Seeing Square Enix in a new light. I am grateful for this game.

[Wilford111]

To be fair, when FFXIV launched it wasn't exactly the most playable game.

Yeah, so they shut the game down, completely overhauled it, and cut everyone's sub costs in half. Who does that?

[LalaRu]

Kudos to the OP.
With my experience over the years on a big number of sub and f2p games, I give XIV rank 1 for playability, polishness and battle balancing.

And about the cash shop, this is the fairest I ever saw. Almost everything there you can already have it in your account if you played 2.0 from the start. And the few exclusives aren't game breaking.

Sure the game isn't perfect, but I think all other devs and publishers in the world must look at XIV as an example on how to do things. Nuff said~

[Mizunoko]

Kudos to the OP.
With my experience over the years on a big number of sub and f2p games, I give XIV rank 1 for playability, polishness and battle balancing.

And about the cash shop, this is the fairest I ever saw. Almost everything there you can already have it in your account if you played 2.0 from the start. And the few exclusives aren't game breaking.

Sure the game isn't perfect, but I think all other devs and publishers in the world must look at XIV as an example on how to do things. Nuff said~

Thanks for the kudos :P. For the record though, i gave tera benefit of the doubt and one last try today. I queued into an instance and the first thing before we even start the party leader asks everyone if they know the dungeon or not. Soon as i said no he kicked me from the duty. It saddens me they let that crap fly over in tera. I know here in ffxiv that would NOT and has NOT ever happened to me. The only justifiable time i could see it happening is if someone new joined a party finder that specifically said no newbies. Other wise the GM's over here in ff take that stuff very seriously and i love them for that. Keep in mind in tera there is no party finder its all random instance queuing like when you queue into a normal dungeon in ffxiv. It should be a place where you do not get kicked simply because your a first timer. I checked the forums over there only to hear the GM's don't care about this behaviour in their game. It was at this point i just gave up and deleted tera from my ps4 for good. I have no time in my life to have to deal with hassle to try to have fun in a game. I shouldn't have to try it should just come on its only. In ffxiv iv'e never had any trouble TRYING to have fun. I just get online and play without any issues and have fun.

[MilanFrozen]

I appreciate final fantasy for what it is and I'm glad it's here, but I also think the game is a shell of what it could be.

[Vstarstruck]

Well, that's a tough decision to make. I directly support some critical large systems used by millions of people at a time- you can't just go in and make improvements when you think there's a good opportunity. Changes - even no-brainer upgrades! - must be carefully considered, thought out, and tested if possible. Any hiccup or (God forbid) failure impacts thousands of people at a minimum, causing all kinds of financial and reputational harm. I don't envy the people who have to sign off on improvements to these systems in the slightest (though I'm super grateful they sign off on the changes I initiate of course :P). I imagine that SE does the best they can with band-aid fixes and performs the major risky changes during expansion launches- that's a long time to go when there's a pain point that your customers harp on about, but the risk of fixingit could make the wait preferable. The extra testing time is invaluable, you don't risk destabilizing your current codebase unexpectedly, and you don't waste players' sub time by having frequent outages. /IT rant over

I love this game, no lie. And I complain because I see how things could be better. I want to be able to steal my friend away from WoW into XIV, I want my SO to play more often than major content drops, I want to keep having fun and enjoying my time in Eorzea. Lately I have become very worried that I won't be able to even justify my own sub because SE seems to be too cautious or unwilling to change. SB should have tried to do more than be ARR v3 in my opinion. I'm glad there are people like OP who love the game too and find no or few flaws. I was like that when I started the game... everything was new and wonderful. Now that I've been here for 4+ years I want to see the game work on being better. It will never be "perfect" but it can be closer to that ideal than it currently is.

I agree you will have to do bandaid fixes, But you don't keep that bandaid fix 2 + years, or even worse, keep putting new bandaid fixes on the original bandaid as time goes on, and never fixing the core.

