Started playing another MMO: what I feel FF14 lacks in regards to uniting a community

Edit: I want SE to know, I am not bashing their game. I love their storyline. I love the character relationships, the depth of the story you can investigate. You get the story telling 100% right. But there are just things that make my playtime here less engaging and more frustrating, and I hope perhaps you can add some of what makes this competing MMO so great.

I wanted to guve some feedback to SE in regards as to why I have chosen to move the majority of my time to a competing MMO (Guild Wars 2). I feel like this game lacks mechanics for working together in the open world and building more of a community. There’s just so much reason for people to be divided and overly competitive towards each other in FF14, even in community, non-competitive combat like PVE dungeons and fates (see: the debate on parsers.)

I’m amazed at how friendly Guild Wars 2 is towards new player experiences. PVE truly feels like community combat. People command parties and guide others out of pure good will, not because of some crown or title, and they are super generous when it comes to advice to those just starting out for the story or seeking just to play casually. That’s because Guild Wars 2 actively manipulates you to be kind to fellow players and strangers in the open world.

The first thing that I think causes people to be so frustrated with one another in FF14 is the loot system. If you join in a party, typically only one or two people gets a drop based on rolls. This means you have to repeat the content a lot, and even if the item you need/want drops, there’s no guarantee you’ll get it. This makes people go for the META, the fastest way towards getting through content, because not everyone gets rewarded for participating. Thus the fighting and the squabbling over parsers and the worry about elitism. You’re rewarded more for getting the content done on a speed run rather than just playing the content for what it is. (And queues are ridiculous, meaning people wait long periods of time just to get a CHANCE at getting their item.) This leads to frustration.

In GW2, your loot is your own. You actually get rewarded more if you join together as a party. Everyone gets the same loot chance based on their personal stat called luck which you get from salvaging gear. The larger your party is, the more creatures you kill, the more you are rewarded in EXP and loot. Everyone gets a piece of the pie they helped earn based on their effort; if you participate equal or more to everyone, you get the things you need. It also means people aren’t rewarded for being carried through. If you participate less, you get less, based on your participation level. There’s less frustration for all.

On top of that, there is content and space for everyone competitive or not. There are a multitude of PVP modes that cater to each competitive person’s needs, away from the casual more PVE-related content, and all of them are built in a way that they can coexist without feeling like one’s getting more attention than the other.

One of the issues I have with FF14’s mentor system is the fact that, while it does attract people who actively want to help, but there are actual selfish reasons to wear the tag. Rather than being a selfless system with hopes of helping sprouts, there are mounts and status symbols connected with the system. GW2’s system is an act of good will and the hopes more people will participate in your activity. I’ve been in tons of things called hero point trains, which often don’t benefit the commanders at all. Its just an act of good will people get recognition for.

One last thing I want to touch on is their guild system; you have the option to join up to 5 guilds, meaning you don’t have to choose between one friends’ guild or the other. It means people are less competitive when it comes to recruiting, and many guilds work together or partner. There’s encouragment to branch out, rather than lock yourself into one community. I often wish I can have an extra guild slot so I can hang out with my friends’ guilds too. But I have to choose one.

These are just a few of the examples that have made players feel more disive, and that’s not even touching on the have and have nots when it comes to housing and a variety of issues currently encouraging players to be spiteful towards one another. I just wish SE would add more systems in place to make people want to group together. I feel more community in GW2. I feel rewarded for just playing and existing with my fellow player ther, as a game, and notiing feels like a chore. I get rezzed and encouraged by strangers constantly, where as in FF14 people are shouting at each other because they didn’t get a chance to hit that S Rank.

Hopefully, maybe, SE could take a look at some of what makes GW2’s community so tight knit.

I’m hoping 4.2 can gather more interest for me. I’m still paying my sub and logging in, but I just don’t spend as much time having actively having fun, and more time grinding and waiting for queues in FF14.

I know I’m probably gonna get a lot of “well go there, bye” or “but parsers and numbers, you don’t understand the meta.” I do. I just... wish it wasn’t being more and more invasive and in my face. People are so in a rush these days it ruins the new player experience for content I haven’t touched yet, and I just returned to F14 this year.

Edit:
I want to follow up on the shortcomings that come from 4.2 that made GW2 the focus of my freetime:

1. The Transmog/Glamour system is so much simpler.
Their transmog system has a huge wardobe - anything you’ve worn or unlocked (with a right click: add to wardrobe) is placed in a library of items you’ve worn in the past. If you don’t have the item on hand to wear, (as the glamour system only account bounds the item), you can earn the transmog crystals from clearing maps or buy a bulk of them rather inexpensively from their cash shop.

