What is your "dealmaker"?

[JunseiKei]

I mean like... There are things like "dealbreakers" which absolutely make you abandon certain games. But then we got "dealmakers" that hook you into them. What did it for you with FF14?

• One character that can swap to any job, making ALTs completely optional;
• Leveling up is not a main focus and does not need to take months to hit maximum level cap;
• Gear progression does not take long compared to some games' months, or even, year, long progression (this is especially refreshing as an adult with responsibilities and a 60 hour work week);
• Gear progression is reset with every new expansion or raid tier release (again, goes great if you have adult responsibilities that massively constrict your time)
• Content is created with the idea of needing only 8 people at most; compared to the last MMO I played, where a guild of 30+ were required for some fights;
• "Crafted" gear is a step below raid gear; compared to another MMO I played before FFXIV that required you to get a fragment from this boss, another from another, a few dozen rare drops from common enemies to make raid-tier like gear, but required a certain proficiency in a select crafting profession;
• The story and importance placed on lore;
• Absolutely the music;
• Cash shop is vanity, level boost and story skip with no impact on the game.

[galbsadi]

So I play several MMOs....WoW, SWTOR, FFXIV, ESO, used to play TERA, have dabbled in Neverwinter, LOTRO, and others.

Big things I like in MMOs that make them extra great:
- Not having to change characters to do different things (so far FFXIV is the only one to really do this, although ESO kinda tries a bit)
- Having some sort of progression across characters for alts (ESO and SWTOR do this well, WoW does a tad bit since 8.1)
- Ease of leveling characters (FFXIV does this great on preferred worlds, WoW used to be great at this but went downhill, SWTOR does this well)
- Story, story, story (FFXIV wins here, followed closely by ESO then SWTOR)

Things that aren't 'dealmakers' but I like:
- Community housing (it's a lot cooler to have my house everybody can see next to my neighbors than everybody have the same instance and have to access separately)
- Customization (WoW is king here, followed by ESO. FFXIV and SWTOR do decent)
- Crafting systems (FFXIV is king here, followed by ESO. SWTOR and WoW suck at this.)
- Battle companions (SWTOR wins here, followed by FFXIV.)

[ChaoticCrimson]

The story and the amazing soundtrack keep me going, that and the friends I've made and my ongoing quest to try to get through Savage content lol.

[Doozer]

Letting me be gay (even if it's just by letting me marry a player character of the same gender).

[TheMightyMollusk]

Punching gods in the face.

I have simple pleasures.

[Shougun]

Job system is brilliant system for an MMO. Not sure I want to play any MMO that doesn't have it.

FF environments (aesthetic/graphics) and music.

[Akonyl]

The people I know who play it
the ability to try other things without needing a new char, so I can keep all my years of accumulated vanity stuff on one character
the story/atmosphere

[Shurrikhan]

Reiterateable content of great depth and breadth, appropriately paced and prior to streamlining, that allows me to feel immersed in my character. As much as I enjoy raiding, be it here or in WoW or elsewhere, a truly great pre-endgame experience often has me more excited, and more lastingly so, than even raiding.

[JackHatchet]

Two major dealbreakers for me

Not being able to jump. I seriously won't play a game if I can't jump. I hated FFXIV 1.0
Not being able to hide your helmet. I quit Destiny specifically for this reason.

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Deal makers--Global chat. I love a big social circle for grinding and killing time. I unlocked Mentor status specifically to get back into Novice Network after my newbie status wore off.

Deal makers--Duties, duty roulettes. Group content. I've quit MMOs that didn't have duties.

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Strong perk--teleports.

[Joe_Schmoe]

I mean like... There are things like "dealbreakers" which absolutely make you abandon certain games. But then we got "dealmakers" that hook you into them. What did it for you with FF14?

For me, it's the fact that gathering is not trivialized. Guild Wars 2 and Elder Scrolls Online, while great in many aspects, mock gatherers. Gathering is COMPLETELY secondary. While in FF14, gathering is a class of its own, separate from everything else...

• Level/item level sync. It's nice to be able to play my role in instances without being supplanted by some raid-geared jackass who has no business being in there to begin with, forcing me to drop group out of frustration, a la World of Warcraft. In this game, the playing field is much more level (end-game item level sync is too generous though).

• Being able to level all classes on one character. This is a huge quality-of-life feature with me, much less of a logistical nightmare than World of Warcraft, where I had to character hop like crazy just to, say, create and fully upgrade one stinking item. Here, while you still have to "hop", it's much more easier to do.

• Crafting/gathering. Good god, what a feature! A (fairly complicated) game with a game. I can't recall a single other game I've played where they had this. Usually you just click an anvil/forge/menu/etc, select how many you want to make, then AFK until it's all done. Here in this game, you actually craft stuff.