Thanks for the kudos :P. For the record though, i gave tera benefit of the doubt and one last try today. I queued into an instance and the first thing before we even start the party leader asks everyone if they know the dungeon or not. Soon as i said no he kicked me from the duty. It saddens me they let that crap fly over in tera. I know here in ffxiv that would NOT and has NOT ever happened to me. The only justifiable time i could see it happening is if someone new joined a party finder that specifically said no newbies. Other wise the GM's over here in ff take that stuff very seriously and i love them for that. Keep in mind in tera there is no party finder its all random instance queuing like when you queue into a normal dungeon in ffxiv. It should be a place where you do not get kicked simply because your a first timer. I checked the forums over there only to hear the GM's don't care about this behaviour in their game. It was at this point i just gave up and deleted tera from my ps4 for good. I have no time in my life to have to deal with hassle to try to have fun in a game. I shouldn't have to try it should just come on its only. In ffxiv iv'e never had any trouble TRYING to have fun. I just get online and play without any issues and have fun.

bad kicks happen here too, just most of the time it happens near end or very end, much worse then doing it at the start since you wasted 15-25 mins. This game does nothing for such thing as well as far as preventive measures, you will see people doing it.

Kudos to the OP.
With my experience over the years on a big number of sub and f2p games, I give XIV rank 1 for playability, polishness and battle balancing.

And about the cash shop, this is the fairest I ever saw. Almost everything there you can already have it in your account if you played 2.0 from the start. And the few exclusives aren't game breaking.

Sure the game isn't perfect, but I think all other devs and publishers in the world must look at XIV as an example on how to do things. Nuff said~

with very few being account wide? sorry wow does everything better that you commented on. (well not sure on class balancing for PvE, but WoW dev def does put more effort in PvP balancing then here)
The cost for emotes and retainers is very questionable.

Reminder:

You clearly meant well, and I commend you for that, but I do think you need to have a bit more experience with MMOs in general before you begin making your comparisons. You basically made it sound like XIV was a god walking amongst mere mortals. It's not. It is imperfect like everything else, and therefore prone to criticism. Is it better than some? Yes. Is it THE best? Far from it.

Can you add more details on what games do better then FFXIV in y area? I only know of wow and ffxi, and ffxi doesn't really have a cash shop

[Mizunoko]

I agree you will have to do bandaid fixes, But you don't keep that bandaid fix 2 + years, or even worse, keep putting new bandaid fixes on the original bandaid as time goes on, and never fixing the core.


bad kicks happen here too, just most of the time it happens near end or very end, much worse then doing it at the start since you wasted 15-25 mins. This game does nothing for such thing as well as far as preventive measures, you will see people doing it.



with very few being account wide? sorry wow does everything better that you commented on. (well not sure on class balancing for PvE, but WoW dev def does put more effort in PvP balancing then here)
The cost for emotes and retainers is very questionable.

Reminder:

Can you add more details on what games do better then FFXIV in y area? I only know of wow and ffxi, and ffxi doesn't really have a cash shop

Even so from my experience as a veteran who played since launch of 2.0 i have not once EVER had to deal with a bad kick ESPECIALLY for simply being new at something. Here in ffxiv the GM's actually do something about that stuff and for that simple reason i think the players don't abuse the system, and that is a lot more than can be said about tera from MY EXPERIENCE. Also from what iv'e seen it seems the in game community in this game is just much more mature. Don't forget the situation i just explained earlier is from a normal instance one that is randomly matched up. New players should not have to work just to find help to progress in the game and story because elitists are trying to build a perfect party IN A MATCHED INSTANCE. It's just absurd to me. Elitists are SUPPOSED to be the ones who build parties outside the matchmaker to get the perfect party they want. Not push new players aside just so they can be petty. Regardless of what game it is that is rude behavior to anyone and that is an undeniable fact to anyone who has the heart to acknowledge it for what it is.

