How does FF14 compare to WoW? (And other MMOs)

[Stanelis]

I have been playing both game for years and here is my take on this topic :

What is better in wow :

- Better raids that feels like raids and not only monsters in a box,
- Blizzards seems to have a better mastery on wow's gameplay than SE on FFXIV's gameplay (a lot of heavily recycled mechanics in FFXIV and gameplay rarely evolves while wow's is overhauled in each expansion),
- Blizzard is unafraid to change and try new stuff in each expansions (for the better and worse),
- Overall, the server feels more responsive.
- Huge world and actually very decent leveling experience since the level squish,
- More replay value in content,
- Flexible raid sizes,
- Best itemization that isn't merely a boring increase in stats with effects on some parts of gear, legendaries, trinkets, etc,
- Better character customization with specs and covenants.

What is better in FFXIV :

- Better graphisms and artistic direction (some encounters are visually stunning),
- Better cutscenes,
- Better out of combat experience in overworld content (despite it being quite small),
- Better transmogs and non battle related character customization.

I'd say better housing if everyone could access the content but how messy the system is I can't mention it. I'll also pretend PVP doesn't exist in FFXIV....

Main issue with FFXIV is content is great the first time around due to graphisms but then the existing content gets very boring.

[VelKallor]

Blizzard is unafraid to change and try new stuff in each expansions (for the better and worse),

More borrowed power and more gutted classes when its taken away yay.

Overall, the server feels more responsive.

The server that is shut down for 1 -`10 hours a week 52 weeks a year x 5 million players = 520 paid for hours per person per year @ $17.25 a month ( the price has gone up ) = close to 2.3 million dollars a year in paid game time that players never get to use.

Huge world and actually very decent leveling experience since the level squish

Except if you arent American, then your server is tied to California time which means you play in pitch darkness 24 hours a day. Want to see daylight ingame if you live in Sydney? Better log in at 2am your time then. How long has it been since players have been begging them to change or fix this..what is it...five years now?

WOW has also had a continuing issue with server lag which still hasnt been fixed.

[Stanelis]

More borrowed power and more gutted classes when its taken away yay.



The server that is shut down for 1 -`10 hours a week 52 weeks a year x 5 million players = 520 paid for hours per person per year @ $17.25 a month ( the price has gone up ) = close to 2.3 million dollars a year in paid game time that players never get to use.



Except if you arent American, then your server is tied to California time which means you play in pitch darkness 24 hours a day. Want to see daylight ingame if you live in Sydney? Better log in at 2am your time then. How long has it been since players have been begging them to change or fix this..what is it...five years now?

WOW has also had a continuing issue with server lag which still hasnt been fixed.

I don't get the argument regarding scheduled maintenance as people aren't logged in 24/7'. As for daylight ingame, there is an item to force daylight you can buy in the caverns of times ^^ (even though I live in europe so I have european servers)

Also I don't really know what to tell you about the lag as I haven't experienced lags since WOTLK and as I write this message, I sit at 2 ms lag.

[Xeltoris]

Also I don't really know what to tell you about the lag as I haven't experienced lags since WOTLK and as I write this message, I sit at 2 ms lag.

I'm not gonna lie, this is just blatantly untrue. Launch weeks regularly destroy the servers, Blizzard randomly gets DDOSed on given weeks for several hours at a time, and latency in general has gotten worse over the years. Sitting at 2ms means nothing if the actual world server latency is high due to an issue on their end. I'm speaking from experience here, given I played Legion and BFA basically most of the day every day of the week.

[VelKallor]

I don't get the argument regarding scheduled maintenance as people aren't logged in 24/7'.

The fact that Blizzard doesnt refund people the millions of dollars they get from unused gametime? They pay for seven days and get six. UI also note that FRF 14 doesnt shut their servers down every week. Odd, innit?

As for daylight ingame, there is an item to force daylight you can buy in the caverns of times ^^ (even though I live in europe so I have european servers)

Oh you mean the toy with a 24 hour cooldown, doesnt persist through death? Or the potion that cant be bought for gold but requires grinding timewalk dungeons?

Sorry but when an MMO cant or wont manage a basic QoL like a unified time of day system, its broken. Blizzard also has a game calendar that is ALSO tied to US time....like making a calendar that shows events in local time is hard?

