Can we stop comparing the two at this point?

[Shurrikhan]

They each have their pros and cons, and each game does something better than the other.

Oddly enough, though, the list of things I'd like to see from WoW seems many times more than what I'd want to see in WoW from XIV.

My wants on the XIV -> WoW list are limited to pretty much only...

• More frequent new dungeons (though now we get new dungeons less frequently than Legion did, so, that's kind of reversed by now).
• More open-world based side-content (a la Eureka if Eureka could be done well instead; the closest WoW's had to this was WoD's hardest Apexis zones when still in newish levelcap gear).
• Chained FATEs (or, "World Quests" in WoW's case), though I'd like both to go waaaay further with them.
• Maaaybe more involved conversational pieces, e.g. dialogue choices (though I actually prefer that WoW's quest conversations and uniquely animated pieces therein either don't pull me cutscene or do so only via a full-fledged cutscene instead of something kinda half-assed).
• (There's probably a couple more than just aren't coming to mind atm, but, yeah that's about it.)

Whereas the WoW -> XIV list is... long.

• Sensible systems and features, like their Appearances Log, which supports every appearance in the entire game and even tells you how to get each while offering free Hide choices, instead of our Glamour Dressers, Prisms, Dispellers, and "Emperor's New..." items.
• Player choice making a difference (e.g. choosing to follow Sylvanus in her path to break the cycle of death at any cost or Saurfang in his quest to return honor to his people, even if such was only temporary for obvious [spoilers] reasons), though I'd prefer a... better... take on it.
• Being treated merely as a particularly competent, experienced soldier in the know (still among many) rather than 'everyone's favorite god-slaying pushover courier/handyman/posterchild of whom there's only one except when there's clearly not'.
• "Gearing" includes gameplay augmentation, rather than only stat growth (see integral trinkets [akin to bonus traits or abilities via each of two dedicated gear slots] and gameplay-affecting Tier bonuses from raid gear; Artifact Weapons; Azerite gear, Essences, and Corruptions; Conduits and Soulbinds).
• Replacement players zoning in at the party's location instead of only ever at the entrance (technically dungeon-dependent in WoW, but let's take it and go further).
• More varied mobs in terms of emergent gameplay, especially when still less geared.
• CC being a thing.
• Interrupts being frequent and vital, with more granular and generally counterable penalties if missed, rather than being either irrelevant or almost instantly wipe-causing.
• Gathering not locked behind unique gear that thereby causes all open-world gathering to be completely separate from open world threats (via Sneak); I like there being economics reason to venture into potentially dangerous parts of the open world (and not merely invalidate those dangers) and to be able to specifically pursue whatever it is I want, in particular.
• Gathering nodes can occur in any area logical for that herb, vein, etc., and have specific, visibly-obvious rewards rather than spawns merely being a universal glowing ball and their rewards thereby obscured.
• Specializations (especially if via a revision of the tree model rather than the grid model); you have this toolkit, so now you figure out what you want to most place your focus on and build your own emergent kit around those focuses.
• Seamless open world (loading zones only between continents, e.g. La Noscea, mainland Eorzea, and Othard).
• More worldbuilding in the zones themselves.
• Better zone design insofar as creating space for game mechanics, grinding areas, etc (more the case back in Classic), with a greater sense of many and varied sub-zones.
• More in-world storytelling (see war campaigns and quest-based phasing, rather than merely glowing spheres and purple spawns-mobs circles)
• And so much more.

[Callinon]

The comparisons are inevitable and fair. You don't have to read those threads though. That's your way out.

[elioaiko]

While I agree that people need to stop comparing them constantly, it is inevitable since they are the big 2 MMOs on the market. That and the fact that FFXIV rework was designed around WoW.

I would say in the past you could make an argument that SE copied Blizzard, but they're pretty different in terms of priorities and direction.

You're right that SE designed the game around consoles in order to appeal to wider market but you have to remember that SE is first a console company, so of course they were going to have it on console. Even FFXI was on console.

Also, while PS4 isn't the strongest console, you're forgetting that there's people that play on potato spec PCs that are holding the game back too.

