FF14 is in a content lul but super popular? Here is why.

[Theodric]

ESO just dropped a new expansion. But many WoW players dont like ESO so they are coming here which will last until november. Plus FFXIV has a good system to where you dont feel forced to play every day, week or month.

ESO is likely what I would be playing if FFXIV didn't exist. It has a lot of things I like, especially in regards to how the game world can be interacted with. The character models are arguably in uncanny valley territory, though. Furthermore a lot of ESO's open world bosses are bullet sponges and the cash shop is pretty invasive. At least FFXIV's cash shop doesn't take things off of its store in an effort to encourage people to buy things for fear of missing out.

At the moment, FFXIV wins out for me but I'd definitely appreciate more competition where the MMO market is concerned.

[Drakonic]

Preach is known in the WoW Mythic community and attracts that community. Go look at that comment section and tell me if those seem like happy players. You can call me a shill but my post history clearly shows I have no issue pointing out FF14's issues. Go see the Tank forums if you want to see how I really feel about Role Quest.

The point I am making is this MASSIVE flood of sprouts we have right now is for a good reason and it is going to accelerate.

I am SOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY that Square Enix does not seem to disclose its paid promotions.

[Puremallace]

I am SOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY that Square Enix does not seem to disclose its paid promotions.

I mean I guess full disclosure I do own shares in EWJ an ETF focused on Japanese companies that has a 1% exposure to Square Enix so I guess there is that but that is 0.5% of my overall portfolio.

[Ayuhra]

As I see it, both games are in a content lull at the moment. If you're a brand new player to either game then there's plenty of content to get through because everything is fresh and exciting - whereas a veteran player is going to struggle to have things to do that interest them as they've probably gone through a lot of what they wanted to do already.

What I miss about WoW and envy about ESO, however, is that the open world matters much more than it does in FFXIV. There's many reasons to go out and explore in both of those games whereas most of FFXIV's content is entirely instanced.

I really wish we had something like the archaeology system from WoW and ESO in FFXIV.

My dream MMO has the story, visual flourish, enthusiasm, vertical progression, and activities of Final Fantasy XIV, the glamour system, mount system, snappiness, rotations and raid design of World of WarCraft and the crafting, gathering and open world content of Elder Scrolls Online.

[Puremallace]

My dream MMO has the story, visual flourish, enthusiasm, vertical progression, and activities of Final Fantasy XIV, the glamour system, mount system, snappiness, rotations and raid design of World of WarCraft and the crafting, gathering and open world content of Elder Scrolls Online.

Then you can go ahead and keep dreaming. American game developers will never do what FF14 has done and Japanese game developers will never do what the American ones do. Too many conflicting priorities. I have that same dream also btw.

[Catwho]

It's also not a content lull if you pace yourself. I'm still 17 #$%&ing crystals short of the x180 item step of the relic quest. I've finished the first two chunks, at least.

[Jandor]

I really wish we had something like the archaeology system from WoW and ESO in FFXIV.

Archaeologist for next gatherer class!

[van_arn]

Archaeologist already exists in xiv. Qiqrn beast tribe obviously. The most important beast tribe.

[Shurrikhan]

I really wish we had something like the archaeology system from WoW and ESO in FFXIV.

I want archaeology content, so to speak, but no archaeology system. Let me explain.

Essentially, any leveling system is just going to be a series of lock-outs. You cannot do thing #44 until you've done sufficient prior things to unlock thing #44. Certain lockout procedures may be more rigid or more flexible, and may ultimately seem a good thing in that their constraints create a more curated course through which to progress, but at the end of the day they are only restrictions.

I don't want to have to care about the lore of Cutter's Cry or Qarn or the areas around Qarn, etc., just to be allowed to find out more about Sharlayan. And given that leveling progression systems in XIV tend to be far less flexible than in WoW or the like, that's all I can imagine an archaeology "system" really doing -- giving me "must do"s before I can access my "want to do"s.

All that would be far, far worse, even, if Archaeologist were made a gathering class, as it'd remove any possibilities for progression from otherwise lore-rich dungeons and require a whole separate gear set just to use for those who want to just go Indiana Jones (combat + archaeology).

[Caurcas]

14 just has the best laid out and designed endgame rotational gameplay. ESO is like playing a chimp smashing a keyboard, and WoW isn't much better. This is why, I hope, it maintaining its popularity.