FFXIV and SqEnix vs WoW and Blizzard - My Perspective

[Absurdity]

I played WoW until roughly the end of Legion and stopped for the exact same reason that I fear is slowly creeping into XIV. Sure, the content was there in Legion, be it for casual players or raiders, but the class design became more and more boring.

"Too many abilities" was the theme by the end of Mists of Pandaria, which arguably had some button bloat since every class had a bit of everything, but since WoD's launch it was ability pruning after ability pruning until I found myself literally spamming 3 buttons outside of the burst windows on my warrior in Legion's raids...and at that point I just took a step back, looked at what I enjoyed about the game previously, the ability to master my class in all content.

To make use out of every single ability, no matter how "useless" it might've seemed, to get an edge. Then I looked at what I was doing now, spam two buttons for 80% of the time, build rage, spend rage on 1 button, pop cooldowns, do the same again, even pvp was no different because your kit simply had few other alternatives...and at that point I simply stopped.

This is what keeps me from touching the game again for long even nowadays, they introduce useless "borrowed power" systems that you need to grind for to make your class feel somewhat like it's complete and keep up with everyone else. If you do not have those systems it feels like an empty husk of what it was in game's "golden days" where your class was simply a well-designed complete package. Even when utilizing the systems, you know, in the back of your mind, that it is gonna disappear with the next expansion and your class is gonna handle like a car with two wheels missing once more.

No matter how good the content might or might not be, if one of your game's cores is broken then it is simply not enjoyable.

[Puremallace]

Why are you guys even complaining about WoW? Has anyone stopped to think, maybe that game just isn't for them? Just as FFXIV is for us, we can't expect WoW to change their design philosophy for a tiny minority.

No I think what makes FF14 and WoW players different is they are willing to put up with Blizzard just throwing out everything in an expansion that is loved to try some new broken system. If you think I am lying go talk with a WoW player right now about anything broken in Shadowlands and their excuse is "oh they will fix it eventually like they always do".

FF14 players expect perfection while WoW players settle for mediocrity.

This is what keeps me from touching the game again for long even nowadays, they introduce useless "borrowed power" systems that you need to grind for to make your class feel somewhat like it's complete and keep up with everyone else. If you do not have those systems it feels like an empty husk of what it was in game's "golden days" where your class was simply a well-designed complete package. Even when utilizing the systems, you know, in the back of your mind, that it is gonna disappear with the next expansion and your class is gonna handle like a car with two wheels missing once more.

Borrowed power is a consequence of trying to avoid ability bloat by a developer with no self awareness of how much developer time gets devoted to making those systems work over a 2 year period plus having to break the prior system in the new expansion. They advertise it as a choice but anyone who played WoW for 3 seconds knows it is the illusion of choice.

WoW devs never understood that you could have a GCD with oGCD abilities that could be weaved into intricate combinations on set predictable timers. Instead for them it had to be dumbed down rotations. So they took away all predictability with rotations and embraced systems that caused proc based OGCD's and if they do not proc then you go from the top of the charts to the bottom. So people chase meta builds that cause those systems to guarantee or 99% guarantee that proc based RNG further killing any real choice you have.

[Mavrias]

WoW has changed through the expansions. ANd you're right @SturmChurro, the game is not for me anymore.
I could play easily as a casual player the past expansions, but in the new one, i can't. The loots were gutted, and the game is designed to make people more selfish and egocentric. It's like in big cities : full of people that don't interract with each other.
Everything is focused on the raids, and the mythic + dungeon system => competition. Rankings. As casual, you have no place. Everyone is so focused on the ranking and everything, they lose their "humanity", they forgot they are here for fun. Like said before, WoW became an e-sport, with all that implies (stress, nervousness, rush, insults ... the list goes on). So i quit. It's not for me anymore. I's not the game i want to play anymore. It was not like that before, and i miss that game. So i switched to FFXIV. And i feel much more relaxed here. The people seem much more relaxed too. Every evening, i play for fun. And i have fun.
In WoW, it had become a chore, and it was stressfull. Each dungeon was stressfull.

Some people have fun chasing rankings and improving their game play to compete. Just because it isn't fun for you, doesn't mean the kind of people who find that content style enjoyable have lost their humanity or are selfish.

That being said if you find it to be a chore you definitely shouldn't be playing it. You might want to look into WoW Classic however, if you enjoyed vanilla back in the day.

[GrizzlyTank]

WoW devs never understood that you could have a GCD with oGCD abilities that could be weaved into intricate combinations on set predictable timers. Instead for them it had to be dumbed down rotations. So they took away all predictability with rotations and embraced systems that caused proc based OGCD's and if they do not proc then you go from the top of the charts to the bottom. So people chase meta builds that cause those systems to guarantee or 99% guarantee that proc based RNG further killing any real choice you have.

Sorry but there isn't really any intricate about weaving abilities in FFXIV, and arguably combat rotations in FFXIV is one of it's weaker points due to almost all jobs being fixed and predictable rotations that could have been macroed to one button, if not for the macros limitation on timing. FFXIV is definetly prettier to look at but that is that when it comes to combat.

[Puremallace]

Sorry but there isn't really any intricate about weaving abilities in FFXIV, and arguably combat rotations in FFXIV is one of it's weaker points due to almost all jobs being fixed and predictable rotations that could have been macroed to one button, if not for the macros limitation on timing. FFXIV is definetly prettier to look at but that is that when it comes to combat.

