A Warcraft player's letter to the FFXIV community

[Meatball]

Hey!

As you guys undoubtedly have noticed, there has been a so called "Mass Exodus" from World of Warcraft due arguments from the warcraft community with the devs, 2 very bad expansions in a row with questionable game design choices and now recently, a law suit from the state of California dropped in.

The reason I am writing this is due to a concern from the FFXIV community. Since the reputation that Warcraft has.

With the latest expansion "Shadowlands", the game design choices has been nothing but questionable. The loot drops in end-game content was massively hindered, with giving next to nothing in the way of loot dropping for us players when doing content. The only thing we have to rely on was a weekly chest with rewards, called "The Vault".

The Vault gives rewards based on your completed activities over the week, by doing Raiding, Keystone Dungeons (A time based hard version of dungeons with modifiers, increasing in difficulty each level) and PVP content.

With this reward chest every week, it is our only reliable failsafe source of upgrades to gear, but only 1 piece of gear, each week.

People on masse aim towards doing the highest possible level, 4 to 10 of them in a week, which has encouraged "Gate Keeping", by that I mean that people wants to make sure they can get their runs done for the week, with minimal hassle and complications.
Minimal amounts of deaths, high performane on damage and get the work done fast.

Also with the use of multiple addons, it gives measurements on how much a player has done this form of content previously. Giving players a rating status, which people uses to filter out who to pick and who to deny for groups. Also DPS meters are heavily used during runs and is an additonal form of measurement.

On top of this, over 2 expansions, there has been end game activities that only pushed for one thing: wasting your time as much as possible to increase active in-game time.
If you miss out on 1 week, of doing your chores? You have to play catch up or you will fall behind.

Every time you log in to play Warcraft, you logged in not to play, but to do the daily chores.

The meta in end-game content is very strong, which pushes people into playing a class in very specific ways, just to "do the damage / performance they are supposte to do, according to statistics".

It has reached a point now in Warcraft when the community are angry, dissappointed, feeling ignored by the devs, we are tired of doing tedious grinds, only to have yet another system come in and replace the old one, making us start from scratch. There are plenty more things that are very wrong with Warcrafts current game design, but also the devs attituted to players feedback.

The basic mantra of Blizzard: While there is three major issues in the game, they solve a fourth imaginary problem, that THEY consider to be a problem inside the office.

(Scroll down for the second part)

[Meatball]

Now to my view on FFXIV:

I have now reached the early stages of Shadowbringers expansion, and so far, everything feels like it has just been a breeze. A overwhelming sense of freedom that I can play what I want, I can do what I want and I am not being restricted from playing my game.

The story in this game, is mindblowing kind of good. It has so much narrative detail to it that I always walk around with the sense of "I want to know what happens next". There is so much motivation to continue the main story questline as it is so captivating.

The dungeons feels like actual dungeons, with the trash mobs being actual trash and the bosses actually being real bosses.

The Trials has been an absolute blast and the community has been nothing but amazing helpful people taking their time to shortly explain strategies to fights.

The Jobs are well explained in what they do, their purpose in parties and playing without being hassled about "do more DPS" is very freeing. It feels very easy to get into it as well as you just need to follow the combos. The gameplay in FFXIV is a very strong factor on why I am having a great time.

The rules of no addons use feels great as the UI in the game, is very well made and fully customizable so the need for addons, is non-existant.

GMs in this games feels like they are really active and it feels comforting to know that there will be a real actual person reading my reports instead of receiving a copy-pasta standard reply from a bot on Blizzards side.

So when people asks me "Will you be bringing the toxic nature that can be found in Warcraft?": There is nothing in FFXIV I can complain about, there is nothing in the community to complain about. I think people can rest easy knowing that the game itself feels amazing, the story is amazing, the content is amazing. The devs are clearly listening to its community and the game itself is so easy to pick up on. I would honestly be struggling if I were asked to poke holes in FFXIVs game design.

Will the streamer Asmongold bring toxic people into the FFXIV? Considering the very active GMs, I find it very unlikely that IF there is a few toxic people that trickles in, they wont be online for very long. Asmongolds streamer persona is very much this "Macho Bro" kind of vibes, but on his second channel and streams, when you get to know the real person behind the persona of Asmongold.

