FFXIV is too simplistic and bland

[Barristan]

Also:

FFXI: Initial release date: May 16, 2002

FFXIV: Initial release date: September 30, 2010(1.0), 2013 (2.0)

Different combat systems, where you have to synergize with other players for MB, Skillchains etc. Positively boring and grindy, especially endgame gear and content. Getting anything accomplished ended up being more like a job than a game. It was so bad, they brought in the trust system, where you don't even need PC's anymore, you can have an entire party of NPC's follow you around to help you with things.

FFXIV 1.0 had a similar system, with with a fatigue system so you *couldn't* do anything once you exhausted that system. It got better towards the end of its life, but goddamn was it a struggle. 2.0 launches a streamlined system (but with a few XI systems like subjobs semi-intact), but more casual player friendly and easier to pick up and play.

In closing, if you dislike XIV for being bland and boring and comparing it constantly to XI, why not just go back there and have a ball, especially with their "resurgence" and new content. We don't need a thread on it every month.

Don't get me wrong, I played XI for 10 years, and XIV since Beta, and there is no comparison between the two whatsoever. But looking back on XI, it too is bland and boring, with the high points being skillchains and MB's, the rest is just rose colored glasses on your part.

[SomeRandomHuman]

You don't need to have been around during 1.0 to know how clunky, unintuitive, needlessly complicated, and all the lack of basic QoL functionality during it. There's plenty of resources out there that have archived and compiled various features and tidbits from 1.0.

My biggest point: You mean to tell me having unlimited access to teleports is too bland when there's things like timed gathering nodes and fates that can take most of their timer to do? Because in 1.0 you had limited teleports and all the maps were bigger than post-HW iirc.

[Gothicshark]

{snip}

That was an overly long excuse why you are not enjoying this game. Play something else then, Honestly, I love it and disagree with every point you made. I've played a long list of MMOs, going back to the early MUD days. Sure FFXIV is not the most modern, most of the newer MMOs are trash P2W anyway. Out of the big 4 MMOs left, FFXIV is the only one that ticks all the right buttons.

I love the Job/Class system, I love the dungeon, raid design they have. I love the travel methods they use.


But let's compare MMOs for a sec, ones that matter in 2020.


WOW vs FFXIV: WOW's classes have been so nerfed and messed with they have little or nothing in common with the classes they released in 2004. In fact every expansion they screw up the classes so much for one excuse or another that it's basically a different game every expansion. But what's worse is WOWs forced grinds, and lack of an entry for player into the quality endgame. Want to raid, you have to find a Raiding Guild, and one faction in the game hardly has any raiding guilds. FFXIV, by contrast, updates the Jobs often as well, but overall they keep the jobs close to what they started as, so it's not a massive learning curve every expansion. There is grind, but nowhere near as over the top as WOW, and if you want to raid, just do it, sure the high-end stuff is still in the hands of set groups, but you don't have to be the same FC, and even though all the same tools exist here as there the level of toxicity between full-time raiders and "casuals" is nowhere near the same. (it exists, but it isn't the same.)


ESO vs FFXIV: Very much in the same wheelhouse for both games, yet ESO has issues thanks to the Pay2win they added.

BDO vs FFXIV: Want world PVP, and epic grinds, do BDO, if not FFXIV.

[DBriggs304]

XI was awful even during its heyday...
I don't want 14 to be anything like that.

Thats just me though.

[Penthea]

OP it might be time to face the fact that this game isn't for you. Your opinions are valid but that's all they are; opinions. They're not facts. Many of the things you dislike are things people enjoy. Not everyone likes the same thing and that's okay. That's why there is more than one game to play.

I certainly have criticisms about the game but overall I love it. I don't know if I would say it's the best FF game I played because frankly most of them aren't even mmorpgs, they're single player games. Completely different experience. However I can say that I feel that XIV has the strongest story out of every FF I have played. I also enjoy the mechanics and game features. The only thing that I strongly criticise is housing, but my problems are the availability and acquisition methods of houses. The housing content itself is something I very much enjoy (which is why I criticise availability and acquisition so much because I think it's a huge shame so many players don't have access to something I consider a lot of fun, but going deeper into this would be going off-topic).

As for players who haven't been in 1.0 while it's true they didn't personally experience it, everything surrounding 1.0 is so very well documented that it's actually very easy to get educated as to what state the game was in. I didn't play 1.0 but I did research on it and I know people who have. Based on both my opinion is that 1.0 was terrible. I only regret not playing it so I could have seen first hand the jump in improvement 2.0 was, and how 1.0 changed when Yoshida took over production. As for 1.0 itself, I know I wouldn't have enjoyed it save for the Dalamud's fall event.

[Gothicshark]

...The only thing that I strongly criticise is housing, but my problems are the availability and acquisition methods of houses. The housing content itself is something I very much enjoy (which is why I criticise availability and acquisition so much because I think it's a huge shame so many players don't have access to something I consider a lot of fun, but going deeper into this would be going off-topic).

