A question to all WoW players coming to XIV

I don't see the problem. WoW is more of a (western) comic booky style in character design, XIV is more of an anime style in character design. People are more than welcome to express preferences between the two.

In the open world, XIV tends to favor somewhat grounded background design, and WOW likes to splatter paint everywhere. Normally I'd say I'm fine with either, but Stormblood was a step back in just way too much brown. WoW is too much for me, though.

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Originally Posted by DBriggs304

One of FF's main strengths is it's great community.

That's ok. They can stay away as that type of toxicity is not needed here.

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I've run into great communities on both MMOs. I've run into extremely not-great communities on both MMOs. Honestly, I've probably run into more toxicity on XIV, on the whole, but that could just be because I've played it less casually. In either case, the decidedly casual-midcore (competent people who enjoy a challenge, but prefer quality of activity over speed of progression alone) scene, especially among people who still enjoy leveling and/or helping out, has tended to have high portions of great people with much lower portions of officious jerks, entitled jerks, or invasive drama.

The friends i've gotten into ff14 were skeptical of the "weeby" feel the game had
but then the gameplay had them hooked because this is literally better wow in terms of gameplay, which is what they care about above all else.

With alot of players the whole anime style of FFXIV is a 100% turn off, just as to many the main reason not to play wow was/is the graphics are lower and cartoony. (Why the phrase "Toon" for a characters/avatar became popular in the mmo world)

It personal preference really. I would take FFXIV's or FFXI's art style any day over say WoW, SWToR, or ESO, but then again I love Anime.

The whole Eastern Aesthetic VS Western Aesthetic it is very very much there. I mean lets face it what 2/3 to 3/4th the population are catgirls, lizard girls, and potatoes. That alone is a turn off to many.

As for Asmon he speaks his mind, He loves WoW, and is frustrated with how Blizzard is literally butchering that game with each passing expansion. He is being honest in his critiques of FFXIV. For him I do not see FFXIV ever being a fit, I expect him to go to ESO for good if he plays another mmo full time.

FFXIV's hurdles for many WoW players and western mmo players in general is the aesthetic and the start of the game being really really slow combat wise and having way too many main storyline quest.

Example I ran into.. I played on archeage for a year when I took a break from ffxiv had a guild of 80 ppl core of about 28. I could not get more then 7 to even try ffxiv due to it being "Weeb/Anime", the majority said they would rather play ESO, D&D, or go back to WoW. out of those 7, 6 have quit due to the game being slow to start not making it past 35-50. 1 is enjoying it atm and I expect to stick with it.

Honestly I think if people in WoW tried FFXIV to endgame, many would enjoy it. It is just getting over the aesthetic which they are not accustom to and getting to endgame.

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Originally Posted by Xatsh

With alot of players the whole anime style of FFXIV is a 100% turn off, just as to many the main reason not to play wow was/is the graphics are lower and cartoony. (Why the phrase "Toon" for a characters/avatar became popular in the mmo world)

It personal preference really. I would take FFXIV's or FFXI's art style any day over say WoW, SWToR, or ESO, but then again I love Anime.

The whole Eastern Aesthetic VS Western Aesthetic it is very very much there. I mean lets face it what 2/3 to 3/4th the population are catgirls, lizard girls, and potatoes. That alone is a turn off to many.

As for Asmon he speaks his mind, He loves WoW, and is frustrated with how Blizzard is literally butchering that game with each passing expansion. He is being honest in his critiques of FFXIV. For him I do not see FFXIV ever being a fit, I expect him to go to ESO for good if he plays another mmo full time.

FFXIV's hurdles for many WoW players and western mmo players in general is the aesthetic and the start of the game being really really slow combat wise and having way too many main storyline quest.

Example I ran into.. I played on archeage for a year when I took a break from ffxiv had a guild of 80 ppl core of about 28. I could not get more then 7 to even try ffxiv due to it being "Weeb/Anime", the majority said they would rather play ESO, D&D, or go back to WoW. out of those 7, 6 have quit due to the game being slow to start not making it past 35-50. 1 is enjoying it atm and I expect to stick with it.

Honestly I think if people in WoW tried FFXIV to endgame, many would enjoy it. It is just getting over the aesthetic which they are not accustom to and getting to endgame.

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That's what I keep seeing as well, the questing slog ruins it for a lot of people familiar with the genre.

