How does FFXIV fare against other modern MMORPGs?

[Claviusnex]

Interestingly enough, I did the ESO beta too and hated it; never even bothered to get the actual game. My husband recently picked it up however and ever since then has been hounding me to join him. I finally caved tonight when he told me Steam had it, both expansions, and 4 major DLCs all bundled together for 50% off. Since it was a good deal and there's no sub for it I figured I could give it a try again. We'll see if it sticks this time.

Hope you enjoy it. The game has changed a lot since back then. It's definitely not for everyone, but I think it's a pretty good game.

Oh, and make sure you grab your free mansion. All you have to do is log in before October 7th, and own Summerset (which it seems you do). Here are the full details of the event:

https://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/summerfall

And if you're like me and don't like cash shops, they fully allow buying "gifts" with gold from other players. There is a discord that helps make this easier and safer. And GMs will even reimburse you if you have proof that someone cheated you in such a deal (and probably ban the person scamming you).

And if you're fine with the cash shop, they offer sales, sometimes up to 75% off on some stuff. On top of that, they also seem to offer Crowns for 50% off in December. At least, they did the past two years, I think.

Another thing is you can subscribe to get access to the unlimited crafting inventory. If you drop your sub you can no longer add to the crafting inventory but you still have access to everything you put in it until it is empty. It also works when they have their free ESO Plus weeks. It is a good way to fill up the bags for free and/or reduce your monthly sub costs. The monthly sub also pays out Crowns at the same rate you would by them from the cash shop.

[CoolDad]

I play GW2 sometimes in between patches. I feel like it and FFXIV both have such completely different strengths and weaknesses that swapping back and forth keeps both games feeling fresh for me.

GW2 has fantastic account storage systems. The appearances of equipment are permanently saved in an account wardrobe, all dyes you've unlocked are infinite use and saved account-wide, mounts are account-wide, goofy utility items, pets, etc. These list everything skin/dye/pet you don't own as well so they double as a nice list of collectables to work toward. FFXIV lets you be every single job on the same character though, so alts aren't necessary to get a full experience. GW2 also has more rewarding and fun pvp in my opinion. Map design is also a big point in GW2's favor, and I feel they've integrated mounts amazingly well in that game so that they all feel very different and make exploring more fun instead of making you basically skip over a whole zone. GW2's seasonal and meta events are also more fun in my opinion.


On the other hand though I cannot get into GW2's story at all and I love FFXIV's. There's this goofy edge to the game's writing that I can't stand. I also like end-game combat in FFXIV more (this is mostly preference though), and jobs/classes feel more distinct in FFXIV to me. Also while earnable in-game (which is good!) I think the gem system in its current form is working to GW2's detriment more than its favor. It's incredibly difficult to manage items between characters at endgame because your bank is shared, and it is TINY unless you buy more slots. Other very convenient items like infinite use salvagers, tools, and account-wide inventory slots are also sold for gems exclusively, so being able to play the game in relative comfort requires hundreds of hours of grinding or paying a pretty penny in microtransactions. Also you don't have anywhere near enough character slots to play every class, so you will have to buy a minimum of four separate character slots to play them all, and that alone is almost 1,000 gold.

I've also tried ESO but found it to not be to my tastes at all (especially since I love my fashion fantasy/fashion wars). I used to play Phantasy Star Online 2 a lot but I've kind of run out of things to do at level cap. Blade & Soul's horrific rubberbanding (in an action-based mmo) made it impossible for me to keep playing.

Overall I play FFXIV way more than GW2 though. I find something really comfortable about it I have a hard time placing. It definitely has some aging systems, but I absolutely wouldn't say it's completely fallen behind. Looking to other MMOs for ideas sure wouldn't hurt though (I want those storage systems in my final fantasy <: ) )

[Ryaz]

Right now the only two really relevant MMOs are WoW and FFXIV, imo. You've got some niche games like ESO and Secret World Legends (which I also enjoy), but for the most parts it's the former two that are considered the more popular ones. Here are my thoughts:

Combat: Combat is a preference, but I'll take the higher GCD and weaving of oGCDs of FFXIV anyday over the 4 button rotations WoW gives you now, even with the lower GCD (especially considering most things are on GCD now). FFXIV combat feels much more satisfying and rewards good play.

Crafting: Gotta give this to FFXIV. The crafting system, while grindy and a bit unwieldy unless you omnicraft, is actually useful (WoW crafting has turned to garbage). Weapons and armor are relevant and not immediately inferior to quest items and the job system really lets you craft items for other jobs, which helps with leveling.

