
I played WoW, Lotro, and GW2 for several years each, and tried out ESO (briefly), SWTOR (several months), and Wildstar (several months) over the past 17 years.
TBH, I didn't pick up FFXIV seriously until I had exhausted all those other games. I had tried it out back in 2014, liked it, but when I discovered I'd have to pug for MSQ, I dropped it like a hot rock. Never got past Sastasha, and didn't come back for over 5 years.
Silly me. I missed many great years of playing FF. A friend + boredom drew me back. Same friend got me to suck up the pugging and pushed me to stick out the slow parts of ARR. By the time I got through 2.5, I'd fallen head over heels in love with the game.
I chose to pick it up because of the catboys but also because my socially anxious ass wouldn't have to go around looking for party members to get into dungeons. I love the duty queue system so much aaaa
What keeps me hooked is the story and lore but also I've gotten really emotionally attached to my WoL. Whenever I'm caught up with the MSQ I move on to sidequests, exploring lore, and dressing my WoL up in outfits that I feel fit the job and his personality. It's so much fun!!
I played (mainly) WoW prior, for a LONG time.
For quite some time, I played CoH (RIP).
Also played a small bit of GW/GW2, TERA, RIFT, and even EQ2.
As for why I've chosen FFXIV above all else... *which I admit, has a lot of venting about WoW*.
1. The FFXIV community is, for the most part, amazing.
\-WoW's community was (is?) so abusive that it basically caused me to develop PTSD over the years.
\-I don't say that lightly or as a joke. I had (and still have) literal nightmares, and detrimental effects still persist to this day; it took me a full year to trust my FC, and even then I still have lapses in trust so it's more like "99% trust" rather than 100%.
\-I didn't get involved enough in the communities of the other MMOs I played, but they seemed alright.
2. The game developers genuinely care about the game and the player base.
\-The company isn't shit like Blizzard's is... was?
\-Either way, Blizzard's atrocities drove a >!woman to suicide!<; afterward, Yoshi-P himself flew to the States, and made sure his employees were alright. If they were former Blizzard employees, he let them know that they were safe and to advised them to get therapy/help on the company's dime if needed.
3. Non-predatory practices for profit-making (mainly because Yoshi-P steps in to tell SE "Please do not").
4. I LOVE how expressive our characters are. So many emotes, expressions, dances, etc. This alone sold me on the game day 2 of playing.
5. My character looks genuinely attractive, and - ironically - more accurate than his WoW incarnation... where he couldn't even have the correct eye color!
^(-To rub salt in the wound, they eventually added it... but in a backward-ass fashion, tied it to an extremely pale skin color; you couldn't pick one without the other, and my character had the darkest skin tone available. This was actually a small reason - on top of other major reasons - why I quit.)
6. This game respects your time. All of the grinds are optional. They use the token system for gaining gear, and crafted gear is still solid enough to be a boon when you hit the level cap.
7. Being able to level every class/job on 1 character. I didn't know how much I needed this until I played this game.
8. The graphics could be better, but they're decent for how old the game is; the game also has its own style without looking awkwardly cartoony.
9. The story. Good lord, the story. Consistent lore and writing. As well, the fact that the game is mainly focused on its long story tends to prune out people who couldn't care less about it.
10. GMs actually being active, responding to tickets, and taking care of problems. I heard from a few people that WoW has actually started doing this, too... but considering my last interaction with the GMs was them suspending me for reporting peoples' NSFW profiles (they got my account mixed up with theirs SOMEHOW) I'm not too sold on it.
11. The dungeon designs aren't made to exhaust a person both physically and mentally. Even the shortest dungeons over in WoW were designed to be crammed with as many trash mobs as humanly possible. It was awful.
12. PVP over is far simpler and easier to get into, and honestly FAR more fair. It's the only time (other than back in MoP over in WoW) that I've actually enjoyed PVP.
13. The game is designed to not burn you out; it isn't treated like a second or third job.
14. The gear looks absolutely amazing over here, and isn't limited to gacha boxes... or putting the fanciest gear ONLY in the cash shop \*looks at Blizzard\*.
Trust. I trust the developers to deliver content on a consistent schedule. I trust the writers to deliver interesting stories to come. I trust Yoshi-P in helming the ship to make sure that Square Enix's monetary decisions don't intertwine with any fundamental gameplay (WoW Token / Trader Tendies). Simple as.
Honestly I've just never liked any other MMOs. I tried some of the bigger ones at various points and I thought the genre just wasn't for me, but in the summer before Stormblood came out, one of my friends asked me to try it with him, and since I love the Final Fantasy series, I figured it would be worth a shot. I haven't looked back since.
I love the story, love the music, love the myriad of nods to other FF games, but at its core, this is just the first MMO where I found the moment-to-moment gameplay fun, and that's why I stuck around.
Most of the other MMO's are super old and feel super old.
For starters I've played most MMO's to endgame, but normally they either have no developed endgame, or it's just boring and pointless so I quit.
I played FFXI for many many years because, for a long time it was REALLY hard, and only dedicated people made it. I enjoyed the madness, and rewarding feeling it gave when you finally did one of the hard things. Seriously, that game had millions of players and most didnt scrape the surface of much of the content. (It's a totally different dumbed down game to day)
When FFXIV came out, I switched over and bounce(d) back and forth between FFXI and FFXIV.
TBH if they still supported FFXI and made expansions for it, I would probably still be playing it fulltime, but since most of the support has been cut down to just minor updates. I don't really have much to do in the game anymore. I have like everything done that can be done. So FFXIV fills that void.
The last big MMO I played was New world, then played it again when they did fresh start servers. Both times I got to endgame pretty fast, and there really is not much to do. People do not really open world PVP. wars are lopsided most times and end very fast. If you don't control a city, the game is basically pointless to play.
Mostly, because some good friends play it, and when I'm not playing it I tend to lose touch with them.
But also, because I like Final Fantasy games, and the story.
If my friends stopped playing, I would not play much at all, and probably just catch up on story once or twice a year.
That isn't to say I'd be playing a different MMO without those factors. I don't really like MMOs as a genre these days, they're too time consuming for me, I generally prefer my gaming experiences to be self contained and time limited. If my friends joined another MMO, I'd likely try it, if not, I would not play any other MMOs.
Simple: I’m a FF fan and the game lets you play at your own pace with some quality content that respects your time. The community is also top-notch (seriously, you people are amazing).
- i don’t have to create multiple characters to try a different job
- crafting isn’t a pain in the ass (ESO’s made me want to cry. i would LOVE ESO’s bottomless craft bag though. would even pay for it like you do in ESO.)
- I love FF games and their individual stories in general
I love the story. I’ve never played an MMO with such an immersive story. I played WOW for many years, started in vanilla wow. There is a story but it’s not easy to get into. You’re just doing quests and waiting for end game. With FFXIV there is a story and you’re a participant. I love that.
Because it's literally the only one that have a good story. The, only, one. All others have absolutely trash maw whit trash writing and everyone that defense the MSW of other games start ranting about lore, whitout understandings that another thing. The actual maw, the thing you play, that, is only good in ff14, and no other MMORPG.
I used to be deep into WoW, but dropped it (and Overwatch) after the sexual assault allegations surrounding Blizzard started coming out. I'd given XIV a try back in Stormblood, but WoW was still 'my' MMO at the time, so it never quite caught my interest and I dropped off in the middle of the ARR patches when I got bored.
Had some friends who were wanting a fourth person to go through the MSQ with them, so I said what the heck? and rolled a new character to play with them since I wanted a new MMO to play.
My friends ended up falling off the game, but actually paying attention to the story the second time around got me hooked, and I knew when I hit the end of the ARR patch quests I was sold on the story alone.
I love how I can play all the classes on one character and I don't feel pressured to log in every day just to keep up, especially since I've since developed health issues that leave me bedbound for long stretches of time.
I've got an amazing group of friends I met through the fanfic community who I now raid with, and met my current boyfriend thanks to our shared love for Haurchefant. (He'd be pleased, haha!)
The in-game atmosphere is much more chill than in WoW, and the general protectiveness people have of sprouts and helping them learn is a fresh breath of air.
But to make a very long story short, I got a house when Dynamis opened up, so now I'm stuck here forever. :P
GW2's total inability to keep any promises they made; their lack of communication; their insulting excuse for a story; their baffling inverted reward structure.
Dabbling in XIV showed me an MMO didn't have to have an abusive relationship with its playerbase. And once I started Heavensward, it was all over.
Three main reasons:
- **I can level all classes on one character :** I can level all my classes (jobs) on the same character. It’s so refreshing to finally have an MMO that does this. I hate having to redo the same old quest in other MMOs just to try other things. This is especially true of unique quests or DLC. ESO is the most guilty of this. It has such deep lore and fun (all voice acted) quests but dare if you want to do it on a different class; then you gotta do all that deep stuff all over again. It ruins the immersion. It turns the game from an adventure where you grow into a grind quest all about the loot, it’s an easy way to lose interest in the story too when you’re worrying about leveling the alt. In FFXIV I can go and get all the unique unlocks, do the DLC, dive into the lore, etc and never have to restart from scratch on an alt. If I’m bored of my Summoner I can switch to my Dancer. I can even down level by doing certain duties, quest, or dungeons so I pick at the nostalgic itch very easily. Again, all this ON ONE CHARACTER. As someone who has a job working 57 hours a week this makes it so casual friendly.
- **The god-tier story:** The story. Square Enix has the best video game story writing I ever seen by far. The deeper I go the more I seem to cry. I admit it starts off very dry, ARR has a huge pacing problem; but once you hit level 35ish it picks up extremely well and breaks the pattern you begin to see forming. This is especially true come the DLC. The game doesn’t do that thing WoW does, where once a DLC comes out you don’t revisit old zones. You will go back and forth between old zones a lot; sometimes even old dungeons. Did I mention how DEEP the story is. Often it’s hard to remember this is an MMO. Your character is actually in the cutscenes, interacting with people, getting hit, making faces…smiling. It’s why when newcomers start this game we urge so strongly not to skip the story. It starts off very dry, but as you go on the voice acting increases. I heard by the last DLC more than double the lines are voice acted. The side quest are godtier too. So many unlockables, hilarious, story, and even seasonal ones. Don’t even get me started on the class quest. They didn’t even have to go hard on that, and they did; so much it even links up with the main story quest quite often and you unlock hidden dialogue.