...

Just agreeing with you, if the OP said the state of Housing was an issue, I would have thumbs upped that, I think the one thing ESO got right was Housing, hell what WOW did with Garisions was perfect for Housing here. You could have the same zones, same plots, with unlimited housing if they used the same sharding technology WOW did with garrisons.

[VenKitsune]

Travel:

While i dont really agree with your examples, thats not relevant, i do kinda understand what you're saying.
I do wish that airships and ships were more than just another cutscene - I kinda wish we had what was in WoW/FF11 where you hop on a boat or an airship that flys around on a timer, and you are taken there physically - You can see the world around you as you go.
Unfortunately this isnt possible with the current way the game is designed - Everything is separate zones, not one big one like WoW and it was designed this way to allow the game to run on PS3 and to some extent the PS4. We may see this change when the game goes over to PS5 as the technical limitations of that will be well and truly gone but its still unlikely as changing something of that scope takes a lot of money and time that may be better spent elsewhere.

Questing:

I can't help but agree on this one - All the quests are basically the same. Go click on some things, go kill some things, go collect some things or find some things.
That being said, considering quests are more or less irrelevant at endgame and only really serve the purpose of leveling in this game...So long as they're written to be interesting enough, then i dont mind so much.

Dungeons:

Agreed. However, i dont agree with your examples.

from levels 15-50 (early 50) there ARE optional rooms, loot areas and stuff to explore in dungeons. Loot at the central area after the 2nd boss in Sastasha, there is like 4 different rooms to explore all with loot and extra mobs inside.
I do agree that more dungeons should have optional areas like this - Many dungeons these days are basically copy-pastes of eachother with a different lick of paint. Its the same old pull from boss to boss, AOE, dodge stuff from boss and kill it, repeat two more times and you're done with the dungeon.

Equipment:[/U][/B]

Agreed.
However, this has been brought up many times in the past and SE seem content to ignore anything on this subject. I doubt it'll change, i dont think we'll get any kind of horizontal progression in terms of gear, only vertical.

Battle:

Whats the problem with them being scripted? Honestly, tell me what the problem is. I dont see your point here... AT ALL.

Zone design:

Agreed. The areas from HW onwards seemed to be designed to be a good thing to look at while you're high up in the air or from far away but there isnt these little interesting details you have on the ground that you could find in ARR areas.

Monsters:

Agreed.
Still, i dont think its necessarily a bad thing so long as the dungeons they're in are designed well enough and not just a boss to boss pull of mobs.
Otherwise, i think this is an unfortunate necessity due to the average skill of your average casual player - Make basic mobs too hard and suddenly they dont want to pay for your game anymore if they keep dying to something so simple.

Job Design:

Agreed. However, i dont agree with your examples. Why do you keep using FF11 as an example? That game is ancient by todays standards of game design, and 1.0 was so similar to FF11 that its the reason why it failed.

That being said - Yes. One thing i really hate hearing from SE is "Button Bloat" - There is no button bloat in this game! None! Infact, some jobs like MCH and WAR have LESS buttons than they did in Stormblood! Its stupid!

From ARR to HW, no actions were removed from the game. You know what i did to solve it? I changed my HUD, i changed some keybinds and added some. It was fun changing it around, and it didnt take me more than a few days to get used to everything again, get used to having 5-7 more actions than i had had for two years prior.

Stormblood and Shadowbringers? They keep removing abilities for seemingly no reason, as i mentioned some jobs have even less buttons than they've ever had!
Some people say "Well controllers only have so many buttons", but here is the thing, if you enable certain options in character config its literally impossible to run out of buttons on a controller, there are many button combinations available and you can have a LOT of hotbars, more than the default.

[SakiKojiro]

If it means anything to you, I completely agree with your points.

FFXIV has been overly safe for a long time, and I strongly dislike it's directiong. This is to the point that I left for WoW for about a year just to see, and wow, that game is SO much better when it comes to gamefeel and creative content, but there's just something about FFXIV that keeps me coming back. It may just be the FF aesthetic, and that's kind of upsetting.


I get that you point out the flaws because you care, and I feel the same. I just wish people were more open to criticism. I want this game to be better.

[Gameovers]

If it means anything to you, I completely agree with your points.

FFXIV has been overly safe for a long time, and I strongly dislike it's directiong. This is to the point that I left for WoW for about a year just to see, and wow, that game is SO much better when it comes to gamefeel and creative content, but there's just something about FFXIV that keeps me coming back. It may just be the FF aesthetic, and that's kind of upsetting.


I get that you point out the flaws because you care, and I feel the same. I just wish people were more open to criticism. I want this game to be better.

I dunno.. I rather the game stay safe then throw things at the walls hoping it'll stick.

[Starkbeaumont]

if you are trying to make a point on the internet don't write a whole essay. op is way too long.