Innovation: WoW wins this. FFXIV is static. Even "new ideas" like Eureka is just a rehashed versions of Diadem, which was pretty universally hated. WoW is always trying new things. They don't always work out (the new Island Expeditions and Warfronts haven't been all that well received, especially with how buggy the game has been), but they at least try something new. Raid tiers and mythic + dungeons also provide a lot of midcore content that FFXIV lacks.

Choice: Not story choice, but gameplay choice. WoW wins here as well. Talent trees let you customize your character like you want and while not always equal and there are clear winners at times, for the most part the talents are well-balanced with each other. Some are better for dunegons, some are better for soloing, some are better for raid bosses. Some complete change up play style. But that choice is there. The only choice you make in FFXIV is what job you want to grind next. There's no customization outside of that and even within job types (melee, caster, ranged), they play fairly similarly.

World-Building: I'd also give this to WoW. WoW has had time to build the world they have now, true, but even the beginning two original continents felt expansive and connected. All the zones really have their own personality and the freedom of movement around them, from flying through trees and over mountains to swimming to the bottom of the large beds of water, feels alive. There's a ton of beautiful architecture and scenery. You don't get that a lot with FFXIV with it's smaller zones and every piece instanced. To be fair, though, not many games have actually replicated WoWs scope when it comes to building the geography. WoW is pretty unique and in my mind is the best built world in MMOs. I feel WoW has also had a lot more world building in general. FFXIV is no slouch either, but WoW has such a rich history of lore that it's hard to match.

Content: Extraneous stuff not related to the main story- side quests, extras, fun sfuff to do, etc. FFXIV has housing and many items to decorate them with (a huge plus), the Gold Saucer with mini-games, chocobo racing, triple triad and chocobo racing. Custom deliveries each week. Not much else. WoW has no housing (boo), has pet battles, a ton more stuff to collect, and much, much better seasonal events, even if they could use a new coat of paint. So, this is pretty much a wash, imo. Housing does make me lean a bit more towards FFXIV, but that's a personal preference.


Anyway, I know it was a long read, but those are my feelings. Though FFXIV is my main MMO, I'd have to give the edge to WoW just because the lore building is so much better and there's more gameplay choice.

[Voltyblast]

World-Building: I'd also give this to WoW. WoW has had time to build the world they have now, true, but even the beginning two original continents felt expansive and connected. All the zones really have their own personality and the freedom of movement around them, from flying through trees and over mountains to swimming to the bottom of the large beds of water, feels alive. There's a ton of beautiful architecture and scenery. You don't get that a lot with FFXIV with it's smaller zones and every piece instanced. To be fair, though, not many games have actually replicated WoWs scope when it comes to building the geography. WoW is pretty unique and in my mind is the best built world in MMOs. I feel WoW has also had a lot more world building in general. FFXIV is no slouch either, but WoW has such a rich history of lore that it's hard to match. .

I want to add something that WoW does right while FFXIV does wrong, the fact that most of the game plots in wow are self contained and the entire MSQ is a long questline instead.

Let me explain here: WoW has the great idea of making each expansion its own storyline: TBC was about the burning legion, Wotlk about the lich king, cata about deathwing and the cataclysm etc, without mentioning that you aren't required to do the previous expansion to do enjoy the new story parts. On top of that each area has now their own storylines with their own quests, making each area very different from the last and having a small, self contained piece of plot that may or may not add to the game. Stonetalon mountain storyline gave us a good example of how Garrosh is despite being hated, or how the storyline in Badlands show us how we witness the possible salvation of the black dragonflight...

In FFXIV however, the expansions aren't their own story "per se" because you have this one long streak of quests from 2.0 that you must do, essentially meaning you're doing one long quest that feels more like a chore after a while: you can compare this as if you're watching a series on a dvd, with you wanting to skip one season because season 2 is boring but season 3 is amazing, but in this case you can't because in order to unlock "season 3" you must watch all the boring season 2. I personally don't like this way: I didn't like 2.0 and everything after 2.x, everyone tells me that 3.X story is amazing but why do i have to "watch" 2.X that is boring? You don't watch 3 hours of boredome for looking at the last 30 minutes because they're awesome: you either make it ALL good or just split it.
And the areas themselves don't defend much either: sure there are some chain quests that have some sort of connection but they aren't many and I felt they were underwhelming (i personally disliked hildebrand so much that i don't even do it anymore)
On the other hand, the job quests are quite good: they're my favorite piece of storytelling by far because they're short, simple, mostly unrelated to the main cast and they do have some amazing scenes on their own (the dark knight questline from 30 to 50 is still my favorite)

[Clover_Blake]

As far as I'm concerned it's the best MMO on the market right now. It has something for everybody and is perfect for a player such as myself who likes to dabble in different activities.

