Is FFXIV viable as an MMORPG without doing end-game & raiding?

[Kosmos992k]

I guess I see that as a non-question, as the OP is currently playing the game and not raiding. So, of course people can do it and the OP knows it. So I figured that there must be a deeper meaning, and that is why I took the route I did.

Yes and no. There was not any hidden deeper meaning, I just wanted to get a discussion going about whether the veritable mountain of content that encompasses the game was a sufficient draw to keep the game healthy, even if players joining now look at the mountain and wonder whether they can reach the top. Yes, I am playing now, and I feel that there is more than enough here to keep people satisfied, without participating in the current patch series raids. But that's my opinion, not yours or anyone else's.

I wanted to know how others feel. I've many times read posts from players who obviously fall into the category of 'raider' suggesting that without them, without raids, the game would die. I'm not so sure of that, so that was part of why I was asking, to see what people think about playing this game without raid content. Clearly though the game benefits from having a wide range of players including raiders, and there needs to be content for those players to keep them happy and engaged. That raid content that might be considered irrelevant by players like myself right now, will probably become more relevant once the 4.X series of patches arrive. Just as through overgearing, it's possible to start enjoying harder end-game and raid content from FFXIV 2.X now that we can gear up with 3.X.

The thing is, I play to relax, and have previously found end-game to be stressful to me. I don't enjoy it. I can do it, but I don't enjoy it. Overgearing and power creep means that over time content that was once stressful, is no longer a source of stress, and can be enjoyed. It's often concluded that players who don't participate in end-game do not do so because they are not good enough. that's a fallacy IMHO. I do not participate because RL time restrictions make it very nearly impossible, and because I want to relax when I play, so I avoid stressful content; not because I can't do it.

[Kaurie]

Yes and no. There was not any hidden deeper meaning, I just wanted to get a discussion going about whether the veritable mountain of content that encompasses the game was a sufficient draw to keep the game healthy, even if players joining now look at the mountain and wonder whether they can reach the top. Yes, I am playing now, and I feel that there is more than enough here to keep people satisfied, without participating in the current patch series raids. But that's my opinion, not yours or anyone else's.


I wanted to know how others feel. I've many times read posts from players who obviously fall into the category of 'raider' suggesting that without them, without raids, the game would die. I'm not so sure of that, so that was part of why I was asking, to see what people think about playing this game without raid content. Clearly though the game benefits from having a wide range of players including raiders, and there needs to be content for those players to keep them happy and engaged. That raid content that might be considered irrelevant by players like myself right now, will probably become more relevant once the 4.X series of patches arrive. Just as through overgearing, it's possible to start enjoying harder end-game and raid content from FFXIV 2.X now that we can gear up with 3.X.

The thing is, I play to relax, and have previously found end-game to be stressful to me. I don't enjoy it. I can do it, but I don't enjoy it. Overgearing and power creep means that over time content that was once stressful, is no longer a source of stress, and can be enjoyed. It's often concluded that players who don't participate in end-game do not do so because they are not good enough. that's a fallacy IMHO. I do not participate because RL time restrictions make it very nearly impossible, and because I want to relax when I play, so I avoid stressful content; not because I can't do it.

Gotcha, thanks for taking the time to reply and clarify what you meant. I'm sorry if I derailed your thread.

In response to,

I've many times read posts from players who obviously fall into the category of 'raider' suggesting that without them, without raids, the game would die.

I feel that it comes down to two things (in my opinion).

1. There is a trickle down effect, that even if you don't directly raid, the raiding scene does impact you. This could be in creating demand for crafted food and potions, and it could mean that it attracts more 'hardcore' players who are invested enough to research and build guides for non raiders to peruse.

2. I would love for FFXIV to be better outside of the raiding scene. As I mentioned, I feel this game is fairly terrible outside of raids. Seasonal events, gold saucer activities, crafting, gathering, hunts, FATEs are all similar things that are implemented in other games but done so much worse here (again, in my opinion). I wrote a lot about Guild Wars 2, but in regards to those sorts of things, GW2 is great.

In that same sense, however, a game without raids will definitely not die. Guild Wars 2 is a perfect example of this. It's estimated to be a fairly similar active playerbase to FFXIV (perhaps slightly higher), and it only just recently added raids.

[Kosmos992k]

Gotcha, thanks for taking the time to reply and clarify what you meant. I'm sorry if I derailed your thread.

Thanks, and there is no derailment I can see, justva good discussion.

1. There is a trickle down effect, that even if you don't directly raid, the raiding scene does impact you. This could be in creating demand for crafted food and potions, and it could mean that it attracts more 'hardcore' players who are invested enough to research and build guides for non raiders to peruse.

I agree with this. Like I was saying above the raids that dedicated or hardcore raiders are working on in 3.X will become the content that many other players enjoy for the first time around the time 4.0 drops. So, in addition to the trickle down you mention, the content trickles down too. Also, that trickle down you mentioned is a pretty darn good argument against segregating end game/raiding on separate servers.

It would be nice if the community could find a way to break down the walls we've created and build bridges between parts ofnthe community instead.

2. I would love for FFXIV to be better outside of the raiding scene. As I mentioned, I feel this game is fairly terrible outside of raids. Seasonal events, gold saucer activities, crafting, gathering, hunts, FATEs are all similar things that are implemented in other games but done so much worse here (again, in my opinion).

I wish you could like the game more, but it's all about personal preference. I'll hope SE manages to find a way to please you more. GW2 has never really had a pull on me, but then I'm a JRPG fan, so this game gives some of what I want.