Kasuga response and Mac System Requirements posted
This is a known problem. If you use the lowest resolution and turn all effects off, you may be able to get the FPS up to 15 or more, but it will still be largely unplayable even on a Mac Pro.
Lead programmer Hideyuki Kasuga says that he is aware of the poor performance vs. Windows (and Boot Camp) and that they are hoping to fix it in the future. Unfortunately they used a Transgaming/Cider/WINE wrapper approach which is almost certainly the root cause of the low FPS problem.
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...69#post3073369
In his post on the Japanese forums, he also recommends that you lower the limit for visible characters.
SE has yet to release a Mac benchmark, and they also didn't release system requirements until June 25th. This is unfortunate because it was not possible for people to find out how bad the Mac FFXIV client performance was going to be before the launch of Heavensward. I'm one of many people who preordered the Mac version hoping that it would be playable.
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...2633ff3209667d
Unfortunately, even Macs which meet the system requirements will still observe poor performance until they improve or rewrite the Mac FFXIV client.
Although I am hoping that they will take advantage of improved graphics (Metal) in El Capitan, it may be possible to improve the performance of the wrapper-based approach somewhat, as Eve Online seems to have done with their Mac client.
A number of people have posted that they have successfully requested refunds for the Mac version, since it is clearly not ready for prime time.