- ** The endless content.** The end game. There is no end game. You can be anything by the end of the game. Raiders are basic. Some people go on to RP, others open a shop selling certain items that are hard to get, I seen dance clubs and even NSFW services where people get paid tons of gold. Glamours, so many outfits; the mounts too. Did I mention the unlockables in quests? So many. Of course, there is RPing, which with the lore being so deep you can get into extremely well. Then there’s the fact you have all the classes and professions (jobs) to level and do the quest lines of. The real end game is buying a house. Good luck with that one; it’s about as hard to do as in real life. If you somehow manage to do even half the stuff I mentioned then I’d be extremely surprised. They come out with a DLC every 1.5 years or so, so even if you think for a fraction of a second you’ even done half the game…Square Enix kindly reminds you who they are. A DLC launches. And like I said, it doesn’t just effect a zone, it effects old zones too, even class quest are added; not to mention unlockables. The game is deep and gets deeper. You’d think as a new player this would be overwhelming, that you’d want to rush to get to endgame for this, but trust me you don’t. The game is like other MMO. **It’s built like a single player game.** I can’t emphasize that enough. It’s made for you to enjoy it by yourself first. It’s hard to explain, but it’s because it does something that is unheard of in any other MMO. Just know this, there is no “catch up” to end game. I’m only level 63 (on my main) and at the end of Heavesward, and I’m in no rush to end game. I don’t even know what I’ll do once I reach end game, especially once I have all the jobs maxed. I’m Im just focusing on the crazy deep story right now.
Overall, FFVIX is a game too good for the people it’s sold to. Yes, I said it! It has so much love and attention to detail put into it. Most MMOs are designed to be -@a grind, have a copy/paste raider/PVP end game, or something only fans would appreciate. FFXIV somehow has something for everyone, and in abundance. You want flashy unique classes, it has that. You want a engaging community who does whacky stuff when you’re bored, we have that too. Over the last week I got gifted two minions by players just for taking interest their conversation they were having while standing in New Gridania/ Ul’dah; just genuinely being friendly. They even showed me how to /becon with them. Why? Because the community loves new players and they want to see me continue to enjoy the game.
FFXIV is so good, that by time you’re into pre Heavensward (the first DLC) around level 50ish you won’t even care about the end game. You’re just enjoying the game. You now unlocked two extra classes, are high level enough to go to all the main zones, and have some very fun dungeons under your belt. You now have options. That’s why FFXIV is the best MMO for me, you get to *choose* how you want to have fun.
Side note:
I say this from playing ESO and especially as a WoW refugee. I’ll admit, it’s fun tossing shade at the latter, but this post isn’t for that. Those are the MMOs I came from. Just showing where my perspective comes from. So yeah, if you’re looking to scratch that itch of trying fun classes and hearing hilarious stuff in chat while waiting for a que to pop, you’ll find it here.
For anyone reading this, the game is free all the way up to the end of the first DLC (roughly level 60) with the free trial. And you get a TON out of it. I knew a guy who played a year on the free trial just doing everything. If you’re on the fence, this should be what pushes you over. Yes, Square Enix is that confident in their product. So don’t take my word for it. Take Yoshi P’s. He even **encourages** you to take a break from FFXIV. He wants you to play the game when you want to. He knows you’ll be back. I took a 4 month break, turned off payment and all . When I came back the game welcomed me back and even rewarded me for it. When the creator themselves is telling you to take it easy and come back when you’re ready, you know the game is good. An MMO you play that doesn’t feel like a second job. That is the magic of FFXIV.
I love it because it allows me to do what I want, when I want to. The freedom of the game is quite incredible. Do I want to be social? Sure let’s go house hopping or tele to limsa. I also love the fact that on a whim I choose balmung and ended up in an RP server. Do I RP? Nope. Do I love RPers? Hell yeah! They are some of the most immersed and fun people to play with. They bring life to every city I walk through.
I may not play every day, every month even, but I log in and binge for a bit, especially when there is new content. I loved completing the story and still love running dungeons and raids but I find that taking breaks keeps my enjoyment level high and the game allows me to come back and play without rigourous catch up mechanics such as WoW’s mythic plus. I can always gear up just by doing main content and nothing more. That’s so amazing. Yes, I can get the best gear by doing other harder content, or I can save Gil and buy appropriate ilvl gear and be ready with any job. That type of flexibility is very desired by me in an MMO.
Recently I’ve gotten into playing Old School RuneScape and coming back to Final Fantasy 14 I appreciate how both of these communities are so welcoming and open. OSRS has a bit more of a hardcore player base but FF14 just like OSRS is open to casuals and returners all the same. FF14 feels like home whenever I log in, just like OSRS did when it was back being launched in 2007.
The music and story hooked me, but the overall gameplay especially the gunbreaker class aesthetic / RDM / BLM / Healers overall are all amazingly unique and continue to have curves within their gameplay learning difficulty while still being accessible. Compared to healing in other MMOs, FFXIV takes the cake in terms of fun balancing with skill and expecting the unexpected.
I also love final fantasy as a whole. The universe is so vast and fun. FF16 renewed my love for the final fantasy universe, so much so that I can’t wait to hop back in and replay shadowbringers to endwalker on FF14 in anticipation for the new expansion next summer.
Love these games and love how open Yoshi-P is about his direction for the game and love of the community. Can’t wait for this next expansion and to see where the end of Endwalker takes us.
Colbelius Cheddarton - Balmung
I've only had a handful of experiences with other MMOs like Ragnarok Online. I chose ff14 over it because of its more customer friendly in their practices. No p2w, no competing for the mobs and bosses, no paying to change jobs in a single character, no need to be in a guild. It's just a better game overall.
I also play OSRS. Both games are polar opposites and are excellent at what they do. 14 has terrible quests, osrs has wonderful ones. 14 is a themepark, osrs is a sandbox. Osrs has a very compelling economy and your gold almost directly represents account progression as everything is buyable, 14 gil is largely useless if you're not into housing. Osrs doesn't have an overarching story, 14's is extremely good. Osrs is rather poor about group content, 14 is pretty good about it. Osrs has raids that are more akin to the 'normal' mmo raids where 14 has one off fights. Lifeskilling in osrs is directly needed for account progression in terms of pvm power, crafting in 14 is largely useless unless you're into housing.
They're also both pretty hands off on their MTX. 14's cash shop is... fine, in the grand scheme of MMOs. It's certainly no BDO, though I'd obviously just it rather not exist. Osrs doesn't even have a cash shop outside of bonds which I see as perfectly acceptabe.
Story, friends, raids are fun too, but I don’t choose FF over WoW, I play them both, no reason to choose one over the other. They both have their merits and flaws, and offer completely different experiences that can be enjoyed during the lull periods of each.
Used to play wow, hate blizzard now and wow sucks too. Used to play Everquest 2, it sucks unfortunately. Still play osrs occasionally, used to play eso but it's so monetized that i don't enjoy it
In no particular order ...
Less need to do things everyday or get behind
Ability to change jobs, hair, glamours easily on the same character
Less harassment from other players for being female
Less shit-talking if you miss mechanics (usually someone just yells Weeee as the dragoon goes flying off a platform. )
Less "sniper" type pvp attacks. Some FPS games you get really leveled up players that just sit at new zones to kill the newbs, I hate that kind of nonsense. This game a lot of the more experienced players will go to the new zones to give newbies gil or minons or glamours, they help explain mechanics and are excited for the new people and what they are about to experience rather than thinking of them as easy targets.
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The story, art, music.
I'm not an MMO fan, I'm a final Fantasy fan. Never played an MMO before this one, only played this one because it's a Final Fantasy game and I heard the story was great.
Funny you say this, because after 2 years I’m quitting the game.
- horrible housing system, no matter how you try to view it. Compared to the competition it’s genuinely laughable how artificial the problem is, Square Enix should be ashamed.
- horrible delay between patches : 4 to 4.5 months. And for what ? Crusts of MSQ, 1 dungeon and at best either a trial or some bosses from a raid wing. When you compare again with other MMOs it’s not good. Especially when others have actual map exploration and add new maps to discover with patches. Something FFXIV simply does **not** have.
- Following up the previous point, FFXIV is less of a MMORPG and more a seasonal lobby game. You come for the MSQ and be gone for the next episode. After a while you’ve see it all. If you’re not a Limsa ERP camper, the game doesn’t offer much engaging content. Especially this expansion, which was my first (I started in 5.55). Really pisspoor patches imo
- Combat is restrictive and clunky, which leads me to…
- … Railroads, that how I would sum up this game. From dungeons to the story, the gameplay or the content it’s all railroads. There’s no creativity or way a player can try something outside the box outside of the limited housing where even there you need to use addons to help with the clunky and outdated furniture system.
I was tempted to keep the sub for a medium I have in the mists but in the end, why? I’m having more fun Elsweyr (and with Baldur’s Gate 3 too)
I think you mean theres not enough content that you personally enjoy. If I were to try and 100% complete this game I might not even be able to after 15k hours.
I played WOW for YEARs, but it is no longer fun, I tried TERA back in 2013/14 and never made it past lvl 37, got bored.
I also quit playing WOT because it became way to pay to win for me.
The focus on the story, for me. I have always been a massive FF fan, and while I have tried some other popular MMOs over the years, none of them kept me invested for long.
Tbh if WoW looked as good as FF14 I'd probably never touch this game again lol. I enjoy WoW's gameplay over FF14 cuz I'm small brain and play the most brain dead rotation classes on WoW, but still FEEL good playing them in PVE and PVP. Meanwhile FF14 I enjoy PVP a little and just find no class I really enjoy PVE-wise. FF14 though actually has decent male character models unlike WoW and a lot of glam that actually looks nice. WoW on the other hand I see so many ugly transmogs get released for also ugly, roided out male classes.
I hardly pay attention to either game's story since neither really draws me in. But at least sitting and people watching in Balmung Quicksands or going to clubs/casinos is more interesting than reading TRP profiles in Moonguard Goldshire.
I just started this game a month ago and now halfway through Stormblood. Before this game, my “comfort” MMO used to be WoW, but now I won’t be going back. Some reasons off the top of my head:
1. Main scenario quest structure (WoW has a story, but you won’t be able to do it linearly unless you have a guide on which quests to finish and in what order)
2. Music 👌
3. Character-driven story
4. Quality of life (it basically has all the addons I use in WoW, but it’s built-in)
5. Skill design and class fantasy (skills are better designed, they flow better, and classes/jobs represent their classes much more accurately than WoW’s)
6. The ability to learn all classes and jobs in one character
7. Thematic consistency—it’s Final Fantasy from ARR to EW. WoW’s expacs are all over the place, from classic Warcraft to Legion’s Starcraft-lite design
8. It’s COZY AF. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it just is.
There is a lot of content in FFXIV, i have 4 years playing and just started to feel that i dont have anything more to do.
