Quote Originally Posted by Taika View Post
Well I'm talking about the path from level 1 to endgame here, since my argument was that WoW doesn't really compete with XIV for new players. In FFXIV there's a main story you follow, and that's the actual game, with additional side quests and other stuff to do. I would consider XIV worth playing as a FF game just for the main scenario. The game directs you forward to new areas and battles, and everything you do is tied to the main story context. In WoW I felt like I was just wandering aimlessly, trying to find a point for doing something. That can work in some (I guess mostly single player) games and create a feeling of an open world adventure, but in WoW's case I just felt that the game world and game content didn't offer me anything. More importantly (for me), because of the level sync system, the content you do in XIV is scaled to your level offering at least some kind of a challenge, whereas in WoW that just isn't there. After my first time leveling in XIV 2.0, I remembered the dungeons and primal fights I had done, the bosses and some of their mechanics, now I can't remember a single one clearly from WoW.

I can't compare the endgame between the two since I never got there in WoW.
You've definitely hit the mark, but I'd guess that's why you now get a boost to level 100 for Legion which has a set story (but I believe that's optional). New player retention isn't only an issue for WoW though, I've tried getting several friends into FFXIV and only two have stuck around, and one other hit level 60 and then quit shortly after while the others didn't even make it to level 50. The game has a huge issue with filler content, no one I know cared heavily for the story and the lack of voice acting put them off so they started skipping dialogue, and so they cared less. I can't why MMORPG developers always half ass the introduction experience, the first impression is by far the most important and telling others "The story gets better later, and the combat is much faster with all the off-GCD abilities you'll get later!" for FFXIV or "Legion is far better, and you'll actually be doing challenging raids!" for WoW just doesn't work when that requires a time investment of 50+ hours.

I don't even want to get started on butchering WoW's complexity, from "rotations" so simple an Ice Mage could do high DPS in WoW to making dungeons effortless with even mythic being easy if you're playing with people you know are alright. With Yoshida saying FFXIV rotations are too complex in 3.x, I sure hope he doesn't look to WoW for inspiration as he just seems to pick up their worst ideas and somehow make them more lacklustre, such as Garrisons/Squadrons.