A lot of pre-WOW players!

[RitsukoSonoda]

Are you making a huge assumption that most folks want to raid? You'd be sorely mistaken.

Or do you believe that ramping up the difficulty of the rest of the game is going to inspire the masses to step into EX/Savage/Ultimate? While you might get a few more it'll come at a huge cost when those that have no interest up and leave.

When WoW's LFG was introduced the most honest complaint I read was that nobody would want to do the harder difficulties anymore. While it mostly likely drained some of that pool it opened up the raid content to so many more people who in turn did attempt higher tiers.


I have a lot of alts at various stages of the story and there are certain features that are fun for me. For a time I was doing ShB hunt trains. Right now I'm messing around with Squadrons and BLU. Occasionally some of my friends will (finally) log in and we'll mount farm or do maps and maybe do an older ShB EX sync'd.

While I've done a bit of Savage, challenge for the sake of challenge does nothing for me. In fact I'm prone to tendonitis so I have to be very careful how much progression I do. The attraction is entirely social. I find many of the solo instances very irritating and unfun and will tick "Very Easy" on most of them and some of the lengthy ones without a reasonable checkpoint I'll intentionally fail just so I get that option.

If done right the player won't notice the game scaling difficulty up. One of the largest driving factors causing players to say they have no interest in trial/raid content is the rift the game design route has caused between them. Rather than a slow gradual incline to reach a higher elevation which was kind of the case with ARR they changed later to a flat level surface leading to a wall they have to climb. Many players see that wall and just sit there staring at it until they choose to walk away either to never come back or to return later when the wall has eroded due to power creep from ilvl inflation or an expansion increasing the lvl cap.

[Vahlnir]

Actually it is... nothing good ever comes with too much success and that applies to everything, including video games.

Having almost too many players is a great problem to have right now, especially for SE. Nothing good ever comes with too little success.

[Myrany]

I tried to come to FFXIV shortly after ARR released (from WoW) but I got so lost and confused and no one I saw would answer a simple question. Then at some point someone said follow us and do this. SO I hopped on a rental chocobo and tried to follow them and got lost. No idea how to get back to the city and in an area with mobs way to hard for me. Yeah I quit way before my free trial was over and went back to WoW. About Mid-BFA I realized I hadn't actually enjoyed WoW in years. I was playing out of habit and nothing more. So I quit. Tried LOTRO but the cash shop pissed me off to no end (it quite literally is so big a game advantage to use it that at high level it really cannot be avoided). Then I remembered that long ago trial account to FFXIV.

I hunted down my log in credentials. Reactivated the account. Made a new character and started over. All I can say is something clicked this time. Its been around 3 years now and I am still having a blast. No thought at all of going back to WoW.

For those asking I was on Wyrmrest Accord and Steamwheedle Cartel.

[Lunalepsy]

I just came back to Eorzea from couple of months break and I noticed there are a lot of WoW players joined/joining our FC recently. I know nothing about WoW but is there anything going on there? Are there not enough contents in WoW anymore? They sometime call themselves wow refuge but I am not sure why they call themselves as a refuge Regardless, it is good to see so many new players with sprout on top of their head!

Lots of things going on.

[ReynTime]

I’m guessing quite a few of the “FF14 is so much easier than WoW!” crowd are the same as the ones who stated WoW was too easy for ages there I have no idea why it is essential that the game you are playing is miles beneath you and your potential, but some are quite invested in this while playing a game for years and consistently paying their sub. One of the mysteries of life. I wouldn’t pay too much attention to it unless they bring an interesting discussion to the table.

All the content in XIV that isn't high-end is really easy, with content design in ShB being glaringly dull. Only exception are the Bozja instances and their exp is dragged down by people who refuse to do the bare minimum because all the rest of the game doesn't discourage selfish behavior.

Signed, someone who never spent more than a week in WoW in 2012 and is only comparing XIV's lack of challenge with OFFLINE jRPGs.

[_Pigzig]

For me it was downhill after Ahn'qiraj event. I dunno why I even played WoW so long, it was bad the majority of it's lifespan but we kept crawling back hoping to recapture the initial magic.

[Pells]

How many Crafter's Scrips did that cost?

I'm sure Rowena made an offer that couldn't be refused.

[Larirawiel]

If you use an SSD you should load instantly.

I have an SSD but the loading screens still interrupt the gameplay.

Cheers

[TristanX]

What happened in Shadowlands? Comparing with previous xpac.

- Level squish from 120 to 50 with new level cap of 60.
- Item level squish.
- Time spent using taxi service (Flight Master) is longer
- Flightmaster whistle no longer available on Shadowland zones ("Teleports" you to flight master).
- World Quests is longer.
- Anima and renown grind. Renown up to Lv40 (Up to Lv80 on 9.1). It is time gated.
- Torghast (another mage tower) is boring.
- Legendary is tied to Torghast and requires repeated runs for Ash. Older Mage Tower is an optional content.
- Another round of Torghast grind required on 9.1.
- Alts have to go through Ash, Anima and Renown grind from the scratch.
- Bonus roll for loot is gone on Shadowlands.
- Loot drops from bosses is significantly less.
- Crafting is longer.
- Content updates are ridiculously slow.
- Some older content becomes impossible to solo.

Current issues with Blizzard right now also affects the game. Thats why many players are playing other games right now.

[Illmaeran]

Tried LOTRO but the cash shop pissed me off to no end

All I can say is something clicked this time. Its been around 3 years now and I am still having a blast. No thought at all of going back to WoW.

For those asking I was on Wyrmrest Accord and Steamwheedle Cartel.

I went to LOTRO after leaving WoW and loved it. Having to buy all the content I'd previously had access to when subscribed at launch really pissed me off, for sure. Once I realized I could permanently buy content with coins earned in the game that cooled down. I was a broke grad student at the time so the Buy to Play option was a big deal for me. Combined with the coin purchase, getting an expansion here and there for birthdays and Christmas kept me going for a long time without having to pay a subscription. Once I got a real job and could afford a sub, XIV hooked me and I stopped playing. I'll always have a soft spot for the game; it was the right game at the right time.

"Clicking" is so true! It's amazing how the exact same thing isn't interesting at one point, but can be entrancing later on. I'm glad to hear you found your joy with this game and hope it remains.

When did you start on WrA? After server hopping for years, I found my home there and absolutely loved the community. The RP kept things interesting for a long time. I mained an Orc at server opening and founded the Sundered Skull Clan, if you were around at that time.

If done right the player won't notice the game scaling difficulty up. One of the largest driving factors causing players to say they have no interest in trial/raid content is the rift the game design route has caused between them. Rather than a slow gradual incline to reach a higher elevation which was kind of the case with ARR they changed later to a flat level surface leading to a wall they have to climb. Many players see that wall and just sit there staring at it until they choose to walk away either to never come back or to return later when the wall has eroded due to power creep from ilvl inflation or an expansion increasing the lvl cap.

The wall is real! I avoided raiding like the plague for the longest time, but now that I'm much higher level, the synching thing has opened up that level of content and I'm enjoying it a lot now. It's amazing how doing them in roulettes makes the process more enjoyable and I've been able to see significant improvement in how I play. It's become a win-win for me. I still don't do Savage or EX, but doing normal difficulty is my Goldilocks Zone. <3

I'm sure Rowena made an offer that couldn't be refused.

No kidding. I found a Chocobo head in my bed when I woke up the other day.....