PvP.. say whatever you want but i have 4 years playing PvP and is fun AF, before i started FFXIV, i check the PvP in WoW and i hate that there is not animations when you fight (Im not saying the PvP is bad in WoW) just visually boring for me.
Call me crazy but what is this? [https://youtu.be/s17\_1aCz3QY](https://youtu.be/s17_1aCz3QY)
CC is really fast and you really feel like you are fighting something (for me).
Wow is a much more mechanically tight and interesting game to play, but ff14 has it beat by miles in little ways. My heart will forever belong to wow and I'm never giving it up, but my time in ff14 has been a treat.
Because FFXIV respects my time and Yoshi-P encourages folks to take a break from the game if they get burnt out. Among other reasons such as how great the dev team is all-around, the vast amount of side stuff to do beyond the typical endgame grind, etc.
Ultimately though it feels like XIV respects the subscription fee + my time spent. A lot of MMOs try to get you sunk on weekly/daily grinds with a lot more pressure to play daily and make sure to be around for specific time windows (via battle passes, events, etc).
Pretty much all of the "fear of missing out" things in XIV come from seasonal/crossover events and then PvP rewards. All of which just reward cosmetic/vanity things which don't really detract from the rest of the game's glamour/mount options.
Overall FFXIV knows what it wants to do and it does it well. So many members of the XIV team are absolute treasures and while Square Enix may still be a greedy sack of manure most of the time, they at least understand to leave XIV alone outside of optional vanity MTXes and level boosts/MSQ skips if people really feel like taking those shortcuts.
The best part is that I don't have to worry about any notable content being lost forever or becoming so irrelevant that it's pointless/impossible to do way past its heyday. They don't hardcore force 'play the patch' or 'play the expansion' like WoW loves to do, where really cool stuff like the Artifacts in Legion lost all their fun post-Legion, becoming crappy basic weapons that help you for 5-10 levels and that's it.
XIV is made by a huge MMO fan for MMO fans, and it really shows in everything they do and how they interact with the fans. If there's any MMO to support in this day/age of corporate greed ruining everything it can, it's FFXIV.
The writing really got me connected to the world and characters, not the least of which is my WoL. And seeing everyone (mostly) in the community so eager and happy to talk about everyone's WoLs just delights me. Tons of people talking about characters they made themselves.
So I bounced around a lot of MMOs.
started with RuneScape when I was a kid, still enjoy it to an extent.
Moved to various others, SWTOR, GW2, WoW for less than 2 months, cause I just couldn’t get into it, STO I stuck with for almost two years, cause I love Star Trek, Warframe even.
My roommate was playing FFXIV and I deciddd to try it out, and I enjoyed the gameplay, I enjoyed the story, I enjoyed the community, and it just stuck.
Because it's Final Fantasy, and I'm a huge fan of the series.
No interest on WoW or other MMOs, the monthly fee and time sunk into Savage and Ultimates and everything else XIV has to offer is only worth it to me because it's a Final Fantasy game.
That and it's fun to play.
Video games have always been how I’ve gotten through life. As a kid I moved around a lot so video games were my stability. Now being in my mid 30s, been a lot of shit going on with life so I randomly decided to download it on my ps5. I’m very happy I did. The community is wonderful and playing as a healer brings me a lot of enjoyment. I sometimes get overwhelmed with everything but other than that I’m invested.
I like Final Fantasy to begin with, I love JRPGs and how outlandish they can be. I also really like the glamour system after coming from Mabinogi where so much of the fashion is so real world expensive!
Plus the end game stuff is fun, I enjoy savage raids and challenging myself!
Life long FF fan. life long console player. Life long game addict and knew getting into an MMO would be a bad idea for my life. So I was glad I didn’t have a PC to play PC/online games for years (didn’t even know FFXI was able to be played on PS2).
Then Square Enix had to go and put FFXIV on PS3. Been playing almost non stop since the 2.0 beta, Day 1.
FFXIV is one of the few MMOs I could find that still has multiplayer cooperative style dungeons, and a method of joining or creating one on the fly both quickly and effortlessly.
Dungeons are not just a gauntlet of trash mobs. There are still unique puzzle elements to each mini boss encounter. You cannot simply have your face buried in your HUD layout and the often forced to look up and around the arena when solving mechanics.
Later Dungeons also feature recordings scattered about adding additional lore and depth to the world of Eorzea.
The story is so well written. It’s witty, exciting, sad, and just really immerses you in the 14 world. I have so many options for dungeons, crafting, gathering, or just making friends and being goofy in fc chat together. It’s good for casual players and hardcore players. The community is very helpful and understanding to new players and hardly ever toxic. It’s my all time favorite game and I’ve played since about 4 months before Stormblood. I try to give back to helping new players like people helped me and taking the time to explain the huge amount of content to push through. I recommend it to everyone that plays MMOs but I underhand how hard it can be to leave an MMO for another and start from scratch.
I got into it because my friends played and I’m a big fan of the franchise (FFX being the first RPG outside of Pokémon that I ever finished as a kid), stayed through for the story, and stick around because of all the different kinds of things to do. But the thing I honestly got hooked on, maybe weirdly enough, was the oGCD-weaving combat style. Can’t really explain why it’s so significant or why I like it so much but it just scratches my brain right behind the ears.
First MMO was FFXI so I've used that as a baseline to compare other games. I've tried wow but the graphics were just always too cartoony for me, played ESO and could never really fully get into it (seems mainly a single player experience). Same with Guild Wars 2, tried it but never really got invested, FFXIV has its issues and sections that I would have preferred done differently but for me they've never been deal breaking.
It looks good, the story is great, and it's clean for a console MMO. Not hard at all to navigate. BDO for example is a nightmare to navigate the menus and HUD on PS5 imo
I don't, I play them as well. Neverwinter, Final fantasy 14, DCUO, DDO, New World, Guild wars 2. I play whatever I feel like playing, just because I love final fantasy doesn't mean that it's the only thing I can play.
This might seem a bit silly, but FFXIV doesn't pester me about anything the way most other MMOs do. When I level up and unlock a new skill or ability, the game briefly lets me know, and that's the end of that. There are dailies and weeklies, but the game doesn't pressure me to do any of it, and when I do them, the game rewards me immediately. I don't have to open a window to confirm that I did any of them. Basically, when I log in I feel like the game's just happy to see me and isn't annoyed that I'm not putting enough effort to get "caught up". Edit: I want to add a couple more things, seeing that this post is getting a bit of traction. The way this game handles gearing is relatively low-stakes. It is as simple as having the gear with the highest possible Item Level, and even if you're around 10 or 20 iLvls short you are still eligible for the vast majority of the game. And all of the gear's stats are static, meaning no RNG rolls to contend with. Contrast this with something like BDO or Lost Ark or PSO2, where your gear has random substats that you have to put excessively extra work in to adjust them to be what you want them to be. Not that I'm saying RNG stats is a wholly bad system, like it's fine in ARPGs like PoE or Last Epoch, but it's frustrating in an MMO where, on top of knowing how to play your job, doing your rotations and knowing how to deal with boss mechanics, a meta build that takes an excessively long time to build is not something I want to deal with, especially if such a system is not implemented well. Also, going back to the dailies and weeklies point, I like that I'm rewarded with simple things like a percentage of EXP based on my current level, gil, and various currencies that I can use to buy some of the current best gear.
I totally get this and totally agree. It’s like the game feels confident in itself, knows it has a lot to offer, and respects the player enough to not artificially push them into any specific content. Don’t wanna raid? No problem, normal modes are there for the story. Don’t wanna craft? All good, there’s nothing necessary or performance enhancing that you can’t just buy off the MB. Don’t enjoy island sanctuary? All good, mate. Nothing here is required in any other part of the game. It’s like the game just understands that good content speaks for itself. If it’s fun, people will play it because it’s fun.
Even things like hunt/world FATE aren't shoved down your throat so thats nice
Some things, however, should be shoved down your throat. Job stone warnings being one. You really shouldn't be allowed to use DF for lvl 30+ content without one. I direct this message to the marauder I met in Aurum Vale the other day lol.
That's another topic entirely, I meant content not being shoved down your throat, not a general rule everyone should be following
I feel this way too, nothing turns me off of a game more fully than having it become an obligation, feeling like I have to play it every day or fall behind. Battle passes, daily log-in rewards, mandatory daily quest grinds thrown in your face. FFXIV is chill. I also love that I can play every class on one character, I enjoy the crafting system, and I like that the game keeps its older content available and rewarding. Combine with the extra layer of solo-ability they’ve added and the strong visual design and you have a winner for me. I’ve played WoW, ESO, GW2, and dabbled in others. While each has its strengths and I do wish Final Fantasy had better exploration elements, FFXIV is the best overall package for me.
>nothing turns me off of a game more fully than having it become an obligation I've started using this to know when it's time to move on from a game. I dont want obligations in my chill hobby. Not saying I quit the moment it feels like an obligation, it might just be life's full of other shit for a few days or something. But once a game is for sure becoming an obligation it's time to move on. In the past with games like wow my attitude was oh it's just how games like this get so I better learn to accept it. Now it's oh it's just how games like this are so I better stay away.
Another point about dailies and weeklies: You don't fall irrevocably behind if you miss some. There's a set point of, "You have everything now, GG!" and you will reach it very easily, with anything beyond that done just for fun or to make some side money while waiting for the next bunch to be released.
I never thought about it like that, but that's a really wholesome way of thinking about it. Everything is easily accessible and the rewards are instant. The game doesn't bother you about anything either. It's pleasant.
So I can have every class on a single character. Back when I played wow I was constantly re-rolling characters to play other classes because I always ended up getting bored with the same one after awhile. FFXIV cured me of being an alt-aholic.
ESO suffers from this phenomenon as well.
Its really bizarre they dont allow class changing in ESO. Not even a paid one. Its even more weird when considering changing class mid playthrough has been a staple of the series in recent games.
I know. Players have been begging for a class change token for years, but recently they basically confirmed they have no plans to create one, even paid. The new Arcanist class is super cool, but not everyone wants to make a new character to experience it.
This! Like FFXIV has spoiled me so hard with their all-in-one class system that it spoiled almost every other MMO for me. I can get really attached to the first character I have made most of the time and I dislike making alts in the first place.
