Is FFXIV viable as an MMORPG without doing end-game & raiding?

[AeraLure]

For me it's rather the opposite. It's viable as an MMO until you hit level cap. Once you do, it's all roulettes and dailies and Tomestones. There's not enough end game and it's designed to be done ad infintum without any real worthwhile drops in any of the dungeons (a la PSO or somesuch) or any real reason to do anything other than Tomestones, which aren't any fun. The game is great up until then. After that, it's really about glamour and hanging out with friends.

[Mirili]

Most can't do the same, but

Exactly.

10chars

[Parodine]

If a person started fresh? I believe they could get 3-4 months of enjoyment just leveling battle classes to 60, enjoying story, and many of the things you mention. If they enjoy gatherers and crafters, even more.

But after, I don't expect the game would hold the same kind of attention after 6 months once many people are done leveling their jobs (outside of some wanting to ding 60 on them, extending that a tad).

It's easy to get into the routine of log on, do some roulettes, log off without really doing much new. That being said, if they can find a good community of friends, the game can be extended for much longer.

[Jennika]

So what DOES keep people playing? Isn't it like less than 1% who are clearing Savage?

[Kurogaea]

So what DOES keep people playing? Isn't it like less than 1% who are clearing Savage?

Too legit to quit, feeling of responsibility, Stockholm Syndrome, holding onto hopeless promises, a bunch of stuff like that....maybe. And you have those who fundamentally enjoy this game no matter what. Even leveling all your classes even though you'll probably just use 2 of them the most anyway (except the crafters) . :/

[Ruenis]

My goal is to level all my classes. So there's still a long way to go for me. I don't even finish COB. So yeah, it's viable even if you don't touch endgame at all.
Note: I don't have any zodiac weapon at all, nor interested in the new relic quest as well

[Klamor]

My BF ... never got past Titan EX (his former gf was lagging too much) ...

Is that how you came into the picture? You approached him with a significantly more reliable internet connection? ...Sorry, just a joke.

On to the actual post:

If you were to start now is Final Fantasy 14 viable without even looking at end-game raiding content during it's current patch cycle?

I think the answer to this is multi-faceted. For starters, you can't actually ignore the end-game, because this wouldn't be an MMO without it; it would just be a single-player console game. PC players know where the consoles are headed, even if the console players don't want to admit it. That's a different thread altogether, however. I'm just shy of 300 days /playtime, and even though there are several issues that I have with the current state of the game, I'm fairly confident that each new, even-numbered patch will bring something that I will yet enjoy. Even a lot of the things post-60, being veritable copies of what we'd already seen at the 50-capped days, still had something to offer to those of us that had trudged through the older content. The visuals in the game, to me, are still truly amazing considering we still have the PS3 ball-and-chain that's keeping us from enjoying the true potential of tessellation. The volume of content available (which is more than just two Expert dungeons and two Level 60 dungeons) is still a fairly good amount compared to other games. The issue with that volume is just that it's cleared too easily, which is also another post altogether. I could go on with the positives, but don't think I don't recognize the negatives. I'll save those for another post, another time.

The simple answer is, yes.

[Kacho_Nacho]

It's a simple question, and I invite you to think about it before answering.


If you were to start now is Final Fantasy 14 viable without even looking at end-game raiding content during it's current patch cycle?

In other words, if you started a new account today and started leveling from 1 on CNJ (for example) if you did not take part in any Savage or EX content from the 3.X patch cycle at all until 4.0 arrives, would FFXIV be a viable game?

The short version of my answer is this; yes, it's very much viable in my opinion.

**SNIPPERS!**

Kosmos, you asked a great question but it's not simple. The tripping point comes from the issue that the word "viable" means different things to different people.

Now, to me, I feel the game is perfectly viable. This is to do with my decision to not rush to the end game in this game as I had been pressured to do in WoW.

In fact, my FC is made up of individuals who like to take their time in the slow lane and just run around a bit. Hence, "Freelance Wanderers."

Now, could there be more "sandbox" content in the game? Sure! However, S.E. has been smart to include a large amount of content for raiders also. Not everyone wants the same thing and it seems to me the most successful MMO's have been those games which have something for everyone.

What I am not sure about is how you market the same game to people on either side of the content divide. There was talk with HW about allowing players to just jump in at lvl 50. In the end though, we allowed the new jobs to start at 30 and accelerated the leveling speed if you start from scratch. But, as the game grows older more content is added and it becomes deeper and broader in scope. Is it time to start leaning on that vastness in the game? Is that a viable way of selling the game? In contrast, could you sell a game like FFXIV based on end-game?

I'd say no. As an ex-WoW player, I feel the game began it's decline when it started allowing players to skip content and jump straight to the end game. To me, the journey is important in a game like this.

Could S.E. develop a FF where players started off powerful right out the gate and the focus was on raiding? Yes, they could but it would hurt their sales. Basically, they'd be splitting their fan base further.

[Meraii]

I started in December so I haven't even reached end game yet. I have made new characters to enjoy the levelling process without rushing though. I personally think it is perfectly possible to play the game and enjoy yourself without doing the endgame; although it becomes more difficult to do once you have reached end game.
Using WoW as an example, I could happily spend months just farming herbs and selling items and making gold, without any thoughts of getting to the current end game. I did however, have a main character that was already at end game, and found the only thing I wanted to do on that character was raid as the only thing I cared about was keeping up with everyone else (and being fashionable). So I had two characters with completely different playstyles that I cared about completely different things on.

I think it is important to place a focus on end game, as ultimately that is where people will get to and you need to keep the people that have cleared the content interested. but it is also important to include non-raiding activities for both end game and levelling. WoW added different types of group content for those who didn't want to raid (scenarios, challenge mode etc), as well as things like archaeology and pet battles (unfortunately they still placed a very heavy emphasis on raiding to the point that were insisting non-raiders raid as well by making an easy mode for them...). For me this meant that my non raiding characters had stuff to enjoy at all levels and I didn't have to worry that when I did reach the level cap that I would no longer have anything to do bar raiding (it was mostly pet collecting and toy collecting that kept me going). From my limited knowledge of FFXIV, it seems that it has done the same, with minion battles, treasure maps, housing, triple triad, Fates, glamours and such.

I think it is very important to maintain a balance with both the levelling and end game experience as the moment you start to undermine one in favour for the other, you basically alienate a chunk of the playerbase. So you add new raids, but you also add new quest lines, and new items and new activities and mini games.

[ToniRomo]

I don't do savage or EX content and I always have things to do.