Ok to start this thread should not turn into a flame war, what it should be is a person's personal opinion of FFXIV. There are no right or wrong answers it is just how you feel and I would be very disappointed if people started criticising another person's personal opinion.

With that I shall begin:

*casts Barfira*

FFXI-2!!! I admit it, that is what I expected and that is what I wanted when I first heard about a new Final Fantasy MMO. I expected them to take the great things that they had learnt over the years from FFXI and build on them. I expected an evolution of FFXI something that had got rid of all the things that were wrong with FFXI and developed something new on top of it. I do not feel like FFXIV is any of that, I feel as though they took everything they had learnt and put it in a box labelled "DO NOT USE".

Once FFXIV had been announced and rapid changes and new systems start popping up in FFXI, things like Level Sync, custom armour and weapons through the Magian Trials, Campaign, Fields Of Valor and much much more, I believed that they were using FFXI to test systems that they were going to be implementing into FFXIV. So I started getting very excited as I thought I was getting a taster of things to come.

Then FFXIV arrived and I admit, I was very disappointed with what I got, it seemed like they had taken nothing from FFXI not even the new system's which I thought they were testing.

I don't like the Armoury System as I believe it creates unbalance and doesn't create uniqueness, I feel it just makes everyone the same. I fear that down the line someone will have figured out the best combination for a tank, a DD and a healer and then everyone will be expected to have that setup. The problem is to get that expected and favourable setup instead of levelling one class to cap and a few half way like in FFXI, I may have to level multiple classes to cap just to have that optimal build that people expect for end game.

The Physical Level system which was supposed to allow you to freely distribute you stats has meant that they have had to tone down the effectiveness of them as people can have a difference of over 100+ points in them. If stats worked properly then people with DD's that just threw everything into STR and DEX would be hitting for huge amounts of DMG over anyone else. So they toned them down but doing so have also reduced the effectiveness of gear and food. If they didn't then again that person with everything in STR and DEX could pile on even more STR gear and hit even harder.

I can't connect with the classes, they just feel like a complete mish mash of what I was expecting. I wanted my WHM, BLM, WAR, THF, PLD and so on. I know you can spec your CON to be a WHM but it still feels like a CON and not a WHM to me. I don't like the whole weapon=class thing they have going on. I wanted to have a selection of weapons to choose from without it completely changing my class. I feel like I will be stuck with a Great Axe forever on my MRD ; ;

I don't feel any sense of achievement in FFXIV even when I hit R50 with MRD it was meh because I realised that I had nothing I could really do with it at R50, so had to start levelling something else.

In FFXI there was always some milestone, something to look forward to. At level 10 you went to the dunes to party for the first time, at 18 you unlocked your sub job, at 20 off to Jeuno to get your Chocobo Licence, at 24 your Airship ride to Kahzam, at 30 all the quests to unlock advanced jobs and so on there was always something. Even gear wise you would always be thinking oh a couple more levels and I can get that weapon or that armour, in FFXIV you can have that armour and weapon from rank 1 if you wanted to. Even the boat ride was more exciting than the one in FFXIV, you never knew if someone would fish up a Sea Horror or Pirates would attack. I don't get that feeling at all in FFXIV everything is just there handed to you on a plate.

Yes FFXI did have some huge time sinks but I was hoping that in FFXIV they would have fixed all that and come up with better ways to do things so they weren't so time consuming but still would provide a challenge of some sort.

I just feel that FFXIV is the opposite of FFXI and not in a good way ; ;

How do you feel about FFXIV has it lived up to your expectations?