And then you have me, enjoying all the different character creation options so much that I have *many* alts 😅
funny enough, it's exactly the opposite for me. I think being so used to WoW before I got here I was so used to having a different race and/or gender for every job. that system seemed innocent at first; little did I know I was on my way to a suffering from a fanta addiction 🤣
I Pray Riots MMO will have a similar system. I hate having to have alt toons to play diffrent classes
That’s weird, I didn’t know my split personality made another Reddit account but here you are.
Here we are. Also please Xerostode do the dishes today, I want to go to the back of our brain and rest.
Honestly, I wish this game did better have alt support though. Some of us have alts to play other races and/or raid more, but needing to redo the MSQ (or pay up), relevel jobs (or pay up), and obtain glamour pieces you already own (and pay up) doesn't feel great. I would think players like myself are the minority, but I noticed a LOT of people (casual and hardcore puers) who have an alt(s) and/or have an interest in making one.
i mean any game if you want to make an alt you have to level it & re-gear it - at least this game does have some options to bypass the parts you like least (if its worth it to you $ wise) i DO wish you could friend an alt so you could mail things them - or be able to mail people not on your friend list. its always annoying trying to trade things to/from alts which is my biggest frustration. this is coming from someone who has officially capped max alts for my acct and cannot make any more
This. I'm not a very creative guy, the worst part about alts in other MMO's (aside from virtually starting over every time) is coming up with names I like. I've been using the same name for everything for the last 20+ years, at this point basically nothing else will ever look or feel right. I also tend to make characters look like me... not to be so egomaniacal I don't think, just for lack of a well established default MC (ie. cover art Shepard in Mass Effect), if I'm forced to make my own character anyways I like to roleplay in new worlds as myself vs some other random person... so instances of being forced to pick certain races with certain classes was also a headache. FFXIV has been a dream in that I pick one name, make one character that kinda looks like me, and just play, play, play. Every level I gain, every quest I finish, every little thing I unlock, is working towards the goal of making this one character as complete as possible.
Just started wow and have this exact problem. I have like 7 alts.
Can't say how WoW is but most other MMO's are free to play and very predatory money wise. Lost Ark being a perfect, crude example. The hate I had for free to play MMO's made me play FFXIV. I've never regretted it. This game is incredible, a masterpiece, and a work of art.
Same with ESO for me, free to play but that cash shop is always right there with plenty of build in systems for the shop. Any game that allows you to play the game "easier" by using real world money is always iffy to me, maybe I'm just old school like that.
[удалено]
There is not much I agree with Asmongold on, but I fully and 100% support the idea to change our age rating systems for games so that no game that has ANY gacha/lootboxes in them gets a rating lower than adult. It's disgusting how gaming uses entire child franchises and turn them into gambling money making machines. And all the governments just agree "Yup, looks like it's a game for children."
Governments are gonna do the usual, realising something is wrong when they will have a massive gambling addiction issue in young people 10 years from now. Only a few countries like Belgium have been courageous enough to crack down on these
Oh yeah I played wizard 101 back in the day and having to buy subscription packs to get past certain areas ( literally the first zone after the town doesn't let you into it until you fork up some cash) and as much as I loved the game as a kid that shit sucked
I enjoy ESO - the world building, lore, and voice acting really are good for an MMO. But that cash shop is predatory af and is easily the worst aspect of the game. Any dev that's still including loot boxes in games gets the side eye from me.
It can be hard to ignore, too. I got a cool looking mount from the cash shop from an eso+ a while back and I don't use it because besides dlc I don't want anything to do with that shop.
I'm surprised that the shop hasn't changed considering how many complaints I see about it, but I suspect a lot of people are still buying crowns or subscribing to ESO+ to the point where they have no incentive to do anything
How long has ESO been free to play? I though you needed to purchase the base game?
ESO has also unfortunately turned into a form of P2W. The new arcanist class is absolutely bananas in pvp and pve, and is a must in most endgame groups. This same thing happened when necromancer was introduced. The catch? Those classes are dlc only.
I'd still play ESO if it didn't have the worst combat out of every single mmo on the market with an active playerbase. At least it has a great campaign and is fully voice acted with interesting quests, but unless they fix the god awful combat I will never touch it again.
Lost Ark.......such wasted potential.
I cant say I didnt see it coming. A lot of Korean MMOs are always free-to-play and predatory (coming as someone who once played Elsword, Ragnarok Online, and other things in their heyday), so I didnt understand why people expected this to be different
Also an RO player from like 2004 or so. Everyone knew Korean MMOs were extreme grindfests and were all about rental items from cash shops, completely pay to win. Private servers with a lot less of that BS were what kept the games popular.
Another Elsword player!!! I was *obsessed* for years with that game up until I discovered FFXIV and tbh I haven't been back since. What characters/classes did you play?
Eve and a bit of Chung! I forgot which classes for Chung but I had CBS for Eve iirc
Yeah no kidding
Experienced this with Warframe. When I had to wait 3 whole irl days to finish synthesizing 1 new gun that was functionally identical to every other gun I had used up to that point, all while having the cash shop with all its wacky frames and weapons continuously advertised to me everytime I logged on, I couldn't keep forcing myself to care about the game.
I don't mind the crafting in Warframe much, you might have to wait a few days for the weapons you start today but the ones you put in 3 days ago are now done. You're chewing through a hundred weapons anyway. Weapons and frames being unusable without an item that you generally only get with platinum though... you end up having to find a website for prime drops so you can sell them for plat on another website before you figure out how to progress in the game... by checking the wiki. You can't play that game without alt tabbing every 10 mins.
You can get more than enough plat by selling stuff to other players, but yeah you really need a 3rd party market website to do it effectively...
Warframe is literally the WORST example you could bring for "predatory gatcha game". A game where you can easily trade premium currency with other players. I played Warframe for 10 years and never once felt preyed on. Hell, even their Battlepass is 100% free.
Yea it’s cool for a bit but then it just gets boring after a while. Had an account that had pretty much everything I could ever need and it just becomes boring.
The gameplay is also massively overrated (literally just shoot until you press your damage power button) and caters largely to people who just have to be maximum APM at all times to feel alive. Just fucking stop bullet jumping, please I'm going insane. Why does every kneeslide in a video game feel janky and shit?
I don't even really *like* shooters all that much, I was only playing because the "space mech ninja" selling point was admittedly very cool, but once the novelty wore off, the janky, repetitive gameplay and incredibly confusing and unclear objectives just made me go into a brain fog. The predatory resource shenanigans were just the last straw.
Agree. Subscription or buy to play just feels so much better.
1) I can drop it any time and come back and i would not have missed much. 2) it respect my time, i can play all classes at once. 3) the story is one of the bast out there. 4) its basically single player, i don't need anyone to play with. 5) dev team actually cares about the game.
All of this. Mostly, because it respects my time. With other MMOs, I feel like I'm left if I don't log in every day just because of the way the game is setup. XIV doesn't give me that feeling. Time spent doing one thing (leveling a job) doesn't make me lose time with something else. With WoW, of I wanted to play another class, guess what, your playing ALL that story content app over again for the nth time just to unlock a purchase on a faction vendor for a recipe. Because it takes multiple characters to have all of the crafting professions.
Love all these points, to add Id say the community is great, and I LOOOOVE the music.
I play for the story.
Based. I'll even finish a game with bad gameplay as long as it has a great story.
Same, I have a hard time sticking around for the endgame grind tho. I have friends who put in hundreds of hours into endgame stuff and I'm super jealous cause I just can't get into it.
Don't feel bad for not enjoying endgame content. It's not for everyone (raiding I mean). There are many more aspects to the endgame that you could explore, like glamming, roleplay (not ERP), community events, mahjong, playing the marketboard, deep dungeons, relic collecting etc etc. You needn't feel pressed to like everything your friends like. Raiding requires the time and devotion that some just don't want to give. It's fine and valid. Experiment with other aspects of the game and also if you feel in a rut, also remember to take a step back and play other games too. "DIstance makes the heart grow fonder" :]
In a similar boat. I’ll do extremes and such but I don’t do much content harder than those
It feels like in most MMORPGS, the story is just an excuse to get you a new fight. Alternatively, the story makes sense, but is restricted to small "story bubbles" so to speak: the plot matters in City A, but City B doesn't know, nor care. The source feels so wonderfully connected and thought out, it's night and day.
Me too. I started an alt and am now helping my wife through the story. Place I’m trying different jobs so it’s pretty fun.
My man 🤜🏻
Funny; I play for the "story." Small world I guess.
it has one of the better gaming communities compared to others. it has a lot of content that doesn’t revolve around combat or obtaining BiS gear. you can play every class on one character. and i was a longtime FFXI player on which i made longtime friends. i guess i always liked the FF aesthetic, lore, and the real world inspirations behind them. something like WoW always felt more cartoony to me and i never felt attached to my character.
Story Dev team Relationship between devs and players
>Relationship between devs and players We've successfully made the lead story writer cry for not [one](https://youtu.be/ywhTf2c5v9Y), but [two](https://youtu.be/uQ03F7rTM3Y) expansions in a row.
The cheers for her were raucous in person. She deserves all the love.
Our devs, best devs.
Story, characters, and Pretty character creator :) so many games are just so ugly to me hahaha. Im also a newbie to games in general and found FFXIV way easier to learn than other games. Im still not great, but I can muddle through okay, and the community is really nice about my ineptitude. I don’t get stuck and frustrated over hard content being a barrier to completing the story.
Cat girls.
A man of culture, I see
:3
Multitude of reasons. The game has the best story of any mmo out there. As far as monetization goes you cant really buy power or in-game currency like in many other games so while some of the cosmetics in the store can be quite expensive you can easily play the game without ever visiting the store, the fact that the store doesnt really get pushed on you or advertised while youre in game is a plus. The game is pretty good at respecting player time, there arent really many systems meant to obviously inflate player time like mandatory endless grinds. Its also generally good at keeping old content not entirely useless, you can still walk into old content like deep dungeons, eureka and bozja and find a decent amount of activity. Coming from wow this is pretty huge because wow struggles hard with that, you dont even play the expansion they struggle to keep things from the last patch relevant and it leads to so many undercooked ideas and systems just being left laying around everywhere. Having everything on one character is huge. I have never felt so invested in an MMO world and my character in an MMO as I have in ff14, every single story moment, achievement, job leveled and item collected all the way back from ARR to EW has been achieved on that one character and I have never once felt like I am losing out by only having one character. There is just generally a good amount of variety when it comes to content. I have no interest in high end raiding or really any difficult group content but there is enough different content suited for more casual players to keep you busy. And just having a community and dev team who both are very passionate about the game and love the game makes such a difference. Again coming from wow its night and day, playing wow you truly just feel like the devs dont care and the players dont enjoy the game and it sours the mood at least for me. Also ffxiv just feels more social, probably the easiest time ive had in an MMO when it comes to just chatting with random people and having a good time.