2. RMT-Seller Spam was eliminated by allowing their Gem Store/Mogstation currency to be exchanged for gold. Players, not RMT-Sellers, can sell their excess gold or gems to other players WITHIN the game, thus near eliminating the urge for people to buy gold, and, or currency from third parties/

3. Updates in Guild Wars 2 do not take down the servers. You have 1-3 hours from the time a new build is released to exit out and update your your client.

4. NO MACRO SOUND EFFECTS - people can’t harass me into obeying their commands by blaring annoying sounds into my client. I am very irritated 4.2 did not come up with options to turn off this feature on my client.

I play GW2 also, it is definitely the "best" cooperative open world game in an "arcade" sort of way. That said I mostly spend most of my time around it under maintenance mode (ie log in for dailies log out, which admittedly is an MMO thing FF 14 included) It does have very nice alterations to its open world though and I wish the FATE system would follow some of it (or even some of its own examples that it uses less like highbridge fates branching and changing based on outcomes)

the Tyria events are very similar imo to ff 14 fates bar the boss ones, but once you hit the meguuna wastes their style is considerably better since it has that zone wide "progress" thing going for it. Issue is that it also has a considerable difficulty ramp up. Wish FF 14 did something like it, but with better "small numbers" tuning for when the population is lower. (this is also a matter of how gameplay works on both ff 14 could just get away with less cuz of holy trinity design, GW2 you can have 20 mediocre geared/skilled players and be less effective than 5 skilled/geared. Works nice for gw2, but wouldn't for ff 14)

Alot also depends on how you like to play it, GW2 is my strictly solo game atm, hence i don't do fractals etc (don't have the gear for it anyways) So for me personally the two combines make up my MMO cycle and i find both time friendly which lets me toss in stuff in between. Play wise I am one of those people that overall enjoys w/e is closest to old school rpgs so FF 14 is something i find overall better feeling (2.5 base gcd etc reminds me of a sped up active time system) In gw2 I keep leveling classes but i find one or 2 enjoyable and the rest it can be hit or miss and i also experience play fatigue alot more easily with GW2. (scourge and soulbeast are the ones i enjoy, spellbreaker is nice too but if im feeling "grumpy" it pisses me the !@#off easily)

Overall i do see what you are saying and when it comes to open world GW2 blatantly does it better than most other MMOs ive tried, and a big part is that it flows through out the zones and its meaningful as a "story" too. FATES and "wow fates" on the other hand ar just zone "pop ups". (the "reward" thing btw is going to be very bland fast, idk how long you have been playing but there is a literal "stop" to gearing in GW2. i would suggest not rushing for the bis, cuz it is literally the end)

Really wish in FFXIV you could be apart of 5 FCs at the same time.

GW2 has its own meta group comps and has had such comps for years now, and it’s the subject of similar cries of “elitism”, among other descriptors.

Haven’t played that game since it’s first xpac was a couple weeks old; solid non-sub MMO, and something worthy of play during maintenance downtime.

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Originally Posted by Kazgrel

GW2 has its own meta group comps and has had such comps for years now, and it’s the subject of similar cries of “elitism”, among other descriptors.

Haven’t played that game since it’s first xpac was a couple weeks old; solid non-sub MMO, and something worthy of play during maintenance downtime.

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yeah its a perfect side dish, as a main course i think it would be tedious though. FF 14 is the wife at home gw2 is the strip joint :P (occationally joined by other strip joints like blade and soul, path of exile etc :P)

I don't know if we played the same gw2, but on the server I chose, which is fairly populated, the chat is always dead silent. Not that it's any different in ffxiv, but I don't find it particularly welcoming to new players.
Not to mention the grindy nature of gw2 without any quests will get me bored very quickly.

Active open-world would improve the community feeling alot, this is sadly something that FFXIV is lacking alot. I mean, aside from FATES (which people skipped doing since they added Deep Dungeon) and hunts, what else are the players doing toghter in the open-world?

FFXIV needs to step away from the duty finder and add long lasting group oriented content for the open-world. Sadly, I fear this wont happen, untill SE fixed the whole server memory data blablablabla issue.

