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

[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.