I hate to say this, but Blizzards favourite mantra seems to be "this cant be done". It can be done, they just WONT and they dont care.

[Ronduwil]

WoW is just the better game overall. They care about their raiders unlike ffxiv.

These words you will never hear from a FFXIV developer:
https://www.pcgamer.com/wows-directo...s-we-hear-you/

The article was more specific: "Raiders, we hear you." That's the only portion of the player base that they listen to or care about. For everyone else it's a skill issue or a personal problem because the devs' way makes the game "feel more alive." Shadowlands has been out for nine months, and you still can't fly in the relevant endgame zone. Also, actions speak far louder than words. Judging by the way I've seen the game evolve as I've progressed through the expansion, it really feels like the FFXIV devs took the time to streamline the stuff that players wanted to skip while enhancing the stuff that players enjoyed. As soon as Blizzard sees players enjoying something, they remove it. The most recent example was nerfing timewalking XP because too many players had discovered that it was more fun to level that way. A more classic example is this 1200+ upvote post complaining about removing portals:

https://us.forums.blizzard.com/en/wo...portals/113178

And the WoW community manager's response in that thread:

I understand that changes can throw people off a bit at first, but I also think they help keep the world of Azeroth feeling alive. When there are fewer portals, does the world feel a bit bigger to you? Do you like that? How difficult is it to get to the locations you mentioned without a direct portal (talking to everybody who isn’t a mage here)?

Yeah. The players liked it so much that over 1200 forum goers demanded they quit doing it.

[KenXSSS]

I already covered a bit of this in that other thread too, but:

Things that FFXIV has:
- Better Story
- Better Crafting/Job System
- Friendlier Community
- Better Player Housing (better than garrisons, so not a high bar)
- Better Dungeons/Trials
- Better Graphics/Player models

Things that WoW has:
- Better Transmog System/Banking/Inventory System
- Better PVP
- Trade Chat
- Better Leveling
- Better Endgame
- Larger Community, albeit more toxic
- In-Game Store that actually works and accepts your payments
- Better Add-ons
- Feels like an MMO
- Better Punishment System (this is newly added)

I would say the main problem with FF14 is the fact that in-game chat is kept to a minimum, because it seems like SE likes punishing players and leaving strikes on people's accounts, resulting in strangely quiet chat most of the time for an MMO. People here also like to bash WoW and Blizz, but like others have said, for serious endgame raiding progression/endgame PVP WoW will fill that niche. Each game has it's strengths but I would say WoW feels closer to an MMO

[Penthea]

Better Transmog System

Yes and no.

The manner in which you store your glam/transmog in WoW is significantly better because the space is unlimited and the library is shared across the entire account.

However the gear models in WoW look severely outdated compared to FFXIV and you can't even dye your gear. I actually found it far more difficult to create an outfit in WoW than in FFXIV, despite having more gear pieces in WoW, because of constantly clashing colours.

[MPK]

- Better Dungeons

HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHA Nice joke

[KenXSSS]

Yes and no.

The manner in which you store your glam/transmog in WoW is significantly better because the space is unlimited and the library is shared across the entire account.

However the gear models in WoW look severely outdated compared to FFXIV and you can't even dye your gear. I actually found it far more difficult to create an outfit in WoW than in FFXIV, despite having more gear pieces in WoW, because of constantly clashing colours.

I agree, the system is superior because it saves every gear of piece you ever collect as long as you can wear it, I give FFXIV a plus for better graphics/player models.

HAHAHHAHAHHAHAHHA Nice joke

Nah, it's true, 90% of the dungeons in WoW is just tank and spank and ignore mechanics until Mythics, in this game even in normal dungeons you have to actually do mechanics

This is a mixed bag. Blizzard has automated bans for a few years now. Very special customers that pay for multiple accounts can force a ban by overwhelming the system by spamming reports on someone.



Wanna know how I know you aren't playing Systemlands?

Hm, I've kinda heard about that but not too familiar with Automated Bans, I know it only takes 3-5 players to report to Auto Mute/Auto Kick from a BG/Dungeon/PVP, but this is temporary. The thing is Blizz CS is pretty damn good, I haven't too many issues with them, and they tend to give out lots of free game time, and they'd likely overturn a false ban. I haven't had to deal with SE CS so I don't know much in that dept