FFXIV: A Hindsight

[Valentyne]

Seeing as I won't be renewing my sub due to discontinued hardware support in 4.X, I felt like writing up a little look back at the things I liked and really didn't like about a game I spent the better part of half a year of my life on. As both a farewell to a game I enjoyed, and as a way to solidify my intent to move on.

+Gameplay
Say what you like about rotations and long GCDs and all that jazz, for my first MMO I think FFXIV did aight. The boss battles were unique and iconic, with varied mechanics and strategies to tackling each one, strategies which rewarded both quick thinking and memorisation/pre-planning. I played a variety of roles between starting in 2.0 and ending here in 3.4. In 2.0, I dipped between a Pugilist and Arcanist, trying to just get a foot into the door of the MMO basics. I settled for Arcanist, ended up taking Summoner to Titan HM for my very first relic +1, was a real proud moment that day. I cycled around, taking MNK to 50, then later going for BLM and finally, after much anxiety and worry, I took my first step into tanking with MRD.

For the longest time, I really didn't like the idea of being the centre of attention in a party, with any screw-up being scrutinised and judged by the rest of the party... In fact, even now I still feel like it's my responsibility to be the hardest on my self to ensure I don't inconvenience the people saddled with me as their tank. It took a lot of time playing as a DPS and occasionally healing as SCH to pick up enough from watching other tanks play before I felt comfortable trying. I found my role when patches later I would get Paladin to 50 and realised the joy of being utterly frikkin' invincible in 2.4/2.5-ish. At that point I'd found my "thing" and I felt like I was playing a whole new game again. When Heavensward was first teased, I was pretty excited for an excuse to take Paladin even further but deep down there was one job I always wanted and I knew, I would drop everything to play it.

When Dark Knight was revealed, no words could describe my joy. It was like Christmas, every birthday i'd ever had as a kid, all rolled into one. I immediately jumped into the xpac, got into Ishgard and ran straight to the first job quest. What followed was a slog and I remember the slow decline from hype, to utter disappointment. The class I dreamed of was here, and it was a guddamn mess. I took DRK as my first 60, and it was probably the biggest mistake I'd made in the entire time I played FFXIV. Y'know that old saying of "Never meet your heroes"? That, but in job form. I'd go on to level Warrior later and find it vastly more entertaining with the new changes but the bad taste of DRK lingered on my tongue and it would take a long time before that bitter pill was swallowed all the way down. As of now, I think my opinion of the gameplay could be summed up as "flawed, but enjoyable". I don't resent my time spent playing the game, however I think a lot of little annoyances really tainted the experience for me.

+Story
There's really not a lot I could add here that hasn't been praised over and over by someone else. Despite a really generic MMO fetch questathon in 2.0, I think the story really took a good turn from 2.1 onwards and became something worthy of recognition among some of the best mainline entries in the series. The asspull "It was Allagans" excuse kinda got old real quick, but at the end of 2.X and going on through 3.X the writing took a phenomenal leap in quality. Characters became more nuanced, became more than just "Generic Character Trope the First". We saw real development as the story progressed, character arcs coming together. I truly appreciate all the work that every developer, every writer, the localisation team, all of them did to make such a wonderful story. A genuine pleasure to watch.

+Community
This game gets a pretty mixed rep. It seems like everyone has had a different experience with the nebulous mass of "community". Perhaps it depends on the data centre and world you play on, but my experience on Odin was nothing but fantastic. I met a lot of good, kind people. People who would set me right when I was being a turd, people who'd back me up when I was having a rough time of it, people who would just bring utter joy to the mundane, daily grind of an MMO. Sure, you'd get that one dirtbag who just laboured every day of their life to see everyone else have a worse time than them. I am thrilled to say that it was very uncommon. The friends I made in my time were some of the best fun I'd ever had in a videogame and I'll cherish those memories and experiences for many years to come.


In conclusion, although the news that I won't be welcome to keep playing deeply hurt me... I feel like the ride was worth it when all was said and done. We pay money to get entertainment, and for the price of admission, I think I got as good as I could ever ask for from you FFXIV. Should my circumstances ever change, I might consider coming back. Until then, it's been fun.


Best wishes from a fan,
Jill Valentyne.

[Sil3ntxR3qui3m]

I feel ya, I can't afford to get a new computer at my current stage in life. I wish you the best of luck and I'm glad you at least have some small things to look back on.

[Seig345]

In case you do decide to try coming back, I would keep an eye out for the new upgrade campaign. It might help you save a bit of money in the event you decide to come back!

(Albeit I am unsure if you had to actually own a ps4 at the time of the upgrade in the last campaign... might still be worth looking into!)

Edit: or... well, I heard about dx11, Im not sure which is the case here :x

[Averax]

In case you do decide to try coming back, I would keep an eye out for the new upgrade campaign. It might help you save a bit of money in the event you decide to come back!

(Albeit I am unsure if you had to actually own a ps4 at the time of the upgrade in the last campaign... might still be worth looking into!)

Edit: or... well, I heard about dx11, Im not sure which is the case here :x

I'd imagine that it'd be forced since the ps3 version won't even work in 4.0. I could be wrong.

@OP: If/When you end up with a PS4 (or a pc capable of playing on recommended hardware), it truly becomes a whole new game. Everything is so pretty, and without the ancient relic that is the PS3, it's gonna get a whole lot prettier.

[Vaer]

In case you do decide to try coming back, I would keep an eye out for the new upgrade campaign. It might help you save a bit of money in the event you decide to come back!

(Albeit I am unsure if you had to actually own a ps4 at the time of the upgrade in the last campaign... might still be worth looking into!)

Edit: or... well, I heard about dx11, Im not sure which is the case here :x

They said they are thinking of auto upgrading ps3 licenses to ps4 if they come back for 4.0 and miss the campaign but that was it.

[Atoli]

Your story made me smile and with all the joy and cheering, it is easy to forget that for some, this is not a sparkly new chapter but the end of their book. Thank you for sharing your story with us and making us remember, that this change is not positive for everyone.
I'm glad you made great memories

That said, the PS3 is a fairly old console, and all the games get released for only PS4 now. If you want to keep playing new games and not just replay the ones you already have for the rest of your life, you will at some point need to get a new console, so this does not have to be the end

[Anubis_Nephthys]

You're quitting because you can't save what, $300 in 8 months?

[Averax]

You're quitting because you can't save what, $300 in 8 months?

I think it's around 250 now, used are going for 150

[Archvile78]

An interesting read but i say in a solid 8 months i'm sure you can somehow save the money to upgrade.

Somehow because i don't know your life situation.

[DevilsDontFly]

I mean, if you're going to stop subscribing you can save up that money. $15 x 8 = $120. If you make it $20 a month you'll save up $160 solely on subscriptions. Even more if you add a little extra to it. Might be even cheaper if you live in America, and the prices of the "default" PS4 are going down with the "newer" one.