What are the pros and cons to each MMO? Been thinking of trying GW2
FFXIV vs GW2
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10-02-2022, 04:44 AMVelvet_LunarfangFFXIV vs GW2
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10-02-2022, 04:47 AMAtelier-Bagur
Oh I can give you an easy one.
GW2 = best dye system in an MMO -
10-02-2022, 04:50 AMVelvet_Lunarfangoh? I only seen bits and pieces of GEWQuote:
Originally Posted by Atelier-Bagur
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10-02-2022, 04:57 AMClover_BlakeSeconded. Also best exploration; each map is a whole adventure!Quote:
Originally Posted by Atelier-Bagur
FFXIV is best in everything else to me, but I enjoyed GW2 a lot. -
10-02-2022, 04:59 AMVelvet_LunarfangLooking to play something when I get bored with FFXIV and been hearing GW2 a lot latelyQuote:
Originally Posted by Clover_Blake
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10-02-2022, 05:02 AMBiddyBatnana
GW2 has really nice animations and the best mounts. The sylvari and Asura make great and orignal races. Also the world is very lively which is truly enjoyable.
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10-02-2022, 05:02 AMKes13a
GW2 was okay. "best dye system"? although its a hellhole I prefer Vindictus for dyes, can do main body, trim 1 and trim 2.
however the rest of the game is a very pretty.. cash grabbing, p2w, unoptimized nightmare or mindless repetition and non openworld messiness. -
10-02-2022, 05:15 AMRenalt
GW2 is pretty fast paced and is action oriented. I also like the ways quests were handled where you just go to an area and complete on of several objectives to fill the "quest heart" and once filled...quest is done. Most quests can be completed in a pacifist way just doing the simple chores rather than killing if that's how you wanted to play.
Also lots of ways to customize how your character functions. I'm a big fan of regen builds so of course I made a regen warrior.
I think I pretty much maxed out my level just doing World vs World vs World PvP...it's about 10 minutes of running a train followed by utter chaos when you encounter the other world...or both of them. -
10-02-2022, 05:36 AMTheodric
If you're after exploration and a world that actually feels inhabited then GW2 and ESO are excellent choices. The latter also has a great housing system.
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10-02-2022, 05:42 AMRyuDragnier
GW2 has the following:
Mounts: These things are used not just for a simple "Get from Point A to Point B faster", but they're also used for platforming. A mount that can jump super high up to scale cliffs, a mount that hovers over water and dangerous environments, a mount that lets you teleport through sand portals, a mount that glides (that can be used for insane flying tricks if you master it), a mount that actually flies (short spurts, has an endurance thing for how long that lasts).
Gear: It's all horizontal, with each gear having different substats you switch between. Example, one type has Power/Toughness/Vitality (basically damage/defense/HP), another can have Healing/Condition/Vitality (healing/DoTs/HP). Once you unlock Exotic gear (orange), the only thing higher are ascended pieces (pink) and legendary (purple, same stats as pink, just unique cosmetics that you can change stats whenever). Due to this, gearing out is rather easy and the only gear changes you go for are cosmetic or are because you want to try a different build.
Classes: All of them are absolutely unique, and the elite specializations alter the classes further, making for some very interesting variations of the base class.
Races: The only 2 weak links here are Humans, and Norn (giant humans that transform into beasts). Outside of those 2, most if not all of the races in this game are completely unique. Sylvari are sentient plant people that as a race are only 20 years old when the game starts. Asura are basically goblins with super high tech magical devices and golems. Charr are the former villainous faction from GW1 who are essentially demon cats in the middle of their industrial steamtech revolution with tanks, helicopters, guns, etc. Those are just the playable races too. You have Skritt, which are rats that get smarter as more of them gather. Tengu, which are sentient bird people. Kodan, who are bear people, etc etc. There are a lot of unique races in this game.
Regions: A ton of explorable zones with hidden locations, across a large amount of biomes. Swamps, plains, ocean (you can swim and explore underwater), desert, jungles, postapocalyptic wastelands, snowy mountains and frozen lakes, etc etc.
Free Trial: Has some restrictions, but you get the base classes and a TON of content to do without paying a dime. I'd say it's comparable somewhat with FFXIV's free trial. -
10-02-2022, 05:47 AMMat13295
The major difference between the two is you'll actually see more than 1-2 people if you leave a city hub in GW2 and go out into the world.