I played guild wars one, and lost my email. What should of been a simple process to verify my identity didn’t go anywhere. Instead they ran me around in circles on their help forum, but it did absolutely nothing. I went from buying all the extra content to being locked out of a game I payed for.

I will never purchase another guild wars game EVER, Final Fantasy XIV would never do this. Every interaction with a moderator has been quick, and as informative as I would hope it to be. Sometimes they even go beyond to satisfy me as a customer. That can’t be said for Guild Wars.

GW2 "times" are really weird. During the week it is ok populated then weekends it picks up ALOT. Also people tend to be quiet unless you are in a zone for the daily events or a zone with a boss and a push like dragon stand (basically zone wide lane push "raid") Haven't pvp ed much or done "dungeons" though so those might be more social. Like i said i like it as an aside thing, but doesn't get my attention past that for now (still 3 more classes to cap).

Being able to join multiple FCs wouldn't be a bad idea, iirc, FC alliances are planned for the future.
Rewards based on participation sound nice but could backfire since, afaik, GW2 doesn't have the trinity system and everyone is responsible for their own survival more or less? Another thing is if people get their loot easily, they are less likely to re-run the dungeon, further increasing queues.
The rewards for mentors, either crown or mounts was really not a good idea.

I haven't tried PVP there yet, neither housing.

GW2 is a lot of fun! And I LOVE some of their basic features (AH from anywhere, material bank, shared account storage, shared glamour log, megaserver, etc. Love me some Jumping puzzles also. And their events! And the changing world...good fun :)

I'm currently back in XI for now, but I may have to pop back over there when I need a breather. I'm not good with playing more than a single MMO at a time :X

Plays the FFXI card

Rose-tinted glasses and whatever.
Say what you want, I loved actually having to communicate and co-operate with other players on a pretty much daily basis to play.
Actually moving through the actually dangerous open world together to reach our location, sneaking past monsters and stuff.

Often for days, even weeks i don't leave my house in ffxiv.
Limsa infested with ERP catboys anyway. Catboys were a mistake too. Aw man, i miss FFXI.

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Originally Posted by Laerune

Active open-world would improve the community feeling alot, this is sadly something that FFXIV is lacking alot. I mean, aside from FATES (which people skipped doing since they added Deep Dungeon) and hunts, what else are the players doing toghter in the open-world?

FFXIV needs to step away from the duty finder and add long lasting group oriented content for the open-world. Sadly, I fear this wont happen, untill SE fixed the whole server memory data blablablabla issue.

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They should just let us have transworld teleporting. Just zip to another server for like 6 hours or something and then kick us back to our original. Would solve the "can't make friends in DF" problem.

I played GW1 5 years after support had been cut for GW2, leaving that just before they finished the entire storyline there. When NCsoft took over most of the customer service, yeah, that part of it went REALLY downhill. I will say they learned from it, but not soon enough to protect a friend of mine who's account got hacked, and they lost a chara that had been in the game literally since opening. (was a necro. Only chara left on the account was a stupid rit used for farming underworld)
NCsoft has gotten better over the years, and playing a game like Wildstar, which is a sort of...optional to pay, showed me they've improved on that regard.
I did try GW2, but I massively suck at jumping puzzles, and other aspects of the game I just couldn't get into.

I will admit, the Dungeon finder seems to be the thing that is most killing off any community here. Also I have never been thrilled with PoTD, and the horrible grindy aspect of it really bothers me. Still, to each their own, and something that FF does that few other games do, is manage to make older content still relevant, one way or another. And that's good.

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Originally Posted by Kisagami

overly competitive towards each other in FF14, even in community, non-competitive combat like PVE dungeons and fates (see: the debate on parsers.)

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I think you are blowing this out of proportion.
The vast majority of the ffxiv will not care so long as you are somewhere around average for your gear. The argument in support of parsers is so people have feedback on their performance. When you see DPS get destroyed by tanks and healers in equal gear then discover the DPS doesn't even realize there is a problem, it's a problem. We want them to be a team player, but they can't if they are unaware.

Also, unless gw2 changed, I left it because it doesn't facilitate team play well. At the time, ppl we're forming parties via 3rd party application. Party request nearly always wanted everyone in zerk gear and want more than half the party to be on warrior. DoT classes had issues with contribution on world bosses b/c targets could only have so many DoTs. Etc

The repetition of the same old pattern is what kills ffxiv for me, not a community or needing a close knit community. I could be solo 24/7 in ffxi and still found oodles to do and oodles that I COULD STILL ACHIEVE alone.