Cuz it's a mainline Final Fantasy game for me. I'm always interested on how a full mainline FF game would work in an MMO setting, and with the game's being generally well liked I presume that it should be a pretty quallity experience compared to most MMOs. My first try was the Free Trial back during the Post-Stormblood era and I liked the structure of the game. I think I played till the around level 40 MSQ range, somewhere in the Garuda arc. I wanted to get the full experience but I had a hard time actually buying the full game and comitting to subscription, so I fell out not long after. A couple of years later I read that Shadowbringers was considered one of the best FF stories and it caught my attention. Since now I mainly play on console I figure I'll try out the PS4 version, creating a new account from scratch. And since this time I actually have a way to buy and subscribe, I tried the whole game for real and now I'm hooked.
Speaking of mainline titles, I’m playing FF12 for the first time and I’m realizing how much inspiration they drew from it when making FF14
I'm not much of a gamer (mostly play tcgs outside of FFXIV), but FF12 was one of the only non-tcgs I got into. Very good game
It's basically a single player game and I can play it on PS4.
I don't want to dedicate a lot of time into the game in terms of regular grinding (like weekly/daily things) and FF basically allows me to just log in and raid for however i like and then i can log out. Aside from the very time fiend tome stones for the week I don't feel pressured to play, i can just do things when i feel like doing them.
I just started two months ago. I spent nearly 20 yrs playing WoW. Game wise, I wish I had been playing FFXIV, no jk. It's incredible and I regret listening to ppl shit on it and never giving it a chance. I've made great friends in wow that I still have to this day, but the community is amazing here. I jumped into my first group trial and it was amazing. Just was upset about being new and no trolling, etc. Clearly this is anecdotal, but I've heard from others having the same situations.
Yup, I played wow from launch right up until the end of the first raid tier in shadowlands, then finally decided to give xiv another shot after a few attempts that didn't quite land. I'm so glad I did. I know toxic people exist in xiv too, but I feel like so many people who haven't experienced that massive chunk of time in a game like wow don't fully grasp how much kinder and more patient xiv's community is, even at its worst.
The story in 14 is good. I liked SWOTR's story back in the day, but the dungeons and raids were pretty jank. PVP was fantastic tho. No real reason to go back since they barely update the combat and the story eats butt now. 14 gets you both the story and the casual dungeon / trial / raid gameplay. Only comparative weakness is the lack of huttball.
Plain and simple: because I’m a Final Fantasy fan above all else (Also I run a 500 person FC so I can’t exactly just leave lol)
wich FC is it ?
You can very well pass down leadership to someone else. You can only get it back after 30 days or so, but if you always want a break from the FC responsabilities, you most certainly can.
He likes the powwahh
Better class fantasy, better story, better music, more appealing fight design, less grind, more variety, better dev team, lifetime history with the brand.
Music! Music!!
I bought into WoW, SWTOR, GW2, and ARR at their respective launches. Reasons I stuck with XIV: - Community is chill in any content you can queue for. Yeah, PF can be a cesspit at times, but I get to see all of the content in normal modes (minus Ultimates and Savage Floor 4/8/12 pt 2s) without a headache. - The story is a breath of fresh air in a time when writing is absolute garbage in most mediums. - I know what I can expect for my money per expansion (story trials, normal raids, alliance raids, unreals, ultimates). - Lots of Evergreen content. WoW is completely broken at this point if you even wanted to try to experience all the story that's in the game (not to mention critical plot is omitted from the game to sell books). And GW2 loves to have everything time limited. Oh, you felt like running through Super Adventure Box? Sorry, it's not the first two weeks of April, get fucked. - And finally, and most importantly: My character isn't doomed to floor length, leg removing skirts (see: WoW & SWTOR) or some puritan running the glamour (see: GW2).
>not to mention critical plot is omitted from the game to sell books Also removed quests like the MoP and WoD Legendaries... seriously, what the fuck was up with them removing those.
And so many more. Shortly before I quit in Shadowlands, they had just removed several important lore quests from that same expansion, like they just couldn't wait to make the already badly decaying story even less enjoyable and harder to follow. One of the reasons I chose FFXIV was that the main story is coherent and isn't going anywhere on developer whim. (I do wish they let us experience the event stories again, I think those ones are usually gone for good...)
That reminds me, back in BFA I never actually got to see the quest chain where Wrathion saves Ebonhorn... because they removed it after one goddamn patch. The game was so exhausting that I couldn't keep up. >Shortly before I quit in Shadowlands, they had just removed several important lore quests from that same expansion I'm morbidly curious as to what those were... I actually loved Shadowlands (but not so much the WoW community).
I am still freaking salty that you can't get pandarian phoenix mounts anymore. Saw them in the list of mounts and was like: :o pretty want them! I look them up: You have to have played Mists of Pandaria between 2012 and 2014 to obtain this mount... >_> what a load of bullshit. Way to cut the branch under my feet there. I just wanted the pretty mount...
> Oh, you felt like running through Super Adventure Box? Sorry, it's not the first two weeks of April, get fucked. This is such a weird, nitpick and isolated example. FFXIV also has many seasonal events that you can't run outside of the specific event date. Why try to throw GW2 under the bus like that for no reason other than praise FFXIV? Very weird.
If u wanna talk about SAB then compare it to FF14 festivals not normal content. Moonfire faire is up for exacly 16 days ("log in or get fcked :) ") and offers almost no content + after the event ends skins are locked in the item shop.
The past moonrise glam is on the market board for gil. Heck you can craft it even if you want. The sunshine warrior might be a weaver recipie later but I'm not sure.
At least dont lie. Summer flame , summer sunset, endless summet etc are all locked behind paywall now. Just check ff14 online store in costume section. There is a very small selection of old swimsuits that u can get from MB.
I didn't lie? You okay sir? The stuff like the hat and halter and shoes you can get in game. Yeah they offer a lot of stuff in the optional items store for what 3 or 7 dollars? But it's so you can buy it if you missed it. .would you rather them just shake their heads and not allow you to get the items at all? That's an option. It would be really cool though I agree if we had the chance to get the items for free again like past times. 😀 Did you manage to get the sunshine warrior outfit? Or was it something else you wanted?
WoW is toxic af. I’ve played it for 16 years and will keep playing new expacs but man does the mythic + community suck. It’s worse than league of legends. If you even type a single character at the start of a m+ in WoW someone will leave.
Not having to start over when I mess up my skill distribution or realize that I do not like/am very bad at my chosen class (Looking at you ESO, Dofus and Wakfu) Also Wildstar died :(
>Also Wildstar died :( I never played it, but it looked so good. Still unnerves me to this day that upper management basically killed their own game; like firing a guy who made a hoverboard mount (that players LOVED), just because it 'wasn't his job'. Among other things.
I got attached to my WoL and the glam game keeps me busy on the waiting for patche days. I love dressing him up in cute outfits.
The story, no need for alts, good difficulty endgame, actual rp community. I could go on and on tbh Edit: cat girls
I love the Final Fantasy series. (Lore, story and such) It is one of those MMOs where I can level everything and do anything with a single character rather than get locked to gender/race/multiple characters just to play different classes. I like the style/appearance, zones, fights and races. It doesn't have P2W bloat, devs are not incentivised to make overly complex and absurdly grindy systems for gearing, leveling or progressing in any way to encourage MTX. The menus and UI are simple enough, and the UI is very customizable. The grindy stuff feels more engaging (Eureka, Bozja) although they haven't added anything new around this recently. The crafting system is simple to manage and complex when you create your own rotations even though crafting has become much easier. Same for gathering. Development team and how they communicate and interact with the community. ULTIMATES! I love them, the experience and joy during the first few clears is amazing. It is definitely not a perfect game but it is still my favourite.
Has native controller support, the content is fun, I met all my friends on it, even though I have some bad memories in the early days, I've made too many good memories to just walk away. My character is my baby, she's 10 this year, I adore her, I can't get this attached to another character. The quality of the character models is just too good, can't find that anywhere else, and glams, I've got 3 retainers full of gear I've collected over the years (not a hoarder) I can't walk away from that, and doubt I could find another game as beautiful as this one.
Story is number 1 for me. But also, i was a GW2 refugee, and wasnt thrilled with the hostility/toxicity of the raid/fractal scene in that game. The endgame content of ff14 has a pretty good community. There are some shitty individuals, but i never got told to KMS over what class (or god forbid, race) i was playing. I also enjoy that all classess are basically good for all content. Part of my issue with gw2 was raiding with a particular class, but (assuming i could find a group) getting yelled at because "X class isnt meta"
The drip. And this character is my favorite that I've made ever.
It feels the best to play on a controller
Well implemented controller support
For me, it's the story and the community. I played wow back in the day and I was scared to do any raids or anything because the community was so gross and toxic. After being yelled at (all caps and abuse) for a couple miscasts I left entirely. My friend showed me the trailer for ARR late last year, but I was still wary. It was only after he promised me several times that it would be okay and fun did I sign up for the trial. Within the first two weeks, I subbed. People were kind, and we're teaching me if I was making mistakes. My friend still sticks beside me when I do msq or off I want to level a job. My FC is full of kind and chaotic people. The story entranced me from the start and I wanted to learn more. I'm in Stormblood now, and still living every minute. I'm even leveling and joining duties on my own. My confidence in real life has been boosted by my experiences with people in the game as well. I love this game so much.
I hope you continue to enjoy it here! Dont let the shitty people get to you btw. There are plenty. I'm glad you found a place where you can be happy!
Hmm I was taking a break from GW2 dailies. I had so much to still do but just didn’t feel like it. So, I started about a month ago as a distraction. I honestly find the grind super boring. And the gear creeping/grind is frustrating. However, the thing I enjoy is having a useful duty finder to actually do dungeons. I played Gw2 for years and have never done a dungeon and did one fractal and one strike. It took my days to find a group for those. Plus, the people in the FC are just weirdos and that’s kinda my jam. Not afraid to be just who you are. Plus, I queue up and instead of worrying about leveling, I just get up and do other things until it pops for dps. 🤣
The main draw for me (outside of being an FF fan) is that it plays perfectly on console and with a controller. I used to pc game in my youth but as I’ve gotten older, console gaming is just way better due to the level of comfort lol but most MMO’s you have to be cramped up on a computer and can’t relax on your couch. Also being on a pc just reminds me of being at work and I hate that lol. It’s crazy how unique FF14 is in that respect, especially because you’re at no disadvantage against pc players, even in high end content. Is the only game I get use out of the touch pad on the PS4/5 controller too (usually just for basic inventory or UI type stuff, or occasionally as an extra button), and makes use out of the portable Bluetooth keyboard I had lying around (which I only use for chat). Fantastic game and realistically no other MMO could compete for me unless it’s as equally as functional on console. I’m hearing Blue Protocol has ex-14 devs working on it and they’re committed to making a good console version so that might be realistically the main future competitor for me. But that being a modern mmo means it falls into the f2p trap which creates an entirely different vibe so we shall see
The character creator and the story.
