Started playing another MMO: what I feel FF14 lacks in regards to uniting a community

[ShinMetsu]

Yes. I'll never accept Catboys. Just like allowing people to go skin-naked top was a mistake.
Going to Limsa is horribly disturbing to me. Better stay at home.

Although this might be a little off-topic.

[Rhysati]

GW2 does a ton right. And for someone new to the game it is downright amazing. Unfortunately the 'end-game' is non-existent with nothing to really strive for. My characters still have the same gear they had 2 expansions ago and are just as good as anyone else.

If an MMO could do the leveling and exploration right like GW2 and then have a solid end-game...-sigh- Unfortunately either end-game is all that matters or it doesn't matter at all.

[Kisagami]

I’ve actually had a lot of success when it comes to their LFG system.

A good way of pointing out what GW2 gets right with their system is: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/...OL&sh=5523f83d where people are singing praises about their systems. Not only that, developers participate on the forums. I even got to run events with an ArenaNet employee!

Sure, people are quieter because theres a ton of content you can do solo. But when you ask for help, people tend to be there to offer advice in map chat.

[Skivvy]

So having a all catgirl race was better? Double Standard much? FFXIV did mithra justice by adding in playable male cats and of course they added female roes as well. Besides, unless you we're incredibly blind in XI, more than half of "mithra" in XI was played by men who were obsessed with catgirls. So in a way catboys did exist in a way in FFXI but in this case it was men playing in a mithra body.

Having races with only ONE gender WAS THE MISTAKE which FFXIV thankfully fixed.

What part of that is a double-standard? XI had male Galka and female Mithra only. Opinions will vary whether or not they should have branched out with adding female Roeg and male Miqo in XIV. I'm just bummed they chopped off Galka tales.

[Stanelis]

The problems in FFXIV are a) the over reliance on DPS for completing content (over utility, you basically don't interact with bosses aside dishing damage) due to the lack of depth in the battle system and b) the limited party size for most content (4 and 8 are just too small and SE will end up having issues adding more jobs due to that problem).

However, elitism in GW2 is a thing, especially when it comes to dungeons and raids.

[ShinMetsu]

Actually, could people maybe gives examples of content updates from other games that have kept their interest for several years?

What was the content at the start and how did the content evolve in that game?

[Morphiana]

In response to OP I'd go further than just uniting the community.

FFXIV's zones feel stale, uninspired, and dead for the most part when compared to WoW's newer zones. This is a personal opinion so I know it's subjective but please hear me out.

FFXIV has fates which are supposed to bring a zone to life but on their own they are not enough. WoW has phasing (see WOTLK Death Knight's opening zone for an example) and has NPC battles you can assist in throughout their zones. The battles may always be occurring in some instances, never to be resolved outside of questing text, but still seeing them despite their age is still fun.

There's something to be said about NPCs battling one another on a beach, a few strong elite officers littered throughout the area, and you're able to go in and help out. You can heal soldiers, take out their officers, grab their ruined armor / tank parts, etc. It brings the zone to life.

FFXIV does not have an equivalent of this. Fates come and go quickly, they don't feel like they are a part of a zone, rather they visit the zone briefly before taking off. There's only a few bases established by enemy forces through the game (the majority are from 2.0) and they are uninspired looking themselves. You never really feel like you're breaching a stronghold (with the exception of 1 base during a MSQ in Stormblood).

To make matters worse we have 5 different city states now and none have really asserted their unique identity outside of their own individual cities / starting areas. There's a lot that can be done with something like that... For example the three main city states could've been responsible for separate zones / areas and have established more camps throughout the expansion with questing. They've could've had more battles w/the imperials instead of just wandering monsters every where.

The zones feel dead as a result and it really sucks.

[Aylis]

The repetition of the same old pattern is what kills ffxiv for me, not a community or needing a close knit community.

I totally couldn't agree more and this was a big reason why logging in FFXIV is painful at times for me. The devs are playing it too safe, its predictable, and predictable is boring. We all know any new dungeon is going to follow the same pattern, just a change of scenery. We all know each new expansion is going to feature new beast tribes with more beast tribe quests for another beast tribe mount and minion. We all know there will be the new Crystal Critters of the month to match them. We all know there will be another 24 player nostalgia raid and nostalgia bosses. We know any event will be "talk to NPC in Gridania, talk to NPC in Limsa, talk to NPC in Ul'dah, do a FATE and your done. That and a more major focus on aesthetics. I honestly can't tell if FFXIV is trying to compete with MMO's or Second Life anymore. It needs something not safe, not predictable. Monotony is no fun.

On the topic of GW2 I enjoyed my time there when I played. It had so many wonderful and amazing things going for it, and I liked it was something weither you were new, returning after a year or a daily logger. It was something anyone could just jump right in or back in and play and never feel left behind

[ElazulHP]

I too played another MMO this weekend. Black Desert Online since it was a free weekend. I couldn't stand it. Made me rush back to FFXIV. The character creation was nice, but everything else was garbage and the cash shop was literally the game. Held just about everything hostage behind the cash shop.

[BluexBird]

In a lot of ways, I think GW2 beats FFXIV in a lot of things. The fact that it doesn't have a monthly subscription goes without saying. But beyond that, we have simple things like:

- Their glamour system is far superior. Once you claim an item, you can use it as a skin regardless of what you do with it afterwards. Plus you can dye individual parts of each armor piece.
- Inventory management isn't a chore. You don't have to deal with retainers whenever you want to craft. You can send crafting items to your bank, no matter where you are.
- Auction house allows you to know if an item is valuable, or if you can just throw it away or sell it to an NPC. In FFXIV? NOPE! You either know something is valuable when you get it, or you have to check the market board to see how much it's worth.
-There is actual open world content that is worth doing. You are properly rewarded for doing events (the equivalent of FATEs), regardless of your level. This means no matter what map you step into, you will see a bunch of people there. In comparison, FFXIV has empty maps where you feel like you're the only one actually doing something there, the exception being hunt marks (which are extremely rare).

I'd mention how GW2 also has proper PVP, but I feel like that would be unfair since it this is only because of its different combat system. FFXIV has a combat system that simply doesn't allow for interesting and engaging PVP the way other MMO games offer.

Now as much as I loved GW2, I eventually got bored of it. Some things were missing, and FFXIV was able to offer those things. But boy was it frustrating to deal with the above issues when I was first playing. The long MSQ grind almost made me quit. But it was worth because of just one reason - the boss fights and raids. FFXIV gets that right, and they do it so well that I'm willing to overlook its shortcomings. But it's also why I don't craft or PVP. It's why raiding is pretty much all I do in the game, and I feel that's kinda sad since when you look at GW2, there's a lot they could learn.

From a community viewpoint though, I think both games have their own. You have raiders and elitists in GW2 as well. People who will kick you from Fractals because your DPS isn't at a certain level. People who won't let you into their raid party because you're a power Engi and not Condition. But that's really the only comparison you can make. Since there's no open world content in FFXIV, it's not fair motion how in GW2 people feel like helping each other out in the open. It's just not the same game.