Tight knight community is always low on my list what makes a great mmo to me .

Having what we do now as a core, or a base is fine imo, exactly how it is too is fine.

BUT by now...after all these years se MUST inject something new, completely new to the pot to breathe new life and interest in the game (for me). Without it, it is becoming massively less interesting or enjoyable.

It will take everything in me to simply finish msq...again this patch in order to get to the inevitable /sigh...new dungeon /sigh....to gather the same old designed gear.../puke....with a predictable 2000 tome limit to grind. I do apologize but OMFG how the same can ya get!

This is what is happening now OMG

The team needs to add new and vast ideas/zones/events into the game ...yesterday!!



and for all that is holy remove the 1000 character limit ....

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Originally Posted by MistyMew

The repetition of the same old pattern is what kills ffxiv for me, not a community or needing a close knit community..

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Definitely agreed in this matter. There is no real excitement over the same pattern over and over again.

While I agree that GW2 is a really nice, solid mmo, it actually bored me in a short time because I felt like there is not really a goal for me to reach. I don't really prefer open world mmos in general (such as black desert for example, but again, that's a sandbox too), so I felt a little lost at times with not exactly knowing what to do. Plus people actually tend to be rather quiet there tbh, at least in my experience. It definitely has nice ideas though, and the thing with their world events are a good thing. Not sure if the participation reward would be good idea in ffxiv, but other than that it's solid. But I really minded not having the old fashioned class system with healer/tank/dps and ffxiv will probably forever stay my fav mmo I play the longest without occasional breaks. In GW2 it's so much to do I have basically nothing to do, if that makes any sense ^^'

Just make a server-wide "shout" option not restricted by regions, so people could actually speak to each other like in metin2.

It will restore the communication between players in instant.

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Originally Posted by ShinMetsu

Plays the FFXI card

Rose-tinted glasses and whatever.
Say what you want, I loved actually having to communicate and co-operate with other players on a pretty much daily basis to play.
Actually moving through the actually dangerous open world together to reach our location, sneaking past monsters and stuff.

Often for days, even weeks i don't leave my house in ffxiv.
Limsa infested with ERP catboys anyway. Catboys were a mistake too. Aw man, i miss FFXI.

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So having a all catgirl race was better? Double Standard much? FFXIV did mithra justice by adding in playable male cats and of course they added female roes as well. Besides, unless you we're incredibly blind in XI, more than half of "mithra" in XI was played by men who were obsessed with catgirls. So in a way catboys did exist in a way in FFXI but in this case it was men playing in a mithra body.

Having races with only ONE gender WAS THE MISTAKE which FFXIV thankfully fixed.

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Originally Posted by Derio

Really wish in FFXIV you could be apart of 5 FCs at the same time.

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I'd still kill for this. I think they want Linkshells to be similar, but IMO they don't really feel like it, they just feel like a group private chat.

Yes. I'll never accept Catboys. Just like allowing people to go skin-naked top was a mistake.
Going to Limsa is horribly disturbing to me. Better stay at home.

Although this might be a little off-topic.

GW2 does a ton right. And for someone new to the game it is downright amazing. Unfortunately the 'end-game' is non-existent with nothing to really strive for. My characters still have the same gear they had 2 expansions ago and are just as good as anyone else.

If an MMO could do the leveling and exploration right like GW2 and then have a solid end-game...-sigh- Unfortunately either end-game is all that matters or it doesn't matter at all.

I’ve actually had a lot of success when it comes to their LFG system.

A good way of pointing out what GW2 gets right with their system is: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/...OL&sh=5523f83d where people are singing praises about their systems. Not only that, developers participate on the forums. I even got to run events with an ArenaNet employee!

Sure, people are quieter because theres a ton of content you can do solo. But when you ask for help, people tend to be there to offer advice in map chat.

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Originally Posted by Usho

So having a all catgirl race was better? Double Standard much? FFXIV did mithra justice by adding in playable male cats and of course they added female roes as well. Besides, unless you we're incredibly blind in XI, more than half of "mithra" in XI was played by men who were obsessed with catgirls. So in a way catboys did exist in a way in FFXI but in this case it was men playing in a mithra body.

Having races with only ONE gender WAS THE MISTAKE which FFXIV thankfully fixed.

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What part of that is a double-standard? XI had male Galka and female Mithra only. Opinions will vary whether or not they should have branched out with adding female Roeg and male Miqo in XIV. I'm just bummed they chopped off Galka tales.

