Does it get better?

[jujuawake]

Does FFXIV get better, or at least more challenging? I quit awhile back because combat ended up boring me so much, but I am giving it another go. I love FFXIV. The world is so polished and the game is so smooth. But combat ends up being entirely repetitive and I zone out. Thought about trying ESO, I heard it had better combat, but I really love FFXIV.

So... does this game get better? Thanks!

[Enkidoh]

Welcome back!

Which aspect of combat do you dislike specifically? RPG combat does usually become a case of 'find the strongest attack and generally spam that' no matter how well polished it is. Some classes/Jobs are more simplified when it comes to abilities though than others, so maybe it's just you need to find the right class or Job for you?

It should be noted early on you're not given every attack and ability in your arsenal at the start, so what you do have it usually over-relied on as a result, which does make things rather dull. But as you level up and gain more abilities you can start to vary your ability roster depending on the situation, and it should go without saying once you unlock Jobs it adds further abilities to the mix.

Also dungeons early on are rather simple as they're designed specifically to help new players ease into the game and combat - later dungeons and trials start to get more technical with special mechanics or aspects that need to be taken into account rather than simply 'tanking and spanking' it.

Either way, don't give up just yet! The beginning of the game is just the tip of the iceberg, there is far more to it than just what the first ten or twenty levels shows.

[Anova]

Short answer, yes.

The classes are designed to be complete at 50. Until then, you are essentially playing with less than the full kit. The game itself is designed for players completely new to MMOs, so the first tier of dungeons are going to be extremely stale for anyone who's played an MMO in the last decade. Just take a look at some of the class traits. A lot of them extend the duration of Ability effects because there's not enough abilities at low levels to really fill a full rotation.

On the plus side, you don't have any abilities that become absolutely useless as you level or are outright replaced either. Some do become extremely niche or are better when used in conjunction with other classes/jobs, but that's a separate matter and really used more often for world first raiding (determining who silences/stuns, and specific party compositions, etc).

Basically, dungeons until level 32 are pretty boring. There's a difficulty spike at 32 and 47, with a subsequent series of spikes at 50 and up. You won't be disappointed by the lv.51+ dungeons, as the game has taken you through a lot of raids and extreme content by then, so the mechanics and difficulty spikes considerably. The classes also get rounded out and have weaknesses or boring class mechanics removed with the expansion.

[TemetNosce]

Depends how far you got before and on what classes. The new changes/additions to 60 are really nice and help make gameplay more interesting. I found dragoon at 50 to be rather slow, but between the added rotation mechanics and off cool down abilities, I have a blast at 60. The global cool down is 2.5 seconds (down close to 2 seconds after haste) but between weaving off cool down abilities, tracking buff/debuff/dots and positional requirements ... It keeps your hands full! A lot of the classes at 60 are like that.

[karateorangutang]

Considering that your using a healing main then yes it's particularly bland in low level 4 man dungeons. Healing doesn't really get difficult or even complicated til post 50. Additionally, your other class that you leveled is Arcanist, which is similarly bland until you get summoner or scholar unlocked for the extra abilities.

My advice would be to try to stick it out til level 50 then get into some harder content before labeling the game as boring. It's not until those fights that your decision making is tested.

That being said, this will never be an action game. You have several seconds of decision time in most cases, so that's not fast paced enough for some people. Healing in particular demands a knowledge of later fights so you can start your casts at the start, or even before, large hits to your tank. I play tank quite a bit and a good healer is fast with his decisions which allows me to be more aggressive.

tl;dr: Give it to level 50 or so before you make a decision on it. Should only take your a week or two which is within one month of subscription.