Funny to see this comment typed by a Dragoon. It is easy for you to type this because there is not a Mythic difficulty equivalent for FF14 but if there were you would realize how hard it is to min/max your rotation. Right now outside of pushing Savage day 1 or Ultimate you could rofl across your keyboard and do the rotation semi correctly without even having to read a lot of your abilities that say your dps is maximized from certain angles and timings.

FF14 does have a lack of responsibility for healers/dps like WoW does when it comes to cleanses or interrupts. If you miss a cleanse in WoW on some bosses you will wipe and especially with interrupts for melee.

[Vickii]

Sorry but there isn't really any intricate about weaving abilities in FFXIV, and arguably combat rotations in FFXIV is one of it's weaker points due to almost all jobs being fixed and predictable rotations that could have been macroed to one button, if not for the macros limitation on timing. FFXIV is definetly prettier to look at but that is that when it comes to combat.

I never played dps spec bar dabbling in shadowpriest and I guess it probably boiled down to a rotation of some sort.. but, and I might be misrembering here, I always found WoW, as a priest to be more of a free flowing reactive game where something happened on screen and I changed what I did, and it wasn’t always the same every time.

As a FF mechanist literally all I do on this front is move out of orange circles while still pressing my buttons. Every single Eden normal fight flows the exact same for me and every single dungeon does too. Not that I’m complaining, I quite like it and it’s fun when you really focus and squeeze that little bit more out but generally I don’t remember wow being this way. Might just be because I was always healer, but I find ff healers are very rotational based too.

[Vahlnir]

Funny to see this comment typed by a Dragoon. It is easy for you to type this because there is not a Mythic difficulty equivalent for FF14 but if there were you would realize how hard it is to min/max your rotation. Right now outside of pushing Savage day 1 or Ultimate you could rofl across your keyboard and do the rotation semi correctly without even having to read a lot of your abilities that say your dps is maximized from certain angles and timings.

FF14 does have a lack of responsibility for healers/dps like WoW does when it comes to cleanses or interrupts. If you miss a cleanse in WoW on some bosses you will wipe and especially with interrupts for melee.

It mostly depends on the job and the person. Personally, I find picking up anything but a healer and going to be relatively easy. But mastering anything takes practice. I definitely can't say I know my stuff all the time. lol But I do have a basic understanding. There are no real positionals for anyone but Rogues and Feral Druid in WoW. If anything, WoW has more of a button mashing combat system. But obviously there's a right way and a wrong way to mash those buttons.

[Vickii]

FF14 does have a lack of responsibility for healers/dps like WoW does when it comes to cleanses or interrupts. If you miss a cleanse in WoW on some bosses you will wipe and especially with interrupts for melee.

Yes! I think you just hit on what I was trying to say. I vividly remember zoning into some dungeons and having to crazy aoe heal in WoW. And other times I’d just drop a renew and smite a bit. And sometimes I had to cleanse, and sometimes I had to use my holy CC.

Raid bosses in black temple literally had me doing different things from one boss to the next. Be it mechanics (actual mechanics like turning into a ghost and zapping things, not just moving) or a different use of my toolkit. Where as every Eden boss plays the exact same with different movements at least on normal mode.

As a MCH I literally never interrupt or use CC. These are role skills that are not on my main bar (as a console player). If someone tells me I have to interrupt or CC something I’ll do it, but honestly I never have used them and don’t even remember exactly what most of them do.

[Ayuhra]

So Blizzard could listen to the vocal minority asking for WoW to be made casual for them, and thus reach out to people who are interested in that kind of content... but how many of their core / endgame-orientated players would they lose as a consequence? Read their comments and you'll see... they seem to want raids either completely removed for them (ie 100% optional) or gutted for everyone... Yes they are a small percentage of the MMO gaming community, that has in too many games received abnormally high dev attention for their numbers. Games have been diluted to cater to casuals as the years have gone by.

I feel like you are misunderstanding the issue casuals have.

We want more things to do than raiding or activities that seem designed to entice us to raid by making us more powerful.

Endgame progression systems get bigger and bigger as WoW goes along but other activities that do NOT contribute to power progression get less and less attention.

Crafting was pointless for most of BfA and only made a comeback in Shadowlands with the ability to craft legendaries and, thus, became a very meaningful way of progressing power.

Pet battling continues but wild pets seem a lot less common in Shadowlands.

Archaeology, a pointless but interesting side activity, received NO update/new content in Shadowlands whatsoever.

Transmog (their Glamour) DID receive an update that loosened restrictions and some pretty new cosmetic sets were added so we got that at least.



I don't think bringing back more casual and fun content that is there just for an aesthetic progression would make raiders quit. If anything it would make them stick around. After a point many raiders I've known log on for raid nights but are otherwise absent.

[Puremallace]

I don't think bringing back more casual and fun content that is there just for an aesthetic progression would make raiders quit. If anything it would make them stick around. After a point many raiders I've known log on for raid nights but are otherwise absent.

Only way to fix WoW is with a badge vendor. Add some currency from different things like in Wrath so casuals have real bad luck protection vs the never ending RNG time sink loop. This is one thing the FF14 devs have stuck to and I do not see casuals and hardcore raiders in this MMO literally hating each other.