The problems in FFXIV are a) the over reliance on DPS for completing content (over utility, you basically don't interact with bosses aside dishing damage) due to the lack of depth in the battle system and b) the limited party size for most content (4 and 8 are just too small and SE will end up having issues adding more jobs due to that problem).

However, elitism in GW2 is a thing, especially when it comes to dungeons and raids.

Actually, could people maybe gives examples of content updates from other games that have kept their interest for several years?

What was the content at the start and how did the content evolve in that game?

In response to OP I'd go further than just uniting the community.

FFXIV's zones feel stale, uninspired, and dead for the most part when compared to WoW's newer zones. This is a personal opinion so I know it's subjective but please hear me out.

FFXIV has fates which are supposed to bring a zone to life but on their own they are not enough. WoW has phasing (see WOTLK Death Knight's opening zone for an example) and has NPC battles you can assist in throughout their zones. The battles may always be occurring in some instances, never to be resolved outside of questing text, but still seeing them despite their age is still fun.

There's something to be said about NPCs battling one another on a beach, a few strong elite officers littered throughout the area, and you're able to go in and help out. You can heal soldiers, take out their officers, grab their ruined armor / tank parts, etc. It brings the zone to life.

FFXIV does not have an equivalent of this. Fates come and go quickly, they don't feel like they are a part of a zone, rather they visit the zone briefly before taking off. There's only a few bases established by enemy forces through the game (the majority are from 2.0) and they are uninspired looking themselves. You never really feel like you're breaching a stronghold (with the exception of 1 base during a MSQ in Stormblood).

To make matters worse we have 5 different city states now and none have really asserted their unique identity outside of their own individual cities / starting areas. There's a lot that can be done with something like that... For example the three main city states could've been responsible for separate zones / areas and have established more camps throughout the expansion with questing. They've could've had more battles w/the imperials instead of just wandering monsters every where.

The zones feel dead as a result and it really sucks.

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Originally Posted by MistyMew

The repetition of the same old pattern is what kills ffxiv for me, not a community or needing a close knit community.

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I totally couldn't agree more and this was a big reason why logging in FFXIV is painful at times for me. The devs are playing it too safe, its predictable, and predictable is boring. We all know any new dungeon is going to follow the same pattern, just a change of scenery. We all know each new expansion is going to feature new beast tribes with more beast tribe quests for another beast tribe mount and minion. We all know there will be the new Crystal Critters of the month to match them. We all know there will be another 24 player nostalgia raid and nostalgia bosses. We know any event will be "talk to NPC in Gridania, talk to NPC in Limsa, talk to NPC in Ul'dah, do a FATE and your done. That and a more major focus on aesthetics. I honestly can't tell if FFXIV is trying to compete with MMO's or Second Life anymore. It needs something not safe, not predictable. Monotony is no fun.

On the topic of GW2 I enjoyed my time there when I played. It had so many wonderful and amazing things going for it, and I liked it was something weither you were new, returning after a year or a daily logger. It was something anyone could just jump right in or back in and play and never feel left behind

I too played another MMO this weekend. Black Desert Online since it was a free weekend. I couldn't stand it. Made me rush back to FFXIV. The character creation was nice, but everything else was garbage and the cash shop was literally the game. Held just about everything hostage behind the cash shop.

In a lot of ways, I think GW2 beats FFXIV in a lot of things. The fact that it doesn't have a monthly subscription goes without saying. But beyond that, we have simple things like:

- Their glamour system is far superior. Once you claim an item, you can use it as a skin regardless of what you do with it afterwards. Plus you can dye individual parts of each armor piece.
- Inventory management isn't a chore. You don't have to deal with retainers whenever you want to craft. You can send crafting items to your bank, no matter where you are.
- Auction house allows you to know if an item is valuable, or if you can just throw it away or sell it to an NPC. In FFXIV? NOPE! You either know something is valuable when you get it, or you have to check the market board to see how much it's worth.
-There is actual open world content that is worth doing. You are properly rewarded for doing events (the equivalent of FATEs), regardless of your level. This means no matter what map you step into, you will see a bunch of people there. In comparison, FFXIV has empty maps where you feel like you're the only one actually doing something there, the exception being hunt marks (which are extremely rare).

