Quote Originally Posted by Iscah View Post
Too-modern setting, war theme, grim stories about how much the people have suffered and how cruel their rulers can be... the Doman half of the story turns into more of a quest and less of a war, but still doesn't let up on the 'human suffering inflicted by other humans' theme for a while yet.
Man I could make a whole post/thread about some of the quotes in response to my OP, but I wanted to point out that Iscah NAILED exactly what I dislike about the idea of an Ala Mhigan focus in the story, THIS right here!

To more broadly address some things you all have said, and thank you for being so spoiler-respectful and also insightful along the way:

-I fully intend to form my own impressions and report back. The main point of my OP was to say "oh man... it's this... it's this isn't it... is it all this? Please tell me it isn't all this." And you were all honest and braced me for what to expect. Thank you for that.

-I absolutely feel you all on the "filler expansion" vibe. That's... exactly what I'm escaping in WoW at the moment actually hahaha! I know the feeling all too well! However, unlike WoW, your amazing follow-up is out now, and it's called Shadowbringers, so I'm actually looking at staying for a while here in XIV!

-So glad to hear that Doma gets some serious love in Stormblood! I love Yugiri so much and the new introductory samurai character is a lot of fun!

-To be clear, I made this post after the intro quests to stormblood, so I did wait to make sure "oh man... this IS the alamhigan expansion isn't it?" Thus my first point and asking you guys "it's not all this, is it?" Thankfully it seems not to be!

All in all, I'd say that comparing the concepts that made HW to Stormblood work like this: HIgh fantasy Vs low, and... well "fantasy" is in the name, and I'm reluctant to go low... because WoW just spent the last year in "gritty people problems with complex and morally ambiguous war crimes and you're not necessarily the good guy" crap. Gods I just get angry thinking about it.

Right, time for another re-listening to dragonsong, and a good cry.

Seriously though, thank you all for your responses. I will indeed report back, but it could be a while. I've parked by RDM (MSQ-focused class since 50) to catch up my DRK (future MSQ class because YAY trusts!) while I still have the road to 70 buff!

Also... thank you so much for being an objectively and subjectively better community than WoW. <3