Why do you Play Final Fantasy XIV? What attracted you?

[Cursive]

initially i wanted to recreate my experience in xi...have really only stuck around for the people i'm playing with now.

[Mikita]

They said yes to Subligar so I said yes to FFXIV

ふんどしのレシピがでましたらどうなるんでしょう。
想像したくありません！＞＜

There's quite a Subligar fan club on Saronia too. ^^;

[Coombah]

I played XI for a long time and followed XIV through it's code name Rapture to the announcement at Playstation Press conferance at E3. Once I heard of the alpha/ beta tests I jumped at the chance and amazingly I got the invite! I seen a beautiful world and the great potential even in it's not so great state. Things like Player ran Companies , Comp/LS buildings boats and airships kept me intrigued and the leve system the way it was and kept me playing. The main reason I continue to play is the people in my LS and I know one day the game will be completely fixed an on track.

[Anapingofness]

Storyline, Characters, and the World

.... At least that's what I'd hoped it to be.... and well now, I still hope it to be once the uh... "open beta" (as I've come to call this period of time while the game is still free to play)is complete.

^^;

[Jdog]

Just curious what about XIV attracted you to it:

Was it the Armoury/Class system?
Was it the Animation, Graphics?
Was it the Storyline and/or Characters?
Was it that Crafting is a bona-fide Class?
Was it the idea that it wouldn't be a "grind-fest"?
Was it that it is Free to Play (for now)?
Was it the recommendation of a friend?
Was it the SquareEnix name?
Was it that you just love Role-Playing-Games because your Real-Life sux? (my reason)
Was it that you heard about the Forums and this is your chance to finally be recognized for your brilliant ideas and are gonna help create the most awesome game ever?
Was it that you are a Troll, just like to argue and get under people's skin?
Was it onsale for $9.99 at GameStop and you thought, "What the heck"?
Was it because you loved FFXI and hoped this would be better?
Was it because you hated FFXI and hoped this would be better?

What was it that 1st attracted you and is that attraction still there, enhanced or lost?

I would have to say because of the name. I thought..this is it...finally a final fantasy in this new age of technology....no way it can fail i thought....this is the end of WoW i thought...LOL I have followed this game since it was *project rapture* ff11 was nice but i thought with other MMOs being out that were way better *such as WoW* I figured it would of learned from its mistakes and it would take all the good from the other games but have FF graphics henceforth making the Ultimate game *or close* Now i sit back and wait on patches, but mostly kill time for Diablo3's release. Square enix's rep took a huge hit on this one....

[Mokendai]

The fact that you can create a character with Awesome Hair, and use that Awesome Hair as a weapon to defend the weak and the virtuous from the Evil Scoundrel that roam the land. Being able to set things on fire with magic helps too. ^_^

[Meleena]

Square Enix name for me

[Pancakes]

catgirls >o

[Alzaru]

Well I'am playing it for many reasons, but most importantly is the graphics that amaze me and the the weather system too, it's just so realistic compare to other MMORPG's but that's just my opinion.

[Nakiamiie]

Just curious what about XIV attracted you to it:

Was it the Armoury/Class system?
Yes, the idea of changing class anywhere anytime is definitely appealing, as well as being able to equip skills from any other classes. However, I seriously thought the actions and skills would be more unique with each class.

Was it the Animation, Graphics?
Definitely! Even though I expected more seamless transitions between regions and inside market wards and such.As well as slight changes in graphics (textures and such) in each areas of each regions.

Was it the Storyline and/or Characters?
The storyline right now is somewhat not as deep and interactive as I thought it would be. As for the characters, I expected much more customization during character creation. The main story characters are fine though, but not the personal characters of players.

Was it that Crafting is a bona-fide Class?
Definitely! It is such a shame they did a poor job to keep them as fully-fledged classes and now will require combat classes to progress in the world.Many ideas were proposed to keep crafting independent of combat classes, but in the end, they decided to clone every other MMO: crafting is a bonus to your character, not a different path to follow.

Was it the idea that it wouldn't be a "grind-fest"?
That was the most important aspect of it, but it turned out to be somewhat a grind-fest.

Was it that it is Free to Play (for now)?
No, I don't mind paying for something that I truly enjoy. For now though, I'm not sure I would pay. There are so many promises unfulfilled andtoo many things that changed for the worst, waiting to be improved in a "new" system.Half of the good things are gone and half of the bad things are gone too (for me), so I'm still waiting to see the true light of Yoshida's plans.

Was it the recommendation of a friend?
No, and I wouldn't recommend the game as of yet.

Was it the SquareEnix name?
No, never was and never will, brand means nothing.

Was it that you just love Role-Playing-Games because your Real-Life sux?
I love role-playing, truly. My real life has no part in this though.

Was it that you heard about the Forums and this is your chance to finally be recognized for your brilliant ideas and are gonna help create the most awesome game ever?
I already gave plenty of suggestions, the problem is that I'm not the only one playing, so many of my suggestions were rejected because it did not fit the play style of a majority (even though many could come alongside with these other play styles, but cost involved, SE decided not to go through with them for the minority).

Was it because you loved FFXI and hoped this would be better?
Yes, because I liked FFXI but too many things were bugging me so I always ended up quitting after 3~5 months. My hopes were high for FFXIV because the technology exists and it was a good opportunity for them to do different, but it turned out they tried to make different without thinking about it.

What was it that 1st attracted you and is that attraction still there, enhanced or lost?
The first and foremost thing that attracted me is the being able to role-play in a gorgeous environment with friends and in a world filled with lore to help us role-play. My problem is that you need to grind-fest to advance, you can't spend time role-playing otherwise you are stuck at the same level for an eternity and can't progress through what the game as to offer (even gear is becoming more and more restricted to class and levels).

Conclusion, I like half of the game, I dislike half of it. And with the changes the update brought us, it's still at 50/50 but the like-dislike are different than they were (maybe it is 55% like/45% dislike now, still a long way to go simply because I'm a casual player, role-player and I like complexity).