Why do you guys like this game more than WoW (assuming you do)? Just curious...thanx

[Violyre]

Ability to be any class on one character. At least with that, if I go with my friends and something I could use for an upcoming job drops, I'm on the right character.

There isn't a huge split in the playerbase of people screaming "Alliance!" "Horde!" and how different things affect each faction differently.

There's more added to the story that someone not raiding in statics can attain (Barring Coil). In WoW, you HAVE to do a raid to get story, and even then it's sparse. You also can learn the FULL story with one character, not have to have a raiding character in both factions.

[Teryaani]

There are a lot of reasons I prefer this to WoW. For the record, I played WoW from cataclysm (Firelands(4.2)) through the Timeless Isle patch in Mists. I have (sub lapsed, but they still exist) four 90s (warlock, paladin, death knight, and mage) and a handful of others at lower levels. All geared well for when I was playing.

With that out of the way, here are mine in no particular order:

* Final Fantasy allows me to play all of the classes without having to log into an alt.

When dealing with gear drops that aren't tradeable this is awesome. I hated getting a drop on my paladin that my lock needed and just having to suck up not being able to do anything about it.

* Final Fantasy has no-grief gathering.

Some people like fighting for resources but I don't. Being able to go out and gather without having someone else swoop in and take a node out from under you is a huge plus.

* The graphics of FFXIV are so much nicer.

* There is no open world pvp.

I know some people want it, but the way WoW did it it was a grief fest.

* Duty locked mobs.

Much like gathering nodes, having a quest mob that someone can't hijack (and thus make the quest take longer) is a nice feature.

* Assisting in killing open world mobs counts in quests and for the hunting log.

WoW has a tag system that makes the mob belong to the first person to hit it. Meaning that players in some zones (Looking at you outlands) have to sit around and hope that they're faster on the trigger finger. Here, if they tag it, that's no big deal. As long as I participate, I get credit.

* More animated emotes

Small thing but nice.

* The community is nicer

No. Really.

EDIT: Also this:

Oh, and Hildibrand. WoW does not have Hildibrand.

All isn't sunshine and roses though. There are a few things I wish we had from WoW.

* Less onerous crafting system.

I know that ARR's crafting system is an improvement over previous incarnations of the game (or so I've been told at least), but it's a pain in the rear overall.

* More toys!

WoW has had ten years to build up a collection of nonsense/vanity items and I miss that huge pool. I know the game will get there in time.

* Pet battles.

- Not all new content involving Daily Quests

I'm going to cry foul on this. A huge amount of Mists was gated behind faction dailies. You had to grind tillers dailies to unlock your farm, which was necessary to increase faction rep elsewhere. You had to grind golden lotus to get access to certain gear and enchants and I think to open up access to yet another faction grind. Mists was mad with daily locked content, even more than FF is.

[Mayrissa]

I'm going to cry foul on this. A huge amount of Mists was gated behind faction dailies. You had to grind tillers dailies to unlock your farm, which was necessary to increase faction rep elsewhere. You had to grind golden lotus to get access to certain gear and enchants and I think to open up access to yet another faction grind. Mists was mad with daily locked content, even more than FF is.

Yep, it was actually why I quit not long after MoP came out because I was burned out on dailies from Argent Tournament > Cataclysm. But then the vast majority of that gating got removed in 5.4 (or simply made redundant by virtue of better gear coming from Throne of Thunder LFR in 5.2). From playing the beta of Warlords of Draenor there is very little in the way of daily quest/time-locked content etc. Which on that note, I probably will be dropping XIV for WoD when it comes out, and likewise dropping WoW for Heavensward when it comes out.

[Teryaani]

Yep, it was actually why I quit not long after MoP came out because I was burned out on dailies from Argent Tournament > Cataclysm. But then the vast majority of that gating got removed in 5.4 (or simply made redundant by virtue of better gear coming from Throne of Thunder LFR in 5.2). From playing the beta of Warlords of Draenor there is very little in the way of daily quest/time-locked content etc. Which on that note, I probably will be dropping XIV for WoD when it comes out, and likewise dropping WoW for Heavensward when it comes out.

Argent dailies...<shudder> so....many....seals.

Where FF has it's FATE-fixation ("Want a relic? How about a FATE?! Want to upgrade that relic? can I interest you in FATE?"), WoW's way of doing dang near everything was faction rep and dailies. Same grind, different packaging.

The game hopping is what a lot of people seem to be planning but I can't do it. I'm almost definitely giving WoD a miss. Not because it's a bad thing, it's not. They actually fixed one of my biggest issues (the pvp flagging system). But just because there is so much content that I want to do and still haven't touched.

[zer0patches]

Because it's not wow?

GFX, Story, gameplay, cinematics , developer choices, etc.

Mainly I would have to say the GFX, I could never get into the cartoon GFX. Tried to play wild star but just wasn't happening. I didn't pay 2K to build a machine to watch GFX that Saturday morning cartoons put to shame.

[OdinEon]

It's hard to explain, it feels like I am my character rather than controlling one.

This, so much this.

[RayneBoemir]

1. It's Final Fantasy
2. Better graphics
3. Way better music
4. Battle System more complex

[Granyala]

I like both and I play both.
Each has its perks.

When it comes to systems fluidity, lag and general playing speed WoW clearly wins.
When it comes to small group content (seriously WoWs trival dungeon content isn't even eligible for a proper comparison lol) and visuals FFXIV wins.
Also no PvP bullshit is always a + in my book. :P

Can't really compare raiding endgame because I have no experience in FFXIV.

4. Battle System more complex

As far as the classes I play are concerned: I disagree. (BLM / WHM)
I'd say BLM = Mage and WHM = Holy Priest

[Souto_Namigase]

Got burnt out from mmos with 72 hotkeys all full with items and skills that it felt more like working a spreadsheet and having to memorize rotations . Funnily enough, those newer mmos with only one hotbar(1-10) felt too limiting.

XIV seems to have the right balance of enough skills without it feeling like a job just going through the skills

[Granyala]

XIV seems to have the right balance of enough skills without it feeling like a job just going through the skills

I really dislike the "taking away skills in downleveled content" though.
Soo annoying esp as BLM when it completely changes how you have to play the class.
Scaling the numbers is fine, but taking skills away is just ... ugh.

XIV looks better, and has Miqo'te.

QFT New WoW models are hideous by comparison.