Okay so we are over 1 year into HW.

[Seraphix2407]

So we are over 1 year now for the current expension pack. How do people feel on the expension pack? Something it expected out to be? Or expected somewhat some smal overhaul on how gear, raiding, dungeons and primals works like?


Was you happy with the beginning then started to dislike how it turned out or are you happy with how it currently is? Do you expect some better way they handle the next expension pack or want them to keep them up the same phase?

My own answer, it started off great. The story and dungeons wasn't so bad but alot of old mechanics we seen in older raids, somh al first boss reminded me extremely much of turn 6 boss and 90% same mechanics. Then alex normal somewhat killed the raid because you got the story off it. Why couldn't they do that then make some other raids with new encounters, mechanics and maybe some side story quest? I dunno.
To make it short, it was amazing but started to be copy paste of 2.xx

Moogle tribe = ixal, the other 2 = sylphs etc. Idk why SE is doing this. I know they tried some new things, but diadem and the pet pvp fight was totally a flop. Diadem was a good try but too grindy and not reward imo. The minion fight shouldn't even been put there because to me it died on arrival.


I'd like to see what people think of the expension, since it's been a year since launch.

[Toguro]

Well a good amount of things like Lord Of Verminion and the upcoming Palace of The Dead, etc aren't even of HW I believe. That is ARR content since newbies can play it.

I like FFXIV and HW. I think HW has been a good expansion/continuation of the game. And for people who have not bought it yet, its worth is way more than what we actually paid for. We payed $30(?) for HW at its release when it had MUCH less content. Someone who buys it now for the same price has all from 3.0-3.32.

So the worth and reviews can easily vary.

I like HW alot though I started Nov. 2014

[FinalWolf]

Feels like 2.0 with higher numbers.

[Laerune]

Nice idea, this could serve as a feedback for them.

What I liked:

1. I liked the story alot, if one thing FFXIV did 100% right is the story.
2. I enjoyed the Primals, Ravana and Nidhogg are alot of fun.
3. As always soundtrack is amazing.
4. They are experimenting with Diadem, Lord of Verminion, Aquapolis and Palace of the Dead. This shows some promise.
5. Glamour wise they have been pretty fair (the past few patches) when it comes males vs females.

Cons:

1. All 3 classes are pretty much a copy of the previous class with a gimmick. I found the new classes the least exciting feature (after leveling all 3 to 50) of HW. I hope the next expansion changes this for the new classes.
2. SE has been experimenting, but I did find Diadem boring and Lord of Vermillion meh. Aquapolis is fine, but a little too RNG, I hope Palace of the Dead will be amazing.
3. Mentor system and the icon. To many mentors are mentors for the crown icon and not the job.
4. The game follows the same pattern, players are able to predict what will be released and this is in my opinion a bad sign.
5. Alexander has a boring storyline, its very boring when you compare it to Coil of Bahamut.

There is more stuff, but these were the most important ones.

[Seraphix2407]

Nice idea, this could serve as a feedback for them.

Thank you and very nice feedback!

[Almalexia]

I praise Heavensward for the new jobs, new abilities, soundtrack and main story quest. These things greatly exceeded my expectations.

However, since release, Heavensward has produced exactly four (4) good pieces of content:

a) Aquapolis
b) Midas
c) Ozma
d) Thordong

Everything else was either a retread of 2.x content or a disappointment. FFXIV, now three years old, has an established formula and the game would do well to shake up that formula and play with our expectations. We shall see if Deep Dungeon is another Diadem.

[AnimaAnimus]

It feels like SSDD

Nothing really fresh or inventive, when they do announce something new it usually falls flat so no hopes up there for palace of the dead. They haven't overcome the extreme gear treadmill that really needs to be slowed down. They haven't stopped throwing tomes after tomes after tomes at us. They still give promises and do not fulfil them, nor mention them ever again.

I did like the scrip system for crafting/gathering but dislike the specialization set up they have. And I still don't understand why my retainers can bring back 30 logs but only 10 fleece... the DoW/M retainer ventures are incredibly unbalanced with the DoL ones.

Basically, while I was all hands on deck for version 1 and ARR, since about 2 months after HW I have been spending more time in other mmos and other games period that I find more satisfying even if they are not as shiney as xiv is.

[Kaurie]

For answering this, I feel like I need to make a proper review - where I can set review guidelines/standards before reviewing it etc., and I may do that down the road. For now, here is my quick response.

Thoughts on changes in HW


Graphics: With HW came Direct X 11, and the graphics improvements were great. That said, there are some really weird textures with the DX11 client. This results in things look amazing when far away and really bad when up close. There is also a pretty small amount of 'substance' (i.e. blades of grass, 3D rocks etc). I'd say the improvements were good, but not great.

Story: The initial story from 50-60 was amazeballs. However, since reaching 60, the story has been pretty meh. 3.3 had some really awesome cutscenes, but nothing from 3.1-3.3 storywise was that interesting. It was a pretty big letdown after 2.4-3.0. So, the majority of it (3.0) was awesome and then it tailed off.

