How does FFXIV fare against other modern MMORPGs?

[Gothicshark]

Been doing MMOs since the dial-up age.

Compared to other MMOs that are newish (ie post WOW).

BDO (Black Desert Online) - Amazing game, hands down the best core design in a MMO, forced world PVP after a specific Level. Which really ruins the game for me.
B&S (Blade & Soul) - Best action combat system in a MMO, poorly written/translated story, cash shop is over the top, and Gold Farmer Spam is non-stop to the point it ruined the game.
ESO (Elder Scrolls Online) - Tried too hard, added in too much WOW not enough Elder Scrolls.
Neverwinter/Champions Online/Star Trek Online - all three are fun worthwhile games, if you can avoid the Cash Shop. I've spent thousands in real money in STO to get the ships I wanted for my characters. uggg. I had to quite all F2P MMOs I just can't afford them any more.

WOW, not new, although they updated the hell out of it. Tied for the best MMO with FFXIV in my opinion, they are the only two that are not F2P, WOW is less story driven, and aimed for End Game (Raiding, PVP) although it has enough story content to keep you occupied. However, unless you play with friends, you will get lost quickly as it has more content than any other MMO, and it's not easily laid out until you get past level 80. (yes the devs change the game every expansion, and add new levels and story)

as for the rest... too many issues to be even worth mentioning. Terra/Guild wars/ TSW all of which meh at best.

[TaranTatsuuchi]

...
uggg. I had to quite all F2P MMOs I just can't afford them any more.
...

Yep, F2P = Fee to Play.


I've tried many F2P games, mostly curiosity.
In all of them I go completely free at least until I understand their monetization schemes.

Then, I decide if they're worth supporting or not.
Many F2P games have not been worth it.

[Gothicshark]

ESO (Elder Scrolls Online) - Tried too hard, added in too much WOW not enough Elder Scrolls.

I hate to quote myself, however I need to change my statement here.

I was in ESO Beta, and was there on launch. It was the worst of both worlds, at the time. It had the things I hate in MMOs from WOW and a lack of direction that Skyrim had. After my initial post, I renewed my subscription, and have played it every day this week.

Oh boy, it's good now. Really good. They fixed a lot of the issues I had, and they changed the start of the game to help give focus on a story. It's comparable now to FFXIV and WOW, it sort of sits in between the two and is worth being in the top 4 MMOs. You'all can fight for order and the 4th.

[Rymm]

I hate to quote myself, however I need to change my statement here.

I was in ESO Beta, and was there on launch. It was the worst of both worlds, at the time. It had the things I hate in MMOs from WOW and a lack of direction that Skyrim had. After my initial post, I renewed my subscription, and have played it every day this week.

Oh boy, it's good now. Really good. They fixed a lot of the issues I had, and they changed the start of the game to help give focus on a story. It's comparable now to FFXIV and WOW, it sort of sits in between the two and is worth being in the top 4 MMOs. You'all can fight for order and the 4th.

Interestingly enough, I did the ESO beta too and hated it; never even bothered to get the actual game. My husband recently picked it up however and ever since then has been hounding me to join him. I finally caved tonight when he told me Steam had it, both expansions, and 4 major DLCs all bundled together for 50% off. Since it was a good deal and there's no sub for it I figured I could give it a try again. We'll see if it sticks this time.

[Raskbuck]

Interestingly enough, I did the ESO beta too and hated it; never even bothered to get the actual game. My husband recently picked it up however and ever since then has been hounding me to join him. I finally caved tonight when he told me Steam had it, both expansions, and 4 major DLCs all bundled together for 50% off. Since it was a good deal and there's no sub for it I figured I could give it a try again. We'll see if it sticks this time.

ESO is a beautifully crafted world with decent voice acting, so you might enjoy it. The thing that I disliked the most about it is how you had to "animation cancel" to be effective in combat (the way I understand it, it's basically spam-clicking to attack while weaving skills in between them), so for me it got pretty senseless very fast. If that's not a problem for you, though, I hope you enjoy it!

[MomomiMomi]

Interestingly enough, I did the ESO beta too and hated it; never even bothered to get the actual game. My husband recently picked it up however and ever since then has been hounding me to join him. I finally caved tonight when he told me Steam had it, both expansions, and 4 major DLCs all bundled together for 50% off. Since it was a good deal and there's no sub for it I figured I could give it a try again. We'll see if it sticks this time.

Hope you enjoy it. The game has changed a lot since back then. It's definitely not for everyone, but I think it's a pretty good game.

Oh, and make sure you grab your free mansion. All you have to do is log in before October 7th, and own Summerset (which it seems you do). Here are the full details of the event:

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/summerfall

And if you're like me and don't like cash shops, they fully allow buying "gifts" with gold from other players. There is a discord that helps make this easier and safer. And GMs will even reimburse you if you have proof that someone cheated you in such a deal (and probably ban the person scamming you).

And if you're fine with the cash shop, they offer sales, sometimes up to 75% off on some stuff. On top of that, they also seem to offer Crowns for 50% off in December. At least, they did the past two years, I think.

[Claviusnex]

Interestingly enough, I did the ESO beta too and hated it; never even bothered to get the actual game. My husband recently picked it up however and ever since then has been hounding me to join him. I finally caved tonight when he told me Steam had it, both expansions, and 4 major DLCs all bundled together for 50% off. Since it was a good deal and there's no sub for it I figured I could give it a try again. We'll see if it sticks this time.

Hope you enjoy it. The game has changed a lot since back then. It's definitely not for everyone, but I think it's a pretty good game.

Oh, and make sure you grab your free mansion. All you have to do is log in before October 7th, and own Summerset (which it seems you do). Here are the full details of the event:

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/summerfall

And if you're like me and don't like cash shops, they fully allow buying "gifts" with gold from other players. There is a discord that helps make this easier and safer. And GMs will even reimburse you if you have proof that someone cheated you in such a deal (and probably ban the person scamming you).

And if you're fine with the cash shop, they offer sales, sometimes up to 75% off on some stuff. On top of that, they also seem to offer Crowns for 50% off in December. At least, they did the past two years, I think.

Another thing is you can subscribe to get access to the unlimited crafting inventory. If you drop your sub you can no longer add to the crafting inventory but you still have access to everything you put in it until it is empty. It also works when they have their free ESO Plus weeks. It is a good way to fill up the bags for free and/or reduce your monthly sub costs. The monthly sub also pays out Crowns at the same rate you would by them from the cash shop.