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Originally Posted by van_arn

Perhaps the fact that half of the community is cat people and potatoes has something to do with it.

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Half of WoW is pretty elves and pandas so doubt that has anything to do with it.

If anything, I'd say FFXIV's lack of racial diversity hurts it more than anything for people coming from WoW.

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Originally Posted by FoxyAreku

Half of WoW is pretty elves and pandas so doubt that has anything to do with it.

If anything, I'd say FFXIV's lack of racial diversity hurts it more than anything for people coming from WoW.

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While true, my friends and iwere surprised at how much customization there is in this game
compared to wow, where 1 in 5 people of the same race are gonna look identical
I'll take less race options for more ways to express yourself in a character's appearance anyday.

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Originally Posted by Reimmi

While true, my friends and iwere surprised at how much customization there is in this game
compared to wow, where 1 in 5 people of the same race are gonna look identical
I'll take less race options for more ways to express yourself in a character's appearance anyday.

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The wide array of hairstyles and facial markings is nice if that's your thing yeah

To be honest, I can kind of see the viewpoint of "Cute" from the general feel of the early storyline. A lot of it is (currently) feel good. You do bad things to worse people in order to make better people's lives happier. But I may see a shift in that as I progress through the game.

The three "factions" in the game are generally good friends, unlike the permanent war setting of WoW. Recently, the Alliance and Horde co-operate most of the times the players interact, Blue is constantly trying to force that tension. To be honest, every time Blue brings up the faction hostilities it is over themes that have caused such tensions in the real world. eg. New lands/resources (Pandaria and BFA) so the overall theme of WoW is more "mature" even though, imo, it's packaging is more cartoon.

Cute and real didn't really come into it for me but then I was probably used to the style from my many years watching anime myself and that my first game mmo was ff11.

Easier... hmmm. Comparing ff14 to early days wow is unfair because early days wow should be compared to ff11. The solo experience of wow was smoother and easier, but the dungeon experience was about the same (broadly, party dynamics to overcome party problems) but in my opinion, not having played any other early mmo's the ff11 party dynamic was absolutely unique and the loss of the uniqueness is a big part of why I no longer play.

FF14 should be compared to current day wow, and again the similarities are there, and it is a question of choosing which you prefer. Dungeons in both cases are, imo, broadly boring aoe fests with little strategy (Quarn may change this because it's my next level appropriate instance). If you try to control a mob with effects, the avatar next to you will break them, but in ff effects are more like short term interrupts in any case.

The biggest engagement for me is discovering that FF14 has an official Blog system in the lodestone which means I can create my own characters story and share it with others, even if I tend not to rp heavily in game.

I also switched because the lore (and story) in WoW was coming apart at the seams to the degree that it was starting to be "just another game", among many reasons, but this was a big one for me and reaching level cap in a zone and a half.

My biggest fear, that niggling doubt, is that I have joined FF14 just as it's story starts to come apart at the seams.

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Originally Posted by Insertcoins

I've been watching youtubers like Sccotzone and Asmongold and the one thing I've noticed is both of their chats mention XIV is too cute for them. I get the anime thing as it is anime being all Final Fantasys are pretty much animes. But I didn't know people thought XIV was too cute to play. I also remember both of them saying ( their chats and SZ himself to Momo on a podcast ) That XIV is harder then wow mostly cause their bosses don't mix things up like a burn phase alone with the dance we have.

We talked about that last part tho but I just wanted to point out where I heard those thoughts, the main thing I wanna talk about is do people think XIV is too cute? And why they think so.. this is mainly for people who mainly played WoW. I'm only asking this as with how BFA is alot of WoW vets are coming to XIV and they are talking. Just wanna see if what they think aabout everything comparaing both games in terms of skill, art direction and stuff.

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The WOW forums are that way.

I don't really have much to add but I did play WoW for some time, switched to FF14, played both for a while, and now am pretty exclusive to FF14.

I'll start by saying I prefer the race and lore WoW presents. This is -not- me saying I -hate- what FF14 has, I don't! But FF14's lore is not at all to the level of WoW. Granted, FF14 is a newer game, but what do we really know about the Keepers? They came over on ice and... that's about it. Roegadyn have an old language that's cool, we know the -names- of Seeker tribes... we get blurbs. Whereis, in WoW, you had vast background to draw on for races. (I RP, so this is very important to me, it helps me make a character.) Now, we do get answers in the lore forums and such, but lore is still a spotty thing at best. I believe one of the devs recently talked about how they don't focus on background lore because everyone is always looking to the cool things in the present and future that are happening.

