What WoW does, and it does it better than Final Fantasy XIV or just about any other MMO on the market, is feel good.

The game is smooth, the combat is usually fluid and responsive, the UI is simple, it just plays very, very well. That's a huge deal so obviously people will enjoy the game that plays the best.


The problem it has is...everything else, really. WoW when it had its most subscribers was absolutely fantastic but over the last several years it's been dwindling as the more creative minds behind it move on to other projects and the more Activision side takes the reigns to just nickle and dime the playerbase into nothing.

Warlords of Draenor is a skinner box wearing an MMO's skin and that's all it is. It's sad that content droughts are actually expected there now. With the new raid out and no news of a new expansion yet people are EXPECTING Hellfire Citadel's patch to last a year with nothing new to shake things up. Blizzard is apparently fine with the massive spikes in user numbers so they let these droughts happen, promising they are working on something great. Then that something comes out and is not so great.

I think WoW is an important monster look at for any MMO. At its best it's been amazing but at its worst it is hollow, shallow and depressing. If FFXIV is taking notes (and I can tell it is) it should learn from WoW's strengths but also its failures. That means not doing many of the things WoW's been doing since Cataclysm.

Right now, comparing Heavensward to Warlords, Heavensward doesn't play quite as well but is still the better experience by far.