Playerbase Mood

[Kaethra]

I like the grind and also I don't at the same time, if that makes any sense.

Absolutely makes sense. At least to me. Whenever I play on a EQ progression server I get a bit nostalgic, even if I hate grinding. The method of leveling there is a pure grind. You sit in a spot, kill the same stuff. Get exp and a chance at a named to drop something. Then repeat. But the pace is very slow, and only the most patient can handle it. It leaves alot of time for socializing, which in itself is its own charm.

Many people don't quite know what it is like being in the middle of combat, and chatting at the same time. You just can't do that in modern MMOs.

But at the same time, the culture is different. Just from the base of the game itself. I don't think I could tolerate WoW, FFXIV, or even a new game to have such a slower pace. Even current expansions in EQ now its not the same. The progression servers do a good job providing it (and I hear classic servers do as well).

One game that handled older content well was ESO. They basically set the entire game to max level. And then scale you up. As you actually level up you get access to more skills and scale just a bit better. Of course they still restrict some of the harder (mechanic-wise) dungeons by actual level so a newbie isn't over their head. But the gear that dropped was set to your level.

So imagine doing Sastasha, the enemies are 60, but you're scaled up to 60. And if you're 24, they drop level 24 loot. If you're 60 they drop 60 loot. If they did something like that here, and just have different set bonuses from different dungeons to differentiate the gear. Then we'd have dozens of relevant dungeons.

[CuteWhisper]

1. Where do you come from to XIV? Play WoW, FFXI, GuildWars, ESO? I played EQ2, GW, WoW, ESO, Tera, Wildstar
2. Do you like how the game currently progresses? Yes I do.
3. Do you want it to stay that way? If no, what changes would you make? I really hope it does. Even though certain things could improve, I am glad it's the same.
4. What is your favorite part of FFXIV, what do you appreciate most that the devs have done? The game is beautiful, the zones in Heavensward are huge and compared to another game I won't name, it shows they love this game and care.

[azura84]

One game that handled older content well was ESO. They basically set the entire game to max level. And then scale you up. As you actually level up you get access to more skills and scale just a bit better. Of course they still restrict some of the harder (mechanic-wise) dungeons by actual level so a newbie isn't over their head. But the gear that dropped was set to your level.

So imagine doing Sastasha, the enemies are 60, but you're scaled up to 60. And if you're 24, they drop level 24 loot. If you're 60 they drop 60 loot. If they did something like that here, and just have different set bonuses from different dungeons to differentiate the gear. Then we'd have dozens of relevant dungeons.

I've been extremely tempted to play ESO, I even bought the game but I think FFXIV has spoiled me with appearance and it's hard for me to move on to notorious potato face elder scrolls games. Also my wife likes xiv a lot.

[Meillquei]

1. Where do you come from to XIV? Play WoW, FFXI, GuildWars, ESO, CoD, BF, Space Sim, Mario, etc?

WOW, Guild Wars, and Guild Wars 2.

2. Do you like how the game currently progresses? Do you enjoy how the core level and then gear level progression is paces and/or designed?

It feels a bit repetitive at times.

3. Do you want it to stay that way? If no, what changes would you make?

I wouldn't want them to add anything that feels like an excessive grind. But a little variance wouldn't hurt.

4. What is your favorite part of FFXIV, what do you appreciate most that the devs have done?

When I played WOW, I felt like raiding was THE game and it felt impossible to take a break. In FF14, I feel like I can go at my own pace and there is so much more to it than raiding.

I really appreciate all the time and effort the devs take to make this game great.

[Mhaeric]

I've been extremely tempted to play ESO, I even bought the game but I think FFXIV has spoiled me with appearance and it's hard for me to move on to notorious potato face elder scrolls games. Also my wife likes xiv a lot.

It's very possible to create a good looking character in ESO. Then again, it's also possible to create an extremely ugly one. Best of both worlds I suppose.

[crazedtoo]

1. Where do you come from to XIV? Play WoW, FFXI, GuildWars, ESO, CoD, BF, Space Sim, Mario, etc?

I played FFXI, Perfect World, EQ2, Lord of the Rings Online, DC Universe, ESO, and many others.

2. Do you enjoy how the core level and then gear level progression is paced and/or designed?

I'm not the biggest fan of it.

3. Do you want it to stay that way? If no, what changes would you make?

I would prefer for gear to have some substance to make it last longer. I enjoy when games give set bonuses and other random attributes to gear that make it stay around.