For this reason, the races just tend to be very homogenized to me. Roegadyn are big humans. Lalafell are small humans. Elezen are elven humans. Au Ra are scaled humans. Etc.

HOWEVER.

FF14 just has the better community. Look, I've read the horror stories. I know what a lot of people think about us RPers. But people never spoke in a dungeon in WoW. You silently speed ran it and -that was it-. One mistake, even if you explained you were new? You were out - unless you were the tank, and then you could stand in ALL the AoEs, eat the instakill ones, and then ask why you died and point the finger at the healer. The RP community was even worse during my time. You couldn't just ignore people, you were forced to deal with nasty little cliques who would make your time -hell- if you RPed with the wrong person. I genuinely went through depressive episodes, BAD ones, during my time playing WoW. FF14 gave me hope. FF14 made me love playing MMOs again.

So, yeah. That's my opinion. Is FF14 a little weeby? Ehn... it's art style is definitely anime, but FF always has had an anime style. (Yes, I know anime technically isn't a style, but everyone gets what you mean when you use it that way, so begone pedants.) Either way, it's just preference - the people who won't give it a try are missing out on a fairly great experience, no matter how you want to play.

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Originally Posted by Insertcoins

I've been watching youtubers like Sccotzone and Asmongold and the one thing I've noticed is both of their chats mention XIV is too cute for them. I get the anime thing as it is anime being all Final Fantasys are pretty much animes. But I didn't know people thought XIV was too cute to play. I also remember both of them saying ( their chats and SZ himself to Momo on a podcast ) That XIV is harder then wow mostly cause their bosses don't mix things up like a burn phase alone with the dance we have.

We talked about that last part tho but I just wanted to point out where I heard those thoughts, the main thing I wanna talk about is do people think XIV is too cute? And why they think so.. this is mainly for people who mainly played WoW. I'm only asking this as with how BFA is alot of WoW vets are coming to XIV and they are talking. Just wanna see if what they think aabout everything comparaing both games in terms of skill, art direction and stuff.

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You aren't going to get a lot of discussion about it being too cute since as you said the people who think it is too cute aren't playing. Ergo, they are not here to discuss it.

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Originally Posted by Alestrae

My biggest fear, that niggling doubt, is that I have joined FF14 just as it's story starts to come apart at the seams.

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I don't think that's the case at this point.

I wasn't so keen on Stormblood, but right now I'm excited to see how the story will play out for the coming expansion.

Admittedly I'm not 100% certain I'll be happy with the answer, but for now I'm looking forward to it.

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Originally Posted by Insertcoins

I've been watching youtubers like Sccotzone and Asmongold and the one thing I've noticed is both of their chats mention XIV is too cute for them.

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Odd, because "looking too cute" is one reason I have never been able to get into WoW. I mean, every character there look like something out of a childrens' cartoon, and it is hard to take any of them seriously just due to how they look.

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Originally Posted by van_arn

Perhaps the fact that half of the community is cat people and potatoes has something to do with it.

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pfft, wow has pandas....

FFXIV has been difficult for me to get into because of the art direction but it's grown on me a lot.

Really just had to open myself to the whole Japanese style of things. It's so different than western fantasy. I'm enjoying it now though.

Personally I think the E-legend of Asmongold, is much larger than the actual person (Watch some of his my life sucks videos...He's not exactly living in the OC and driving a Jag) anywho, players from WoW coming to FFXIV is a double edge sword. Yes more people is always a good thing, but the community has taken a very hard hit. Still... I honestly don't think FFXIV will hold the hard core raiders attention for long though..Pantheon is to be out soon and it is a raid or die paradise.

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Originally Posted by Selova

Can't speak for all of them obviously, but Asmon doesn't really have a agenda. He's just a die-hard WoW player and him and all his fans use the "weeb excuse" to pretty much write off FFXIV entirely.

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Asmongold hasn't written off FFXIV entirely. He's been watching more FFXIV videos on stream lately, I think he might be slightly (if only a small amount) interested. He actually watched two videos this past week about our game. He has said time and time again though that he is Not a Gamer, only a World of Warcraft player. I think this is the most recent where he reacts to a reaction video about the Shadowbringers trailer where he says that again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRBOWH4g98 This video he's torn between liking the trailer and that hesitance because of the "Weeb Excuse."