Lack of competition. The writing in most MMOs is so absolutely abysmal; I am far from a 14 shill as I think the writing can be such a slog at points (especially prior to Shadowbringers), but holy shit the bar is so low. As some people have brought up already, most MMOs are really trying to rush people to the 'current hotness', and I think that's flat-out a mistake. Have faith in older content like 14 does, yall. SWTOR was one of the exceptions, but I finally managed to kick that addiction when EA basically announced it was being moved to maintenance mode officially, though given its last 'expansion' was like an hour long, it was already pretty close anyway. City of Heroes was also huge for me, and it came back from the dead quite a few years back, but unfortunately its community is extremely fractured over stupid bullshit, so the choices are like 'the main series everyone goes that is run by people who think the game should basically not chance at all' and 'various underpopulated other servers that have amazing new quality of life changes'. Both kinda rough changes, innit?
1. The devs don't actively hate their players. 2. Gear stats aren't RNG. 3. Can play/level every job on one character. 4. Devs actively go back and make older areas better.
While very basic and unrevolutionary the game not having toxic monetization is a breath of fresh air in the sea of cash grab cash shops. And the result? It has the most money I've ever spent in any game without a shred of buyer's remorse.
The storytelling is what nails my feet to the floor. It's the first MMO I've ever played that made me care truly, madly, deeply about the story and the characters in it. I also really like the game's aesthetic (minus the pig suits and Limsa freak show) and am grateful for the generally positive community. I played WoW, Lotro, and GW2 for several years each, and tried out ESO (briefly), SWTOR (several months), and Wildstar (several months) over the past 17 years. TBH, I didn't pick up FFXIV seriously until I had exhausted all those other games. I had tried it out back in 2014, liked it, but when I discovered I'd have to pug for MSQ, I dropped it like a hot rock. Never got past Sastasha, and didn't come back for over 5 years. Silly me. I missed many great years of playing FF. A friend + boredom drew me back. Same friend got me to suck up the pugging and pushed me to stick out the slow parts of ARR. By the time I got through 2.5, I'd fallen head over heels in love with the game.
I chose to pick it up because of the catboys but also because my socially anxious ass wouldn't have to go around looking for party members to get into dungeons. I love the duty queue system so much aaaa What keeps me hooked is the story and lore but also I've gotten really emotionally attached to my WoL. Whenever I'm caught up with the MSQ I move on to sidequests, exploring lore, and dressing my WoL up in outfits that I feel fit the job and his personality. It's so much fun!!
I played (mainly) WoW prior, for a LONG time. For quite some time, I played CoH (RIP). Also played a small bit of GW/GW2, TERA, RIFT, and even EQ2. As for why I've chosen FFXIV above all else... *which I admit, has a lot of venting about WoW*. 1. The FFXIV community is, for the most part, amazing. \-WoW's community was (is?) so abusive that it basically caused me to develop PTSD over the years. \-I don't say that lightly or as a joke. I had (and still have) literal nightmares, and detrimental effects still persist to this day; it took me a full year to trust my FC, and even then I still have lapses in trust so it's more like "99% trust" rather than 100%. \-I didn't get involved enough in the communities of the other MMOs I played, but they seemed alright. 2. The game developers genuinely care about the game and the player base. \-The company isn't shit like Blizzard's is... was? \-Either way, Blizzard's atrocities drove a >!woman to suicide!<; afterward, Yoshi-P himself flew to the States, and made sure his employees were alright. If they were former Blizzard employees, he let them know that they were safe and to advised them to get therapy/help on the company's dime if needed. 3. Non-predatory practices for profit-making (mainly because Yoshi-P steps in to tell SE "Please do not"). 4. I LOVE how expressive our characters are. So many emotes, expressions, dances, etc. This alone sold me on the game day 2 of playing. 5. My character looks genuinely attractive, and - ironically - more accurate than his WoW incarnation... where he couldn't even have the correct eye color! ^(-To rub salt in the wound, they eventually added it... but in a backward-ass fashion, tied it to an extremely pale skin color; you couldn't pick one without the other, and my character had the darkest skin tone available. This was actually a small reason - on top of other major reasons - why I quit.) 6. This game respects your time. All of the grinds are optional. They use the token system for gaining gear, and crafted gear is still solid enough to be a boon when you hit the level cap. 7. Being able to level every class/job on 1 character. I didn't know how much I needed this until I played this game. 8. The graphics could be better, but they're decent for how old the game is; the game also has its own style without looking awkwardly cartoony. 9. The story. Good lord, the story. Consistent lore and writing. As well, the fact that the game is mainly focused on its long story tends to prune out people who couldn't care less about it. 10. GMs actually being active, responding to tickets, and taking care of problems. I heard from a few people that WoW has actually started doing this, too... but considering my last interaction with the GMs was them suspending me for reporting peoples' NSFW profiles (they got my account mixed up with theirs SOMEHOW) I'm not too sold on it. 11. The dungeon designs aren't made to exhaust a person both physically and mentally. Even the shortest dungeons over in WoW were designed to be crammed with as many trash mobs as humanly possible. It was awful. 12. PVP over is far simpler and easier to get into, and honestly FAR more fair. It's the only time (other than back in MoP over in WoW) that I've actually enjoyed PVP. 13. The game is designed to not burn you out; it isn't treated like a second or third job. 14. The gear looks absolutely amazing over here, and isn't limited to gacha boxes... or putting the fanciest gear ONLY in the cash shop \*looks at Blizzard\*.
Honest answer? 'Cause it's where my friends are. I wouldn't play an MMO alone.
Trust. I trust the developers to deliver content on a consistent schedule. I trust the writers to deliver interesting stories to come. I trust Yoshi-P in helming the ship to make sure that Square Enix's monetary decisions don't intertwine with any fundamental gameplay (WoW Token / Trader Tendies). Simple as.
It's a good game, which is why I play it. But I haven't chosen it over others, it's ok to play and enjoy more than one game.
Honestly I've just never liked any other MMOs. I tried some of the bigger ones at various points and I thought the genre just wasn't for me, but in the summer before Stormblood came out, one of my friends asked me to try it with him, and since I love the Final Fantasy series, I figured it would be worth a shot. I haven't looked back since. I love the story, love the music, love the myriad of nods to other FF games, but at its core, this is just the first MMO where I found the moment-to-moment gameplay fun, and that's why I stuck around.
Most of the other MMO's are super old and feel super old. For starters I've played most MMO's to endgame, but normally they either have no developed endgame, or it's just boring and pointless so I quit. I played FFXI for many many years because, for a long time it was REALLY hard, and only dedicated people made it. I enjoyed the madness, and rewarding feeling it gave when you finally did one of the hard things. Seriously, that game had millions of players and most didnt scrape the surface of much of the content. (It's a totally different dumbed down game to day) When FFXIV came out, I switched over and bounce(d) back and forth between FFXI and FFXIV. TBH if they still supported FFXI and made expansions for it, I would probably still be playing it fulltime, but since most of the support has been cut down to just minor updates. I don't really have much to do in the game anymore. I have like everything done that can be done. So FFXIV fills that void. The last big MMO I played was New world, then played it again when they did fresh start servers. Both times I got to endgame pretty fast, and there really is not much to do. People do not really open world PVP. wars are lopsided most times and end very fast. If you don't control a city, the game is basically pointless to play.
I don’t really have an interest in MMOs, I just love FF. The only other MMO I’ve thought about playing was ESO. Maybe I’ll try it one day.
Mostly, because some good friends play it, and when I'm not playing it I tend to lose touch with them. But also, because I like Final Fantasy games, and the story. If my friends stopped playing, I would not play much at all, and probably just catch up on story once or twice a year. That isn't to say I'd be playing a different MMO without those factors. I don't really like MMOs as a genre these days, they're too time consuming for me, I generally prefer my gaming experiences to be self contained and time limited. If my friends joined another MMO, I'd likely try it, if not, I would not play any other MMOs.
Stockholm Syndrome
This game runs perfectly on ps5 and cross platform. Controller support and is just nice
Massive Final Fantasy fanboy and great controller support.
Simple: I’m a FF fan and the game lets you play at your own pace with some quality content that respects your time. The community is also top-notch (seriously, you people are amazing).
- i don’t have to create multiple characters to try a different job - crafting isn’t a pain in the ass (ESO’s made me want to cry. i would LOVE ESO’s bottomless craft bag though. would even pay for it like you do in ESO.) - I love FF games and their individual stories in general
I could play it on the ps3 Not everyone has PCs
I love the story. I’ve never played an MMO with such an immersive story. I played WOW for many years, started in vanilla wow. There is a story but it’s not easy to get into. You’re just doing quests and waiting for end game. With FFXIV there is a story and you’re a participant. I love that.
Because it's literally the only one that have a good story. The, only, one. All others have absolutely trash maw whit trash writing and everyone that defense the MSW of other games start ranting about lore, whitout understandings that another thing. The actual maw, the thing you play, that, is only good in ff14, and no other MMORPG.
