What do WoW veterans think of XIV and how do you think it could be improved?

[Estellios]

-A world that's actually dangerous in some places. FFXIV 1.23 and FFXI did this rather well.

It's not fun if it's only dangerous because everything 1-shots you.

[drivendawn]

It's not fun if it's only dangerous because everything 1-shots you.

I know what you mean but when you hit 50 no where is dangerous besides dungeons. It would be nice to see some open world areas that you at least needed another person to be safe in or something.

[Dgsoil]

It's not fun if it's only dangerous because everything 1-shots you.

Everything in 11's world did not one shot you, most things didn't really, they would just chase you down, pecking away at your HP till you dropped or you escaped, and many times it was just a sheer number of mobs that would take you down. Though it got a bit easier when the mobs began to be leashed to their respective area on the map, but you still had to sneak around (thread the needle!) and that made the world at least slightly dangerous compared to how nothing trash can kill you in ARR.

As for 1.xx of 14, yes they relied on mobs being over leveled to make areas dangerous, which did get tiresome, but again added more of an element of you aren't a god walking amongst fleas that were just mere annoyances all the time at least.

[Estellios]

I know what you mean but when you hit 50 no where is dangerous besides dungeons. It would be nice to see some open world areas that you at least needed another person to be safe in or something.

Yea for sure. I mean there are many degrees of in-between lol

It would be nice to have more enemies that act like the Aevis in Stone Vigil where you can get ambushed. Maybe some enemies that affect the terrain or make it harder to avoid enemies in the area, enemies that make others in the area stronger, things like that.

As for 1.xx of 14, yes they relied on mobs being over leveled to make areas dangerous, which did get tiresome, but again added more of an element of you aren't a god walking amongst fleas that were just mere annoyances all the time at least.

Really the worst part about it was that for a long time everything had a ranged attack so you would get hit for 9k+ out of nowhere.

[DerpyCubone]

Like compared then WoW: (things that are awesome)

The mature/realistic feel of the game: From the way the NPCs talk, to the way most the gear looks. It feels more realistic then WoW, a more solid world somehow.

The fights: While they haven't gotten over the top crazy or super super hard, I do enjoy them atleast as well as WoW fights.

Crafting/Gathering: I enjoy some thought going into this other then just push and click.

Controller: Nice to just sit back and play with one

One character: I like having everything on one. Makes me feel more connected to that character.

Dislike compared to WoW: (aka things to be improved)

Doesn't feel as smooth: WoW is smooth as butter, this isn't a deal most of the time but on certain fights, it's killer.

Lack of neat gear stats: I like things that change/add to core abilities, this game has none of that yet.

Addons: While they are coming, they aren't here yet. While required addons suck, I like to be able to see my DPS when I try out a new rotation/gear.

Racials: I think it's a neat idea to set the races apart. I can understand the idea of cutting down on min-maxing, but I like having some separation.

Alts: This game sucks at alts, bottom line.

[bokchoykn]

I don't know if I can call myself a "WoW veteran" since I haven't played the game in many years. I'm a former WoW veteran. However, when I did play, I played it a lot.

I play for PvE end-game raiding. Killing end-game bosses is why I play MMOs.

For what it's worth, given the above profile, here's what I think about FFXIV vs WoW:

-FFXIV's boss fights are great. Probably on par with some of the best fights in WoW. They are very well-designed and pretty well-tuned. Not every fight is great (I hate EX Leviathan) but they did a great job here.

-To me, the best thing WoW had over FFXIV is the quantity of raid content. Imagine if FFXIV dropped a raid dungeon triple the size of Second Coil of Bahamut. "Here's the Third Coil of Bahamut: Turns 10 through 20. Now, go nuts!" The environments were just as vast and detailed and the boss fights were equally intricate. That's what WoW was like when a raid content patch came out. This simply cannot happen with Final Fantasy XIV or any other MMO nowadays. Back then, WoW was THE MMORPG. They had so many subscribers and so much room for growth that they could warrant spending all these resources to create this much content. Nowadays, the MMORPG scene is split between several niche games. No game is big enough to for content to be released at this pace.

-The second thing thing WoW had over FFXI was character customization. Actual customization. Talent Points, Enchantments, Gems, Glyphs, etc... Even the professions you chose gave bonuses to your guy, so you have to choose carefully. Compare this to "Dump 30 points into your best stat" Attribute system that FFXIV has. Materia is really bland and boring, and it can't even be melded into end-game i110 gear. It had better itemization. Trinkets and other activateable items, set bonuses, many gear options, number crunching spreadsheets. WoW had much better stats design too. None of this "choose shitty secondary stat A vs shitty secondary stat B" that we see in FFXIV. Characters were more diverse and optimizing your character took more work and was much more fun.

-The third thing WoW had was actually fun stuff to do outside of raiding. So, what do you do in FFXIV when you're not in Coil? Level an alt class? Craft or gather? Level a second character? These things are available in WoW. Atma/Animus? *BARRRRF*. In Wow, the X-Factor was PvP. There was always battlegrounds, arena or World PvP to do. It was basically unlimited content and it was compelling. There is PvP in FFXIV too, but let's be serious. This game simply isn't built for PvP. The PvP in this game sucks.

So yeah, am I satisfied with FFXIV for the boss encounters. They're a lot of fun. We're on the verge of beating Turn 9. But what's next? There isn't enough raid content to satisfy me, nor can I expect them to create more raid content than they already do. There isn't any compelling content outside of raiding.

FFXIV can never compare to WoW in the category that is most important to me: quantity of difficult raid content. No game can anymore. Not even current WoW (which kinda sucks). This isn't necessarily a complaint. It's simply a matter of fact. FFXIV's player base isn't as big, so there are budget limitations. FFXIV's player base is primarily casual, so I can't expect the game to cater to my demographic. Old-school WoW was the best, but it's a thing of the past and since I don't have a time machine, FFXIV is the best alternative for me.

[TheUltimate3]

-The second thing thing WoW had over FFXI was character customization.

Wanna stop you there. WoW had the illusion of customization. Nothing more. Maybe back in vanilla where everything was like the wild wild west, maybe. But by Lich King, every spec was the same for every player, and if you deviated from the same 0/31/12 (I don't remember the numbers. Been a while since I played WoW) you were useless to everybody, a troll, and a bad undeserving of life itself. Same can be said about enchants, gems and glyphs.

Now, FFXIV is no better. But at least it doesn't lie to you.

[KoujiMoreno]

Wanna stop you there. WoW had the illusion of customization. Nothing more. Maybe back in vanilla where everything was like the wild wild west, maybe. But by Lich King, every spec was the same for every player, and if you deviated from the same 0/31/12 (I don't remember the numbers. Been a while since I played WoW) you were useless to everybody, a troll, and a bad undeserving of life itself. Same can be said about enchants, gems and glyphs.

Now, FFXIV is no better. But at least it doesn't lie to you.

It's changed, it's not that anymore.

[Licus]

I think crafting needs to play a better role in end game gear. As of right now, crafting is essentially relegated to vanity. Perhaps gear augmentations such as enchants, reforges, and reinforcements should be something crafting can provide to coil gear.

[TheUltimate3]

It's changed, it's not that anymore.

Barely. What is it, every 5 levels or so you are able to pick a new perk, but they are basically clearly favoring one of your three specs.