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Originally Posted by silverlunarfox

pfft, wow has pandas....

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But you don't generally see a bunch of squealing teens sporting cringey panda ears and paws and other accessories in RL like you do with cats. The neko fascination can be an odd one.

I'd def say XIV is viewed as extremely anime by them and then falls into those tropes. That one video by the WoW youtuber detailing Shadowbringers trailer brought up a ton of good points. People were upset with Pandaria and knowing that Stormblood was entirely an Eastern focused setting with samurai didn't help calm those lingering thoughts. He brought up if they saw the Heavenswad trailer instead they would be far more interested as it has more distinct classic feel that wow has.

Meanwhile going into ShB with all the hate BFA got while it's polarizing for some veteran WoW players it seems like it's appealing more to that crowd, going back to the high fantasy elements.

When you break down the actual game the character population is a lot of Miqos, Lalas, and Auras which do have some cutesy elements. But the moment they start playing and get immersed in the world those thoughts really just pewter off and you start seeing the game for what it is.

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Originally Posted by Causality

Asmongold hasn't written off FFXIV entirely. He's been watching more FFXIV videos on stream lately, I think he might be slightly (if only a small amount) interested. He actually watched two videos this past week about our game. He has said time and time again though that he is Not a Gamer, only a World of Warcraft player. I think this is the most recent where he reacts to a reaction video about the Shadowbringers trailer where he says that again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfRBOWH4g98 This video he's torn between liking the trailer and that hesitance because of the "Weeb Excuse."

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Does not matter I really hope he does not come to FFXIV having a huge streamer play the same game as you comes with more cons then pros IMO. The guy has admitted to being absolutely toxic while playing WoW and his twitch fan base mostly consist of the same mind set. There is even a video of Asmongold admitting to these things now the video is about WoW Classic but the same general thoughts/ideas apply.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSoJNcxqDkc

My own personal thoughts as someone who has never played WoW but other MMOs (mostly GW2, Archeage, XI and a sprinkling of WildStar..RIP):

I can sort of see where the comments are coming from regarding XIV being "too cute" and along those lines. I think a big part is that our races generally fall into categories of model-esque, or just super adorable. They're all rather safe looking, nothing too grotesque or ugly about them.

Then the world itself - I personally like XIV's styling, I think it's quite pretty. But you don't really have too many totally wasted areas, or gory scenes scattered about. I was running through AA recently on a new character with a XIV buddy, and I was remarking how this one area I was questing in was rather grim with all the dead bodies and blood scattered about - to which I got a reply along the lines of "that's actually fairly common, just not in XIV".

I can't really speak for the story, but things seem to tie themselves up into neat little packages. AGAIN, I DON"T READ IT SO I COULD BE VERY WRONG HERE. However, it feels like the WoL is untouchable, the "main" players are untouchable. What on earth will it take to finally kill Minfilia?!?

I think those are the main items for me, may be more if I sit here and think about it some.

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Originally Posted by Insertcoins

I've been watching youtubers like Sccottzone and Asmongold

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Who cares what they have to say?

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and the one thing I've noticed is both of their chats mention XIV is too cute for them.

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Sounds good. At least I know i won't have to deal with them here (Asmongold plays on the same server as I used to in WoW, it was annoying.)

If FFXIV is too cute for them, their choice. Same when people say WoW is too cartoonish or Tera has too much fanservice. Personal preference, nothing more. And nothing that people should pay attention to.
I've started with games like RO and later Flyff and both are pretty much the definition of cute. Not a style I really liked that much but after a few hours I hardly noticed it anymore.

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Originally Posted by Alestrae

Easier... hmmm. Comparing ff14 to early days wow is unfair because early days wow should be compared to ff11. The solo experience of wow was smoother and easier, but the dungeon experience was about the same (broadly, party dynamics to overcome party problems) but in my opinion, not having played any other early mmo's the ff11 party dynamic was absolutely unique and the loss of the uniqueness is a big part of why I no longer play.

FF14 should be compared to current day wow, and again the similarities are there, and it is a question of choosing which you prefer. Dungeons in both cases are, imo, broadly boring aoe fests with little strategy (Quarn may change this because it's my next level appropriate instance). If you try to control a mob with effects, the avatar next to you will break them, but in ff effects are more like short term interrupts in any case.