[Vstarstruck]

Even so from my experience as a veteran who played since launch of 2.0 i have not once EVER had to deal with a bad kick ESPECIALLY for simply being new at something. Here in ffxiv the GM's actually do something about that stuff and for that simple reason i think the players don't abuse the system, and that is a lot more than can be said about tera from MY EXPERIENCE. Also from what iv'e seen it seems the in game community in this game is just much more mature. Don't forget the situation i just explained earlier is from a normal instance one that is randomly matched up. New players should not have towork just to find help to progress in the game and story because elitists are trying to build a perfect party IN A MATCHED INSTANCE. It's just absurd to me. Elitists are SUPPOSED to be the ones who build parties outside the matchmaker to get the perfect party they want. Not push new players aside just so they can be petty. Regardless of what game it is that is rude behavior to anyone and that is an undeniable fact to anyone who has the heart to acknowledge it for what it is.

Ironic cuz someone was complaining to me about a bad kick in sastasha, group of 2 vs group of 2 isn't fun, its whoever gets the proposal off first. (though to be fair the "losing side" did not think there was an issue)
Bad kicks happen everywhere, wow had the same problems, it is why you hear stories on people afraid to say they are new here because of experience from other games.
The real kicker in this latest story, the new tank in question did fulfilled the request that was made to them, and yet was kicked anyway.

Just because you never seen it happen, does not mean it never happens. (Yes I had my personal run-ins)

This goes back to what was said earlier, you can't just play one MMO, then act like FFXIV is the best MMO out there, just because of your experience in 1 MMO.

[Mizunoko]

Ironic cuz someone was complaining to me about a bad kick in sastasha, group of 2 vs group of 2 isn't fun, its whoever gets the proposal off first. (though to be fair the "losing side" did not think there was an issue)
Bad kicks happen everywhere, wow had the same problems, it is why you hear stories on people afraid to say they are new here because of experience from other games.
The real kicker in this latest story, the new tank in question did fulfilled the request that was made to them, and yet was kicked anyway.

Just because you never seen it happen, does not mean it never happens. (Yes I had my personal run-ins)

Never did i say it NEVER happens in general i CLEARLY stated "from MY EXPERIENCE" so your arguing with nothing over that. Not to mention as i never said it NEVER happens i do think it happens LESS in this game because people know they actually get in trouble for that behavior over here versus in tera, and unless you have real statistical evidence you can't really prove that incorrect, and as there is probably not any statistics on something that specific or that if there is its most likely square enix's private information. I highly doubt you can really prove me wrong on that front.

[Vahlnir]

Can you add more details on what games do better then FFXIV in y area? I only know of wow and ffxi, and ffxi doesn't really have a cash shop

I will only list 3, because...my fingers will probably hurt after I'm done with this post.

Incoming massive wall of text

I'll start with Rift. Back when it was good, it did a variety of things...

-Massive zones with a ton of diversity, each accessible without a loading screen aside from a few cases, such as different continents in general and teleportation.

-Each zone had rifts which would be the equivalent of fates and the like. You could also spawn them yourself with certain abilities. Every so often a massive zone event would spawn, which would affect the entire zone, including quest hubs. Massive rifts would spawn across the zone, along with a ton of monsters. These monsters would go after various points of interest and could actually capture them and force you to take them back. This would last for a little while after the event ended too, but would eventually despawn.

-Classes were made to be anything and everything. Wanted to be a mage tank/healer/dps? Done. It was the same with just about every class, each possessing its own unique charm.

-PvP: Probably the most fun PvP I ever played. It was fun and engaging. Honestly not sure how else to describe it.

PvE: Questing was a blast as you progressed, and almost always provided players with some sort of challenge.

Story: It was decent, though each zone basically had its own.

Holidays: A lot of their celebrations throughout the year gave out some pretty awesome stuff, which usually required grinding.

Housing: You were provided with your own little dimension in which you could choose the what and where, with a ton of options. Probably one of the better housing systems to date.

Glamour system: It has a glamour tab. Open tab, insert gear, done. Simple, effective and less taxing on the servers.

There could be more probably but I'll stop there.

XI...

-Pretty hardcore gameplay from PvE to crafting, and largely required group play. This was all but required for decent leveling. As a result friendships could be forged.

-Massive, sprawling zones with a sense of danger just about anywhere you went. Each zone was also unique and beautiful in their own ways.

