Stop trying to be like WoW. Stop selling out.

[Yellow]

What we don't need is cross server dungeon finder

But dungeons would be nice ^^ Maybe a couple of GC quests involving them too!

[P_Subfocus]

I'd really like people to stop freaking out... I think no one realizes, except a select few, that 2.0 and the game's current version are going to be completely different. It's two different builds to the game. While they keep us happy with updates that have content 2.0 will have, they work on 2.0 in the hopes of finishing it later in the year. They KNOW this game sucks, they KNOW this game had a rocky start, and they ARE fixing it because they LISTENED to their community. In fact, SE President and CEO Yoichi Wada APOLOGIZED to us because FFXIV was so bad. So calm down, give them time. Yoshi-P and his team are working their butt off to make FFXIV the game it was meant to be. Come back after FFXIV goes 2.0, and if you STILL don't like it, at that point, I believe your opinion should be heard.

[Ryuko]

I don't understand why this is being posted now. A year and a half ago, it would have made sense. But now? I'm scratching my head. Your criticisms made sense back then, but they are lacking in strength now.

FFXIV is not a WoW sellout, and any commonalities it has with WoW are ideas that have been implemented in OTHER games as well. Given your experience with MMO's, I'm surprised you're so quick to jump on the "THIS IS JUST LIKE WOW" bandwagon. It takes the good parts from many different MMO's and adds its own flair, as all MMO's do. They are defined by the past and shaped by the creativity of the current team working on it.

Now I have a question for you... I apologize; I did not read your entire post... so I'm not sure if you mentioned this or not, but is your 21 Lancer your highest job? Or, is that just the job you currently have equipped? Because, if your highest job is 21, I would like to respectfully ask you to play a little bit longer before making a judgment.

With the exception of very few jobs, you required a party in XI from a very low level. That is not true of XIV, and I support this change, because not everyone has the time to sit around and find parties. Once you reach the higher levels, you will see, not everything is solo-able. In fact, you require a party for many things, including instances and achievements. The whole feel of 'relying' on a linkshell is still there. Indeed... you may be able to find a pug with more ease than before, but having a linkshell is still the BEST way to do endgame content.

To answer a few of your questions:

You can't equip 'anything' at level 1. Indeed... Some items are 'optimized' at a certain level (thus you won't receive the stats or even a fraction of them until you get close to that level). So, even if you can equip an item optimized for level 40... you won't get any bonuses from it. However, many items, especially the newer ones (not marked as 'dated'), have a REQUIRED level. And forget about equipping endgame gear until you reach cap level.

There is no standard auction house yet, but there is something pretty close. By 'searching' items near the markets, you can buy them without ever entering the market wards. However, you do pay a small fee (which is VERY low and caps at I believe 4k or 5k), which is the same as in FFXI, except it's buyer-side instead of seller-side. The fee removed from an item's selling price is seller-side when it comes to retainers.

Camping: It depends on what you're doing. I've been in groups where everyone runs around killing. I've also been in groups where one person pulled and everyone stood in one spot waiting, just like in FFXI.

'Sense of Identity': Why do you feel this is different? I still feel like I have a sense of identity. People will know you as the job you prefer to play most, and have invested the most time in... just like in XI.

'Dungeons': There are currently two dungeons, with a wide array of other instances. The dungeons are pretty complex compared to the XI ones. If you remember correctly, XI only really had dungeon-like instances at endgame until CoP came around, but even then doesn't really count because multiple 'groups' were in the same zone (Promyvion). In general, there are more instances in XIV than in XI because many of them can be completed solo, or require the zone to be slightly different for you to complete a SL quest.

[Hagito]

I'd really like people to stop freaking out... I think no one realizes, except a select few, that 2.0 and the game's current version are going to be completely different. It's two different builds to the game. While they keep us happy with updates that have content 2.0 will have, they work on 2.0 in the hopes of finishing it later in the year. They KNOW this game sucks, they KNOW this game had a rocky start, and they ARE fixing it because they LISTENED to their community. In fact, SE President and CEO Yoichi Wada APOLOGIZED to us because FFXIV was so bad. So calm down, give them time. Yoshi-P and his team are working their butt off to make FFXIV the game it was meant to be. Come back after FFXIV goes 2.0, and if you STILL don't like it, at that point, I believe your opinion should be heard.

If so, I wouldn't even bother paying a subscription for the game at the moment :/ paying for something that is unfinished and in the eyes of the developers as a "failure" and the constant "2.0 is coming soon" - how soon? send me an email whenever that "soon" is... so for now, thanks but no thanks.

[Raldo]

If so, I wouldn't even bother paying a subscription for the game at the moment :/ paying for something that is unfinished and in the eyes of the developers as a "failure" and the constant "2.0 is coming soon" - how soon? send me an email whenever that "soon" is... so for now, thanks but no thanks.

You know there's a timeline, right? You want a date? November 2012. This is SE we're talking about though, so I'm going to expect March 2013.