Some questions about the game

[Poppyann]

Hello,

I am currently playing the trial on Steam, and so far I'm enjoying it. Before I possibly upgrade when my trial is up, I have some questions and I apologise if they have been asked before.

-Are there lots of variations in environments? being a low level I haven't seen much yet.
-What is the population like? Would you say that the game is going strong? I enjoy playing with others, in dungeons, so this is important.
-I enjoy non combat activities, such as fishing and crafting. What is your opinion on the crafting in FFXIV?
-And lastly, would you say this game is suitable for a more casual player? I am a university student so have limited time to play games, perhaps playing 2 hours a day at the most, and not every day. When I played WoW, I did enjoy doing dungeons but it was too time consuming. I will like to do these at some point, just not as often as I used to.

Thanks for reading. Again sorry if these have been asked before, and I appreciate any help and advice

[Camalott]

1) Yes. There are the deserts of Thanalan which range from craggy rock formations and mountain ranges - to more wide open dunes. There is the occasional wasteland (or desolate) sections up north. Black Shroud is the forest environment with dense forested tracks littered with the occasional open clearing. A little bit of verticality in some areas along with some rock quarry type environments. Several creeks and smaller bodies of water. La Noscea is the costal plains biome with a ton of wide open land. Lots of open water and cliffsides. A small patch with a more rainforest oriented layout. Coerthas is the snow biome. There isn't a whole lot you can do with snow. Wide open plains, mountain formations, and the occasional deep crevice you keep accidentally falling in.

2) The population is still going strong, though heck if I know the exact numbers. With the 3.0 expansion due out in the spring timeframe, expect that number to boom as games normally do when named expansions come out.

3) Crafting and gathering are cyclic in nature - with one feeding into the other(s) like a big circle of creation. Crafting and gathering are relatively engaging (more so crafting) which require strategy and a gameplan at the higher levels. Despite this, they are easily accessible for all players regardless of budget and the amount of time you have to invest into it. They also level relatively quickly.

4) This game is very heavily aimed at the casual player. However, the ultimate goal of the game at this time is to focus you for raids which can be quite time consuming. You can, however, completely avoid these if you wish and still be just fine while finding a great amount of content and enjoyment out of the game. Truth be told, only a small fraction of this game is raid material. I've actually never been in a raid (yet) and I'm doing just fine.

[Poppyann]

Great this was exactly what I was looking for. I do think I will buy the game on steam when this trial runs out. I really like how you can play everything on one character.

If anyone has anything to add, go ahead

[Chikai]

I agree with everything Camalott said but I'd also like to give my feedback about your 4th question. I have a relatively heavy schedule with work and only manage a couple hours per day and not everyday but from my experience it's still possible to progress efficiently. Even though some end-game content is time-consuming, you can do it at your own pace and you'll eventually achieve your game goals. One of the things I enjoy the most about FFXIV is exactly that: you can play the game at your own pace, not having to worry about 'competition'. Play at your own pace and enjoy the game to its fullest!

[Poppyann]

That is good to know thank you With WoW I felt like everything was a competition. Or maybe that was just how I personally perceived it, I don't know.

I just thought of something else whilst mention WoW. As most people know, many of the quests are kill x or get x items. With FFXIV I am noticing less of these, as well as the main storyline which I feel involved in. As you progress, are the quests varied or do they fall into the same sort of thing as kill x etc? (I understand that it is an MMO so will be quite grindy at times, just wondering on the type of quests).

[Camalott]

Honestly, there isn't a whole lot you can do in terms of quest variety. However, the game does a fairly decent job of at least trying not to slam you with the same format of quest over and over again in rapid succession. The story tries to break up the assorted fetch and kill quests with dungeons and/or trials.

If it ever gets a bit too grindy, there is still plenty of other things you can do on the side to help recharge your batteries.

[Bixby]

The main scenario quests and class/job quests maintain a little more variety. And they help hide some of the repetition by mixing the dialog in with the quests themselves. Part of WoW's issue is that you generally only get quest text when you start a quest and when you turn it in, so the structure is a lot more exposed; you notice all you're doing is killing boars for 90 levels. FFXIV breaks its quests up into chunks, with a bit more story at the break points, so it's not so obvious.

Side quests, though, especially at quest hubs, don't have quite that much variety or quite that much sleight of hand to hide the boars. It's still a bit better than WoW, and there are some side quests that are just as good as the main scenario, but there are a good deal of side quests that are same old same old.

[Poppyann]

Thanks everyone that was really helpful. I have just been introduced to levequests which seem fun and different so it's looking likely that I'll buy the game some time soon

[Garlyle]

A couple thoughts:

Re: Area variety: You can always take a look yourself if you want! I was able to run to some of the highest level areas in the game back in beta (When the game was capped at level 20)... although it's certainly not easy, so long as you keep moving if you're spotted by melee mobs and avoid the sight lines of the few ranged mobs, you can do quite a bit of exploring! As I'm assuming you started in Gridania, if you wanted to go adventuring? Head out to North Shroud, then dart through the high level areas out west - you can get to Coerthas, from there to Mor Dhona, and from there to Thanalan (You'll have to wait until 15 to get to La Noscea though as it's an island and you need an airship pass and other things).

As for crafting? It's probably my favourite crafting system in any game ever.

[Poppyann]

Thanks for the tip! I might run around a bit and see what I can find. I might try go to Ul'dah so I can try a Thaumaturge and do some of the quests around there.