Grinding in FFXIV vs Other MMOs

[BabyYoda]

I feel it lacks sometimes. I've been playing some of the other MMOs, including one that recently released (T&L) alongside WoW and FFXIV. I feel we could have more FC interactions, and more replayability with special stuff dropping from dungeons and whatnot. I understand the casual mindset regarding the game design in itself, but I don't know. I just log, do stuff, level an alt, talk with the folks on FC, and theres that.

I have never played an MMO in a long time since 2020 but I tried T&L and went to first open area dungeon.. I just stick to that place for 2 hours of having fun with friends.. gearing and looting to enhance my gear.. it is just fun experience I don't remember that I had before in FFXIV normal content only I'm bozja when I get glimps of that feeling

[DiaDeem]

Implying that I have time for more than one MMO? lol

[Valence]

The time gating is a design supposed to level and smooth out the curve of the progression through any new kind of content, gearing, etc. It's a meta system that does its job (new tomes for cutting edge progression versus old tomes for catch up is the most basic example), but only at a macro level. If there is nothing repeatable within that framework, then it falls flat on its ass for the reasons evoked above by people. But, it remains an important, core part of any MMO and XIV has it right at the most basic level. When it comes to dailies, weeklies, those are good, and are NOT part of repeatable content, as you do them once and move on every time you connect: they actually are part of the time gated progression system and help people with less time catch up faster as well as people leveling catch up with decent queues. This part is a healthy system.

My problem with XIV is the grind, which is does extremely badly. There is little reasons to keep running instances beyond spamming highest level dungeons to level up, and even if you could, you'd end up with heavily scripted systems that feel incredibly dull and repetitive to actually grind. Then we do have some grindable content that is usually part of relic weapons, and we have seen how miserably dull it can be: light farming, fate farming, instance farming... Did you genuinely have fun by spamming A1S or A9S unsynced? Do you genuinely have fun hitting hundreds of mobs that do nothing in Eureka just to pop a NM that has a couple of tricks and acts as a glorified FATE? What of Bozja's CEs? They were better FATEs but still remained FATEs on the exact same overworld than in normal areas stripped of its dangers like we had in Eureka. And they essentially behaved like a boss in a circle area regurgitating the same mechanics we've seen countless times everywhere and like for Eureka the only redeemable feature of both was the spicy amount of casualties (if you were a healer, nothing fun for other jobs). Once you had seen all those things once, it fell back into the same pit of scripted repeatability.

The real issue of XIV is that grind doesn't work well within because XIV is literally built around rigid scripts with almost no rng elements, and it's plagued the game in literally almost every aspect of it but pvp (and even then, before the new pvp, I'd argue that Feast was exactly that: scripted to the bone).

[Sunako]

What I like in this game, you don't have to grind that much to gain bis in this game. Playing f2p mmo is like having another full time job which I don't like.

What I would like to change is that old BIS gear can not even compete with new crafting gear once new season start. Old BIS should be at least entry level gear for next savage.

[Kuroka]

What I like in this game, you don't have to grind that much to gain bis in this game. Playing f2p mmo is like having another full time job which I don't like.

What I would like to change is that old BIS gear can not even compete with new crafting gear once new season start. Old BIS should be at least entry level gear for next savage.

As an "outsider" to Raiding ive never understood that... so we grind out Savage gear, have 735, but the first tier of 7.2 will bring 750(?) crafted and normal raid gear, plus new tome stuff so the old Savage stuff is pointless?

Ive always felt they need to spread out Ilvl way further, so we actually can progress...

[Ardeth]

As an "outsider" to Raiding ive never understood that... so we grind out Savage gear, have 735, but the first tier of 7.2 will bring 750(?) crafted and normal raid gear, plus new tome stuff so the old Savage stuff is pointless?

Ive always felt they need to spread out Ilvl way further, so we actually can progress...

Or make that progress matter more, but you'd have gatekeeping either way.

I just don't see much of a future in it with these developers. All we really have to look forward to as casuals is content that people hated. I know now people who jump to defend it, but people hated Eureka. People hated Bozja. They will hate the new one. Islands launched as this hyper casual content. People hated it. Could we expand on it and fix it? Nope, just make a new one.

I just can't see this development team being that competent. I'm sorry, I just can't. Exploratory zone 3.0 is just going to be the same boring grindy convaluted mess that it always is. Please look forward to it!

[BabyYoda]

Or make that progress matter more, but you'd have gatekeeping either way.

I just don't see much of a future in it with these developers. All we really have to look forward to as casuals is content that people hated. I know now people who jump to defend it, but people hated Eureka. People hated Bozja. They will hate the new one. Islands launched as this hyper casual content. People hated it. Could we expand on it and fix it? Nope, just make a new one.

I just can't see this development team being that competent. I'm sorry, I just can't. Exploratory zone 3.0 is just going to be the same boring grindy convaluted mess that it always is. Please look forward to it!

I think the problem is Mr. Yoshi team is trying to reinvent the wheel.. we already have successful formula for this kind of content.. trying to add things that will make things much more complicated without achieving meaningful results is what led them to make this kind of content even worst

[CaedemSanguis]

Im only interested in high end pve (which last longer than any casual stuff), and even with this, I unsub maybe for 12-15 month total each expansion, and I dont do any grind (relics/fates/achievments)

So I really dont get how casuals can stay subbed

[PaleYonder]

I don't like grinding at all.
I don't mind doing a thing I enjoy a few more times for something, and I enjoy the number-go-up from levelling, but there's a threshold for me between the acceptable and where it's just a grind and therefore a chore I avoid because I've got enough of those IRL.
I like to get what I want relatively quickly and generally do the various gameplay components just for the inherent fun of them. Making them a long arduous grind to get something is rather a demotivating factor to me than the other way around. What could be fun is now work, and I'll resent the respective games for it.

[Hallarem]

I don't like grinding at all.
I don't mind doing a thing I enjoy a few more times for something, and I enjoy the number-go-up from levelling, but there's a threshold for me between the acceptable and where it's just a grind and therefore a chore I avoid because I've got enough of those IRL.
I like to get what I want relatively quickly and generally do the various gameplay components just for the inherent fun of them. Making them a long arduous grind to get something is rather a demotivating factor to me than the other way around. What could be fun is now work, and I'll resent the respective games for it.

I feel like theres a cultural difference between MMO players. Some like to earn their stuff with effort, grind, rng and participation, a pathway.

Some want their dopamine hit right now and everything right now, without effort, just participation and showing up.

Playground vs earning it. Both are fine. But I dont think CHORES please either demographic.

Leveling is a dumb concept and just for show in FFXIV. Theres 0 meat to it. Its just about the destination not the journey. Same with the "do 500000000 pvp matches over 10 years to get a title" gearing is worhtless too. Its just for show. So are the stats aside for the min maxers