I know he can come across as this "Macho Bro" from an outside perspective, but he is definitely a positive streamer that only wants a MMO to succeed. I can strongly recommend to check out his second youtube channel and streams on Zackrawr and get a sense of the real person behind the camera, so to speak.

I also love his collabs with Zepla.

Playing FFXIV, feels like I am once again free to just play my game, in the right kind of way.

I apologise for the long post, thank you for reading and here is a fat chocobo giving you a cookie

[TaleraRistain]

Welcome to Eorzea! Glad you're enjoying it. It's exactly as you said about bringing any toxicity. If it breaks the ToS, it will be handled just like the toxicity that already exists. Because as you mentioned, our devs have very clear thoughts about what they do and do not want to allow in the game.

[AxelBranford]

Firstly, welcome!
Glad to have ye all with us!
And no apologises required, monsieur! All songs are meant to be sung!
The environment makes the community, so even if different cultures are met, they soon shall adapt.
Have fun, have laughs and enjoy your journey!

[Alxyzntlct]

Well said!

It’s true, FFXIV is an absolute delight unto itself. The story is incredible, the gameplay is super fun (SO loving multiple jobs!), and the community is amazing.

Huzzah! Welcome to Eorzea!!!

[Tarryme]

The ops view on wow seems very close to my view on GW2. Both seem to be going down the same self destructive path.
FF14 on the other hand is brimming with charm, it feels magical and alive in comparison. A game made for the gamer and not the pocket.
I have never been much of a wow fan, spending most of my game time playing GW2. Now I'm here, I am in for the long haul so don't even think about trying to get rid of me or I shell cast my most potent 'charm' spell on you.

There is always something to make me smile in FF14.

People sporting glamour striking a pose for their audience.
The cute little cat girl weaving a new blouse in the middle of a bloody battle.
The male ncp that says to the female npc ' hey lass you give me a right hard on'

[MagicAura]

Welcome to Eorzea and absolutely no need for apologies!

People asking about toxicity is inherent to two things i believe. The first is that they care about the game and the community and the second is the wrong assumption that people are born toxic and therefore carry said toxicity with them. At the end of the day, the fear of losing a cherished thing is what makes people afraid.

The game is not perfect, the community is not perfect, but what matters, i believe, is that everything in this game feels as if it was made with love and respect and care for the people who play it. For me that's amazing, it's what attracted me to the game, together with the incredibly amazing story (obviously that's my personal opinion, not everyone agrees, but that's absolutely fine). Having said that, as someone with mental health troubles, i've lost count how many times the game has literally saved my life since i started playing in June 2020. And for that i'll be eternally grateful.

It's good to have more people and the additional diversity can only be a positive thing as we only advance and learn from examining other people's views and perspectives.

Once more, welcome!

[Clover_Blake]

Welcome to Eorzea!

I've never played WoW, but understand the feeling of being in a place you dislike, and how it affects your mood. I hope you'll be able to enjoy FFXIV for a long time!

[kaynide]

Welcome aboard!

Just to address some of your concerns with your WoW experience, when you hit endgame of an expansion early on, there can be this feeling of "daily chores".. like a weekly raid for loot, a daily roulette or beast tribe, etc.

...BUT there really is no issue with being "behind" in this game. Any items or gear that is current will only get easier to get as an expansion ages.

So! When Endwalker drops, and you get to the end, don't feel like you have to grind out tomestones...or that you NEED to get a complete set of raid gear. You can absolutely walk away from the game for a year and then spend a matter of days to be back at end-game level gear. (Not necessarily BiS, but you'll be able to do all content!)

I guess that's the big point. You can (and should) just play at your pace. Have fun!

oh, and on Asmongold- I never knew him before he started FFXIV and I have actually really enjoyed watching some of his streams. He has genuinely just been having a good time and it shows.

[Kes13a]

welcome to the journey.

I hope you continue to enjoy a game which doesnt resemble a daily job you have to do in order to just stay in the same place and maybe pull a bit ahead. best part of being here, is as has been said, if you miss some time, you will never be "behind" like WoW

good to have you here and enjoy your time always ^^