FFXIV: Different and Unique

[Gundammeister]

The only reason why im still checking on patches is... a tiny bit of hope, that it will not be changed into an average mmo, like there are many atm. I hope it works on strengthening the niche it was in instead of trying to appeal to the mass market. Not only it will become uninteresting for the ff players, but it won't be able to compete with all the other more polished mmos out there, which have tons more content. Even the best of the current wow copies have the problem with the huge competition... if ffxiv wants to fail, it goes the wow-copy way, the fail will be a 100% guarantee.
If it progresses and stays in the niche it is, it has a chance and might even turn out to be great in the future.

Agreed

[Shikyo]

Agreed

I dont think any true fan of FF and FFXI in particular want XIV to be anything at all like wow....
I think thoes that played XI know that XI was not like any mmorpg out there when it was released not at all like wow and thats why I loved it.
Most wanted XIV to be an advancement of the unique and brilliant world that was XI, Not WOW... why do ppl keep saying that final fantasy fans wanna see a final fantasy game be anything like wow? O.o;
To me WoW and FF are like oil and water.
Most that i know that loved XI wouldnt touch wow with a 10 foot pole, we saw wow as a niche over hyped kiddy game built for the masses and XI was the opposite a deep rich mmo for the mature player that had a certain amount of sophistication and took a certain amount of skill to play.

[kaboro]

All the people that are left like it, the other half a million who left, did not, so SE lost a lot by being too unique and having nothing!

They did not lose players because the game is unique, but because they released the game in an unfinished state.
Unfinished state is fixable, lack of originality is not, so i have a lot of hope for XIV.

[Demacia]

Potential this, unique that, blah blah blah. How about some real content? How about some FUN? Superman 64 was unique and different. I'd like FFXIV to be different from other MMOs in a good way, not unique in its flaws. I will GLADLY play a new MMO if it turned out to be more ENJOYABLE than XIV. Why torture myself? To follow a brand name and hang on to a game that is letting everyone down patch after patch? No thank you.

I think these boards are the only place where I feel that people who embrace all this "unique" flavor and refuse anything that's been done before are the close-minded ones. Hell, I still can't get over the fact that people complain about putting in AHs because "I don't like being limited to 7 sale slots like in FFXI".

[Eldaena]

I feel happier in FFXIV than I have in any other MMO I've tried. I want it to continue to be something unique, interesting, creative, and fun. I like that it is and does feel different, and I don't want it to lose that magic. I know we all feel a bit anemic for content, but I'm confident it is coming. I'm trying to be optimistic and hopeful that it will be way better than many people think it will be. And do it without resorting to being like every other MMO on the market.

[Draven]

I feel happier in FFXIV than I have in any other MMO I've tried. I want it to continue to be something unique, interesting, creative, and fun. I like that it is and does feel different, and I don't want it to lose that magic. I know we all feel a bit anemic for content, but I'm confident it is coming. I'm trying to be optimistic and hopeful that it will be way better than many people think it will be. And do it without resorting to being like every other MMO on the market.

+1 and very meaningful AFTER you've obtained that many Ranks. Seriously, can I reroll on your server and play with a happy player like you? :3

[Alastor]

Regardless of what we want this game to be, it's obvious that it's not working the way it is.

I understand the nostalgiac feelings most have for what an inspiring game FFXI was. I, too, believe that FFXI was great. However, FFXI was, in essence, a giant time-sync, and it does not have any place in today's market for MMOs. When the game came out, it was the cream of the crop, but that was ten years ago. FFXI was out when the PS2 was still a new system. For all of its wonders, FFXI has many flaws.

The "party content" (not including end-game content) consisted of mainly mindless grinding, which is hardly any different from the system many complain about in XIV. And for most jobs, that was the only way you could progress. On top of that, the party system in FFXI (until it went under quite a few changes over its long span of existence) required a giant community of active players. Come on, don't tell me you guys didn't sit in Jeuno or Whitegate for hours looking for parties after 2005. I was just in the game a month or two ago, and as you can imagine, it's even worse now.

MMOs have evolved a great deal since the debut of FFXI. I do believe XIV needs more party-involved content, however, I would not like to sit for hours and hours and hours, killing crabs in Valkurm Dunes again. If you found that fun, go play MapleStory, as I hear the weather is nice this time of the year.

