FFXIV Bitter Sweet

[MistressAthena]

How so? Each class had it's set of "optimal" gear everyone wore. Leves were just as repeatable. Granted, GC quests were a lot more involving, but that was because of the Umbral era storyline - they were essentially the continuation of the main story - something that is filled by hard primals & coil this time. Class quests were just "done once and forgotten", the only difference was that they started later in the game, lv30 afair. Chocobo caravan escorts were just as much of a grindfest (for seals) as CM/Prae/AK are now - and people wanted only a specific setup for them, else it wasn't efficient. Back then it was "AoE only" now it's "full DL/relic please".

Are you sure you're not falling victim to the rose-tinted glasses? 1.0 did some things better, like the 1.23 battle system, elemental wheel and monster AI, but it certainly wasn't better in anything else. Powerlevelling to 50 by abusing the party claim system. Now FATE spamming. Grinding same dungeons over and over again for a low drop rate item. Now speedruns for tomes. Open world was just as dead as it is now - additionally being plain copy pasted environment.

I agreed with your initial post, but I don't think 1.0 should be the first example on how to do it right. They had to make 2.0 for a reason.

His Gear and Appearance he said he wanted it to be more customizable, and it was. You could wear any level of equipment at any level. Of course that piece of equipment would be level synced, however, you could ultimately customize your look however you wanted it to be. They also had alot more customizable looks, such as undergarments, could choose 4 different rings to show, could wear 2 diff types of earrings, etc. etc.

Belts also were visible. Just like he said.

Leve's: Yes they were the same old same old, however, the leve's in general were much more immersive. You had to go out and hunt bandits, which were tough. It felt like they really were terrorizing that area, and you had to get rid of them. IF/when you won, sometimes they'd try to run away making it feel like you were giving chase to a wounded enemy, etc. It was more immersive and fun for those small reasons, and you had to travel out into the world quite a bit like he said. The Guildehests also were much more involved, and much harder with better rewards.

Grand Companies: Basically the same thing, a bit more involved, felt more real. They had a big building just to themselves, and the quests were a little more numerous if I remember correctly. They felt like a real entity, not just some mis placed bands of mis fits.

Class Guilds: Also, again, felt more immersive, each one had a long, instructive, and immersive storyline you could get into. Just like he wanted.

Duty Finder: Ok didn't have Duty Finder, but I agree with him on this entirely.

Basically everything he said he wanted 1.0 had in some form or another, whether entirely or partially.

I'm not saying 1.0 was perfect, don't fall victim to the same thing those who claim I'm a FFXI Die hard and flame me for it :P. I'm simply saying just as you said, it did some things right, but initially everything he pretty much wanted in 2.0 WAS in 1.0 in some form or another, please don't mis understand what I'm saying

People just continue to prove my point...

Yes, sadly yes...