As a new player that really likes this game ...

[Nicodemus_Mercy]

I'm not unhappy with the game, I like it quiete a lot. But that doesnt mean there are no negatives to it, which are the ones I pointed out. And no, I dont like playing with alts, nor proffesions. Relic weapons are just cosmetic, dont care. I play for the endgame content and the satisfaction of clearing it when its relevant.

I think this game just lacks the hardcore pve community WoW has, I can't imagine a WoW expansion launching without a proper raid with no one complaining ...

FFXIV is not a hardcore pve game. It never has been as far as I can tell. FFXIV is as casual as casual gets and if you're expecting that to change you're going to be woefully disappointed.

Could FFXIV do with a few more quality of life features? Sure. But it doesn't need to be WoW 2.0. FFXIV is not a "raid or die" game. It is not an "endgame is all that matters" game. It is not just another in a string of WoW clones with the same type of priorities and development.

The entire point of FFXIV is the Main Story. That's why its mandatory. Could the 100 quest leadup from ARR to HW be pruned? Sure, no one will argue that its got way too much filler in it. But there's a reason FFXIV lacks the "hardcore pve community wow has"... and that reason is this game is not WoW and it will never be WoW and it will never live up to your expectations if you're looking for another WoW.

[Lilseph]

On previous patches, there was a path before you get to the raid boss. In BCOB, SCOB and FCOB, there was a corridor with jumping platforms, door switches and trash pulls. Then in the normal mode of Alexander, there was some trash, steam traveling and some sub-bosses that served as a trial before the encounter. Now Omega is... just a jump to the encounter. I'd like to have a mini-dungeon before the boss, at least in NM.

[Moonlite]

Why is the MSQ mandatory? I like story in games, but not 50 filler MANDATORY quests with "run from here to there, talk to this guy, deliver this shit".

You came to the wrong community. They refuse to acknowledge that this has any drawbacks. The MSQ is right along with the worship of the dev team for a large part of this community. For some reason you going to a zone and doing something without completing the MSQ greatly hurts them. Game play is so far down the list from lore you would think they are ?something?

[Zarabeth]

You came to the wrong community. They refuse to acknowledge that this has any drawbacks. The MSQ is right along with the worship of the dev team for a large part of this community. For some reason you going to a zone and doing something without completing the MSQ greatly hurts them. Game play is so far down the list from lore you would think they are ?something?

Because a lot of this community really does like the Final Fantasy lore. A lot of us have played most of the FF games. This is not a WoW clone and those who want that aren't going to find it here.

[RichardButte]

I liked the story, and making it mandatory is ok. But not with soooo many pointles quests, mostly in the ARR story. I just started skipping dialogues all the way until I hit HW questline, which is my favourite. Just so so many fetch quests that I ended up "disconected" from the story.

The ARR endgame slog is a goddamn nightmare, yes.

The problem is that you're slogging through over 100 quests that had previously been released over the period of a year plus as just bits of extra endgame questing.

But doing them ALL IN A ROW like the game makes you do is basically the sales pitch for selling jump potions, and it's exceedingly effective.

I have a friend grinding through it right now and although he loves story in games (including XIV), I can tell it's starting to grate on him. The real problem is that, throughout these quests, there's a notable lack of "story" in the main STORY questline and is instead mostly just running back and forth across zones for another few windows of dialogue that tell very little.

But there's a reason FFXIV lacks the "hardcore pve community wow has"... and that reason is

...its raid encounters are far too easy and don't offer the consistent challenge that WoW's do, which has nothing to do with "being like WoW", otherwise all of the games out there harder than WoW (like EVE Online) would be "more like WoW" and that absolutely isn't true.

FFXIV is a WoW clone in that it's a themepark MMO and designed with the same level cap and gear gating that WoW features. The way both games handle the level cap and gearscores are identical.

The key difference is that the WoW team does a much better job in designing raid encounters while the XIV team does a better job in the number of side pursuits you'll find in the game, overall handling of story, and does a much, MUCH better job of fostering a more helpful in-game community.

Really, if XIV's devs could step their raid game up (and they may well do this with SSavage), then XIV will be a generally better version of WoW all around.

[SaitoHikari]

The post-ARR/pre-HW phase needs to be redesigned, straight up. It is probably THE single biggest barrier of entry to this game right now, which is bad considering it's something that's actually about halfway into the game. I brought over an entire group of like a dozen people from a previous MMO I played, and only about 2 people made it past that phase. Everyone else straight up quit after that point, because they didn't believe me when I said it'd get better afterwards.

I frequent the more mainstream gaming websites a lot, and whenever someone mentions they tried to get into FFXIV but quit, the reason is ALWAYS either the Titan arc, zerg rush Castrum Meridanum/Praetorium, or the Lv. 50 ARR main story quests. The devs essentially acting as if the story jump potions are a solution is unbelievably bad PR.

[Charoy]

Because a lot of this community really does like the Final Fantasy lore. A lot of us have played most of the FF games. This is not a WoW clone and those who want that aren't going to find it here.

I like games with story, and oh boy do I like FF games. But this is an mmorpg, it cant sustain itself just with story, or else sub count will just plummet until next patch.

[Moonlite]

Because a lot of this community really does like the Final Fantasy lore. A lot of us have played most of the FF games. This is not a WoW clone and those who want that aren't going to find it here.

What has that got to do with being able to do other stuff outside the lock of MSQ? Were you locked out of any zones in 2.0 because of MSQ? And no one said the MSQ had to be removed. You know it can exsist and still let other players play in a style they more enjoy. People can already pay to skip it. What the hell is the difference if you can do X dungeon or zone because of lore.

I have finished all the FF games up to 13 and it is nothing to be proud of. It has not me appreciate literature or art more. The way they portray jrpg in Mahoujin Guru Guru is exactly how most FF series feel. The push back is the MSQ protectionist society can't see its a little silly and would be more enjoyable if it wasn't shoved down some players throats.

[Paladinleeds]

snip

The zones being locked out have lore reasons behind them. I'll give Ishgard as an example.
SPOILER ALERT:

Lore-wise, Ishgard is an extremely reclusive nation. They despise outsiders, possibly to the point they would kill us on sight if they could. But by progressing through the Main Scenario and helping House Fortremps and Haurchefaunt, you get them to learn that not all outsiders are bad. So you're made the "ward" of Fortemps. This gives you a pass to enter Ishgard. Over time, you show Ishgard as a whole that outsiders are not so bad, and Aymeric helps create an alliance between Ishgard and the other city states

That is why stuff works the way it is. In the ARR zones, the story was not written around it.
Now, could they move the AST/DRK/MCH job quests to outside of Ishgard? Potentially. But the DRK storyline seems to require access to Ishgard to even start the storyline to unlock the job. So that makes things a bit more confusing.

[LaylaTsarra]

I like games with story, and oh boy do I like FF games. But this is an mmorpg, it cant sustain itself just with story, or else sub count will just plummet until next patch.

Buy a jump potion if getting to end game is so important to you. Final Fantasy is about the story. Relative to Stormblood there are a lot less filler quests in the main story compared to ARR.