Quote Originally Posted by ssunny2008 View Post
Call it however you want, but there is a reason why WoW is successful for ages like other games with similar systems.
WoW was successful because it was the first. Because it used to know how to tell a story. Because it was the only game on the market that did what it did. Others followed. Most of the true knock-offs-with-differences didn't make it. It was most popular during its second expansion. I don't call dropping 10 million monthly paying subscribers over the next 13 years "successful". It was the first MMO for many players who are now in their 20s and 30s -- and that counts a lot toward its popularity, despite the game style. I played the game through the beginning of BFA and then abandoned the game. Realistically, I should have abandoned it when I first started playing FFXIV, but the Warlords storyline was interesting enough and Legion became fun to play for a while still.

I enjoy a game where the story has meaning, where I have meaning. WoW lost out because the story didn't mean anything to the company. I as a player didn't matter -- all the major bad guys were defeated by NPCs, not by me. This is storytelling at its worst. If all I wanted was an arena game with a story line where Things Happen only in books, there were plenty of other options.

I've enjoyed the FFXIV storyline. I, as a player, matter. I defeat the major bad guys, not some carefully crafted NPC whose major contributions to the storyline are in a book.

FFXIV has become successful because it does its own thing. It is not a one-for-one WoW clone, which, frankly, is the best thing it has going for it. SE has a different idea on where they want to take the game. It may not be to your liking, and that's ok.

The game is only "braindead" because you're vastly overqualified to play it. FFXIV never promised to be the next WoW-killer. The fact that so many WoW players are trying it is great, but the game is not dependent on those WoW players. It has developed its own niche. Thankfully, it appears as though the Producer's vision is to continue in that direction.