FFXIV made it onto a list of healthiest live MMORPGs at the end of 2019

[Theodric]

I have some beef with elements of the game, though as far as MMO's go it's the best of the lot in my opinion. I would like more time and effort to be spent on character customisation and this very site, though.

The main story and music is what puts it above its rivals, I reckon.

[NessaWyvern]

I really cannot deny that, I got to the end and the story is just staggeringly good. And its all the way through.

Originally I would have ranked MSQs like this...
1. Heavensward
2. ARR
3. Stormblood

Now...
1. Shadowbringers
2. Heavensward
3. ARR
4. Stormblood

But after this one I have to slide it in at the top... Even though Heavenward is my personal favorite, I cannot deny the story in Shadowbringer is that good.

I like it when a story gets a little dark, and man it felt good to have our character be the main focus of attention. I also love it when we get a little insight into our characters, which is why I also adored the lvl 50 DRK storyline (which was written by the same person who did ShB's Story )

[LalaRu]

#cashcowlife

Leave that term to the F2P games. Try to play competitive there to understand what a real cash cow is.

[tinythinker]

It also won the award for Best Ongoing Game of 2019 from IGN. Good stuff on SE.

Wow, that wasn't posted? I just assumed so, or I would have lead with that. Good stuff

[Jimmymagic]

I wish the day comes when Square Enix raises the funds by just 10%. How much would that help this game? And a new producer. The game is stable and safe now, but now let the 30 mph cruise control Yoshida get off of the driver's seat..

The game is still lacking in many departments. To me XIV has low soul. It's a big chunk fan service (granted, Red Mage is, too, but now and finally perfected after 3 decades) and more and more external influneces, "cross-over events", are watering down the brand even more. What is special to XIV that makes your mind connect to it? I dislike the lack of passionate background writers. I brought it up in the past, but I will say it again: The Asura in Guild Wars are so fledged out and every species in that realm has weaknesses and strength, and despite permanent bickering, they need each other. It's well interwoven. Here? We all just exist. The lore changes back and forth and stays dumb and flat because Yoshida would have to deliver (e.g. male bunnies), so it's a decision not for the health and quality of the game, but done by the suits that are usually never gamers, but former business college students. Hence the cash shop, the housing desasters (houses randomly collapsing when you don't log in as if this is Detroit) and ridiculously overpriced merchandise shop (taking shipping cost several times of what Fedex would want to keep the surplus money etc.)

FFXIV is something very charming and a great engine running in the back. I remember having 1080p@60fps on my GTX670 from 2012... Now I have 1440p@90fps with a GTX1080.

The PlayStation-caused annoying loading screens are annoying, but the loading is then again also quick. It's really Red Mage and the Lalafell that is the reason why I am here and not on my Asura Deadeye.



The communities are both great. FFXIV's is warmer, but also more mentally fragile people than in GW. If the funds we invest would go into the game here, I'd not be so negative, but right now am not super happy. Also, there is a lack of "competition" within a group. You know, an official parser that shows me how I compared as in a tally screen AFTER the dungeon. It all feels so meaningless in the end which is the reason why I come back every 3 days only. Daily gameplay would be too "meh".


Sincerely,

Another rant from a runt please tell us why do you keep playing and have to tell us once again about your game rig and blaming playstation you know nothing about your ridiculous

[SenorPatty]

Can't argue with Shadowbringers msq being great. Hell, better than great: excellent even.

And that's the problem I have with the game, to be honest. It feels like msq is the only area that they do excellent in and everything else falls either on the average side of things or less and I really wish it wasn't so.

And as someone pointed out in the first page, to paraphrase, it's basically one of the very few mmorpgs on the market I can tolerate. Sort of like the last bastion against the sea of f2p crap infested mmos out there and we all know how easy it is to fall into complacency and let some upstart come and blow us out of the waters.

[SturmChurro]

They only won, or had the chance of winning, because other mmo's are absolute trash. They are better than others, but at it's current state they shouldn't have won either award. Not since Shadowbringers at least, in my opinion.