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The only dungeon pre-50 that requires a little bit of awareness is imo Aurum Vale at 47+. But even there you don't really utilize stuns, let alone ccs.
Regarding level dungeons, WoW is piss-easy which is understandable and makes sense. So I think comparing difficulty by comparing the level phase of both games, as some people here did, is leading nowhere. Nobody cares about level dungeons in WoW, it's just a means to an end to get to the interesting part.
In some fights there is less running around, on the other hand you don't have telegraphs for the most part. A lot of number crunching and resource management going on and while many mechanics don't kill you instantly that doesn't neccessarily mean they are more forgiving because healing is much weaker. So the raid may survive a fuck up, but they'll probably pay the price 1-2min later when the healers either lack mana or raid cds to handle a mechanic. Once outgearing content you can ignore or cheese many mechanics, but the difficulty of a game shouldn't be judged when content is getting outgeared.
I guess difficulty comes down to what someone personally perceives as easier. Otherwise the comparable difficulty levels seem pretty similiar.
And by comparable I don't mean FFXIV level dungeons vs myth+. Or LFR vs. extremes. That's obviously nonsense.

PS: If you're dungeon spamming and want to shorten queue times, I have a little card thrower at about the same level ;D

My friends tried XIV and said something similar, even now we occasionally have friendly debates about it lol.

It's not so much that the game itself is anime, but some of the character emotes and mannerisms try to imitate it, and to some people it translates as "too cringy". I got to admit, I'm not a lover of 'live action anime' either, so to an extend I agree with them. Hildibrand works because it's comedic and surrealistic in nature, but when a decently realistic character tries to act exaggeratedly in a non satirical scenario, it just end up looking so...fake.

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Originally Posted by Skivvy

I can't really speak for the story, but things seem to tie themselves up into neat little packages. AGAIN, I DON"T READ IT SO I COULD BE VERY WRONG HERE. However, it feels like the WoL is untouchable, the "main" players are untouchable. What on earth will it take to finally kill Minfilia?!?

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Yeeeeeah...you really ought to read it...

So I maybe I shouldn't even be commenting on this thread.

My feeling is there is too much whimsy, the cactuar mount is obnoxiously large, many things bug me about FFXIV. It's the only the mmo I've ever played, why is that?

From my perspective I've can't find anything out there better. In a way it's a shame not having variety. And serious competition leaves SE to rest more on it's laurels. But I digress.

Even though there are things I don't *personally* care for, its seems to me to be the best thing out there, at least widely available to ppl in NA.

And I never wanted to play Wow, I heard to many horror stories about toxic behavior. FFXIV is not without it toxicity but I just avoided all mmos till someone got me to try FF because of what I heard from the start with Wow. Of course, that's not the same as actually finding out for myself by any means but it was enough to scare me away.

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Originally Posted by linay

So, is it realistic art style or is it anime art style? I wouldn't call anime art style realistic. I'd call it cartoonish (except Japanese version of cartoon).

I don't think there's anything wrong with preferring a certain art style over another, but I do think terms like "weeb" doesn't really have any good meaning to it and when someone uses it, I don't know if they're just racist or they're too lazy to articulate what it is they actually don't like. It's fine not to like certain things, as long as it's not a matter of not liking it because it's made in this country or by this type of people.

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It's more realistic in the model quality and effects and it's not like it's 100% anime, but the aesthetic can be seen pretty decently at times. Though, for gear it might be better to call it fantasy-inspired than anime-inspired, but when the fantasy is sourced from Japanese artists, probably a decent amount of that is infused with anime aesthetic as well. Like going with other mainline FF titles, I'd definitely call Lulu's belt-dress anime-inspired more than fantasy-inspired.

I think it's pretty evident in some faces though, like if you look at Aymeric's face, you could tell someone he came straight out of a Shoujo manga and they'd believe you.

https://statici.behindthevoiceactors...sward-28.7.jpg

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Originally Posted by Spratchet

Yeeeeeah...you really ought to read it...

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It's a combination of factors. I don't really care for how they present the dialogue, combined with the story never really grabbing my attention, and also I have a far greater interest in many things outside of story, but don't have the option to come back to it in my own time. I MIGHT give it a try with NG+, but we'll see.