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10-02-2022, 06:23 AMVelvet_LunarfangAre all the races playable?Quote:
Originally Posted by RyuDragnier
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10-02-2022, 06:27 AMSkivvyYou explained this far better than I was attempting to do. ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by RyuDragnier
One thing that should be pointed out if story is a big thing to you, on top of the expansions, there are also "Living Story" chapters that really fill in a lot of the story, but the older LS chapters are NOT automatically included - even if you buy base game + the xpacs. I believe there are package deals now and then for all xpacs + living stories (check Steam also), but otherwise you will need to buy the older chapters from the cash shop. If you log into the game when a new chapter is released, you WILL get that for free.
About the cash shop, you can buy gems with money OR in-game gold with the exchange option. Handy for those who prefer to save some money and just grind away in-game for things.
They are. And you can play any job on any race.Quote:
Originally Posted by Velvet_Lunarfang
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10-02-2022, 06:31 AMMidareyukkiNot all the ones Ryu listed, no. The playable ones are Asura (imp-like lalafell), Norn (giant buff humans), Charr (panthers), Sylvari (living flora) and normal Humans. Stuff like Skritts, Kodan, Tamini or Tengu aren't playable, but that's not the point he's making. In the roster that IS playable, you have so much variety. Only the Norn are human-like. Compare that to FF14 where until Hrothgar came out, the furthest we've gone from "humans with appendages" was Au Ra. And even then, Hrothgar are literally only fuzzy Roegadyn with a different head model.Quote:
Originally Posted by Velvet_Lunarfang
And while I doubt they would do this, if GW2 decided to make any of the non-playable "beast" races they have playable, they could with honestly relatively little fuss. Square went up in flames trying to make Hrothgar playable, and that was after they tested out how a furry race would be received with the Lupins... who, again, are just fuzzy humans with a canine head. Compare to the Charr whose anthropomorphic body is still rather feral and different than other races. Or the Sylvari, whose humanoid figure has alien features to them, including glow-in-the-dark skin.
That you can. And the best part is that alts aren't server-locked x)Quote:
Originally Posted by Skivvy
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10-02-2022, 06:31 AMKewitt
Why ask about a competitor game on ffxiv official forms?
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10-02-2022, 06:46 AMSkivvy
Oh! And if PvP is your thing, it's pretty big over here. I don't really touch it myself, I'll join a world vs. world zerg once in a great while, but maybe someone else can chime in on the finer details :3
PvP gets its own separate maps, so you don't have to worry about getting ganked out in the open-world. -
10-02-2022, 06:53 AMSturmChurro
I've been playing it quite a bit lately during downtime in FFXIV. There just isn't much to do in this game at the moment. Anyway, moving on, the GW2 story can be very difficult to follow (if that is what you were looking for). If you purchased the expansions, and don't own the various 'Living World' seasons you will pretty much have no idea what is going on going into each. Living World is pretty much the story in this game told between each expansion that leads directly to the events of said expansion. They are 'free' if you played during certain periods, however new players definitely won't have them, and returning players probably won't have most. The expansions and the living world seasons can cost quite a bit of money (about $100 bundled on Steam, if I recall), by the way. I will say though, it is much easier to just jump straight in and play, since you can do the story, and any expansion you want in any order you like. So, if you were more gameplay oriented, this can be pretty good.
Aside from that, there are plenty of things to work towards for quite awhile as a new(er) player, even as a 'free to play' player, and the world is surprisingly very populated, and this includes older expansion zones (so not just purely populated by free to play), and older living world zones (yes, they also include zones). I quite like the dye system, although many of the dyes are locked, and, as a more aesthetic oriented player, I like the amount of glamour pieces available to strive for. I have played this game before as well, GW2 was one of my first mmorpgs, but having not played it in so long, I still have a lot to do and earn. In terms of combat, I think It's most closely like ESO, but I personally think it's a lot more fluid, and I do like it better, however the game suffers from legibility, in my opinion.