Basically this.

In my case, since WoW and ESO don't have art styles I like, I've never given any of them a honest chance. I must say I did love GW2, but only the part about exploring the world; other than that, there aren't any social or creative activities you can do in that game, that I know of (you can't even sit on a sad chair and feel like you're a part of the world).

The main reason why I still play FFXIV, even at times when I'm done with main content, is that this is a world I can live in. I can create scenes thanks to the most awesome screenshot system, play with house decorations, play with fashion for my different alts... If the game was merely about beating dungeons like every other game, I'd enjoy it for a month at max, then I'd have nothing interesting to do. I'm not the kind of gamer who merely takes pleasure in upgrading numbers in my character's equip; I need creative things to do or I get bored fast, and FFXIV delivers.

WoW has the great idea of making each expansion its own storyline

Umm, while I think that might be interesting, I don't think FFXIV's current story system is bad. In fact, the current story system is what made many players emotionally engaged, for the story feels more personal. You feel more involved with the characters after all the things you've lived together; if you removed those things and would merely stay on the surface of what's happening, it wouldn't be the same.

[Voltyblast]

Umm, while I think that might be interesting, I don't think FFXIV's current story system is bad. In fact, the current story system is what made many players emotionally engaged, for the story feels more personal. You feel more involved with the characters after all the things you've lived together; if you removed those things and would merely stay on the surface of what's happening, it wouldn't be the same.

Well...that's the problem, story is subjective so you might like it, love even, but I honestly fail to see what makes it good. It's not uncommon for me as I dislike some of the most famous games of all time (I found Nier incredibly boring and pretentious, Life is Strange was a chore, Undertale was hilariously bad and so on). Still, wow has also characters that you have some kind of involvement....I mean look at Jaina: in Pandaria she had her place demolished by Garrosh which made her go rampage and started KILLING blood elves in Dalaran because of their alignment to the horde, and she is now regretting her choice of the past, all culminating with her returning in Kul'Tiras and facing her own people ((I forgot the details so bear with me, it's been a while)).
And yet the expansions have their own story...sure you would have to read and watch everything done before to fully understand, but seeing Jaina doing all that made me actually want to go back and revisit everything, including books and videos.
I sure won't bother returning here and watch hundreds of voiceless scenes with corny lines such as "mayhap" every 2 seconds.

But again, it's subjective: you might like a story that I hate, or hate a story that I like, and that's completely and perfectly fine in my book.
What's not fine when people start calling you names for disliking stuff that you don't like, which happened quite often during the years I played in this game and the main reason of drama in the past.
And in the 12-13 years I played wow, this never happened...or heck even other games.

[Krokov]

Though I will say as a kind of follow up I'm Finding myself bored with world warcraft I haven't played many others in the terms of MMO just couple of free to play ones and then 11 heck have more fun In 11 then wow. I'm just with doing the same world quests and such over and over wow is almost pretty much boring now not really much else.

[AngelCheese77]

Though I love alot about FF14, they are way behind on some things.

Like glamours. Games like EverQuest2 have an entirely separate slot where you can change appearance gear on the fly.

Housing ... gosh just put in ways where a many people can click on a door and get he same house.

This game needs some kind of calendar. Can be soooo helpful for letting people know about in game and FC related events.

Doing tells in a Duty. Just .. ugh. Especially if a GM sends you one.

And cloaks. We need cloaks! lol

[Ayer2015]

You're obviously going to get a bias response on a FF14 forum. That said, I enjoy FF14 and WoW equally for different reasons. ESO is ok, but I can't seem to enjoy the combat system in that game. There are no one MMOs worth playing currently imo.

[OurMom]

I guess it would depend on the type of mmo more than anything.

XIV can't hold a candle to bdo, Archeage, nor old mmos like Aion they just have a lot to do, a lot of options, open world, and your gear actually matters. There's a community and so much more.

But compare xiv to other extreme themeparks like Wow and I guess it's ok? Idk I just thought WoW was super boring, I mean I think XIV is boring but I can some how deal with it here.