I'd mention how GW2 also has proper PVP, but I feel like that would be unfair since it this is only because of its different combat system. FFXIV has a combat system that simply doesn't allow for interesting and engaging PVP the way other MMO games offer.

Now as much as I loved GW2, I eventually got bored of it. Some things were missing, and FFXIV was able to offer those things. But boy was it frustrating to deal with the above issues when I was first playing. The long MSQ grind almost made me quit. But it was worth because of just one reason - the boss fights and raids. FFXIV gets that right, and they do it so well that I'm willing to overlook its shortcomings. But it's also why I don't craft or PVP. It's why raiding is pretty much all I do in the game, and I feel that's kinda sad since when you look at GW2, there's a lot they could learn.

From a community viewpoint though, I think both games have their own. You have raiders and elitists in GW2 as well. People who will kick you from Fractals because your DPS isn't at a certain level. People who won't let you into their raid party because you're a power Engi and not Condition. But that's really the only comparison you can make. Since there's no open world content in FFXIV, it's not fair motion how in GW2 people feel like helping each other out in the open. It's just not the same game.

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Originally Posted by Kisagami

In GW2, your loot is your own. You actually get rewarded more if you join together as a party. Everyone gets the same loot chance based on their personal stat called luck which you get from salvaging gear. The larger your party is, the more creatures you kill, the more you are rewarded in EXP and loot. Everyone gets a piece of the pie they helped earn based on their effort; if you participate equal or more to everyone, you get the things you need. It also means people aren’t rewarded for being carried through. If you participate less, you get less, based on your participation level. There’s less frustration for all.
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I haven't played much GW2 myself but as I understand it one of its problems is that it actually gives players "too much loot".
the problem is that when everything you do gives you loot. then most of that loot is actually going to be junk, and the probability of getting something actually good is actually really really low.

In many ways XIV has similar problems. the accursed horde sacks in palace of the dead for example. theoretically a great idea that guarantees loot rewards when you collect them and encourages exploration. but the reality is generally speaking those sacks are completely ignored by the players because all of the rewards from the sacks are generally rubbish and not worth the effort of getting. better to just go straight to the portal and go to the next floor..

chances are the next deep dungeon thing they want to do will have a similar problem. the rewards from those sacks and things will be junk and simply ignored by players.

treasure maps and aquopolis / canals are much the same most of the rewards from them are worthless junk and thus many players just don't bother.

Retainer ventures are much the same. and have killed the market for so many things within the game. especially when your retainer can bring back an entire mansion glamour or something such...

this is also the problem players have with games like Diablo 3 and the division. both of which typically make loot rain from the skys and reward players with absolute bucket loads of it some of these you can literally get 50-100 items over the course of a few hours. but the likelihood of players actually getting an upgrade or something they can actually use is incredibly low.

when games throw so much loot at you it creates a problem of value or lack there of. so much of what you get given holds so little value that's it's basically worthless. and then are you really being rewarded for participating in that content when the loot you got was worthless trash....

In a way it's like running sirensong sea in a levelling roulette at level 70. you're guaranteed to get a piece of loot at the end but it's useless to you.
the same would be true if expert roulette guaranteed loot at the end. it would be one of those useless greens that is absolutely worthless to most players and just gets turned in for a few seals.
it's also why you quite often run an entire roulette and don't even bother opening the chests. the loot is worthless.

those games typically throw too much loot at players and loot has no value as a result of its sheer abundance. you can be getting hundreds of pieces of loot but still feel like you are not progressing at all...

Seems to be quite a common opinion among people i know that have played it and why many stopped. because the loot you get is worthless. so you never really feel rewarded at all.
that's partly why i never really stuck with it myself even though i didn't get as far as many of them.

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Originally Posted by Rhysati

If an MMO could do the leveling and exploration right like GW2 and then have a solid end-game...-sigh-

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I'm not sure any MMORPG can do that because that's all GW2 really is. There is no real destination, only the journey. That's why it's one of my "palate cleanser" games; something to get my mind off of a primary MMORPG like WoW or FFXIV until I'm able to adequately transition myself to another primary game.

I think the other major reason why the community there might seem better is because any sort of competitive areas of gameplay (i.e. PvP, endgame) seem incredibly downplayed compared to that of other games on the market. I know there is some stuff like WvW, but there doesn't appear to be as much press for it as, say, the Feast here or arena seasons in WoW. From what I've seen of all the MMORPGs I've played, the level of focus directed at competitive gameplay (PvP or PvE) determines the level of typical playerbase toxicity, which would explain GW2 being near the rosier side of the spectrum.