But yeah, from a non-reader, what I mentioned up above is the general feeling I get from the story. But like I said, I could be very wrong ;)

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Originally Posted by Alestrae

I also switched because the lore (and story) in WoW was coming apart at the seams to the degree that it was starting to be "just another game", among many reasons, but this was a big one for me and reaching level cap in a zone and a half.

My biggest fear, that niggling doubt, is that I have joined FF14 just as it's story starts to come apart at the seams.

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If this worry is because Shadowbringers is about going to another world and you're getting PTSD flashbacks to Warlords of Draenor, I wouldn't worry about it. XIV is still in the "main storyline" that was planned from the start of 2.0, and the existence of other worlds has been built up for multiple expansions now (I know it was in HW+SB, but can't 100% remember if it was hinted at much in ARR), so it's not really a shark-jumping moment like in WoW there they used another world as just a way to bring back dead characters (again) so we could kill them.

I think there was an interview a while ago saying that 6.0 was the final expansion planned in the main storyline? So after this Shadowbringers + the expansion after, then I'd start worrying about the story *maybe* coming apart, but I think we're still good for now.

WoW lore was shaky from the start though, with them retconning Eredar way back in the first expansion, so with how long it even took them to get to Warlords levels of jank, I think we're good for a while (since I can't recall any explicit retcons in XIV lore so far).

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Originally Posted by Reeereee

I believe terms like weeb originate on 4chan. Which means asking why will only lead down a rabbit hole of degeneracy. It's really best not to know.

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The original is weaboo which is someone that wants to be Japanese. In that case I can see how someone would say this game is a bit weaboo since every race is basically an idealized JP body style having no hair, extremely pretty and slightly androgynous, etc. with high pitch kyaaa~ voices. The game is heavily based on a ideal european western setting from JP perspective but that does not mean it feels like it lol.

I guess it honestly just comes down to personal preference. FFXIV definitely has a more "Anime" JRPG artistic style while WoW has a 80's cartoon art style similar to He-Man. XIV has more "realistic" body proportions (I use realistic very loosely) while WoW has a very "Muscle Builder" proportion. I wouldn't say XIV is "too cute" but to be fair a lot of the females are very "cute" or "adorable" where as 80% of the male characters are "pretty" or "very handsome". It is hard to make an ugly character unless you REALLY go out of your way.

To each their own.

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Originally Posted by Akonyl

XIV is still in the "main storyline" that was planned from the start of 2.0, and the existence of other worlds has been built up for multiple expansions now (I know it was in HW+SB, but can't 100% remember if it was hinted at much in ARR), so it's not really a shark-jumping moment like in WoW there they used another world as just a way to bring back dead characters (again) so we could kill them.

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It all started in patch 3.1, As Goes Light, So Goes Darkness when the Hyur makes his first appearance. The Official patch or the WOD battle and reference their problems was patch 3.4, Soul Surrender.

https://finalfantasy.fandom.com/wiki...l_Fantasy_XIV)

I donno if cute is the word since I don't find au ra to be cute? But I do not enjoy playing characters that look like that. This is actually the first game I've played a male character for my main, and it's in part because the female characters are all too doll-like for my comfort; even the roes have porcelain faces. I used to play orcs and undead though, so that's where I'm coming from.

What is refreshing is being able to play guys that are cleaned up instead of hunched over and drooling.

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Originally Posted by DBriggs304

One of FF's main strengths is it's great community.
That's ok. They can stay away as that type of toxicity is not needed here.

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You know.. people always say that.. but i've seen parts of the player base here be MUCH more rabid and xenophobic of anything that's not their clique; and everyone else is toxic.
Not that there aren't great people here. I've met them and hang out with them; but the community isn't perfect like people try to say it is and other MMOs do have good communities and aren't as toxic as people attempt to claim.

As a self-proclaimed veteran of the MMORPG genre itself, with many years of having played a plethora of MMO's- World of Warcraft included; i can say with confidence that anyone looking at Final Fantasy XIV at a surface-level and dismissing it for what they see- to me that seems like they are missing out on something special- this game is a real time investment, and one cannot just experience whatever they want without that investment.

I've played World of Warcraft since pre-TBC (kinda missed the Vanilla train), and i can say it's a game that doesn't quite require the investment on the scale that FFXIV does; so if one were to look at World of Warcraft at a surface-level, they'd be able to get a clear sense of what they can do with their time right then and there- it's really not that in-depth of a game, and never has been- it just has a HUGE amount of content, but content isn't depth.