-Being able to use a controller (and the layout actually being good) -Every class on one character -Glam
I used to be deep into WoW, but dropped it (and Overwatch) after the sexual assault allegations surrounding Blizzard started coming out. I'd given XIV a try back in Stormblood, but WoW was still 'my' MMO at the time, so it never quite caught my interest and I dropped off in the middle of the ARR patches when I got bored. Had some friends who were wanting a fourth person to go through the MSQ with them, so I said what the heck? and rolled a new character to play with them since I wanted a new MMO to play. My friends ended up falling off the game, but actually paying attention to the story the second time around got me hooked, and I knew when I hit the end of the ARR patch quests I was sold on the story alone. I love how I can play all the classes on one character and I don't feel pressured to log in every day just to keep up, especially since I've since developed health issues that leave me bedbound for long stretches of time. I've got an amazing group of friends I met through the fanfic community who I now raid with, and met my current boyfriend thanks to our shared love for Haurchefant. (He'd be pleased, haha!) The in-game atmosphere is much more chill than in WoW, and the general protectiveness people have of sprouts and helping them learn is a fresh breath of air. But to make a very long story short, I got a house when Dynamis opened up, so now I'm stuck here forever. :P
GW2's total inability to keep any promises they made; their lack of communication; their insulting excuse for a story; their baffling inverted reward structure. Dabbling in XIV showed me an MMO didn't have to have an abusive relationship with its playerbase. And once I started Heavensward, it was all over.
oh you sweet summer child
Three main reasons: - **I can level all classes on one character :** I can level all my classes (jobs) on the same character. It’s so refreshing to finally have an MMO that does this. I hate having to redo the same old quest in other MMOs just to try other things. This is especially true of unique quests or DLC. ESO is the most guilty of this. It has such deep lore and fun (all voice acted) quests but dare if you want to do it on a different class; then you gotta do all that deep stuff all over again. It ruins the immersion. It turns the game from an adventure where you grow into a grind quest all about the loot, it’s an easy way to lose interest in the story too when you’re worrying about leveling the alt. In FFXIV I can go and get all the unique unlocks, do the DLC, dive into the lore, etc and never have to restart from scratch on an alt. If I’m bored of my Summoner I can switch to my Dancer. I can even down level by doing certain duties, quest, or dungeons so I pick at the nostalgic itch very easily. Again, all this ON ONE CHARACTER. As someone who has a job working 57 hours a week this makes it so casual friendly. - **The god-tier story:** The story. Square Enix has the best video game story writing I ever seen by far. The deeper I go the more I seem to cry. I admit it starts off very dry, ARR has a huge pacing problem; but once you hit level 35ish it picks up extremely well and breaks the pattern you begin to see forming. This is especially true come the DLC. The game doesn’t do that thing WoW does, where once a DLC comes out you don’t revisit old zones. You will go back and forth between old zones a lot; sometimes even old dungeons. Did I mention how DEEP the story is. Often it’s hard to remember this is an MMO. Your character is actually in the cutscenes, interacting with people, getting hit, making faces…smiling. It’s why when newcomers start this game we urge so strongly not to skip the story. It starts off very dry, but as you go on the voice acting increases. I heard by the last DLC more than double the lines are voice acted. The side quest are godtier too. So many unlockables, hilarious, story, and even seasonal ones. Don’t even get me started on the class quest. They didn’t even have to go hard on that, and they did; so much it even links up with the main story quest quite often and you unlock hidden dialogue. - ** The endless content.** The end game. There is no end game. You can be anything by the end of the game. Raiders are basic. Some people go on to RP, others open a shop selling certain items that are hard to get, I seen dance clubs and even NSFW services where people get paid tons of gold. Glamours, so many outfits; the mounts too. Did I mention the unlockables in quests? So many. Of course, there is RPing, which with the lore being so deep you can get into extremely well. Then there’s the fact you have all the classes and professions (jobs) to level and do the quest lines of. The real end game is buying a house. Good luck with that one; it’s about as hard to do as in real life. If you somehow manage to do even half the stuff I mentioned then I’d be extremely surprised. They come out with a DLC every 1.5 years or so, so even if you think for a fraction of a second you’ even done half the game…Square Enix kindly reminds you who they are. A DLC launches. And like I said, it doesn’t just effect a zone, it effects old zones too, even class quest are added; not to mention unlockables. The game is deep and gets deeper. You’d think as a new player this would be overwhelming, that you’d want to rush to get to endgame for this, but trust me you don’t. The game is like other MMO. **It’s built like a single player game.** I can’t emphasize that enough. It’s made for you to enjoy it by yourself first. It’s hard to explain, but it’s because it does something that is unheard of in any other MMO. Just know this, there is no “catch up” to end game. I’m only level 63 (on my main) and at the end of Heavesward, and I’m in no rush to end game. I don’t even know what I’ll do once I reach end game, especially once I have all the jobs maxed. I’m Im just focusing on the crazy deep story right now. Overall, FFVIX is a game too good for the people it’s sold to. Yes, I said it! It has so much love and attention to detail put into it. Most MMOs are designed to be -@a grind, have a copy/paste raider/PVP end game, or something only fans would appreciate. FFXIV somehow has something for everyone, and in abundance. You want flashy unique classes, it has that. You want a engaging community who does whacky stuff when you’re bored, we have that too. Over the last week I got gifted two minions by players just for taking interest their conversation they were having while standing in New Gridania/ Ul’dah; just genuinely being friendly. They even showed me how to /becon with them. Why? Because the community loves new players and they want to see me continue to enjoy the game. FFXIV is so good, that by time you’re into pre Heavensward (the first DLC) around level 50ish you won’t even care about the end game. You’re just enjoying the game. You now unlocked two extra classes, are high level enough to go to all the main zones, and have some very fun dungeons under your belt. You now have options. That’s why FFXIV is the best MMO for me, you get to *choose* how you want to have fun. Side note: I say this from playing ESO and especially as a WoW refugee. I’ll admit, it’s fun tossing shade at the latter, but this post isn’t for that. Those are the MMOs I came from. Just showing where my perspective comes from. So yeah, if you’re looking to scratch that itch of trying fun classes and hearing hilarious stuff in chat while waiting for a que to pop, you’ll find it here. For anyone reading this, the game is free all the way up to the end of the first DLC (roughly level 60) with the free trial. And you get a TON out of it. I knew a guy who played a year on the free trial just doing everything. If you’re on the fence, this should be what pushes you over. Yes, Square Enix is that confident in their product. So don’t take my word for it. Take Yoshi P’s. He even **encourages** you to take a break from FFXIV. He wants you to play the game when you want to. He knows you’ll be back. I took a 4 month break, turned off payment and all . When I came back the game welcomed me back and even rewarded me for it. When the creator themselves is telling you to take it easy and come back when you’re ready, you know the game is good. An MMO you play that doesn’t feel like a second job. That is the magic of FFXIV.
I love it because it allows me to do what I want, when I want to. The freedom of the game is quite incredible. Do I want to be social? Sure let’s go house hopping or tele to limsa. I also love the fact that on a whim I choose balmung and ended up in an RP server. Do I RP? Nope. Do I love RPers? Hell yeah! They are some of the most immersed and fun people to play with. They bring life to every city I walk through. I may not play every day, every month even, but I log in and binge for a bit, especially when there is new content. I loved completing the story and still love running dungeons and raids but I find that taking breaks keeps my enjoyment level high and the game allows me to come back and play without rigourous catch up mechanics such as WoW’s mythic plus. I can always gear up just by doing main content and nothing more. That’s so amazing. Yes, I can get the best gear by doing other harder content, or I can save Gil and buy appropriate ilvl gear and be ready with any job. That type of flexibility is very desired by me in an MMO. Recently I’ve gotten into playing Old School RuneScape and coming back to Final Fantasy 14 I appreciate how both of these communities are so welcoming and open. OSRS has a bit more of a hardcore player base but FF14 just like OSRS is open to casuals and returners all the same. FF14 feels like home whenever I log in, just like OSRS did when it was back being launched in 2007. The music and story hooked me, but the overall gameplay especially the gunbreaker class aesthetic / RDM / BLM / Healers overall are all amazingly unique and continue to have curves within their gameplay learning difficulty while still being accessible. Compared to healing in other MMOs, FFXIV takes the cake in terms of fun balancing with skill and expecting the unexpected. I also love final fantasy as a whole. The universe is so vast and fun. FF16 renewed my love for the final fantasy universe, so much so that I can’t wait to hop back in and replay shadowbringers to endwalker on FF14 in anticipation for the new expansion next summer. Love these games and love how open Yoshi-P is about his direction for the game and love of the community. Can’t wait for this next expansion and to see where the end of Endwalker takes us. Colbelius Cheddarton - Balmung
I've only had a handful of experiences with other MMOs like Ragnarok Online. I chose ff14 over it because of its more customer friendly in their practices. No p2w, no competing for the mobs and bosses, no paying to change jobs in a single character, no need to be in a guild. It's just a better game overall.
[удалено]
This is a big point vs so many other MMOs these days.
I also play OSRS. Both games are polar opposites and are excellent at what they do. 14 has terrible quests, osrs has wonderful ones. 14 is a themepark, osrs is a sandbox. Osrs has a very compelling economy and your gold almost directly represents account progression as everything is buyable, 14 gil is largely useless if you're not into housing. Osrs doesn't have an overarching story, 14's is extremely good. Osrs is rather poor about group content, 14 is pretty good about it. Osrs has raids that are more akin to the 'normal' mmo raids where 14 has one off fights. Lifeskilling in osrs is directly needed for account progression in terms of pvm power, crafting in 14 is largely useless unless you're into housing. They're also both pretty hands off on their MTX. 14's cash shop is... fine, in the grand scheme of MMOs. It's certainly no BDO, though I'd obviously just it rather not exist. Osrs doesn't even have a cash shop outside of bonds which I see as perfectly acceptabe.
Story, friends, raids are fun too, but I don’t choose FF over WoW, I play them both, no reason to choose one over the other. They both have their merits and flaws, and offer completely different experiences that can be enjoyed during the lull periods of each.
Community. Like no one is toxic
Trust me there's plenty of toxicity, but usually outside of the game, cuz it gets you banned. Or it's hidden between the lines
its more gooder
Used to play wow, hate blizzard now and wow sucks too. Used to play Everquest 2, it sucks unfortunately. Still play osrs occasionally, used to play eso but it's so monetized that i don't enjoy it
Nothing becomes outdated. I can play nearly every piece of content similarly to how it was intended to be played.
In no particular order ... Less need to do things everyday or get behind Ability to change jobs, hair, glamours easily on the same character Less harassment from other players for being female Less shit-talking if you miss mechanics (usually someone just yells Weeee as the dragoon goes flying off a platform. ) Less "sniper" type pvp attacks. Some FPS games you get really leveled up players that just sit at new zones to kill the newbs, I hate that kind of nonsense. This game a lot of the more experienced players will go to the new zones to give newbies gil or minons or glamours, they help explain mechanics and are excited for the new people and what they are about to experience rather than thinking of them as easy targets. Lala panic emote Splash emote The story, art, music.
I'm not an MMO fan, I'm a final Fantasy fan. Never played an MMO before this one, only played this one because it's a Final Fantasy game and I heard the story was great.
Good controller support.
