How does FF14 compare to WoW? (And other MMOs)

[KenjoKuro]

The reason it doesn't strike terror in the heart of an experienced player is that queueing for a roulette matches the experienced player with someone who queues directly (which is almost always sprouts), so it's almost guaranteed there will be sprouts. They are used to sprouts and it's one of the design choices that makes FFXIV a nice community.

It's often said how easy this content is and that people frequently underperform in it, but this is so normalized that the experienced players expect everyone will underpeform so they don't bother being rude about it usually.

What makes it better is that one experienced player can probably do all of the work and get everyone through the dungeon successfully, so they aren't worrying that much.

I must say, that sounds like a breath of fresh air compared to some MMOs I've played. From what I've seen reported in WoW, the slightest under performance is an invitation to all manner of speculation about one's character flaws.

[VirusOnline]

FF 14s crafting system is way better..I dont have to burn 300 of a material to make ONE piece of gear with the right stats. RNG when it comes to WOW crafting is a major problem..make the same item over and over and over and over...no thanks.

The process, sure, but I get more money's worth any day.

In XIV, the market suffers from omnicrafting and the time spent in gathering/crafting. The pro is that everything is cheaply available, the con is that making profit in terms of time or the difference of buying mats has terrible return. Spending hours trying to making stacks of food and tinctures with each stack netting on average 350k (ex: dexterity @ 3k/99). Factor in the gathering node times/crafting macros and you've spent near close to 2-3hrs/stack. It's not efficient. If you buy materials, you're looking at most a 50% net profit, albeit lesser time spent due to only crafting where a single synthesis takes around 70-90s depending on your process. Omnicrafting means nothing nowadays. You're simply a crafter, competing with dozens of thousands in a now interconnected market. Anyone can do what you do and will do it at a lesser price. This is why when new crafted items are released each tier they plummet in less than a week on some worlds, and around 2 weeks in all worlds will have normalized to cheap prices while you spend hours for gathering nodes for low return. The specialization system could do better to curb this, but here we are.

Lesson ? I don't really craft anymore unless it's high value (ex weapons, glamours). I sell materials for instant and 100% profit as a result of normal gameplay (dungeons, trials, bozja, current content). As a result, I spend more time having fun than sitting around crafting for hours. The result of the current XIV system benefits buyers more than it does crafters by miles.

[Haru304]

Well, IMO:

FFXIV:

Good/decent-ish MMORPG story-telling
Lots of content compared to WoW considering how long they’ve both been a thing
One character, multiple classes
Fun, dynamic trials/raids/etc, most of which have zero trash or filler crap.
Nicer looking character models
Golden Saucer is a big plus – Darkmoon Faire does not compare
Chocobo Racing, Triple Triad.
Class stories for professions & combat classes
Player character driven story feels more immersive
PvP feels like a joke. Very messy. Probably only makes sense to people who mostly or exclusively PvP.
Player Housing system is a mixed bag but once you have a house, it’s a pretty damned nice thing to have
Emphasis on crafting/gathering with intricate and fun rotations/gear set ups.
Battle music is pretty damned good.
Fully customizable UI and tons of customization
Emphasis on finishing older content and old content still being relevant
PoTD/HoH, areas like Eureka/Bozja are kind of cool to explore and engage with
Lots of relevance and references to all FF titles.
Can gear/do stuff at your own pace mostly.
Zones sometimes look nice but feel very shallow, lack of things to do, etc.

WoW:

Familiarity. First MMORPG, been playing it for years, know the game inside and out
Transmog windows, text boxes, etc, all feel slightly better organized but UI feels very dated
Renders old content obsolete or not worth doing, leaving a lot of empty content in an otherwise huge game
Cataclysm removed a lot of assets, added new ones, etc. Bit of a mix up there. Wasn’t like 1.0 vs ARR. Was very jarring.
New class designs always kept the game fresh. In recent years, Blizzard have gotten very lazy with this.
Too many alts. No mains. Feels superficial, shallow and unearned. The levelling experience means nothing now.
Gearing is a mixed bag per expansion. Gear sets usually range from decent looking to horrific.
Raids, imo, all feel copypasta after all of these years. Only one of them is usually relevant at any one time and everything else is ‘old’ or not worth doing
Pet Battle System is kind of fun
Lots of achievement hunting to do, lots of stuff to collect, etc – both games offer a lot of this
Professions feel pointless now – wasn’t the case before.
Removal of class quests removed a lot of immersion from the game (Legion briefly made up for this with class halls)
Lack of player housing is a joke. Garrisons are terrible.
Feel like WoW is more RP friendly because of addons and speech bubbles.
Dated game engine feels jarring sometimes.
Blizzard don’t seem to care about lore or world building any-more. Lots of retcons, rehashing, etc.
The original games don’t feel relevant any-more.
Arbitrary time-gating in current expansions to ensure sub fees roll in.
Pretty good battle-grounds/arena system. Genuinely think WoW has the best PvP system of any MMORPG of this type.
Interesting zone design from time to time.

[VelKallor]

Good/decent-ish MMORPG story-telling

Shadowbringers has been acclaimed as the standard of excellence in every game magazine and website, its story and execution praised extensively.

Shadowbringers is a step above anything that has come before it. The perfect blend of captivating gameplay and a truly memorable story that rivals those heralded by fans for decades. It’s time to step out of the shadows and become what you must Final Fantasy XIV; the best MMORPG in the world.

Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers is what MMOs should aspire to, telling a story for the ages and engaging their players with evolving mechanics. It’s an exquisite adventure that needs to be experienced.

