Any chance on classic XI-style "pull camps?"

[Frein]

I think it's more so about how "grinding" in XI was more like fighting "micro-bosses" whereas "grinding" in XIV (atm) is just an el-oh-el-zergfeast - that is, there's really no skill involved besides pressing buttons. The "pull camps" the OP mentioned involved fighting a mob that a) didn't die in 10-15 seconds, and b) took the planned coordination of other members of your party to defeat - that is, people had actual roles to play and they had to, well, play it or the party wouldn't do well (or wouldn't work at all o.O).

This is why I prefer XI style camps, as well, though this isn't actually what the OP was talking about. He's talking about ToAU+ meripo style where power creep had pushed the pace of battle to almost FFXIV style mass slaughter levels.

Some of the best quests I've experienced were in WoW. By the time you were finished in the Plaguelands (a place that had been hit hardest by the undead plague), experiencing the stories of the families and all they had lost, you were emotionally wrought. It culminates in the Battle of Darrowshire, in which you must take part in a ghostly battle to defend and defeat certain NPCs, so that the ghost of a little girl can be reunited with the ghost of her father. It's heartbreaking and beautiful all at once....

I played WoW until far into TBC and, personally, the only enjoyable quest chain I can remember was the one dealing with Garrosh Hellscream and the Mag'har (most likely because it dealt with important events from Warcraft 3). Other than that WoW could never touch FFXI as far as story writing and presentation went and I found myself just not really paying attention to most quest texts. There was so much of it and most of it was completely inconsequential. It was almost purely a lonely grind to me.

Unlike FFXI, there were few NPCs that followed the player though his/her journey and most of the "important" people were quickly forgotten after the quests they offered were done. Of course, FFXI also liberally used cutscenes since launch while WoW didn't get its first one until WotLK, and even there the low poly character models looked painfully stiff in comparison to FFXI characters.