In comparison to FFXIV, FFXIV has much better storytelling, and structure. However, the GW2 story has some unique flavor dialogue that I really enjoy, that this game has very little of. My character's race is acknowledged multiple, multiple times in various dialogue, and my own character even has unique dialogue for that as well. It's something small, but it's something I like, and wish I could see more of here. I also do like that racial features are taken into account for many pieces in the game, whereas here they just are not. The charr (cat orc people with horns) have unique feet and look to be able to run on all fours. Their armor sets actually are shaped around their unique feet, and many of their helmets are shaped around their unique heads. In this game, hrothgar get their faces smashed, and that's IF they get a helmet. The overall character animations seem a lot more unique and natural as well. -
10-02-2022, 06:58 AMStriker44My guess would be chances are better that people who've played one MMORPG might have played the other compared to posting somewhere random.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kewitt
Personally, I loved the world in GW2. It's very expansive, there's a ton of stuff to do in each zone, the "vistas" are like the Sightseeing Log except you actually get some pretty sweet panoramic shots whenever you reach one. Classes have a lot of variety, and even within a class changing which weapons you use also changes what abilities you have access to. You can also join multiple guilds/FC's on the same toon and switch between which is your "active" guild at any time. There's a lot of good stuff there.
For cons, I'd say the biggest one was the platforming activities. It's very rare a game can get the movement engine just right (WoW is the only one I've played to date where I feel completely in control of precise movement). It felt more like the challenge in GW2 platforming was fighting the engine itself and getting it to register what you were trying to do rather than actually finding the path and doing the jumps themselves. For me, the rest of GW2 was "good." No real cons, but nothing really spectacular, either, once the "newness" wore off. I find I enjoy things like the story and the music immensely more in FFXIV.
I don't know what a few people here were talking about regarding GW2 feeling "inhabited" compared to FFXIV. Maybe it's because I'm on a high-pop server (Greg), but I find the "world" here feels very inhabited and I'm always running into a good number of people wherever I go, even when it's random zones from older expansions. -
10-02-2022, 07:16 AMSkivvyI've always thought the controls in GW2 were pretty decent for the platforming, but I never got into WoW, so maybe I'm missing out on the superior version.Quote:
Originally Posted by Striker44
As far as the activity levels in GW2 vs XIV, I think one of the things that works in GW2's favor is that your level will scale down to match whatever zone you're in, so you can still get XP and rewards, or play with friends, or just go explore things you missed previously and it's still beneficial for you. -
10-02-2022, 07:44 AMStriker44Going between WoW, FFXIV, and GW2, for me I found FFXIV is the one that hits my sweet spot. WoW either doesn't scale anything down at all, or scales it up at certain points where leveling actually makes you weaker. GW2 scales everything, which actually irks me sometimes because if I'm going through an old area for exploration, vistas, etc., I just want to breeze through. FFXIV lets you breeze through the zones, but if you actually want to do things like FATES, you level sync for it to match the zone. I find it's a nice balance for me.Quote:
Originally Posted by Skivvy
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10-02-2022, 08:01 AMCach
GW2 sounds incredible on paper, but I can't stick to it for very long. I guess the whole horizontal thing is not for me. Also, I ended up only doing WvW and crafting.
+Map design and the open world are great, full of things to do and very alive (some maps have gimmicks I hate, tho).
+Different races actually feel different, not just slightly modified humans.
+The action style fighting is mostly great.
+They have a very original approach to mounts and their functionality.
+Glamour system is pretty good.
-Everything is aggressively monetized.
-Very arbitrary time locks on crafting.
-LFG could use an update.
-Story, while not horrible can give you whiplash. You can tell every time when a writer got fired. -
10-02-2022, 08:36 AMeinschwartz
I've just started playing a few days ago on trial. It's a very good game for people like me who loves open world exploring. I'm still getting used to the jumps in gw2 due to the movement involves actual physics, but doing jump puzzles is definitely less jank conpared to xiv.
Underwater combat is refreshing.
All characters are voiced. Including your own character. Though I heard it's based on the class you pick?
I wish there's a voice sample in character creation. I remade my character three times until I find the voice that I like. -
10-02-2022, 08:42 AMSturmChurroI'm not sure if it's class specifically, but rather race and sex. For example, I play female sylvari, and they are voiced by the same voice actress who voices femshep (Jennifer Hale). This can all be hit or miss though, depending on one's disposition. I personally like voice acting to this extent, and you can your character will even actively talk while using abilities, for example. There's definitely unique lines based on your class, from what I can tell.Quote:
Originally Posted by einschwartz
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10-02-2022, 08:57 AMDeo14
GW2 has incredible amount of QoL features and in general game systems that actually make sense. They're not afraid to go against the flow to make new things or to rethink old ideas. Some of the more notable things are:
+ Game uses actual horizontal progression. My main's armor that I made in like 2013/2014 is still BiS today.