4. What is your favorite part of FFXIV, what do you appreciate most that the devs have done?

I do enjoy the amount of varied content that we have and are getting. Also, I'm a huge FF fan so I enjoy the game's homages to past titles.

[TaleraRistain]

You added 4 after I did mine so I'll add on here

4) I love how story-focused the game is. I love being able to choose what I'm going to do on a given night and still feel like I have progressed. I left my hardcore days behind me in EQ. What I want most in a game now is fun and freedom and FFXIV gives me both.

[Talraen]

1. Where do you come from to XIV? Play WoW, FFXI, GuildWars, ESO, CoD, BF, Space Sim, Mario, etc?

Interesting that you'd mention a non-MMO like Mario, but only list one Final Fantasy game (which is an MMO). I come to FFXIV via FFXI via FF1 on the NES, along with everything in between. And also Ultima, a series I started with 7 and played happily until UO destroyed all my hopes and dreams. But UO made me realize that what I thought I wanted in an MMO (a realistic alternate fantasy universe to live in) was actually a terrible idea, which helped me accept FFXIV being a theme park.

2. Do you enjoy how the core level and then gear level progression is paced and/or designed?

Yes, I very much enjoy leveling as well as gear progression. The fact that my main is at 60 in every job and I have four alts attests to that. Gear progression is perfect for me: I can play semi-casually and still keep up with enough gear to do the content I want to do (i.e., everything below Extremes and Savage). I can focus on my main with the top tomestone gear while simultaneously distributing secondary tomestone gear and drops for every other class in the game. They're all geared enough to do anything I would actually want to do with them, and that's good enough for me.

3. Do you want it to stay that way? If no, what changes would you make?

I do wonder if dungeons at level cap are too easy, but I'm not sure what to do about it. If you level sync them lower than they are, at some point gear progression becomes irrelevant because you never actually get to use it. But if you don't, they'll remain easy. It's a tricky conundrum, but I'm fine with easy content, so I'd probably leave well enough alone.

4. What is your favorite part of FFXIV, what do you appreciate most that the devs have done?

In 2.0 I would have said crafting, but they've been making that harder and harder to keep up with, and the addition of red scrips and specialties kind of killed the fun for me in Heavensward. I do really enjoy the storytelling, but the most fun I've had with the game is without a doubt Alexander normal. I find these fights are the perfect difficulty level, they're super fun, and I love the music. I mean, you fight freakin' Voltron! It's so great! And I can't thank Square Enix enough for not gating that content behind an extreme difficulty raid.

[Shyle]

1. Where do you come from to XIV? Play WoW, FFXI, GuildWars, ESO, CoD, BF, Space Sim, Mario, etc?

Name a MMO, and I've likely played it at one time. But I've spent the most of my time in FFXI and WoW (currently XIV and Black Desert Online, though SUPER casually). Also other PC/Console games from the Atari to the newest gen of systems/games.


2. Do you enjoy how the core level and then gear level progression is paced and/or designed?

I've recently returned to the game from a considerable break, mainly in prep for stormblood, my main gripe in XIV was how leveling was handled for alt jobs, I really didn't like the Fate system, and seeing the PoTD seems interesting, just that now I can't find a group to play with to level lower alts I never finished. So yeah, there's that. Gear wise, I never had an issue with how it progressed,it's pretty simplistic/basic in terms of how it's done, do dungeons/raids, get tokens, get gear. Nothing special about it. I took my break from XIV because of burnout doing the dailies and grinding the same 2-3 dungeons for tomes tho, so I'm not doing that again.

3. Do you want it to stay that way? If no, what changes would you make?

It's hard to say, you can go with a horizontal style of progression in terms of gear, but it's a hard thing to balance, specially in a theme-park style MMO like this. I'd personally would like to see quest based (skill/achievement based) gear (much like artifact gear etc) Not a grind, but actual quests that test your skill in order to receive your job AF (think FFXI or "Maat" from FFXI), dungeons and raids could drop items like accessories or upgrade parts to your gear or something.


4. What is your favorite part of FFXIV, what do you appreciate most that the devs have done?

I always liked the world building the game had, though they kind of lost the "wonderlust" of the game going toward the WoW mentality and with HW being so linear. Plus I always liked having just one character with all the jobs/classes together. Made me feel more attached to that character rather than having alts.

[Reiryuu]

My mood right now is very dim. But it has nothing to do with any of the things that you seem to care about or think is the cause of that.