-Jobs were all unique and largely complex, which added depth.

-Story was pretty amazing. I never got to play through every story, but I enjoyed what I did do. There was also a lot of interesting characters to meet as you go.

-Numerous types of content available such as Ballista, ZNMs, Dynamis, Sea, Sky, past zone large scale beastmen battles...the list goes on. Gear remained relevant for years, not months, which was nice.

Much more was added since, but I really don't feel like typing all evening.

WoW:

Races: Quite a few races to choose from, all with decent customization options. Way, way more than even XIV has. Draenei (Draenei, aka aliens), Tauren (Minotaurs, 2 types and counting), Pandaren (yes, panda people), Elves (3 types and counting), Forsaken (aka undead, aka zombies), Orcs, Humans, Worgen (werewolves), Trolls...and more. More will also be added.

Questing: Largely fun, even if the stories don't always make sense.

Story: Imo, they tell a decent story. And there's a ton of it to go through. Tons of side quests provide extra story to experience, and there's technically no "main" story, since each expansion has its own. But they tell it in such a way that it always connects to the next expansion in some way. Having some pretty awesome characters to get invested in also helps.

Open world: Large, expansive world to explore from the get-go. Seriously, it's just massive. They promote exploration as well. There's a lot of little things to find.

PvE: Fun, engaging, fast action combat with a decent set of abilities for most classes. Each class also feels unique in some way. Dungeon and raids are both nonstop action from start to finish...RP sequences aside.

PvP: I can't really defend WoW's PvP now, but it was truly a blast years ago. It relied more on skill than anything else and I do love large scale battles. Plenty of that still, thankfully.

Content: Tons of things to do from quests, pet battles (what Verminion should have been), dungeons, raids, PvP battlegrounds and arenas, rep grinding, and so many dang achievements to work toward. A lot of them give some fancy rewards and some can be quite tough to complete. A lot of dungeons and raids also drop pets, mounts and glamour pieces which gives people incentive to run content for months, if not years.

Cash shop: There's some mounts, pets (minions) and 3 glamour pieces which are simply fancy helmets. That's it.

Glamour system: Transmogrification is what it is called there, and you have your own log that houses ALL of your usable appearances. They are usually based on class though since there is a specific armor type that each can use, but some are shared. You go to an NPC which can change your appearance. You can also build your own set to use for later. So many options though from weapons to armor that I will be forever collecting things.

The list could go on for each of these, as well as a list of other MMOs, but I listed points that I feel other games do better than XIV by miles. There may be some slight bias toward WoW, but I can't help that.

[KaldeaSahaline]

It saddens me they let that crap fly over in tera. I know here in ffxiv that would NOT and has NOT ever happened to me. The only justifiable time i could see it happening is if someone new joined a party finder that specifically said no newbies. Other wise the GM's over here in ff take that stuff very seriously and i love them for that.

Even so from my experience as a veteran who played since launch of 2.0 i have not once EVER had to deal with a bad kick ESPECIALLY for simply being new at something. Here in ffxiv the GM's actually do something about that stuff and for that simple reason i think the players don't abuse the system, and that is a lot more than can be said about tera from MY EXPERIENCE.

Just so you know, the GMs don't ban people for kicking you in FF14 either,for nearly any reason unless they actually verbally abused you (which you were not in TERA either). Everything else falls under the blanket "differing playstyles" and is a valid dismissal as such.

Elitists are SUPPOSED to be the ones who build parties outside the matchmaker to get the perfect party they want. Not push new players aside just so they can be petty. Regardless of what game it is that is rude behavior to anyone and that is an undeniable fact to anyone who has the heart to acknowledge it for what it is.

Regardless of how negative your experience was, it was a majority vote. The other random players felt that you being new was more of a burden to them, than the value in protecting your fragile innocence, otherwise the other party members would have voted to defend you.

I played WoW for nearly 14 years. I've never ONCE been kicked or seen a bad kick. Anecodtal evidence means nothing unfortunately, so while I appreciate you sharing with us, please refrain from making sweeping generalizations about a game based on anecdotal isolated incidents.