To those that say FF14 is not a big dog in MMO's

[Ralph2449]

It doesn't help when Pro WoW players occasionally come into FFXIV and keep pushing for WoW systems to be put in XIV

And the funny thing is that their attempts are quite obvious since they are used to getting their way in WoW since they have deluded themselves doing high end content entitles them to more dev resources. Thankfully unlike Ion the Ff14 team cares about the majority and creating a good immersive world rather than pander to the esport elitist crowd which is why they get so mad at the fact that ultimates aren’t a priority here.
Their attempts to influence the devs are thankfully failing though from some research that also is because apparently their main focus is the Japanese region feedback which as a community seem to be far healthier compared to the western gamer who is obsessed over achievements and exclusive rewards and keeping it from others so they can feel special.

Shadowlands is 97% made for raid loggers yet still they whine and foam at the fact they can’t go full 100% metaslave because they aren’t allowed to change covenants Willy nilly so they can be 100% optimal for each boss fight cuz omg, imagine only being 95% optimal, the world ends for metaslaves xD

[Awha]

Hey changing covenants would be nice.

[Vahlnir]

This just shows that Blizzard are concerned about FFXIV.

And this annoys me because as someone who used to love WoW and left due to feeling alienated and lied to, I wish Blizzard would just look at their game properly instead of trying to time their releases with another. They wouldn't have to worry about how another game is doing if their own mmo was actually in a healthy state. God. I miss the old Blizzard so much.

I feel you on this one. I really do. I miss the old Blizzard too. They didn't have to prove anything to no one. They just...made good games.

[MoofiaBossVal]

Personally I wish Square Enix would push in the dagger and give us a pvp revamp and Mythic plus content but it seems I will be waiting still for this.

As someone who enjoys and still has a sub to both games. In the end both scratch a different itch. Though I will say FFXIV PvP is so far behind WoW's in terms of general play and reaction I doubt SE will ever be able to grab that crowd outside of a full engine overhaul coupled with a rework. PvP is the main reason why I still have my WoW sub.

^^^

There are only a few things I miss about WoW.

Gameplay

• PvP. Straight up better in WoW. I doubt PvP in FFXIV can ever compare due to the poor netcode/input delay and a lot of other technical issues (borked physics in FFXIV, whereas in WoW knockbacks are pretty huge in the PvP experience). I'm cautiously optimistic about the new PvP mode coming in Endwalker, but I think that the input delay and borked physics might be a hurdle that simply cannot be overcome to provide a good PvP experience.

Story

• Fleshed out faction units/armies and equipment. I suppose this is more indicative of WoW's roots as an RTS, which has its roots in tabletop wargaming and painted miniatures like Warhammer. In WoW, I have a very clear idea about the capabilities of each race, nation, and faction. "Oh, the Gnomes are the engineer specialists of the alliance. They can build steampunk tanks, which can be used on the battlefield to knock down enemy walls, cross trenches, survive incoming arrow/musket fire, and can be used as portable cover for infantry. Or they can build gyrocopters, which have machine guns and missiles. The gnomes and the alliance can also build Skyfire-class airships for the Alliance. The Alliance generally has aerial and naval superiority." etc. When there is a conflict, I can rightly predict which tool my faction has that will fit the bill, and there is a satisfaction in that. Many of those tools have become extremely iconic to me, like those rickety Horde demolishers, or trolls riding on raptors as scouting/skirmisher units. Or Gnomish rayguns that can shrink people or emit radiation. Etc. But in FFXIV, aside from the Garlean army, I don't really have a feel for what units each Eorzean Alliance city-state/grand company has at their disposal. I think it'd be cool if, for example, we saw Ishgardian Dragoon squads show up throughout the story (ie, being used as anti-air to strike down Garlean airships, or as scouting units, or penetrating deep behind enemy lines and getting out), but that just doesn't really happen.

