Some thoughts, Maybe an honest review....not flattering really.

[Zareth]

For me, I'm still sticking around because I've been enjoying the unique part of this game. The crafting. I'm not at the endgame of it yet but from what I understand, the economy is still run by endgame dungeons (FFXI was mix of crafted and dungeon). This is the only flaw I see but as for crafting itself, I'm enjoying it. Also please actually PLAY those other games instead of mindless bashing. The bashing indicates that the people bashing haven't played games like Rift or WoW to me. Ignorance is not an excuse to bash an opinion.

[HurtigeKarl]

(text)

So I look up his character at lodestone. http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...acter/3935055/

I notice three things:

1. He has lv50 lancer, lv15 marauder and lv7 arcanist, i.e. he hasn't bothered exploring other combat classes and simply just rushed one job.

2. He has no crafting class.

3. He gave up gathering classes at lv11.

I.e. he hasn't even explored half of the major aspects of the game and is evidently a rusher that wants to keep playing one combat class and no other class forever. I.e. his opinion is of no real interest for me, the game was not designed with him in mind.

[Hawklaser]

Just going to comment on some of the OP's points.

-Race choice and "be any class" is irrelevant when you tie base stats to how your character to look. Even if there is a trivial difference at end game, the fact you can't be 100% statwise because you wanted to look a certain way is bad design that has been fixed many times over.

Personally, I see very little point in having different races from both a development and players point of view if there is only cosmetic differences. Even with differences, the problem isn't that the characters have slightly different stats, but the min/maxers that want every one to play only the very best combinations. So hypothetically, could have a game with only a really awesome character model but bad stats and one that looks like a walking turd with good stats. Would be interesting to see which one would win out for popularity.

This also comes bundled with lack of "city clothing"/transmog-like features, people spent time developing that level 5 piece of loot just as much as the leve 30 one, let us wear it.

Fluff feature that while nice is not needed to have in place at a launch of a new game.

-Quest item use from bag is an old problem. give a shortcut on the "duty list" to the item

They already do have an icon for quest item use, just not the biggest or most obvious sometimes.

-Zero uniqueness, 90% of the players playing X class are Y race and will eventually be level Z with a full set of ABC gear.

Comes standard with any gear treadmill game thanks to the very common min/max attitude.

Improperly tuned dungeons, unforgiving encounters plus inexperienced pug players is a bad mix. More variety needed to satisfy both casual players (Dungeons too hard) and more hardcore/coordinated groups (Dungeons too easy)

I haven't found this to be the case yet, though I have not done any post-story dungeons yet. Only issues I have had with dungeons has been tied to the positioning lag when dealling with AoE's.

More variety in endgame content? Is there anything to do besides dungeons/primals/whateveryoucallems? WoW has factions, PvP progression, Pet collecting, Achievement Hunting. Rift had some of those and Planar Attunement, Player housing etc. What else is there to do at max level?

WoW and Rift didn't have all that much to do at their end game but Grind away at a few things at their launch as well. Got to remember to compare similar points in their timelines. So from someone that has played a few MMO's at launch, they have done a good job at meeting most expectations at launch outside of the underestimating popularity.

Summary: Doesn't deviate enough from the standard MMO formula to warrant a monthly fee. Borrows some elements from other MMOs but not always the ones it should.

It's rare to see any game deviate from any Genre's mold anymore. Also it takes more than just deviating from said mold to make a game sub worthy or not.

[PsychologyPhD]

Everytime I come on these forums i'm amazed by all the childish talk on here. The OP gives strong points and examples, I agree with him on the biggest part. He shares his thoughts in a proper unoffensive way (of course he compares xiv to what he has played in the past, who wouldnt do the exact same if in his shoes).
But these kind of comments like "Go play WOW" "Dont let the door hit you" etc. etc. Its like trying to discuss with 6 year olds and gives a very wrong overall image of what the FF community is like. If you cant come up with decent arguments then you should just stay away from these forums.