QoL stuff: Patches recently have been coming with lots of QoL improvements, especially 3.3. While they aren't all improvements that I specifically want, they're welcome additions to many I am sure. It's great that these QoL patches are constant, rather than loaded only with the expansions.

Features: Heavensward failed to shake things up. There was no revamp of systems, nor were there significant systems added. These are things one often sees in an expansion, which helps the game feel fresh and interesting. Possible additions/changes could be things to talents and traits, or could be a revamp of how FATEs work. The sky is really the limit on this one, and it is sad to see the result so close to the floor.

Patch and Dungeon Formula: Adding on to the above, the incredibly predictable patch format (and even release date) is not something that I enjoy. It removes a sense of mystery and hype, and makes a lot of the content feel stale very quickly.

Alexander: IMO Alexander has been a pretty big failure. I dislike the move to creating normal and savage, while leaving out a middle-ground. I find the reward structure is very unsatisfying and the lack of interesting achievements just makes that worse. The story has been fairly meh and a tad cliche, the mechanics (mostly) are pretty lame and the fights are not fun. That said, I do really enjoy A5S, but find A6S to be the least fun in raiding I have ever experienced.

Crafting: a portion of the game I do not partake in, so I don't have any opinions on the matter.

Dungeon design: I am not sure if it is that things are not being shaken up, or if the devs have become more lazy, or are designing dungeons to a different audience than myself, but something is really wrong with HW dungeons. I really dislike Dusk Vigil, The Aery, Sohm Al, Arboretum, Pharos hard, Hullbreaker hard. I feel meh about most of the others, and was only really impressed with Antitower and that other new expert one I always forget the name of.

Trials: These are pretty split for me. I loved Bismark, hated Ravana, loved Thordan, hated Sephirot. I find Nidhogg to be in the middle. I dislike that these are so choreographed (particularly seph and ravana).

Zones: Most of the new zones are gorgeous, and it is really sad to see that for the most part we don't go to them. Since reaching 60, I find that I travel in the maps very rarely, and I find that a bad thing. That said, Hinterlands, Forelands and Sea of Clouds are amazingly beautiful, so good job on this one!

Flying: This was pretty cool at first, but doesn't really serve much purpose. I think that maps being connected at focal points really takes away part of what I really like about flying in WoW. I also think there need to be more !fly areas.

Diadem: Huge failure, of which I could see moments after entering it. I am not sure why they thought this was a good design, or how it made it past their quality control team.

Aquapolis: Fun, but it just takes something that you do in the gorgeous maps and puts you in a dull instance, so I don't really see a huge point to it.

24-person raids: This one is simple. Void Ark sucks, Weeping City is great.

Job Changes: While I appreciate the added change to skill cap, I found this was done in a way that ultimately ruined jobs more than made them fun. I also disliked the homogenization of jobs. I get that they want to keep things balanced, but personally, I'd rather have flavour than balance (note that I emphasized personally). IMO, HW ruined BLM, BRD, tanking, DRG and made SMN, WHM, SCH much better. NIN is fairly similar to before with an added positional (one that I dislike, but is insignificant enough that I digress), and I never had MNK 50+ to comment.

I thought there were other sections I was going to touch on, but am drawing a blank. I may edit this later with them. For now, I shall conclude with, "I find that Heavensward has been a mixed bag, which ultimately has disappointed more than impressed. That said, it's still a well made game that is providing me with many hours of entertainment."

[Anienai]

I like it.

[Zfz]

Feels like 2.0 with higher numbers.

Concise and precise! This really is what 3.x has been, with minor improvements on job mechanics. While I agree that vertical progression inevitably results in exactly this, I was hoping that FFXIV could give us something creative and break away from the decade old MMORPG formula.

FFXIV has also become very dull in terms of expectations. Besides the very top-end Savage raiding guys, the rest of us are basically locked into a very strictly laid out schedule of upgrades. This is dull. It is very, very dull. I realize that a lot of people love it---do dailies for five days a week and get a piece of top-end gear every one to two weeks---but it's dull. It's like paying mortgage.

Perhaps in 4.0 FFXIV could leverage the Deep Dungeon system and make a "growing set" of single-job gear that can be improved through some random feature to eventually the same stats as the then current end-game token gear. No shortcuts will be given to this set during the expansion (unlike token gear which become cheaper when outdated) and improvements are not deterministic. A real loot grind, not the current Anima weapon token grind bullshsystem. Make it entirely soloable.

I want to be fighting mobs and exploring dungeons and end up directly upgrading my armor. At the moment, that kind of experience is exclusive to the hardcore top-end raiders. The rest of us filthy casuals work the dull 9-5 job of processing the same roulettes everyday and get a paycheck each week that we spend on an upgrade. We don't deserve the get-upgrades-for-content experience, it seems. I agree that some premier needs to exist for hardcore raiding, but the token gear already erodes into that premier. Why not provide the token-equivalent gear through a content designed for the solo/party-oriented filthy casuals that they otherwise are going to get anyway, but through much more interesting content?

The token gear system in FFXIV is overused IMO, and that's the one thing that seriously need to be redesigned if the game wants to not feel like a job. Yes I know we could run Savage and ignore token gear, but Savage isn't for everyone.