How does FFXIV fare against other modern MMORPGs?

[Aylis]

Different strokes for different folks and whats "best" is subjective to the person and there is no real textbook "best" mmo.

I can't deny WoW and FFXIV are the biggest mmo's. I sorta wanna put in SWTOR in this as well. All three are really long running franchises and all three have its own legion of fans because of the name and because of the companies behind it. The rest fall into the category "you either like it or you don't"

FFXIV does excel at both presentation and being the perfect social type game if a player seeks more bite then what they can get out of Second Life. This is where FFXIV falls flat for me and if I only had the choice between WoW, SWTOR and FFXIV. I would pick WoW. FFXIV maybe more stunning to look at then WoW, but much like I could walk down a sidewalk and spot a pile of dog poop, I can put all the spray paint and dump as much glitter as I want on it and in the end all I'll have is a pretty pile of poop. FFXIV is just too constrictive for me. Here I know no matter how good I am, no matter how good my gear is. I'm very much limited to what I can do on my own. I like being social with friends but at the same time I also like pushing myself solo to see what I can do alone. That's fun for me. WoW maybe less visually amazing, but its presentation is good enough for me since when I remember from when I played. The world was more open and I had the options to see how far I could push myself alone when I wanted to be alone. I'll trade any visuals in exchange for options.

I still enjoy FFXIV for what it is with friends, but when no friends are around I tend to favor mmo's with more bite and flexibility.