Can't argue with Shadowbringers msq being great. Hell, better than great: excellent even.

And that's the problem I have with the game, to be honest. It feels like msq is the only area that they do excellent in and everything else falls either on the average side of things or less and I really wish it wasn't so.

And as someone pointed out in the first page, to paraphrase, it's basically one of the very few mmorpgs on the market I can tolerate. Sort of like the last bastion against the sea of f2p crap infested mmos out there and we all know how easy it is to fall into complacency and let some upstart come and blow us out of the waters.

That and music for sure. The actual "MMO" aspects are kind of poor, and I think they have only been streamlining the game and giving us less since Shadowbringers. Or rather, I feel like this is the route they are heading. Granted, maybe, just maybe, they have something that is eating up all of their resources, maybe we will see some huge, good patches or something, but that's just me with my hopes up.

[Akonyl]

#2 is nice, but as for the title of the thread itself I'd be absolutely surprised if it managed *not* to get on a list of the 10 healthiest MMOs. With some of the entries on there, I wouldn't be surprised if even 1.0 would end up on that list, there just aren't many traditional MMOs nowadays after everyone realized copying WoW's success was harder than it looked.

[Raltar]

I love this game, don't get me wrong...but after I finish leveling all of my characters, I don't know what I'll be doing. The gameplay is good and all, but the raids are incredibly boring to the point where I don't even want to do them. PvP is, and always will be(in any game), trash. So all I have is a single hour worth of new quests every 3-6 months until a new expansion comes along. It's kind of the same problem SWTOR has: great story, but everything else is either mediocre or outright terrible. I used to think max level end game content was the best part of an MMORPG, but now, leveling through the story is the only part I like these days. Guess there is always New Game+.

[Silverquick]

Oh I don't know about that,

The only Raids I don't like is really Crystal Tower. But not necessarily because it wasn't cool originally just that it doesn't have the actual appeal the others do.

Coils of Bahamut is actually for real. Unfortunately its kinda broken after Heavensward, so if you go into it over level 50, you can break it as some of the mechanics failures that are supposed to kill you won't because they weren't designed to handle someone with that much health and it will lock you in the instance and never go to the next stage. Also, while its got a good story, a lot of it you won't necessarily understand unless you're an old 1.0 player.

Void Ark Series: This one has a really cool story behind it, though it reverts you back to kind of a plain old adventurer joining a band of sky pirates rather than a Warrior of Light. The first one Void Ark is pretty easy, but Lost City of Mhach and DunScathe are for real. Shockingly the Final Diablo boss still manages to wipe entire raids.

Alexander: Great story behind it, and kind of fun little series of raids, but I've just played this one too much at this point.

Ivalice Series: Wow... ok this one is for real. This one is still so nasty its wiping raids. While the other ones can be overgeared at this point. This one still gets seriously wicked. I personally love the storyline behind this one. But then again I am familiar with the original FF Tactics and War of the Lions story... so while I was playing through this I could feel the undercurrent of sadness and despair as the music played, as I knew what really happened under the surface even when the characters around me did not. I actually run this one just for gear for my Grand Company Squadron as I would love to Glamer the entire team as an old FF Tactics Unit. Lol still can't believe a frigging Choco Meteor killed me during one of the side story quests... I was just dumbfounded going... no way.. did that just happen?
Honestly even though I could not stand the MSQ for Stormblood... I found the Ivalice Raids and Storyline to be one of its few redeeming qualities.

Omega Raids: Well they kinda play like the old Alexander Raids, but the criticism is correct, they're kind of disjointed. Even if a lot of fun. I still like the Train from FF3/6. That was so cool to go play again in 3D. Its kinda like taking on Ultros in the Hildebrant Quests. Again probably one of the few things about Stormblood I liked other than Red Mage.

Haven't been to the Neir Raids yet but I'll get there in time.