[Aleytia]

Awww they talk about us over there? I'm flattered but we should tell them we only like them as the childhood friend they are.

[Lumivyory]

Yoshi-P stated himself that FFXIV was heavily inspired by WoW. After such statement it's hard not to compare the two. There are still many things that WoW does better, and many people would like to see those in FFXIV. And vice versa.

Also these are both popular MMORPGs, of course people will compare them. Seen people compare both of them to Guild Wars 2 as well and even to something like Black Desert. It's inevitable because there are things that people like in one game and would like to see in another.

[Hysterior]

Always good to compare competition, no matter the product.
FFXIV could very well follow a similar trajectory.

[OniKimoto]

I personally am so sick of people telling me they have raid experience in WoW then think that it applies to FFXIV. I don't see how FFXIV raiding is comparable to WoW raiding, and I don't mean any offense by that but can please someone explain to me. It's quite frustrating not knowing! Halp a lala out.

[Shurrikhan]

I personally am so sick of people telling me they have raid experience in WoW then think that it applies to FFXIV. I don't see how FFXIV raiding is comparable to WoW raiding, and I don't mean any offense by that but can please someone explain to me. It's quite frustrating not knowing! Halp a lala out.

They're both largely about "move here", "stack there", "dodge this", "spread these", "focus that", "absorb this falling AoE thing so it doesn't hit the whole raid instead of just you". More perhaps than any other two MMOs, the experience does overlap tremendously.

WoW has a few altogether different mechanics that might catch the typical XIV player off-guard while XIV has some slightly more complexly sequenced or less intuitive mechanics (these three things will chain, mirror, and then teleport, before doing their AoEs) that may throw off WoW raiders the first time or two, just as WoW players will be used to fighting in larger areas with more available shapes than just circles and rectangles while that would be heresy in XIV, but for the most part, they're highly translatable.

The only real shocker going from one to the other is that XIV tanks rely almost solely on CDs, rather than more frequent means of active mitigation, and healing requires very, very few actual healing GCDs (largely because damage taken is both less and more predictable and healing is so much more potent, especially in terms of oGCDs).

[Penthea]

I personally am so sick of people telling me they have raid experience in WoW then think that it applies to FFXIV. I don't see how FFXIV raiding is comparable to WoW raiding, and I don't mean any offense by that but can please someone explain to me. It's quite frustrating not knowing! Halp a lala out.

Having prior experience in a game of the same genre will help you play FFXIV whether you raided or not. All of the basic stuff you learn in WoW is applicable to FFXIV: how a trinity combat system works, knowing to be mindful of your gear, how to manage your money, how to navigate the world, how guilds/fcs work, and more.

As for raiding, if you have raided a lot in WoW well you already have quite the advantage because you already know how a good team works. It's one thing to be really good at your class, but it's another thing altogether to know how to be an effective team player. Raiding in general trains you how to spot mechanics and how to quickly learn to deal with them. And of course it teaches you that a lot of kills are designed to not come easily. Many new raiders get shocked by how challenging raid content is, but if you raided in other games already you know that this is normal so you are far more likely to have the patience and resilience to put in the work to master the encounters.

While the raiding environments are quite different in both games, there is a considerable overlap in what is considered useful knowledge and experience. I'm saying this as a person who raided extensively in WoW and now raids in FFXIV, while in a team of others with a similar raiding background.

[Ayuhra]

I personally am so sick of people telling me they have raid experience in WoW then think that it applies to FFXIV. I don't see how FFXIV raiding is comparable to WoW raiding, and I don't mean any offense by that but can please someone explain to me. It's quite frustrating not knowing! Halp a lala out.

WoW has more kinetic encounters and skilled play isn't always about standing in the right place, it's also about knowing your class well enough to get out of a tight spot and back into the encounter. It's less constantly predictable and more reactive you could say. The less persistently scripted encounter design means rotations are a bit simplified.

Which is all to say, yes, they're pretty different.

I did some Mythic raiding in WoW but I'm hot garbage at FFXIV.