+ You can change your entire build while you're inside instance (as long as you're not in combat)
+ Mounts are actually fun, not just x% passive movement speed increase
+ There is no combat ress, but you get downed before fully dying
+ No ability downsyncing bullshit
+ WvWvW and PvP in general
+ Condition-based builds (builds focused on DoT, except that debuff have more complexity than just "deal X damage every Y seconds")
+ Actual choice in how you play. Sure, some specs will inevitably be weaker, but in FF we have 19 homogenized and streamlined jobs (compared to 9*(3+1)=36 specs, which can be further customized with different talents and weapon types) and yet we still have balancing issues.
+ Actual 99.99% server uptime. You can even play game for 3 hours on old patch when new one drops
+ You can salvage(desynthesize, except you can do all at the same time) all your looted gear, which will give you materials, which can be simply send with single button from your inventory to your collectable bank storage. This means no inventory problems.
+ Money - I play GW2 on and off since beta and I started FFXIV year ago and I've spent more money just on sub alone. GW2 has cash shop, but you can convert gold to "premium" currency. I even upgraded my DLCs to deluxe edition for ingame gold.
+ Legendary gear is something else. Imagine time investment of getting all ARR relics. That's maybe half legendary weapon in GW2. But you can obviously choose different ways to get all materials and so on, so it won't get boring.
+ FFXIV's FATE is nowhere near GW2's events and meta-events.
- Main problem is however performance. GW2 sometimes runs like shit, but it's becoming more tolerable, with things like dx12 proxy and just generally PCs getting more powerful (and AMD CPUs finally getting decent single-core performance)
- Also gatekeeping on raids is very aids. Do you want to start raiding? Finish 250 raids, then you might be accepted into some PF group.
In general, I enjoy encounter design much more in FF, but it took me long time to deal with the fact that there is barely any engaging open world content and the endgame content is just treadmill.
Most importantly, unlike FFXIV which claims to "respect your time", GW2 actually does. I'm enjoying FFXIV at the moment, but I know that I can go back to GW2 anytime I want and I won't miss anything and all my gear will be up to date. I can't say the same about FFXIV. -
10-02-2022, 09:56 AMRyuDragnierDepends when you try to do them. I've found Saturdays tend to be the day where you find the people most willing to train new raiders, and if you're completely new they often suggest Wing 4 or Wing 1. I personally prefer when the group trains people on Wing 4, the first 2 bosses are essentially training dummies with very few mechanics. The 3rd fight is more akin to a normal raid fight, and the 4th...well, I hope you've got a handkite, tank, and oil kite ready and are ready to learn how hectic it can get fast.Quote:
Originally Posted by Deo14
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10-02-2022, 10:28 AMZebraoracle
People have noted a lot of other points already so I'll avoid them, but for me, the combat in GW2 is a big minus.
I know it's gotten *better* than release, but outside of raids (I can't give an honest opinion on them as I never got into them because the grind in GW2 is horrendous and the two or three times I tried coming back I just couldn't stay interested long enough to keep playing) the combat is very... spammy, for lack of a better word. I don't know how disingenuous this statement is considering FF14's combat can be mildly spammy as well (a lot of jobs use their damage CDs upon availability when they don't need to be saved for the 2 minute burst window) but GW2 was a lot worse, so I'm totally open to being corrected here. However from what I remember, the game's combat is very hit or miss.
I mentioned the grind a moment ago but I'll mention it again - from what I remember the grind for getting into raids, getting a legendary weapon, and doing high end fractals is absolutely ridiculous. I freaking hope it's gotten better.
The community can be really... uh, unpleasant sometimes. Definitely not the game's strong point.
My last negative is GW2 is less of a Guild Wars 2 and more of an MMO with the Guild Wars name lol. Gosh I miss GW1...
Frick, now I want to give GW2 a try again. Augh. Does anyone know if the steam version requires a whole new account or is it tied to your normal account? -
10-02-2022, 10:47 AMAtelier-BagurBecause we want to have a good discussion about what works and doesn't work?Quote:
Originally Posted by Kewitt
Because we ultimately want to provide ideas and feedback to better FFXIV? -
10-02-2022, 10:57 AMMonsutaMan
FFXIV
-Pro: Very solo friendly
-Pro: Combat system is not too deep, hence very pick up and play friendly. Perhaps the best pick up and play MMO.