It would be great to see some dungeon content with bosses and an active storyline. Take for example, the large, expansive instances World of Warcraft had when it first came out, like Mauradon and the original Sunken Temple, that took hours (sometimes an entire day) to complete. No one wants the sort of: "Here's your free cookie" game that some MMOs have become today, but XIV cannot afford to go back to old conventions.

[Shikyo]

Alastor i can honestly say in 4+ years playing XI i never had any problem whats so ever finding a party i always made my exp partys and that is no jack ass bs lie, sorry

The search and party systems worked very well and if you were'nt looking for the "traditional set up" tank ddx2 blm rdm whm, which most were'nt the game allowed alot of variety tp burn parties mp burn ect ect you should have never sat for hours.
Unless you were the type to just put seek flag up and afk, if you were active and gave a little bit of effort getting/finding/making a exp party was extremely easy, I'm sorry.

[Alastor]

Alastor i can honestly say in 4+ years playing XI i never had any problem whats so ever finding a party i always made my exp partys and that is no jack ass bs lie, sorry

The search and party systems worked very well and if you were'nt looking for the "traditional set up" tank ddx2 blm rdm whm, which most were'nt the game allowed alot of variety tp burn parties mp burn ect ect you should have never sat for hours.
Unless you were the type to just put seek flag up and afk, if you were active and gave a little bit of effort getting/finding/making a exp party was extremely easy, I'm sorry.

For you, my friend, it may have been easy, but I am not the only one to attest to the hours of sitting, waiting to play. Perhaps if you played a more desirable job you may have not had these issues, but whenever I played THF or MNK, I sat for a very long time.

Forgive me, but I played FFXI from 2004-2010, in which, I took a few months of leave. I was very active in the community on Sylph for a long time. You do not need to apologize to me for having what seems to be the greatest luck of any player I've ever encountered. When I started the game, I had many, many friends who played, and did not ever have a hard time finding a party. Even in the last few months of play, I was in a still-active linkshell (now on Titan) and we grouped together all of the time.

Regardless of both of our experiences, the same cannot be said for everyone else. I know many, many people who were turned off to the game because of the difficulties of finding a party. The learning curve on XI was pretty high for the average gamer. Not everyone has the resources or the time to waste in front of their computer.

[Besbeset]

For you, my friend, it may have been easy, but I am not the only one to attest to the hours of sitting, waiting to play. Perhaps if you played a more desirable job you may have not had these issues, but whenever I played THF or MNK, I sat for a very long time.

Forgive me, but I played FFXI from 2004-2010, in which, I took a few months of leave. I was very active in the community on Sylph for a long time. You do not need to apologize to me for having what seems to be the greatest luck of any player I've ever encountered. When I started the game, I had many, many friends who played, and did not ever have a hard time finding a party. Even in the last few months of play, I was in a still-active linkshell (now on Titan) and we grouped together all of the time.

Regardless of both of our experiences, the same cannot be said for everyone else. I know many, many people who were turned off to the game because of the difficulties of finding a party. The learning curve on XI was pretty high for the average gamer. Not everyone has the resources or the time to waste in front of their computer.

I can't agree with this, I'm sorry.

After many years playing many different games, and some of them MMO, I must say that probably my greatest and happiest moments playing any game were on FFXI experience points partys or any other FFXI stuff (Quests/Missions/High end PVE...) were you must set up a party to accomplish.

There must be diversity on games, all of them can't be a WoW style where you can level up playing alone. I don't enjoy online games that promotes the solo style against the group one.

You needed sometimes a lot of time to find a party? Yes, that's true, but the system can't be perfect, and in fact mainly it was the people who plays the game who makes the system fails. You had hard times finding partys because 70% of the base player were DD, and the rest 30% mixed between tanks and healers.

And if you turn the jobs to be more hybrid so people isn't forced to play with some fixed classes there will be complaints about lack of uniqueness (like actually on XIV) .... so there you have it.

About the time needed to play this kind of games.... well, not all the games fits with everyone's live and this is a fact. But you can pretend to change the whole game just because it don't fits with your actual free time. Let others enjoy it, and choose another one, there are plenty of them.

And I'm sorry, I'm not being rude with this, this is only my point of view about games and everyone's free time.

And as Skykho said, I had also no issues almost everytime I tried to build up a PT on FFXI.

And btw, we aren't in a race. If I really enjoy the experience, I personally don't care if I need 6 months to level up a job/class or whatever to his maximum level. The hardest the way, the greatest the reward.

Sorry if there are any grammatical mistakes.