• Zone design. More specifically, MoP-era zone design. The Jade Forest made Pandaria feel populated. In most video games and MMOs (including FFXIV), it feels like there are only a few dozen people living in the main towns, and maybe there is a tiny village of half a dozen or less people living in four or five buildings out in the wilderness, and that's it. That's the extent of civilization. It strains belief, and what you see (very few people) is at odds with what the story is trying to tell you (you are fighting in a war consisting of hundreds of thousands of soldiers defending cities of millions of people!). Yanxia is probably one of the worst offenders, as Namai is literally the one and only village in all of Doma, with a grand total of 20 NPCs, and yet the story kept insisting that somehow, there was actual a vast Doman army of hundreds to thousands of people, all from apparently offscreen villages. Pandaria was vast improvement, as throughout The Jade Forest, there were people and their homes EVERYWHERE! There are over 1,000 (yes, ONE THOUSAND) NPCs located in the Jade Forest. Even if you subtract 200 hostile mobs, that's still over 800 NPCs you're constantly seeing and houses everywhere. There are plenty of settlements in the Jade Forest that don't exist to be quest hubs, or even have quests in them, but simply exist! The hidden village on the cliff, the houses on the hills, and so on. It made Pandaria feel like a real country. I can believe that an army of hundreds to thousands of people could be drafted from here. Furthermore, Pandaria was dotted by many Mogu ruins, ancient shrines, and scrolls about Emperor Shaohao, further fleshing out the feeling that Pandaria is a storied place.

[VictorTheed]

FFXIV is my favorite MMO, with ESO being my 2nd favorite, but if WoW would ever come to consoles I'd give it a try.

[Curisu]

My guess for the next WoW expansion is Deathwalker.

It feels like FFxiv does not try to compete with anything. They have their fixed schedule and plans for future updates no matter what other big MMOs are doing.
And I've heard that shadowlands implemented a few systems that seems inspired by things we have in FFxiv.

[Saefinn]

WoW continues to live rent-free in every FFXIV players head.

WoW still has 3-4x the total active population of this game. Must be a better game amirite.

It's a popular game I'm sure many people's friends play or many people have had a background with. I have friends who play and my siblings used to play so I've tried to get into it multiple times and just...can't. I've given most expansion releases a try and I get so bored and it feels uninspired. At level 66 I gave up on my Warlock because I was just so done with doing a million quests that all feel the same with no plot hook to keep me going and 50+ minutes in DPS dungeon queues that I just couldn't take it any more. I tried Death Knight and got further. I had an opportunity for a free level boost, used it on Paladin and then see me through to level cap and I didn't find it engaging after I had made it to endgame where all the fun was supposed to be. Then later Paladin got boring to play. I wanted to level Shaman as I was a healer, but...I just didn't see the hook at the end game worth levelling for or the £40 for a jump potion. I tried, but even with Shadowbringerlands' changes, it's a wall and one I already burned out on a long time ago. Just like me in FFXIV and FATEs, but at least FATE grinding is no longer the preferred method for EXP...it's just an annoying relic step instead, which Bozja at least breaks it up with Critical Engagements. Plus FATE levelling tended to be done on secondary jobs, MSQ has always made up the bulk of EXP on initial jobs, so when I burned out on FATE grinding back in the day, it was not so bad.

PvP when I started was also hell. Once I hit level cap and actually had access to gear that wasn't going to be trumped by heirlooms I learned that I wasn't dying because I was bad at PvP, I was dying easily because the people killing me had heirlooms...because suddenly I was a lot better at PvP than I thought I was.


But I like casually playing other MMO's during content draught, but I've ended up resubbing to FFXI. For as broken and out dated it is, I still find it more engaging than WoW. I've had periods of GW2, SW:TOR and BDO during content draught too.

[Penthea]

literally no one says this. especially on here.

but anything to make another "WoW bad, XIV gud" post I guess...

Personally I don't want WoW to be bad. There are many reasons why I loved that game and I am so saddened that players today do not get to experience the majority of those reasons. I came back briefly in Shadowlands to give the game another chance. However I found that the design philosophy is still in what I consider to be a poor state so I unsubbed. I was so intensely disappointed.

I want WoW to be amazing again. But with the current decision makers in Blizzard that clearly isn't going to happen. I find it depressing. At least the Diablo team seems to be in a far better state. Not too keen on Immortal but what I have seen and read about Diablo 4 looks great so far. I'm really looking forward to it.

[VelKallor]

It doesnt matter

9.1 PTR still means mid April, call that cycle at least 3 months, that makes July , with a possible 9.1 release August. One of those patch facets is flight, along with all their other content that will be drip fed via timegating. Either way, Shadowlands flight wont come till AT LEAST September..by which time a lot of their playerbase will be sick and fed up.

Their penchant with timegating content is a MASSIVE problem with the playerbase, and I cant see that exodus slowing down any time soon. Not enough content, too little, too late in the game cycle when a lot of your players arent playing or are raid logging because there is zero to do in between ( Hello WOD, raid or die anyone? ).

They have had two expansions since WOD and have learned.....

....NOTHING.

[VelKallor]

That being said, I'm expecting either the next patch for WoW and/or TBC Classic to try and line up their releases to compete against Endwalker

If you are relying on an earlier version of the game to prop up your current game...you got MAJOR problems.