-If you are a FF fan, it seems to tie in numerous allusions.
-Bonus: XIV is low-key a F2P mmo given the amount of content on the trial. If Stormblood gets added......
-Con: As previously mentioned, the combat system is not that deep compared to its' predecessor.
-Con: Combat in XIV is not the most thrilling experience, but it aint no EQ.
-Con: Cash shop.....on top of Buy to play.....with P2P, with P2W elements such as being able to skip various portions of the game with a click of your wallet (I know from experience so don't @me white knights.....Why else would I be a lvl70 sprout on multiple jobs? LOL)
GW2
-Pro: Pretty much Free.......
-Pro: Deeper combat system than XIV; you can even fight underwater.
-Pro: Every class feels different in its' own way, akin to XIV's predecessor XI.
-Con: Some of these drops rates are the dumbest thing I have seen in any MMO......
-No Native Controller support like XIV. Yeah, yeah...I am an 80s baby and like controllers. Which leads me to.....
-Targeting seems awkward...hence combat can be at times.....(Probably a me issue, being a controller guy).
GW2 is worth a try; it is part of my MMO rotation.
XI
BDO
PSO2
ESO
GW2
Lost Ark
To name a few
"Man, that is a lot of mmo.....how do you get anything done?"
I don't really lol...........I mean, I do, but it takes time........Free time. I just play whatever I am feeling. I have been feeling to give XIV another go these past 2 months, so here I am........
Just my 2 cents. -
10-02-2022, 11:54 AMMoofiaBossValI've been playing GW2 for 7 years. The main strength of GW2 is in its combat and it's sense of adventure. You can go into the options and turn on an "action camera" mode, and combined with the high amount of movement during combat and dodge rolling, GW2 has the most entertaining combat of any MMO I've played.Quote:
Originally Posted by Velvet_Lunarfang
As for the sense of adventure: once you reach a new map, you're allowed to stop following the plot and go do whatever you want in that zone. There is a lot of rewards that are reached via platforming or puzzle solving. Also, starting with the Heart of Thorns expansion and season 3, every chapter of the story (about 2 hours long) takes you to a brand new high fantasy zone. You have imaginative zones such as:
- an airship fleet that crashed into the canopy of a huge, living jungle.
- A zone set atop islands floating over a magic nuke crater.
- A map set inside a volcano with three different layers inside
- A map set in a desert with tears in the fabric of reality, were slices of other parts of the world (and other planets) have become displaced and mashed up there.
- A map set on the back of a humongous, fallen dragon.
- A map set inside a petrified forest that vampires have carved castles out of.
- A map set on a sea that was turned into jade and is being quarried.
And more.
You also unlock abilities to traverse these zones. For example, you can unlock the ability to jump on bouncing mushrooms that propel you up through a jungle, or the ability to spiderman swing inside a volcano. Or a beetle mount that can use its strength to smash boulders, allowing you access inside caves. Or the ability to breathe poison gas, allowing you to explore caves filled with them. Etc. It's a bit like a metroidvania where you're going back to places you previously couldn't reach before because.
Story wise, GW2 is a mixed bag. The vanilla story has good writing, but a lot of people didn't like the visual novel cutscenes. After vanilla, you have to slog through seasons 1 and 2, which are very boring until the last few episodes of season 2. Once you reach the first expansion, the story becomes more action packed and exciting. The story peaks during season 4 and the first half of Icebrood Saga. Unlike FF14, GW2 doesn't waste your time with a lot of dialogue, especially after season 2. It's mostly action packed and some of the setpieces are pretty cool. The lackluster writing is carried by the voice acting. Also GW2 hardly resurrects characters like FF14 does all of the time (there are only like 2 resurrections in the whole story, compared to FF14 where I've lost count how many times a character was "killed" only to be revealed that they had survived or some crap).
Another great thing about GW2 is that there is no gear treadmill. Once you reach level 80 and buy exotic berserker gear off of the auction house for a few gold, you're all set for life. You will never have to worry about having to grind in order to meet a minimum ilevel to do more content. In WoW and FF14, you have to resub weeks before the patch you want to play actually releases to do tedious chores in order to raise your ilevel in time.