Arguments are meant to be waged with facts. The OP has stated nothing but opinions, to argue opinions with opinions is pointless. All it will do is end with no one leaving the argument any wiser then they started.

[Menubrea]

WoW and Rift didn't have all that much to do at their end game but Grind away at a few things at their launch as well. Got to remember to compare similar points in their timelines. So from someone that has played a few MMO's at launch, they have done a good job at meeting most expectations at launch outside of the underestimating popularity.

FFXIV does not compete with WoW 9 years ago, or Rift 3 years ago. What matters is how they compare now, what they had at launch is irrelevant.

[vienne]

arguments are meant to be waged with facts. The OP has stated nothing but opinions, to argue opinions with opinions is pointless. All it will do is end with no one leaving the argument any wiser then they started.

thanks mr. Psychology for correcting me (be aware in the online universe not everyone has English as their mother language) I bet you just love sounding smart and it gave you a huge egoboost, but correcting me about what an argument is and what a fact is, is totally irrelevant to what OP wrote.
I still agree with the most he said, this game has alot of flaws. I paid for one month and thats all for now, maybe I'll check again round christmas if the update notes look promising.

[Hawklaser]

FFXIV does not compete with WoW 9 years ago, or Rift 3 years ago. What matters is how they compare now, what they had at launch is irrelevant.

It is actually very relevant. As you forget how much time it takes to develop actual content. If you want games to have as much or more content as a game like WoW which has been out for 9 years now, meaning likely around 11 years work towards developing content, it would be nearly impossible to design for technology around the time of its release.

[PsychologyPhD]

thanks mr. Psychology for correcting me (be aware in the online universe not everyone has English as their mother language) I bet you just love sounding smart and it gave you a huge egoboost, but correcting me about what an argument is and what a fact is, is totally irrelevant to what OP wrote.
I still agree with the most he said, this game has alot of flaws. I paid for one month and thats all for now, maybe I'll check again round christmas if the update notes look promising.

Its actually very relevant. The OP opinions are how he feels about this game. We can't prove any of it wrong, we can't prove any of it right, because they are his opinions. So the OP and yourself may be looking for an argument but since that impossible you will be met with other opinions ie: if you don't like the game leave.

PS: What does anything I said have to do with english outside of the fact that it was written in english ? You lost me.

[HurtigeKarl]

FFXIV does not compete with WoW 9 years ago, or Rift 3 years ago. What matters is how they compare now, what they had at launch is irrelevant.

Very good point. Rift has a piece of shit market system due to being able to spend real money to trade for ingame currency. Same goes with GW2. That system makes the no-brain solution to become rich ingame as time-efficient as possible: spend real money.

WoW has inferior crafting system to FFXIV.

So yeah FFXIV is a better fit for me, if I compare it to WoW and RIFT right now, not X years ago.

[ForteXX]

-Race choice and "be any class" is irrelevant when you tie base stats to how your character to look. Even if there is a trivial difference at end game, the fact you can't be 100% statwise because you wanted to look a certain way is bad design that has been fixed many times over. This also comes bundled with lack of "city clothing"/transmog-like features, people spent time developing that level 5 piece of loot just as much as the leve 30 one, let us wear it.
Vanity system is coming


-Quest item use from bag is an old problem. give a shortcut on the "duty list" to the item
This as in game actually, its how Ive done every quest that required it. It even has a popup explaining it when you do the first one

-Quest marker on the map is inconsistant, For NPCs and Items it will be directly ontop of them, but for areas it will be placed next to the areas name and not where the actual entrance to the area is. Very confusing at first.
Due to the size of the names, it actually is on top of the entrance by being on the name

This game is not one month old. It is a re-release of a game they messed up horribly a few years ago.

This actually is a new game. They may call is '2.0' of FFXIV, but when you close the servers and recode the game from (almost?) scratch, that is not an update.