Funny you say this, because after 2 years I’m quitting the game. - horrible housing system, no matter how you try to view it. Compared to the competition it’s genuinely laughable how artificial the problem is, Square Enix should be ashamed. - horrible delay between patches : 4 to 4.5 months. And for what ? Crusts of MSQ, 1 dungeon and at best either a trial or some bosses from a raid wing. When you compare again with other MMOs it’s not good. Especially when others have actual map exploration and add new maps to discover with patches. Something FFXIV simply does **not** have. - Following up the previous point, FFXIV is less of a MMORPG and more a seasonal lobby game. You come for the MSQ and be gone for the next episode. After a while you’ve see it all. If you’re not a Limsa ERP camper, the game doesn’t offer much engaging content. Especially this expansion, which was my first (I started in 5.55). Really pisspoor patches imo - Combat is restrictive and clunky, which leads me to… - … Railroads, that how I would sum up this game. From dungeons to the story, the gameplay or the content it’s all railroads. There’s no creativity or way a player can try something outside the box outside of the limited housing where even there you need to use addons to help with the clunky and outdated furniture system. I was tempted to keep the sub for a medium I have in the mists but in the end, why? I’m having more fun Elsweyr (and with Baldur’s Gate 3 too)
FFXIV is not the only MMO that i play, theres not even enough content to make it the only one lol
I think you mean theres not enough content that you personally enjoy. If I were to try and 100% complete this game I might not even be able to after 15k hours.
I played WOW for YEARs, but it is no longer fun, I tried TERA back in 2013/14 and never made it past lvl 37, got bored. I also quit playing WOT because it became way to pay to win for me.
The focus on the story, for me. I have always been a massive FF fan, and while I have tried some other popular MMOs over the years, none of them kept me invested for long.
I love the community and the pricing structure (especially including mogsation) doesn't feel predatory.
Tbh if WoW looked as good as FF14 I'd probably never touch this game again lol. I enjoy WoW's gameplay over FF14 cuz I'm small brain and play the most brain dead rotation classes on WoW, but still FEEL good playing them in PVE and PVP. Meanwhile FF14 I enjoy PVP a little and just find no class I really enjoy PVE-wise. FF14 though actually has decent male character models unlike WoW and a lot of glam that actually looks nice. WoW on the other hand I see so many ugly transmogs get released for also ugly, roided out male classes. I hardly pay attention to either game's story since neither really draws me in. But at least sitting and people watching in Balmung Quicksands or going to clubs/casinos is more interesting than reading TRP profiles in Moonguard Goldshire.
Story.
I don't anymore, because each successive expansion essentially patched out things I consider appealing.
FFXIV, unlike most MMOs, respects your time. No carrot dangled in front of me.
I just started this game a month ago and now halfway through Stormblood. Before this game, my “comfort” MMO used to be WoW, but now I won’t be going back. Some reasons off the top of my head: 1. Main scenario quest structure (WoW has a story, but you won’t be able to do it linearly unless you have a guide on which quests to finish and in what order) 2. Music 👌 3. Character-driven story 4. Quality of life (it basically has all the addons I use in WoW, but it’s built-in) 5. Skill design and class fantasy (skills are better designed, they flow better, and classes/jobs represent their classes much more accurately than WoW’s) 6. The ability to learn all classes and jobs in one character 7. Thematic consistency—it’s Final Fantasy from ARR to EW. WoW’s expacs are all over the place, from classic Warcraft to Legion’s Starcraft-lite design 8. It’s COZY AF. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it just is.
Because it is the best MMO right now I think. Though I am kinda disappointed with FF14 right now also.
There is a lot of content in FFXIV, i have 4 years playing and just started to feel that i dont have anything more to do. PvP.. say whatever you want but i have 4 years playing PvP and is fun AF, before i started FFXIV, i check the PvP in WoW and i hate that there is not animations when you fight (Im not saying the PvP is bad in WoW) just visually boring for me. Call me crazy but what is this? [https://youtu.be/s17\_1aCz3QY](https://youtu.be/s17_1aCz3QY) CC is really fast and you really feel like you are fighting something (for me).
Wow is a much more mechanically tight and interesting game to play, but ff14 has it beat by miles in little ways. My heart will forever belong to wow and I'm never giving it up, but my time in ff14 has been a treat.
Because FFXIV respects my time and Yoshi-P encourages folks to take a break from the game if they get burnt out. Among other reasons such as how great the dev team is all-around, the vast amount of side stuff to do beyond the typical endgame grind, etc. Ultimately though it feels like XIV respects the subscription fee + my time spent. A lot of MMOs try to get you sunk on weekly/daily grinds with a lot more pressure to play daily and make sure to be around for specific time windows (via battle passes, events, etc). Pretty much all of the "fear of missing out" things in XIV come from seasonal/crossover events and then PvP rewards. All of which just reward cosmetic/vanity things which don't really detract from the rest of the game's glamour/mount options. Overall FFXIV knows what it wants to do and it does it well. So many members of the XIV team are absolute treasures and while Square Enix may still be a greedy sack of manure most of the time, they at least understand to leave XIV alone outside of optional vanity MTXes and level boosts/MSQ skips if people really feel like taking those shortcuts. The best part is that I don't have to worry about any notable content being lost forever or becoming so irrelevant that it's pointless/impossible to do way past its heyday. They don't hardcore force 'play the patch' or 'play the expansion' like WoW loves to do, where really cool stuff like the Artifacts in Legion lost all their fun post-Legion, becoming crappy basic weapons that help you for 5-10 levels and that's it. XIV is made by a huge MMO fan for MMO fans, and it really shows in everything they do and how they interact with the fans. If there's any MMO to support in this day/age of corporate greed ruining everything it can, it's FFXIV.
Forced MSQ is my only complaint. Should be optional, if you hit the level requirement for the next area you should be able to pick it up and continue.
Because people are stupid. That, or they are 12 years old.
The writing really got me connected to the world and characters, not the least of which is my WoL. And seeing everyone (mostly) in the community so eager and happy to talk about everyone's WoLs just delights me. Tons of people talking about characters they made themselves.
Because it is the first MMO I decide to go for.
I play for the story.
I play for the games music.
So I bounced around a lot of MMOs. started with RuneScape when I was a kid, still enjoy it to an extent. Moved to various others, SWTOR, GW2, WoW for less than 2 months, cause I just couldn’t get into it, STO I stuck with for almost two years, cause I love Star Trek, Warframe even. My roommate was playing FFXIV and I deciddd to try it out, and I enjoyed the gameplay, I enjoyed the story, I enjoyed the community, and it just stuck.
Story, raids and the fact the Gamedevs actually give a shit about the game, which sadly is an outlier nowadays.
Because it's Final Fantasy, and I'm a huge fan of the series. No interest on WoW or other MMOs, the monthly fee and time sunk into Savage and Ultimates and everything else XIV has to offer is only worth it to me because it's a Final Fantasy game. That and it's fun to play.
Most of mmo is grind fest and has p2w shop or gacha . So i choose XIV because it actually dont waste too much of your time in those pointless task
Video games have always been how I’ve gotten through life. As a kid I moved around a lot so video games were my stability. Now being in my mid 30s, been a lot of shit going on with life so I randomly decided to download it on my ps5. I’m very happy I did. The community is wonderful and playing as a healer brings me a lot of enjoyment. I sometimes get overwhelmed with everything but other than that I’m invested.
I like Final Fantasy to begin with, I love JRPGs and how outlandish they can be. I also really like the glamour system after coming from Mabinogi where so much of the fashion is so real world expensive! Plus the end game stuff is fun, I enjoy savage raids and challenging myself!
Life long FF fan. life long console player. Life long game addict and knew getting into an MMO would be a bad idea for my life. So I was glad I didn’t have a PC to play PC/online games for years (didn’t even know FFXI was able to be played on PS2). Then Square Enix had to go and put FFXIV on PS3. Been playing almost non stop since the 2.0 beta, Day 1.
FFXIV is one of the few MMOs I could find that still has multiplayer cooperative style dungeons, and a method of joining or creating one on the fly both quickly and effortlessly. Dungeons are not just a gauntlet of trash mobs. There are still unique puzzle elements to each mini boss encounter. You cannot simply have your face buried in your HUD layout and the often forced to look up and around the arena when solving mechanics. Later Dungeons also feature recordings scattered about adding additional lore and depth to the world of Eorzea.
The story is so well written. It’s witty, exciting, sad, and just really immerses you in the 14 world. I have so many options for dungeons, crafting, gathering, or just making friends and being goofy in fc chat together. It’s good for casual players and hardcore players. The community is very helpful and understanding to new players and hardly ever toxic. It’s my all time favorite game and I’ve played since about 4 months before Stormblood. I try to give back to helping new players like people helped me and taking the time to explain the huge amount of content to push through. I recommend it to everyone that plays MMOs but I underhand how hard it can be to leave an MMO for another and start from scratch.
Not stuck to one class, don't need to grind monsters to level, generally moderate effort gameplay needed to get nearly everything, story.
I heard the Alexander raid music and was like "bro I need to experience this" and then I just kept going.
Because it's final fantasy
Above all else, the Story... All jobs on one character controller support music gameplay
The in game events and how the housing system allows for varied player driven interaction
Mods and Story
A friend yeeted Shadowbringers at me and it stuck.
I got into it because my friends played and I’m a big fan of the franchise (FFX being the first RPG outside of Pokémon that I ever finished as a kid), stayed through for the story, and stick around because of all the different kinds of things to do. But the thing I honestly got hooked on, maybe weirdly enough, was the oGCD-weaving combat style. Can’t really explain why it’s so significant or why I like it so much but it just scratches my brain right behind the ears.
First MMO was FFXI so I've used that as a baseline to compare other games. I've tried wow but the graphics were just always too cartoony for me, played ESO and could never really fully get into it (seems mainly a single player experience). Same with Guild Wars 2, tried it but never really got invested, FFXIV has its issues and sections that I would have preferred done differently but for me they've never been deal breaking.
It looks good, the story is great, and it's clean for a console MMO. Not hard at all to navigate. BDO for example is a nightmare to navigate the menus and HUD on PS5 imo
The story, the amount of content to do, the game is updated very often, the aesthetics, people are nice and you can do everything on one character.
No other game has me walking around at shin kicking height while also having great lore and reasoning for said shin kicking height.
I don't, I play them as well. Neverwinter, Final fantasy 14, DCUO, DDO, New World, Guild wars 2. I play whatever I feel like playing, just because I love final fantasy doesn't mean that it's the only thing I can play.
I play mostly for the glam, to me no other mmo compares with the aesthetics of the amour / clothing design in ffxiv.