Another thing in GW2's favor is the Charr, the beastman race. They run on all fours and have snarl SFX in their voice (the player character is voiced in GW2). You really do feel like an inhuman beastman. The only other fantasy game that sorta did that was WoW with the Worgen and the Tauren, but the Worgen didn't automatically run on all fours and the animation transitions weren't anywhere near as seemless.
The most important thing you need to know about GW2 is that it actually costs $100 to get all of the content. The website advertises a $50 "complete collection" but that only includes the three expansions, not the patch content. Unlike FF14, GW2's patches add new zones to visit in the patches. The patch cycles actually add more maps than the expansions. If you skip out on the patches then you're missing about 60% of the maps. $100 is a tall upfront asking price, so I'd advise just downloading the game for free and seeing if you even like the basic idea of GW2. If yes then consider buying in. $100 sounds like a lot, but when compared to spending $150 on a subscription MMO like WoW or FFXIV per year which can quickly accumulate into thousands of dollars over the years ($15 per month and $60 expansions every other year), GW2 is really cheap in the long run.
As for the pros and cons of FF14, FF14 is really a singleplayer JRPG masquerading as an MMO. As an MMO it is very lacking compared to WoW and GW2. You are forced to slog through a 400+ hour long story, half of which are cutscenes and another 25% is doing solo duties. So you hardly ever get to play with your friends. And once you do reach level cap, there is very little to do. As a JRPG, FF14 is really hamstrung by it's MMORPG elements (you can't just do the next chapter of the story, you instead have to stop and grind up your ilevel to meet an arbitrary requirement, etc). The writing starts off promising but becomes lackluster as the story goes on, which is all FF14 really has going for it so that's pretty bad. If you want an entertaining JRPG then you're advised to play through the classics first. If you've played through those and are scraping the bottom of the barrel of games to play then yeah give FF14 a try. -
10-02-2022, 12:44 PMVentVanitas
Unordered thoughts about what I like about GW2 over XIV:
- GW2 is far more alt friendly, a lot more things can be accessed between characters through banks and shared inventory slots which makes levelling a new character smoother than in XIV where you basically have to start fresh on everything.
- GW2 has better overworld content, it has world quests similar to FATEs and 100% completing everything on a map gives you rewards so you're encouraged to go out and explore.
- XIV's Hrothgar wishes it had the love and attention put into it like GW2's Charr has. One of the best MMO beast races in my opinion, I love their culture, lore, animations and voices.
- The class design is more varied and unique than XIV as it takes more risks. Necromancer has its own version of RPR's Enshroud, but uses what can be summed up as a second HP bar as a resource for it rather than a generic job gauge. Necromancer itself is one of the most well rounded jobs with some of the best variety in its builds. It allows you a lot more personal expression if you play casually, though there are unfortunately some specs in GW2 that are just objectively worse than others like Deadeye. I see that as more of an unavoidable downside of having specs/trees/builds like GW2/WoW rather than a problem with the game itself, though this is alleviated by being able to re-spec your build freely at any time you want.
- You're more likely to see people engage with and help each other in GW2. In XIV, you're really only seeing players socialize in cities.
I'll probably add more to this later, my only major gripes with GW2 is that getting into other forms of PvE content can be quite a daunting task, as you can't just "jump" into them like XIV. But the tl;dr of it is that whatever XIV is weak in, GW2 does pretty well, and vice versa. They're both good games to have if you ever feel burnt out on any which one. -
10-02-2022, 12:46 PMkaynide
Short and Simple (I hope) of GW2 (since I assume you know enough about FFXIV):
"Infrastructure" / UI- The UI is very polished; drag and drop. No "are you sure you're sure that you're sure?" We are talking 1 click to get to your storage, whereas retainers need what.. 3-4?
- Inventory management: Things are organized; things are labeled (aka "junk"). There are 1 click "sell all my junk" at vendors; there is "automatically put all my crafting items in their allocated storage area". You can deposit these gathered materials anywhere.
- Mail and market anywhere: You can send/receive mail; you can shop on the market board (and the Real Money shop) anywhere...anytime. You can use in-game currency in the Real-Money shop.
- Dye system (already talked about), but it is legit awesome.
Gameplay:- Has an actual physics engine, allowing for legit jumping puzzles, Mario-Kart esque races, etc. The mini games are fun and welcome. Try the "Hungry Games".
- Mounts are awesome. There are different types used for different things.
