Thread: FFXIV has lost it's magic

One of the great things about old MMOS like EQ and XI was that when you went into a zone, it felt like an adventure. There was danger around every corner. You could die. Further, many zones felt like they were a wild rarely-traversed place. When you were trying to run through Yuhtunga/Yhotar jungle, it felt like the middle of nowhere. Getting to Xarcabard felt like a journey. The non-instanced dungeons made the game feel huge and like a massive world.

XIV on the other hand has some sort of "camp" and "crystal" about a 2-4 minute run from every point in the game. There aren't really any areas that are just a wide open expanse without civilization. And there is essentially 0 open world difficulty.

You never get that feeling of running through a deadly temple and sneaking past things to stay alive. Or being chased across the zone by something that can actually kill you. Instead, wearing minimal gear, I can run into almost any group of mobs and kill them all without any real worry.

MMOs used to be great because they created emotion, tension and anxiety, in a good way. You were in a dangerous world, and you had to survive. There were things to explore, hidden coffers and nms to find, isolated places to level or farm, etc.

Now the open world (probably the best part of XIV) is more like an interactive instance selection menu. The real game is in a few instances (which have gotten really boring).

Put another way, I had more difficulty and died more often in the lvl 1-10 zones in ffxi, than I have in the highest level most "difficult" areas in XIV.

I realize that modern day gaming is just a series of repetitive instances for e-peen status. But that's not a real game. That's a trick to keep people paying.

XIV has one of the most beautiful open worlds of any game i have ever played. And after you get level 50 on a job, it all goes to waste.

I understand you well ma'am,
The structure and design of FFXIV wasn't to replicate the experience of FFXI it seems(though in previous interviews SE claims to use what they've learned from pass experience), with FFXIV it doesn't seem to be the case.

FFXI: you logged in from Play Online> to the lobby server>character select>game.
After this, if you were in a city or town(safe zone), this technically is the glamorized chat, shout,yell, tell area for all(even though you can do it anywhere).
TheGame: It begins when you leave the safe zone and good luck to you!

FFXIV: Logged in from the launcher(and I appreciate that, FFXI needs this,srsly!)> title screen>lobbyserver(character select)> (BAM!)in game!
After this, pretty much everywhere is a safe zone excluding "high level" area where everone camps out at..."camps". Dungeons and groups battles are instances and that is tech. the MMO GAME experience for FFXIV.

Where is will continue and end is to yet be seen. Take as you will with a grain of salt. the game poses no challenge, nothing new to the experience but it's kinda fun(but forgettable). In FFXI for the first 3~4 years trying to clear some content, I made an uncountable amount of friends and also loss some unfortunately due to IRL.
FFXI was THE GAME, you either lost(after leaving town) or you won. Success was memorable. Friends made the difference! In FFXIV, you really don't need "friends"... I say that sarcastically... everything is solo-able and nobody really cares about anyone. I'm lucky to make encounters with people who do care and I add them to my small friends list and invite them to my linkshell. I try to keep the social part of FFXIV alive for me. That was what FFXI influenced the most and was pretty successful hence why the MMO is still up and running.

Hopefully people who care would double subscribe to FFxi aswel because the game needs saving. New Generation is killing it and we need feedback to counter the ridiculous evolution its going through. I still play FFxi, it's still hard and even harder when gear seems to be the only incentive to play now.

Originally Posted by Kailea_Nagisa

the main problem with these types of discussions is that some people do not realize that people in general do not have as much time to play MMORPGs, it is why the "WOW" type work so well.

If WoW works for some of you, then go play "WoW". The sad truth is, people love Final Fantasy but those who don't care about the mythos of FF, those who never played a damn thing related to FF or FFXI can care less and that ruins the experience (a bit) for me. Reason why people from other MMOs are coming to FFXIV is because its easy like that 'other' game.

If this is the case, i'll be on and off the subscription ghost-train(/wink-wink for those who really are FF-fans) and go find a new challenge(/wink, ffxi and probably Dark Souls) but I'm still dieing to experince the stories of my favorite classes and how end-game here really feels.
Something about Dark Souls that reminds me about "the Dunes", can't put my finger on it! (spaces out)

The is something the whole world needs to experience! The only way is to be casual friendly i guess. LMAO!

Originally Posted by Xatsh

Copying WoW only works for a quick buck... the entire model is not sustainable. MMO MUST HAVE LONGEVITY. Casual content is by design short lived.

If people do not have enough time... those people need to expect to get left behind. THAT IS HOW IT SHOULD BE. Ultra casuals and casuals need to stop wanting handouts, it is ruining/has ruined the genre for the rest of us.

Well said, Thank you. (The whole post is good, not just that part but reached 1k character limit from quoting you lol)

Going to put a Link to my question post here --->>> LINK <<<--- Is a question to ask Yoshi during live letter, so far it has #1 in likes I believe and is even on page 34 and beating likes from page 1-2~ Anyhow, like it if you want Yoshi to answer this question.