Why are you still playing this game?

[Noshpan]

1. Base sub is cheaper than WoW (though I do miss playing WoW).

2. I have more friends playing FFXIV

3. I enjoy the game.

4. Stuff is just handed out? I must have missed that memo because noone has yet to give me my Genji gear.

[Saziel]

I've taken breaks off and on. Stormblood fixed a lot of issues I had though, so I can see myself not taking any breaks anymore. I love the game and well, that's why I play, lol. I've loved Final Fantasy since I was a kid and I just want to be involved in it.

[YISUG]

i really don't know

[Joe777]

The answer is quite obvious. Anyone that does anything, including play this game, does so because they want to. It's that simple. If there was absolutely no reason to want to play this game, be it for yourself or for your friends, you wouldn't now would you?

[Solica]

I'm still playing this game because i can't find anything better to play. Being completely burnt out in WoW and seeing how every F2P is trash, i'm left with little choice. The MMORPG market right now is so screwed up.

[Jaggamond]

For the actual main-story quest-line.

[BluexBird]

I should probably start off by saying FFXIV isn't a BAD game. However, it has been the worst MMO out of the many ones I have played in A LOT of aspects, to the point where it has frustrated me beyond end in several occasions. If it wasn't for the one thing this game does amazingly well compared to the others, I would have canceled my subscription a long time ago.

In order to keep it short, I'm just going to outline the things that this game utterly fails at in comparison to a lot of other MMOs:

Inventory Management: I'm not talking about inventory space. I'm talking about the fact that you have to rely on retainers to store PRACTICALLY EVERYTHING! This is especially frustrating when you get into crafting.

Story: The level 1-50 story is EXTREMELY BORING! It just felt like the biggest grind I've ever done in any of the games I've ever played. It starts to pick up afterwards, but DAMNNN... for a Final Fantasy game I did not expect so much pointless running around.

Maps and Exploration: There's barely any. And no incentive to explore, either. Nothing about the maps are special in any way. FATEs are incredibly linear and don't give any worthwhile rewards. Not to mention 99% of the time, you'll be doing them alone. There should be more things like Odin, Ixion, and Fox Lady in some of the other maps.

Combat: It would be unfair to compare this game to the combat in BnS and GW2, but when you consider the fact that even WoW has a lot more depth to its combat, skill usage, and playstyle, I just can't help but wonder if they really couldn't have gone with something... more exciting? The fact that rotations remain the same in every single fight kinda takes the fun away from things after a while.

Now as for the reason I'm still playing, it's because what this game DOES excel at, is something the other MMOs could really learn a thing or two about - RAIDS AND BOSS FIGHTS! When it comes to challenging fights and feelings of accomplishment for completing a trial, FFXIV takes the cake. I remember reaching level 50 after the TERRIBLE grind that was the MSQ, and being able to do all the Extreme primals. I just stopped leveling and spent like 2 weeks doing those fights over and over again until I was literally bored because of how much fun they were. And then it just kept getting better from there. I found out about Alexander and immediately became wonder-struck.

And that is literally why I kept playing. And why I still play. Because of the raids and challenging content. I only ever log on to do raids and boss fights, see if I can improve a thing or too. And it just PAINS me to see certain parts of the game in the state it's currently is. How nobody ever does the older content properly and just cheeses it with overpowered gear and level advantages. It KILLS me to see the only way to make money is by going through the HORRIBLE GRIND that is leveling up your crafters/gatherers. And for what? So you can make money FOR WHAT?! Housing that you can't even get? Like... there just doesn't seem any point to it. But as long as new challenging fights keep coming out, I guess I'll be sticking around.

Plus running around as a tiny potato is also kinda fun I guess. >.>

[NocturniaUzuki]

Though I usually come and go from games, right now my guild is holding me here. Also, if you think there's no challenge, then make your own. I guarantee you can find something hard in this game. You just have to think outside the box and make your own challenges.

Also hasn't nobody even cleared Ultimate yet or something? So the idea that no challenge exists at the moment is pretty groundless...

[BluexBird]

Yeah I don't know where people go about saying there are no challenging fights in the game, then proceed to only ever join unsynced parties for literally everything they do.

I bet they can't even do Soar properly since all they've ever done was skip it!

[GetFoesReqd]

I still play this game because I love the game unto itself, rather than finding the end of the game. I am not here to compete, or to defeat, or to accomplish. I am here to just do, and there is SO much to do in this game. In WoW, all there was were daily quests, daily dungeons, PVP , and if you raided, raiding. Oh, and fake pokemon. I admittedly enjoyed that.

But, this game does have those things, and also has leves, hests, palace of the dead, hunts, ranked hunts, fates, boss fates, special boss fates, housing, a card game, gates at the saucer, gambling in more than one way, grand company leves, grand company squadrons, over twice the amount of daily roulettes, and a bunch of stuff I am certainly forgetting. In addition the community is great, the design of quests and dungeons is better then I've had in other games, the gathering and crafting are deep enough to be their own classes and not just a button you push one time and youre done. Almost everything about every system is done better, and if not, then at least as well.

I love the depth of lore and the world, and I love the attention to detail, even tiny details some would miss, that were all lovingly put into this game. I am under no misunderstanding that this game is somehow perfect, it is not. But for what it is, it is amazing, and the people that made the game love the game and its audience enough to be continually improving it, instead of driving into the ground in the name of making the money train continue. They want a fun game first, and an income source second. Even if this game sucked, I might stick to it a little for that alone. Fortunately, it is a great game, to me at least. I do not say this to convince anyone to love it, only that I love it, and that is the reason I still play this game. ^_^