As for FFXIV, the overall community is also on the more positive side of the spectrum as well. No forum held for any game is truly indicative of the behavior of its playerbase at large, and thank god, because there are some truly despicable people here (and I can say that because I know I'm one among them).

As much as I love this game and its visuals, its story, its dungeons/raids/primals, when I think about its PvP I just wanna nope right back to GW2. I'm torn really.

This game is a side dish for me when I need to take a break from WvW/sPvP in GW2.

Don't get me wrong, PvP in this game has its moments...back in 3.x

Not even sure I can call this a mmo it feels more like a single campaign story mode and after done with that use the multiplayer feature for instance fights after you get burnt out then go play something else until couple of patches. Which I doing currently I'm going to just wait till eureka see what it's about./Shrugs

Another thing GW2 gets right, in my opinion, is this statement when it comes to PvE content that I read on the Reddit:

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GW2 is great because it fosters cooperation instead of competition. CS:GO, LoL, GTA:O, Rocket League, Dota2, Starcraft, etc, etc, etc. all are built around some level of competition. Even cooperative games will encourage competition through leaderboards or by giving better rewards to higher-scoring players. Everyone is fighting to be the best and you end up with a game where even your friends are your enemies and rather than pulling you up they just climb right over you in an endless struggle to reach the top.

GW2 is different, though. In GW2, your success never comes at the expense of someone else or vise-versa. It's almost never a bad thing to have someone else there fighting with you, and it's almost always better to help someone up than to push them down. Why spend your time trying to be better than your teammates? When you beat a boss there's no magical scoreboard that divvies up loot based on how much each player contributed; if you win, you win, and if you lose, you lose. Instead, if there's someone who's struggling or holding back the team, help them out. Their success is your success.

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Like I said, I wish we had more sense of community and more encouragmenent to work together. But too much of your success rides on being on top of others rather than working with them. And yes, their fates are much more alive and theres even consequences if you fail, leading to having to take back areas.

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Originally Posted by Kisagami

Another thing GW2 gets right, in my opinion, is this statement when it comes to PvE content that I read on the Reddit:



Like I said, I wish we had more sense of community and more encouragmenent to work together. But too much of your success rides on being on top of others rather than working with them. And yes, their fates are much more alive and theres even consequences if you fail, leading to having to take back areas.

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Last time I was on GW2 you were either following the strict route of the zerg or got yelled at. WvW was largely degraded to base trading. There very much is a "magical scoreboard".

GW2 and ESO are better in so many ways. And upcoming MMOs like Ashes of Creation may shake things up too. Esp since they don't seem to walk on eggshells as to not to offend or alienate anyone. You can also believe the devs more, here you need to take anything they say worth a grain of salt until you actually see it implemented in game. They never just say "hey we are doing this" then never mention it ever again no matter how many times they are asked.

Not to mention non gameplay stuff like housing is amazing. ESO housing makes FFXIV housing look as amateur as they come. They also give credits in the cash shop for every dollar you spend on a sub. $12 in sub equals $12 in cash shop credit. Lets also point out, there is a lot less kawaii, which is always always always a good thing. AoC creator specifically said "there will be no kawaii in AoC" and the reaction to that statement was amazing positive.

FFXIV is good for mindless play or as an easy intro mmo but if you wanna be social and have a good time instead of facerolling your way through for rewards that are dead in 6 weeks, GW2 and ESO are definitely better.

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Originally Posted by Tiraelina

Last time I was on GW2 you were either following the strict route of the zerg or got yelled at. WvW was largely degraded to base trading. There very much is a "magical scoreboard".

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I haven’t experienced that at all. Hell, WvW is really engaging as a team.

I have said this since Stormblood was announced. Eureka will make or break this expansion for a lot of people. It needs to succeed because, frankly, the devs need some form of encouragement to branch out from the same tired formulas. If it flops... well, can't say I don't expect people to unsub.

This what i think they need to do for getting more ppl in to open world: Lever/item restrict, remove the skill lock, gain X% amount of XP of your next lvl (for example your lvl 60 and u need 1mill for lvl 61 you gain 100k xp for xp from the fate) and give rank S they item/lvl restrict on that pecific zone (ARR 50, HW 60, SB 70 etc.). Or maybe give rewards for completing x amount of fates as archivments or smthing. With this you can go back to lvl in central thanalan, or any other places you like.