- The actual gameplay parts could use more polish; that is to say, some boss fights are easy, some are very punishing, some are just loooooooooooooooong and boring. Nothing really memorable as aweful..but some situations you are better just making a specific build for that fight and cheesing it. There is nothing really truly comparable to FFXIV’s better combat encounters…but the system is similar.
- Their "Fate" system is arguably better- there are typically 2 or 3 ways to progress any one fate. For example, bandits attacking farm. You can contribute by A) fighting bandits, B) putting out fires or C) rescuing livestock. Additionally, almost every zone has a chain of fates that lead to something big, like a world boss. This is in practice similar to things like the Fox boss in Yanxia, but in practice the finale is MUCH more like a trial boss in XIV.
Story:- This will be hit or miss; it's fine, but nothing Oscar-worthy. There is a glaring issue of missing story parts that are gradually being added back. Imagine if when FFXIV 3.0 launched, 2.x was no longer available to play. Just a text blob summarizing it and BOOM, new cast of characters. Everything else is good, but there is a gap in the story between the original game and 1st expansion. Again, it is gradually being added back in.
Characters:- 1 Character has 1 class, but each class has different specs you can work out.
- The classes are less playing a role (Tank/Healer) and more like picking a character from Smash Bros. You can spec to a tank, but no specific job is a designated tank.
Endgame:- There's a a lot you can enjoy here...but it's mostly "FashionWars" in the same way FFXIV is a lot of glamour at endgame.
Hope that helps! -
10-02-2022, 07:57 PMClover_BlakeUgh, Vietnam memories triggered ;;;Quote:
Originally Posted by Kes13a
Mabinogi:Heroes (Vindictus)'s dye system was a real pain for me. I don't know if this has changed, but back when I played, the only way to dye your gear "for free" (I think it cost ingame curency) was letting the game dye it randomly, without any choice.
If you wanted to have any sort of control of what colour you wanted for each part of the armour, you had to buy individual dye capsules for real money, which worked as some sort of gacha and you were certainly not guaranteed to get the colour you wanted (more often than not, you wouldn't get the colour you wanted).
If I remember well, each armour piece had 3 dyeable parts, just like GW2. But in GW2 you got dyes added to your palette and can use them forever, as many times as you want. How isn't that better than the frustrating cash grab that's Mabinogi:Heroes/Vindictus? -
10-02-2022, 08:18 PMLelila38
A lot of good things have been said about GW2, so I won't bother repeating those.
Instead, I'll give you some things I criticize about it:
- the skills are bound to the weapon you use, each weapon has a unique skillset and while you do have slots to add skills from your class, you're forced to use a certain weapon to use the skills you want.
- exploring only lasts you so long. Once you finished a zone, you're done with it and basically have no reason to go back into it, unless you're gathering materials for crafting.
- it gets repetitive. In order to finish a zone you need to fill the quest hearts. There are however only so many activities that count towards heart progression and you're forced to repeat them until it's full.
- replayability is poor. At least for me, once I got a character through a zone I don't have the desire to do it all again on an alt.
- the msq is gated by level and the exp you get from it isn't enough to push you to unlock the next part. This leads to the msq feeling rather fractured. Several times I wanted to just keep going with the story, but couldn't cause the game forced me to grind out levels.
Generally it's a solid game, the battle feels nice, fast paced and action oriented. There is definitely a lot to do and enjoy. The msq isn't bad, though I couldn't really get attached to the characters too much. The zones are beautiful too. Do give it a try, if it interests you. -
10-02-2022, 08:21 PMWissp
One thing about GW2 people have not mentioned yet is although GW2 does not have native controller support, you CAN use a controller with the game thanks to 3rd party controller mapping software.
Because GW2 uses so few buttons for the game, it is relatively easy to use a mapping program such as reWASD, (which is the one I use for the button layers), to map most of the GW2 commands to your controller functions. It works and works well once you get used to the quirkiness of it. If you configure it right, you can even control the mouse cursor with the controller. If you don't want to do the work of mapping yourself, there are many pre built GW2 button maps you can download.
