From what I've gathered the Mac version is just the Windows version in a wrapper to allow it to work on an 'intel' Mac. It should work fine the only issue would be the wrapper and it's a commercial wrapper so it should be fine.
Printable View
The thing that bothers me most about all of this is:
Not only is there absolutely no mention on this all-in-one bundle about early access, everything states that we can't even download the client until launch day. My Windows FFXIV folder is 14.5 GB's without Heavensward, and I can't even download it early? So, no early download, no collector's edition, and no early access all while paying to buy it all over again at full price...Quote:
You will be able to redeem your pre-order codes at the official launch of the game after you have created your Square Enix account and registered your full game code.
Majority of subscription MMOs in the past that supported a Mac version worked off the idea that you subscription pays for access, and the client is just free.
With ARR, SE wants you have an individual serial key registered per game/expansion PER platform you want to play it on, which is against the trend in the PC+Mac MMO territory. All it's doing for me is deterring from ever wanting to try out the Mac version at any rate since I don't want to have to double-dip every expansion when I can just bootcamp my PC copy instead.
For all we know the Mac 'port' may just be a cider wrapped copy of the PC game.
No, if you read what I said that's not what I expected. :P I said that I wish there was a way to purchase the Mac expansion without having to repurchase the vanilla since I already own it. Similar to how they let PS3 users upgrade to PS4 for free, I wish they would have done this for Windows to Mac. They can see that you own the game since it's linked to your account, so it would have been nice to only have to pay for the expansion and "trade in" your Windows vanilla or something.
That's exactly what it is (been confirmed by Square.)
Quite frankly, if you're already playing now using bootcamp, there's really no reason to get the Mac client, unless you're desperate to not use Windows at all. If you're not playing yet, you'd have to buy the bundle either way, whether it's the Mac or Windows version.
They've confirmed it's Cider. Or at least, they've confirmed the Mac client is done in cooperation with a 3rd party called Transgaming. And Transgaming is best known for Cider, so it's fairly safe to assume the Mac client will be a Cider port.