Back from Rift....

[Kilta_Firelotus]

I think the devs played WoW and then went to Ironrealms.com to come up with a story. The MUDs Iron realms make are very good. They are heavy rp focus, very dynamic, and character creation is only limited on how well you type out the discription. (only issue is it text based) My fav one was Lustrion or something close played furrikin. (a tiny animal humanoid) And a tentical beast was plauging the towns. See when Iron realms add stuf they do it on the fly and let ppl get surpized. It was also fun running around alerting everyone about the monster. All higher up of our guilds ad to be informed and all the underlings stayed in the guild halls till it was safe. I kinda wish mmo were like that.

how I discovered the beast was I zoned and was one hit KO. I was like wtf....... WHAT WAS THAT.

[BloodLotus]

I got to L7 and got the exact same feeling. I quit WoW because I didn't feel like grinding "End Game" to get loot (or hope to get something) I didn't like how I was getting upset for not being invited to events and such.

I realized that it was time to leave. Rift and DC Universe were fun for a bit (Necromancers from Rift and the combat system in DCUO were my favorite parts) but when you get to a certain point you know that all there is to do is farm gear. I didn't want to be in that place so I left.

[Wolfie]

I got to L7 and got the exact same feeling. I quit WoW because I didn't feel like grinding "End Game" to get loot (or hope to get something) I didn't like how I was getting upset for not being invited to events and such.

I realized that it was time to leave. Rift and DC Universe were fun for a bit (Necromancers from Rift and the combat system in DCUO were my favorite parts) but when you get to a certain point you know that all there is to do is farm gear. I didn't want to be in that place so I left.

This post blows my mind, because virtually every MMO is about grinding gear at end and waiting for invites to events.

[Peregrine]

Can't help but feel that Rift's living on borrowed time. WoW clones always lose their players, because as far as loyalties go the first cut is the deepest. If Rift doesn't lose their players back to WoW, it'll lose them to WoW2. I don't even think WoW2 will do well, and Rift will likely prove that a good reboot of WoW just doesn't get you that same result any more.

The next big, successful MMO is probably going to go not for WoW audiences, but their children. Everyone's forgetting the whole new generation of computer-reared social networking 14-20 year olds are starting to pile up, and no one is really paying them any attention in this rabid attempt to snatch up WoW's...jesus now 25-40 year olds.

[Abriael]

Making a game that's a wow clone is the perfect way to have to merge the servers as soon as the next wow expansion (or the next wow clone) hits the shelves.

It happened every single time since the inception of wow, and it will happen again with Rift, which on top of being a wow clone is also incredibly bland. At least the other wow clones (say Warhammer Online for instance) had a a good backstory and an engrossing world.

[weeble]

People tired of senseless and tedious grinding w/o any challenges other than testing your patience to see if you can make it to EG before you have had enough even in a fully polished game? lol

Yeah, I felt FFXI had some very good concepts that are unique, fun and the best of any MMO out there today, just paired with some not so good concepts. I expected FFXIV to have those concepts and 8 years of renovations/improvements to those weaker concepts, but instead they tried something totally different. SE is working on their flaws and I still have hope in this game because it still has a great amount of potential.

<<<this, ffxi had so much i loved and it seems ffxiv took all of them out and left the ones that weren't great whatever few they left. it's like they started us back at the stone age when i expected to see a game that was at the least at where ffxi ended. but on top all that i'm still holding strong for changes and in maybe the future this game looking like the game i expected it to be.

[Laughlyn]

imo, cutscenes, story & a somewhat revamped battle system, class & fine-tuning will save FFXIV.

Many dont realize why we play this game, it's not all about grinding, items, gear or such.

What makes us stay more than anything is to see the next CS, the intriuging storylines evolving
around the many classes, atm the there's nothing more rewarding in FFXIV then the cutscenes and
well thats one of the main reasons ive been playing it since beta.

I really hope SE dosent forget about this.
Slapping in some random BCNM, dynamis types of battles wont do much good if it
dosent tell a tale or lets us be a part of it.

So far SE have done a wonderful job with most Cutscenes ive had the pleasure of getting as rewards.

I want more stories / i want SquareEnix to tell me a tale each time a play a new game they release.

Especially if it's branded "Final Fantasy".

What i see in the intro cutscene...thats what i want.
The Final CS was just mindblowingly cool, just like the intro.
So... Freakin awesome job SquareEnix.

[Rinsui]

Making a game that's a wow clone is the perfect way to have to merge the servers as soon as the next wow expansion (or the next wow clone) hits the shelves.

Yeah. Luckily FFXIV had already reached that stage even before Cataclysm launched.
I guess that means it's ahead of the competition -.^/
(giggle)

What i see in the intro cutscene...thats what i want.

Me too. I'm still waiting for "true" skill combinations, like the Lala Mage casting fire on the Archer's arrows.

[Abriael]

Yeah. Luckily FFXIV had already reached that stage even before Cataclysm launched.
I guess that means it's ahead of the competition -.^/
(giggle)

At least FFXIV is more likely to retain it's playerbase (as long as the game is improved and polished), when the next wow clone launches. It may prove to be quite an advantage on the long run.
And MMORPGs are a long run affair.

[Rinsui]

At least FFXIV is more likely to retain it's playerbase (as long as the game is improved and polished), when the next wow clone launches. It may prove to be quite an advantage on the long run.
And MMORPGs are a long run affair.

Let's hope you are right. Then again, there is a mighty bunch of things they can improve on.

My problem is not with them being different from some other game (btw: I never played WoW.)
My problem is with them going the extra mile to be "innovative" by inventing square wheels.