Current State of End-Game Contents - A Blog Post from A Japanese Player

[Atomnium]

I love how everyone says FFXI was the best system, yet they aren't playing it....
snip****
So in short every MMO has it's share of frustration in end game arena and FFXIV is no different.

snip**** "so what exactly is different from XI then?"
I think that the differences between the games are related to player perception rather than actual difficulty.

You re actually both correct and also partially wrong there, of course the comparison of both FFXI and FFXIV battleground/challenge could be done in the same way and would totally look alike,
the difference there would be a new generation of players and how they actually play the game...

> BUT < there is a massive difference between the two games and an huge one when you have to compare FFXI battlegrounds (Missions, stories or even side quests stories) and FFXIV case
and lot of people actually fails to describe it...

2 words : Duty Finder
Yep. FFXIV actually traded a very important part of any Final Fantasy old school legacy for our *ready to get feed by a silver spoon" aka duty finder.

I'm talking about open world trips when having to reach any battleground (anything you can actually find in the duty finder).

It was challenging, people who didn't played FFXI can't imagine a dangerous open world stuffed with riddles or/and tough fights leading to what we were calling "BCNM" (current ffxiv dungeons or boss fights).

You had to socialize, build a team and go into the wild for a long trip, most of the time it was deadly and you had to be very careful of your steps, dealing with mazes and getting lost (for real) and more before reaching your destination.

Special reminder for ffxi's players : do you remember the very first time you had to climb a promyvion tower? to finally reach the boss chamber and defeat it, this could actually take some hours but do you remember the incredible pleasure right after?

There you go about both games difficulties, Duty Finder act like a shortcut that would skip any challenging/entertaining open world content before a dungeon or a boss.