What is your "dealmaker"?

[Super_Bee_Brian]

I mean like... There are things like "dealbreakers" which absolutely make you abandon certain games. But then we got "dealmakers" that hook you into them. What did it for you with FF14?

For me, it's the fact that gathering is not trivialized. Guild Wars 2 and Elder Scrolls Online, while great in many aspects, mock gatherers. Gathering is COMPLETELY secondary. While in FF14, gathering is a class of its own, separate from everything else...

[Dzian]

My slowly shrinking circle of friends.

If it wasn't for them I'd have unsubbed years ago.

The game itself really isn't that good.

But friends can make a huge difference just like in life. You can have a great time even in the worst of bars or coffee shops if your with good friends

[TheHeavenAbyss]

I'm a Final Fantasy fan, but I always skipped the online games, because they weren't my thing. But, while looking into FF websites for news, I would always come across FFXIV stuff, mainly references to other FFs. I remember seeing news related to the Warring Triad and thinking how cool it was that these FFVI creatures were in FFXIV. And, when Stormblood was about to come out, I kept seeing news of stuff related to Doma and other FFVI elements, which was my favorite FF.

So that, and the fact that I was kinda disappointed with FFXV and wanted to give a try to other FF experiences, is what made me try the game. I'm really into the FFXIV story, but it didn't get me hooked until a bit later. What got me hooked early on I think was the world. I loved almost all the maps in Eorzea and how gorgeous, fantastic and full of stories they felt.

[SturmChurro]

I wanted to play an MMORPG, and I don't like any that are left on the market. SWTOR I liked and it was ruined, and WoW is being ruined (and a little bit old/overwhelming to get into - I do like the PvP in WoW MUCH more than here). I actually like themepark MMORPGs the most. I have played ESO, probably put 600-700 hours into a character, but I can't really give a reason why it never grips me like this game or SWTOR/WoW (for a time) did.

I like the progression of a game like this, I like to have a character that I have for years and years, see it grow, design new glam for it , etc.. A lot of the content right now is very new. The biggest thing that effects me in a game like this is burn out since I don't have a group of people to play with like I used to for mmorpgs. I play by myself the majority of the time. Burn out is what always breaks it for me.

[LalaRu]

When I play a MMO, there are a lot of different factors that makes me return or stay:

• rmt spamming to a minimum: game is supervised and not abandoned by the publisher;
• places not empty, don't want feel playing a solo game;
• a decent story/lore/background;
• serious endgame not gated behind paywalls (ruled out 99,9% of f2p here...);
• useful tools for group playing (e.g., the Duty Finder);
• friendly environment for playing first time on a mature server (you don't find yourself isolated and hopeless because everyone capped but you);

Maybe I've missed some points but there ones are sulery key factors to me.

[SturmChurro]

When I play a MMO, there are a lot of different factors that makes me return or stay:

• rmt spamming to a minimum: game is supervised and not abandoned by the publisher;
• places not empty, don't want feel playing a solo game;
• a decent story/lore/background;
• serious endgame not gated behind paywalls (ruled out 99,9% of f2p here...);
• useful tools for group playing (e.g., the Duty Finder);
• friendly environment for playing first time on a mature server (you don't find yourself isolated and hopeless because everyone capped but you);

Maybe I've missed some points but there ones are sulery key factors to me.

Oh yeah, I don't even really bother with free to play games. They make you pay for pretty much EVERYTHING in it. ESPECIALLY Korean ones - and they dominate the f2p mmo market. I've heard LoTRO is decent, but it looks so dated.

[Rymm]

For me it's as simple and ambiguous as-

Am I having fun?
Do I feel like I am getting my money's worth?

If the answer is not "yes" to both, it's time to move on.

[Hercub]

What makes this game happen for me being thirty-seven and not having played video games very often in my twenties is

1) The overwhelming social environment. It's unbelievable how we can talk to almost anyone across the world at any time. We can talk about out lives, what's going on in our communities and not let what's going in the world drag us down.

2) The Lore. I'm new to FF14 lore, but there is nothing like this lore out there not even in literature or science fiction. I grew up on DragonLance books (Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman) and Forgotten Realms (RA Salvatore). As much as I love those worlds, I really don't fit into those worlds. For fans, maybe I'm a little bit of Raistlin but I feel more Tasslehoff Burrfoot most times. But in this world I and others I talk to fit it somehow in the Lore in the form of class/job. At this point I'm sort of Monk but I find the Black Mage story line most compelling (shouldn't we all turn our negative emotions into something powerful?). I think I finally found my home in the Blue Mage, a little bit of Raistlin and a little bit of kindred.

3) I like the fact that unlike other MMORPGs fifty percent of the world are women players. It shows women are just as much into games and fantasy as men. I never knew that myself growing up. And from talking to everyone we are all ages. I run into some many late thirty year olds, fourty year olds, and older playing this game. Incidentally, for most of us this is our first exposure to the video game world much less this series.

Those are some of things I find compelling but there are many more.

[CaptainLagbeard]

I think for the me the biggest thing is the whole gaming industry slowly failing and new games coming out not really being worth their price. For the fraction of the cost a new game that'd probably last for a few days or a few weeks, I get a full month of something to do.
And because part of the game is sitting around waiting for dungeon/raid/whatever queues, I can do other things while waiting on those.


While that might work with other MMOs as well, FF14 specifically is probably because I like the FF series and is one of the better MMOs out there.



Also, catgirls.

[Liam_Harper]

Crafting and gathering by far is the best of any MMO I've played although they've started to water down the endgame a little to make it more accessible which is a shame. Hoping for good things with Shadowbringers.

That and WoW has plummeted in quality. As much as I might grumble about Eureka and the ever expanding cash shop, BFA was a terrible expansion. I have fun when I play FF14.