It's not as slick and smooth as FF14's built in support, but it certainly IS doable if you like using a controller instead of K/M. -
10-02-2022, 08:23 PMVelvet_Lunarfang
FFXIV is my first legit MMO I played. Been on it since 2014. I tried XI years ago but fell off because was solo, didn't know what to do, no friends to play. Figure I try another MMO on top of XIV
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10-02-2022, 10:04 PMEraden
The glam system is made up of two parts. The actual gear and your mount skins (yes, you can reskin your mounts) and the dyes themselves. All gear and mount skins are PERMANENTLY in your inventory once you have acquired them and/or purchased them from the GEM store. They take up no space. They simply fill up a slot in the gear and mount skin databases that are attached to your character. This means once you have come across a piece of gear or a mount skin during your activities, it's automatically added and you can even throw away the actual gear you acquired without losing "knowledge" of that particular item. Additionally, all gear and mount skins come with a minimum of two separate dye channels. That means you can use different dyes on different parts of your gear and mount skins. As for the dyes themselves, they work much like gear and mount skins. Once you have acquired a dye, it becomes a permanent addition to your dye database. It takes up no bag space thereafter. My last look at the dyes available in GW2 gave me the impression that there are at least a thousand separate dyes. Perhaps even more. So many dyes in fact that it can become difficult to distinguish between two dyes that lie beside each other in the dye list. The reason for all this complexity in the GW2's glam system is because ANet realized very early on that fashion is very much an end game activity and they throw their full support behind it.
GW2 has an incredibly versatile storage system. It comes with many parts. The first part is the actual inventory of the character. Your character stores items in bags which can be upgraded to larger and larger bags (more slots). The number of bags you can carry on your character starts small (4 bag slots) but can be increased. I believe the maximum number of bags that can be carried is 9 but that might still be expandable (anyone who is more familiar with GW2 please chime in and let us know what the maximum number of bags is). In addition to personal storage, characters also have bank storage. This starts out relatively small (a few tabs) but can be expanded to something like 17 tabs, each of which can hold 30 different items. In addition to this, there is a separate section for storage of mats for crafting. This section for storage of mats contains a slot for every single possible mat in the game. Each slot starts out with a capacity of 250 of the mat in question but can be expanded in increments of 250 to a maximum of 2500....PER SLOT. Everything stored in the bank and that includes materials storage, is available for access by ALL of your characters on your account. When it comes time to craft, you do so at specific crafting stations located in each major city. You do NOT have to withdraw mats from the bank in order to craft, however. Materials are automatically deducted from your bank storage as you craft at a station. Once again, ANet wanted to make sure that crafting, which is another endgame activity, is well supported. -
10-02-2022, 10:55 PMJin-
Great game, but it never keeps me interested for long. But oh boy when it does its the best mmorpg ever till its not. Rinse and repeat this for years :D.
My biggest gripe is the role locked gear glam system. Yes we have that too in FFXIV but we also have so much variety. Good luck in GW2 trying to wear lighter gear than full plate playing as soldier role. Yes there is gem shop outfits but they suck and can't be modified. Like Lyse or Omega outfit
@kaynide
They are now re releasing the missing story part, permanent access for free to everyone -
10-02-2022, 11:11 PMAtelier-Bagur
One of the things I love about GW2 are the open world in game events, during like holiday seasons and such where you see so many people running around interacting with all sorts of open world mini-games and events and it legit feels like a carnival.
Gold Saucer wishes it had that level of interaction and it's sadly due to engine limitations and design that prevents it from being absolutely great. -
10-03-2022, 12:14 AMSkivvyMy history with the game would probably point towards me feeling like this as well. lol. I'll play for maybe a few months, then pop back to something for a bit, and repeat.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jin-
Although in the game's defense, I've always been a solo player and I feel like having people around can really help keep you interested in a game. I also don't do fractals, strike missions, or any of the big raid things which would also keep me tied to the game longer. And at times I'm a bit lost as to what to do, so there's that as well.
BUT I'M BACK FOR NOW!. Working on finishing up my masteries that I've ignored for too long, looking into finally starting to craft some ascended armor, trying to see if I can keep my Ele alive for more than 30 seconds in the new zones, all sorts of things to keep myself busy for a bit. ;p -
10-03-2022, 01:46 AMkaynideI realize; I mentioned it twice. No disrespect meant here :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Jin-
Quote:
This will be hit or miss; it's fine, but nothing Oscar-worthy. There is a glaring issue of missing story parts that are gradually being added back. Imagine if when FFXIV 3.0 launched, 2.x was no longer available to play. Just a text blob summarizing it and BOOM, new cast of characters. Everything else is good, but there is a gap in the story between the original game and 1st expansion. Again, it is gradually being added back in.