FFXIV is too simplistic and bland

[Penthea]

They like the game but don't agree with the direction and that is ok.

I struggle to believe that they like the game. I have repeatedly seen them essentially say they want FFXIV to be FXI-2. XIV and XI are completely different games. It's like complaining about how FFXV isn't FFX.

They post here to see if other people feel the same way and or hoping the devs see's it.From what I gathered its a mix bag of nuts honestly. Some people agree, some don't, but regardless its always good to see what people like and don't like imo. I don't think its any different from any one else posting the same thing over in any of the other forums here. But then again its the forums. I see the same people on twitter post the same thing over and over lol.

It's one thing to see people criticise the same handful of things over and over again, and it's another thing when a person repeatedly criticises so many aspects of the game that if the changes they wanted were introduced the game would become unrecognisable.

Ya because they had horrible advertising is really the only reason it flopped hell I didn't even know the game existed until a day they removed it.. and I would have gladly played what saw on it over 14s honestly.

alot of people didn't even know 1.0 even existed so .. saying its a flop had nothing to do with systems they just didn't spread it around properly .... all things considered it looks way better than current ffxiv outside "graphic upgrades"

Uhhh...1.0 flopped hugely because it was borderline unplayable for a long time. There were massive server issues and the game itself crashed a lot due to demanding far too much from hardware and for being badly optimised in general. No matter how great a game itself is, if players cannot play it then they're not going to like it.

Furthermore there were quite a lot of issues with the design itself because SE literally ignored player feedback during testing. The ui had too many dialogue boxes to go through to do simple tasks, the combat was clunky, gathering was almost purely rng (because for some reason the devs thought it would be great if players didn't know what they were gathering???) the story wasn't fleshed out at all (which is a crime for a FF game!), navigation was awful due to zone and map design...I could go on for a long time. It's a very long list that is very well documented.

SE wanted to create a successor to XI with 1.0 XIV but it failed miserably because the game was poorly made and was nowhere close to being a finished product. It was a controversial game right from launch, and the reception was so bad that SE was in danger of falling apart as a whole. I know people who adored XI who tried 1.0 XIV and they all agreed it was awful, even if you were lucky enough for the servers to stay online or for the game not to crash. The improvements to 1.0 came after SE removed the original 1.0 staff and replaced them with a different team lead by Yoshida. However the devs and Yoshida saw that the game was so badly made even down to its foundations that the only way to save it was to scrap it, which is why 2.0 was released as a different game, not as an expansion.

Sure a lack of advertising did hurt 1.0 XIV but what hurt it the most was the sheer arrogance of the original team who knowingly released a horribly made unfinished product built upon ignoring player feedback, and they were expecting to ride the prestigious Final Fantasy brand to success. Unsurprisingly this mindset hugely backfired.

Anyway...would you even want to heavily advertise a disaster of a game that put your company at risk of dissolving? No, better to stick to focusing on the die-hard fans who stayed and were willing to provide feedback to lead the game to a better place. That's what SE did, and it was a success.

[Payotz]

So I was one of the folks who didn't really give a shit about WoW and would constantly tell everyone I know that FFXIV is the best MMO in the market ever since I started back in 4.2.

Recently, I got burned out from 14 and decided to give WoW a try, to know what's on the other side of the fence. What I concluded is that both games can actually learn a lot from each other. I can go on and on about what WoW can improve on, but since I like FFXIV a lot more, I'll just go onto what I think FFXIV can improve a lot on.

Simply put, WoW's environments, dungeons, raids and open world are a lot more immersive, and it does feel like it's an MMO, rather than a linear RPG with lobbies.

WoW's classes have a lot more class identity than FFXIV's jobs

In WoW, there's a lot more job fluff that sells the class fantasy a lot more, despite it not necessarily contributing combat wise. A few examples would be that a Mage can conjure food and water, Death Knights can walk on water and Beastmaster hunters are the only spec/jobs in the game to tame exotic beasts (yes, they can even tame raid bosses). There's even dialogue amongst the NPCs when you're a specific class, like the guards in Stormwind will act hostile if you are a DeathKnight.

In FFXIV, there's really only three I can think of off the top of my head. The most significant one is pretty much BRD Performance, Ninja Movement Speed and Ninja All Fours. I would want FFXIV to sell the job fantasy a lot more, having Astro fortune tell, having Dragoons jump twice as high normally, and maybe even Scholars just interacting with Lily a lot more akin to how MHW hunters interact with their Palicos.

I think this would go a long way to improving the job fantasy of the jobs, even if it doesn't necessarily improve combat. (Though combat does need some improvements imo, but that's another topic).


WoW's monsters/enemies interact with one another, and the environment

WoW's monsters/enemies have unique interactions with one another and the environment. If you fly throughout its world, you might see two massive Goliaths just battling it out with each other at the center of the map. If an Ogre hits another Ogre while fighting you, they might just fight each other instead while talking smack to each other, until one of them dies, and then they come back straight to you. This genuinely makes the world seem alive, and that the mobs are actually organic and not just trash to kill (even if they are trash to just kill).

