After 7 months of FFXIV Journey i went back to WoW..

[Temp22092025]

Hey all,

Brothers and sisters of MMO players. Take a seat as this might take a little while. After finishing my MSQ, doing all the raids and trials on at least normal difficulty i believe i can, with confidence say i'm also now able to speak about FFXIV as a game.

I've been a WoW players since 2005. At that time, i was 14 years old and i've been playing every expansion on/off ever since. I've read all the books and i've loved the lore all the way except the last few expansions. When i started playing FFXIV it felt as alien as it can be, as the type of storytelling and new player experience into it was absolutely night and day. More i played though, i saw how happy older players got seeing my reactions and feeling about different twists and turns and characters. I absolutely loved it all, but there was also this nagging feeling in the back of my head that "I could never present WoW lore and stories to any new player like this. Never." because the game is bloated and discordant how it tells the stories now. I had 15 years to learn it all, between expansions reading like 17 books and so, so of course it's clear to me what is happening, but seeing Youtube videos of you guys trying out the game no wonder you're lost there.

It's totally shame, because there are some really sad, beautiful, amazing stories there. Characters and a world, which has thousands of years of history written for it, but there is no absolutely way for new player to learn them without reading all the books.

I love you guys, and i'm pretty sure as WoW and FFXIV are different sides of the same coin after all, that many of you would fun delight and respect in the older brother, just like i found in this world. I mean it's you guys, if anyone at all that love good stories. I take both games as they are, and it's a great feeling to do that. Now after i've said this, i'll get to the point:

I noticed during my 7 month journey, that many of the people said they cried a lot for the story and characters, and it didn't have that effect on me. I was of course invested, smiled my jaw wide open to the end of 5.3 and so, but it didn't have that.. 15 years of emotional investment WoW has for me. I turned on some WoW music today and started thinking back all the stories i witnessed and i can admit giving few tears. I can't get that in other games, as i haven't been with the characters like you guys have been for years.

and to the real point! Sorry! I've been wondering, if there was any fantasy fans, who would like me to write out short stories with music, backgrounds and like summaries about some cool stories and characters we have in Warcraft universe? As many of you are propably waiting EW, like i am! It would give me something to do. Hints and tips on where to post them would be appreciated, as i doubt this is the right place for it x)

[Aron73]

I for one would love to see something like that after all I'm a former wow player myself but don't have the best lore knowledge, mainly because I have dyslexia and am not that good at reading.
I think this post is as good as any to post your videos

[AxelBranford]

Worry not, good to express your heart out!
I know your tale... had the same feeling when I left Aion after so many years (since launch) and was strongly attached to it (lore, world, design, music, friends...) It's hard to leave a world that you have spent so many hours and delights to get to know another. No worries or fingers pointed.
The experience that you lived in both games and others is what builds your world. So enjoy the adventure, the story. If you feel good, that's were your heart belongs.
No adventure is a closed door... (and if it's, it means treasure, traps or just put it down for the fun of!)

[Aron73]

I have to agree! As a former EvE-online player, I have been asked time and time again to tell people about the lore of that game and how it works.
The simple answer is a wormhole opened not too far from Earth. We tried sending some ships back and forth. It worked, so we sent a fleet through, and as we established in New Eden, the wormhole collapsed end lore, and here where your lore starts. You see, in this game, everything is player-controlled, including lore from every player ever played, some as a player from 2005. So I can tell you my lore or the lore of 100,000's players that have played the game. Obviously, I can only tell my story and my lore.
But one thing I can tell you is this. This is the best game I have ever played mainly because it leaves everything to you and the other millions of players that play the game.
So what can you do in this game?
Anything you desire, you can be the guy who started a pyramid game and earned billions of isk (Inter Galactic kredits Yes, I know Credits are spelled wrong blame CCP ), or you can be like me and kill that pirate in High sec helping the miners who mine or for a giant company that made my ship I'm currently flying oh yea and be prepared to flee from Concord who will nuke any ship that breaks the law of lo-sec as I just did.
I have so many memories from this game and stories to tell you all I could sit here for years and still not be done. So why do I not play it right now, you might ask?
Because of all those friends, I have quit the game because their story was not as filled with good memories as mine, and without friends, this game is the most boring game you will ever find.
So I will end this with a small shout-out.
Thank you, Marcus Ravens, Maru' Sha, BetaUnit, Elice Masutra, Ginger Magician, And all the other thousands of players I ones lead into huge fleet battles.
//High Judge Aron Gordon Fleet, commander of The Department of Justice.

[Aron73]

What a nice story!

Thank you! I tried to get back into it even join another company as they are called in eve but I never got the feeling of friendship back so I left after a few months 7 to be exact

[Kes13a]

have a good journey where ever you end up. everyone experiences things differently

if you get tired of your old flame, remember, you can always return ^^

[Leowyld]

I started playing WoW in 2005, too. I still play that and this. My connection to WoW is too ingrained to truly sever. FFXIV is like the most amazing, beautiful, fun vacation. But WoW is what feels like home. I like them both for different reasons, too. And there are so many elements of FFXIV I really wish WoW could have (some of those are things I know it never will have, unfortunately.)

I think FFXIV does a somewhat better job of telling deep, nuanced stories and overlapping storylines, as well. WoW's story is often more predictable and tropey (almost to Saturday morning cartoon levels) but sometimes that kind of thing is lots of fun. Both games have had moments that really made me feel and I have characters I am very enthusiastic about in both.

I think when we have multiple wonderful options for MMO fans to choose between, it's just awesome. I want them to continue to push each other to be bigger and better, so everybody wins!

[Puremallace]

Enjoy that Sylvannas redemption ARC coming because we both know they are lining up 9.2 with the release of Christie Goldens book in January which is ONE HELL of a wait. Good news 9.2 will hit PTR probably the same day Endwalker releases so there is that.

[Fayup]

I miss WoW too, a lot. I started playing WoW in 2008 and pretty much started my quitting spiral about a month or 2 into BfA. Came back a few times and played for about 2 months in Shadowlands before I gave up again and haven't been back since. I really enjoy how FFXIV does their MSQ, but I do miss the vast quantity of WoW's zone by zone storytelling. So many different and unique stories in so many zones. One of my favorite things to do on WoW was make new characters and do leveling zones that fit my characters theme more. Another thing I like more about WoW is just the amount of playable races and everything that went along with that.

But, I don't think I'll ever go back as much as I miss it. Every time I get that yearning feeling to resub and just walk around doing nothing I just have to take off the rose-tinted glasses and remember it's just nostalgia for the old WoW. Maybe if they completely 180 the game I'll try it out again, but only time will tell. I enjoy and love FFXIV too and have multiple characters here too.

Edit to say Garrosh was my favorite and they ruined him.
Go see Howling Fjord and Grizzly Hills for me!

[EzekielBook]

The differences between WoW and FF aren't as great as people would like you to believe. WoW has some of the most heartbreaking and lore-rich storylines, although not like they used to. But it's not as *anything* as any other game these days, except maybe in endgame raiding (for those into it).

What WoW has is smoothness. FF has combo chains, in lieu of button mashing, but that makes combat feel less intuitive, and more disjointed, and especially slower. In WoW, if you attempt to initiate combat while mounted, it automatically dismounts you. You can bring up the map by clicking on the map display in the corner. You can easily send stuff between alts. And, the classic, not nearly as many zones to load when you move between areas, which was one of the original selling points.

FF is a great game, and I'm happy to play it, but I still haven't quit WoW, and I don't know if I ever will.

ETA: I'm also curious about what FF will be like after 8 expansions.