When the time came for the curtain call on the main scenario quest, which took nearly 80 hours of play, I was ready to stand and applaud. Storylines that have been building since A Realm Reborn are wrapped up with such grace that I have to wonder how long the writers have had their cards close to the chest. Old friends, like Thancred, are given room to reflect on their past misgivings and grow as characters. While fresh faces, like my ethereal companion, (spoiler name removed) , really stole the show, as he reminded me that the quiet after the storm should be just as cherished as the thrill of adventure. It helps that the dialogue is razor sharp and the voice acting is better than ever. Shadowbringers is my favorite storyline to be penned into a Final Fantasy game in nearly two decades. A tale of how darkness should not blindly bend the knee to light, for there is just as much beauty in a sea of stars as there is in a sunrise

BFA and Shadowlands story have been acclaimed for...well, nothing, really.

BFA was an unmitigated disaster. After Legion, the devs, out of ideas and phoning it in, decided to go back to the old, hackneyed, done to death and by now utterly worthless faction war, which no one, save a few die hards, thinks is worth a handful of beans.

Remember those legendary artifact weapons? Flamestrike, the ancestral blade of Dath'Remar? A weapon steeped in history, tied to the legacy of one of the Blood Elves greatest heroes. A priceless, irreplaceable treasure of the Sin'Dorei?

Where is it now?

Drained of its power and tossed in a bank tab to gather dust.

Forgotten.

Let the significance of that one sink in a moment.

They had the chance to iterate on Legion, to follow on to the story, to build on what Legion left, a world in upheaval.

They FAILED.

[Jin-]

I very recently took a break from WoW and am giving FFXIV a try.

Unless I am mistaken, one very big difference between WoW and FFXIV is that WoW is much more solo friendly.

In WoW a player can solo from level 1- 60 (current level cap) and never join a group if that is their wish. Upon reaching level cap, the solo player still has a lot of activities available to them.

In FFXIV, I will apparently be forced to group for a level 15 story quest(dungeon) and then periodically after that just to reach level cap.

I intend to give FFXIV a fair try, but forced grouping is definitely a fly in the ointment.

It's an online multi player game after all ;-)

[KenjoKuro]

Shadowbringers has been acclaimed as the standard of excellence in every game magazine and website, its story and execution praised extensively.







BFA and Shadowlands story have been acclaimed for...well, nothing, really.

BFA was an unmitigated disaster and the devs, out of ideas and phoning it in, decided to go back to the old, hackneyed, done to death and by now utterly worthless faction war, which no one save a few die hards thinks is worth a handful of beans.

Remember those legendary artifact weapons? Flamestrike, the ancestral blade of Dath'Remar? A weapon steeped in history, tied to the legacy of one of the Blood Elves greatest heroes.A priceless, irreplaceable treasure of the Sin'Dorei?

Where is it now?

Drained of its power and tossed in a bank tab to gather dust, Forgotten.

Let the significance of that one sink in a moment.

They had the chance to iterate on Legion, to follow on to the story, to build on what Legion left, a world in upheaval.

They FAILED.

Somewhere on the way to developing an E-Sport game, Blizzard forgot how to develop an RPG.

[Iscah]

Ah the 'Sprout Icon', I can only imagine the terror that strikes in the heart of an experienced player who joins a group only to be surrounded by 'Sprouts'.

The sprout icon is basically meaningless at this point. You keep it right up until the end of post-Stormblood at level 70, and (by the current pattern) will probably get raised to level 80 when the next expansion comes out.

[Jeeqbit]

The sprout icon is basically meaningless at this point. You keep it right up until the end of post-Stormblood at level 70, and (by the current pattern) will probably get raised to level 80 when the next expansion comes out.

While it's possible to play for years and still be a sprout because of going through the story slowly or to be an alt character, I find it an extremely good indication of what to expect from the player. I have occasionally seen sprouts in Stormblood dungeons that don't understand stack markers. This is usually something you learn in Heavensward but it's possible to see it but not understand it earlier on. It tells me they may not be the most experienced healer, or will probably trip up on the usual mechanics that get people on their first time through that dungeon.

In fact I would argue the sprout icon doesn't last long enough into Shadowbringers content, where the mechanics can trip people up a lot. I think it should last until the current expansion's patch is complete as well so they can continue to ask questions in the Novice Network about what to do at max level.

I just consider them a sprout if they haven't been at the very end of the main story for an extended period of time because everything before that point is synced and nerfed to be a lot easier than it is at max level, where you usually need some guidance on how things like gear progression work.

[Wolven_Essence]

Shadowbringers has been acclaimed as the standard of excellence in every game magazine and website, its story and execution praised extensively.
Remember those legendary artifact weapons? Flamestrike, the ancestral blade of Dath'Remar? A weapon steeped in history, tied to the legacy of one of the Blood Elves greatest heroes.A priceless, irreplaceable treasure of the Sin'Dorei?

Where is it now?

It still makes me sick to remember that this happened to the Doomhammer. The freaking Doomhammer!!!

[Iscah]

In fact I would argue the sprout icon doesn't last long enough into Shadowbringers content, where the mechanics can trip people up a lot. I think it should last until the current expansion's patch is complete as well so they can continue to ask questions in the Novice Network about what to do at max level.

I just consider them a sprout if they haven't been at the very end of the main story for an extended period of time because everything before that point is synced and nerfed to be a lot easier than it is at max level, where you usually need some guidance on how things like gear progression work.

Different takes on what the sprout implies, I guess. I see it more as an indication of how generally familiar someone is with the game - by level 70 they should certainly have a good idea of how the game basically functions, even if they don't know how to perform in a particular fight, so it doesn't make sense to keep them with the same icon as someone who is level 1, fresh off the boat in their starter gear.

Perhaps it needs to be split into two icons - one for a true newbie sprout (lasting until the end of ARR perhaps) and one for "not new but still progressing".