In FFXIV, the only times where I saw interactions between enemies and the environment are only in FATEs, in the ARR areas (guards vs enemies), and the Tempest where if a specific monster eats another small monster, it gets a damage buff. I would honestly like a lot more interactions like these in the future. Again, not really gamebreaking gameplay wise, but it makes the world seem organic and and alive.

WoW seamlessly loads one zone into the next with no loading screens

I honestly don't really know if this one is limited by consoles, but being able to fly with no loading screens across zones really helps with immersion. It just feels like you're traveling the world rather than traveling lobby to lobby. This might be the most minor thing in the list, but if it is possible, I'd like to see this happen.


There's a lot more I can talk about, like WoW dungeon design vs FFXIV dungeon design, WoW(and honestly, Destiny) raids feeling a lot more like raids than FFXIV 8 man Savage raids, WoW race fluff, and a few more, but I think the improvements on immersion are a lot easier to implement rather than things like changing the standard dungeon formula.

These are really my opinions after spending a bit of time in WoW, and while I do agree that FFXIV does things a lot better than WoW, there's a lot more things that FFXIV can learn from WoW.

[linayar]

When people say they want immersion, they seem to request features that are mostly aggravating to me (with the rest being inconsequential). As a Mage main in WoW, I wish I don't have to conjure meal. My class fantasy as a Mage doesn't have to rely on being a meal producer or portal maker and I wish every class can teleport and replenish their own resource. Every time I hear what Hunter and Rogue had to do in terms of their class fantasy in Classic WoW, I always feel glad that I never tried it.

The one exception is the no load screen in between zones, which I do like, but I don't know what WoW has to sacrifice for that ability. FFXIV's zones tend to load more nicely to me on my old PC than WoW's zones and loading screens don't really bother me as I know it's a video game.

[Kaelah]

WoW's monsters/enemies interact with one another, and the environment

WoW's monsters/enemies have unique interactions with one another and the environment. If you fly throughout its world, you might see two massive Goliaths just battling it out with each other at the center of the map. If an Ogre hits another Ogre while fighting you, they might just fight each other instead while talking smack to each other, until one of them dies, and then they come back straight to you. This genuinely makes the world seem alive, and that the mobs are actually organic and not just trash to kill (even if they are trash to just kill).

In FFXIV, the only times where I saw interactions between enemies and the environment are only in FATEs, in the ARR areas (guards vs enemies), and the Tempest where if a specific monster eats another small monster, it gets a damage buff. I would honestly like a lot more interactions like these in the future. Again, not really gamebreaking gameplay wise, but it makes the world seem organic and and alive.

I noticed this one when I first started XIV 2.0. I remember asking in my FC chat if mobs ever link because I was pulling Ixali that were mid conversation with another Ixali and the one I didn't pull didn't seem to give a **** that I was murdering his buddy in front of him, I found it jarring after playing WoW for years where if you pulled something like that they would all swarm you. xD

[Halivel]

I noticed this one when I first started XIV 2.0. I remember asking in my FC chat if mobs ever link because I was pulling Ixali that were mid conversation with another Ixali and the one I didn't pull didn't seem to give a **** that I was murdering his buddy in front of him, I found it jarring after playing WoW for years where if you pulled something like that they would all swarm you. xD

It's honestly weird in FF14, because there are linked mobs (in low level zones mostly), but then you kill a mob talking to another mob, and second one just... continues to speak. Looks like they were wanting to make linked mobs a thing (considering there are some), but then dropped this concept for whatever reason, which is honestly sad.

[RTX3080]

Is this a TitanMen thread

[Daniolaut]

And let's not be facetious regarding XIV's difficulty. Yes there is a dance to learn or a script to memorize but if you can't do that or have a difficult time doing so...surprise that IS difficulty..

If you feel “memory” is a skill, then we’re just going to have to end this charade.

I consider memory about as skillful as growing hair on the top of your head.

Some people can grow hair on the top of their heads, some cannot, but I absolutely never would consider it a skill.

Enjoy FFXIV!

[Daniolaut]

WoW.

I actually looked into World of Warcraft as well. When I saw that same old “you are here” every five seconds notification I turned back around.

I have no clue who is in charge of such choices, but making that completely permanent (no toggle to turn it off) and it constantly telling you all the time nonstop is very very odd indeed. It makes it feel like you’re constantly in tutorial mode.

As for the rest you said, I personally feel WoW has more in common with FFXI than it does FFXIV.

FFXIV is far too cookie cutter-safe-copy pasted content to be compared to either game.

[Lauront]

You're not wrong. Following 5.3, I'd add the MSQ to that list.

[SilverObi]

If you feel “memory” is a skill, then we’re just going to have to end this charade.

I consider memory about as skillful as growing hair on the top of your head.

Some people can grow hair on the top of their heads, some cannot, but I absolutely never would consider it a skill.

Enjoy FFXIV!

Ok so there's no real discussion to be had here. Enjoy your one-man circlejerk my dude.