So it's okey if people want to not try something because the visual aesthetics doesn't appeal to them; if that is the real reason at all- but using short answers like "it's cute" or "it's anime";lead me to suspicion that using said excuses is a lot sexier then being honest and saying: "it's just too much of a time investment, and i just rather play World of Warcraft instead"

Either way it's fine, but i feel like people are lying to themselves when they dismiss things in this fashion.

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Originally Posted by frostmagemari

You know.. people always say that.. but i've seen parts of the player base here be MUCH more rabid and xenophobic of anything that's not their clique; and everyone else is toxic.
Not that there aren't great people here. I've met them and hang out with them; but the community isn't perfect like people try to say it is and other MMOs do have good communities and aren't as toxic as people attempt to claim.

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As someone who has been a part of multiple online communities I can say with confidence that there will ALWAYS be some form of a toxic group if said group is above 5 people, and usually still has atleast one toxic person then too. Overall XIV has been better than other games IMO, but not the best of the best. But its up there.

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Originally Posted by Dualblade

As someone who has been a part of multiple online communities I can say with confidence that there will ALWAYS be some form of a toxic group if said group is above 5 people, and usually still has atleast one toxic person then too. Overall XIV has been better than other games IMO, but not the best of the best. But its up there.

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That's what i mean. There are great people here, i won't ever say there's not. I'm just saying that there's this myth going around that XIV is just a great community, and it unfortunately feeds into acting like people who aren't part of it right now are toxic or need to be looked at differently (just look at how people are talking about everyone who plays other games here).
Like the whole "WoW Refugee" thing. People would act like they're taking actual pity on people, or like they'd just now seen the light and come to play xiv; some posts and conversations i saw were borderline creepy cult levels.
It's just one of those myths that does more harm than good.

A lot of things really. I was one of them, a friend of mine wanted me to play for years, but I didn't pick it up until HW. I'll get right into the down and dirty. Anything JRPG, or - Final Fantasy - in particular is gonna have a negative ring to a lot of these people, including myself. I do not play Final Fantasy games, I play this one. I have never touched a single other FF game in my life, and the only Japanese games I ever played were mainstream Nintendo if anything.

I can give you an eye into it from my perspective. I still don't particularly like the art direction this game has, and this game is overly cutesy in a lot of ways even if you don't think it is. The elves look dumb - you have an over abundance of cat girls (now bunny girls - trust me they roll their eyes at this), the races just generally look dumb (Roe), the animations i.e. Hyur midlander female look overly exaggerated, stupid hairstyles, male humans look like they are 17-18 year old, effeminate male characters, many characters have "emo" hairstyles, exaggerated fight sequences, MANY idiotic looking outfits, and the kicker the game looks Japanese. If someone is already averse to japanese style you just won't get them into this, simple as that. I play it for the (imaginary) friends and gameplay; it satisfies my MMORPG itch, but trust me if there was a good western MMORPG out there (that I liked) I would be playing that instead. People look at the Shadowbringers teaser and they don't think it looks cool, they think it looks "weeb".

Yes, I'll freely admit that I am a hypocrite since I actively play mostly Au Ra/Miqo'te. But hey, "when in Rome"! ;)

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Originally Posted by Makeda

People like Asmongold can rack up several hundred thousand views within minutes or hours of posting. If Asmongold announced he was joining FFXIV, whatever server he landed on would be the new Balmung within a day. He's got the ability to pull a huge swath of current and former WoW-players his way...

But he seems to be favoring ESO right now (been a few days since I checked though), so the WoW community is more likely to leave WoW for ESO now than for FFXIV.


I don't think he's written off FFXIV yet though. Asmongold is desperate right now to find a new game... and he's basically lashing out as he looks. He's half talking himself into things and half talking himself out.
- He's really useful to watch if you want to understand what that community as a whole is going through right now... feeling betrayed and not knowing where to turn, and realizing that all these other choices are there, but not quite your space...

If we could get him to show a level 50 or 60 raid on his stream, as he played it... he'd be sold. But at level 1... those catgirls and lalas can be offputting if you're not used to that sort of thing (and my historic main in this game is a catgirl, this isn't me knocking FFXIV, just noting that it's a pretty strange environment for those not used to anime tropes).

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I'm rather thankful he prefers ESO and eschews FF XIV his fanbase is something we can do entirely without thank you very much.