Did Yoshida went a bit too far by cloning WoW?

[Havenae]

I realize the OP is getting much flak. But the OP is speaking some truth... and usually the truth pisses people off. I personally don't car if aesthetically the game is similar to WoW. or if they game has some things that are similar to WoW (dungeon finder, flying mounts ect...) The bottom line is the only thing that can really be attributed to WoW as being an original addition to the general makeup of MMOs is a cohesive, continual streamlined questline. Thats really all WoW ever brought to the table that set it apart from the other MMOs at the time. They took Everquest, and they streamlined it. Blizzard effectively gave birth to the concept of "Themepark". And that's fine, I don't mind other MMOs using that.

What disturbs me about this and many other MMOs is this complete adherence to the design philosophy behind WoW in it's entirety. Games STOP trying to be their own thing and latch on to the relatively shoddy design that was/still is World of Warcraft.

Case in point in FFXIV is this cap nonsense. Instead of trying to legitimize the game as an enjoyable experience we're instead met with a developer crutch designed to prolong content life by forcing players to stick around for subs to acquire gear. This is ignoring the fact that WoW was a decade ago and we're still on the same tired ass gear grind scenario as the entirety of purpose in MMOs. This is the problem. it isn't whats copied. it's that what is copied is never improved, not really; certainly not on the systems and design points that matter.

This is why most games fail. They wants to just copy the success and maybe add a gimmick that they think will distinguish it at the start, but then those gimmicks are never developed because there isn't enough of the game elsewhere to allow it a lifespan of any length to see it occur. In short, they're never their own games, they never have their own identity because they're too busy being preoccupied with copycatting the other presently successful MMO.

Thats why when new MMOs are announced and they promise to be entirely different they get enormous spikes in interest.. but eventually only prove to be the exact same shit but with a small twist. Imagine if an automotive maker said they were coming out with the next evolution in the idea of the car and basically just made the same car from 10 years ago but with the knight rider light on the front spoiler. That's essentially all MMO developers do now.

That's essentially all Yoshida did with FFXIV. That's essentially all SE continues to do.

And before the "Well if you dont like the game why are you here"

Because I hold out hope that eventually someone will remove their head from their ass and change. That's why.

Things never get better if you just shut your mouth and leave.

[AdamFyi]

me

Jokes aside;

Do you think that they went a little too far copying WoW too much?

That's based on opinion. For some people who have not touched or have lightly touched on WoW, they might think otherwise. As some others have said, if this isn't to your tastes, just quit.

Case in point in FFXIV is this cap nonsense.

I was rather enjoying what you were touching on and you pulled up some good points - but then I stopped reading here. There is no point in having everything now-now-now. What's with that mentality?

[Havenae]

There is no point in having everything now-now-now. What's with that mentality?

It's not about having everything now.

It's about creating an enjoyable experience where players actually want to be in your game world without needing to feel like you have to keep them there with unnecessary restrictions. To me it's essentially like if you're married, and before you leave for work every day you lock up the house so your wife can't leave you while you're away.


Are there people who are just going to grind grind grind and get everything asap? Sure. Chances are though those people are going to get bored and move on to something else regardless of what you do though because they don't care as much about stopping to smell the roses. It's just an achievement point to them. Chalk that up to another negative influence of the WoW design philosophy "The real game starts at end game."

All I'm trying to to say is in the end all capping things is doing is punishing the people who are legitimately there to take their time and enjoy your product. And to a degree it tells me they don't have a whole lot of faith in the content they're pumping out to retain subscriptions.