FFXIV vs GW2

[Wissp]

One thing about GW2 people have not mentioned yet is although GW2 does not have native controller support, you CAN use a controller with the game thanks to 3rd party controller mapping software.

Because GW2 uses so few buttons for the game, it is relatively easy to use a mapping program such as reWASD, (which is the one I use for the button layers), to map most of the GW2 commands to your controller functions. It works and works well once you get used to the quirkiness of it. If you configure it right, you can even control the mouse cursor with the controller. If you don't want to do the work of mapping yourself, there are many pre built GW2 button maps you can download.

It's not as slick and smooth as FF14's built in support, but it certainly IS doable if you like using a controller instead of K/M.

[Renalt]

GW2 is pretty fast paced and is action oriented. I also like the ways quests were handled where you just go to an area and complete on of several objectives to fill the "quest heart" and once filled...quest is done. Most quests can be completed in a pacifist way just doing the simple chores rather than killing if that's how you wanted to play.

Also lots of ways to customize how your character functions. I'm a big fan of regen builds so of course I made a regen warrior.

I think I pretty much maxed out my level just doing World vs World vs World PvP...it's about 10 minutes of running a train followed by utter chaos when you encounter the other world...or both of them.

[Theodric]

If you're after exploration and a world that actually feels inhabited then GW2 and ESO are excellent choices. The latter also has a great housing system.

[RyuDragnier]

GW2 has the following:

Mounts: These things are used not just for a simple "Get from Point A to Point B faster", but they're also used for platforming. A mount that can jump super high up to scale cliffs, a mount that hovers over water and dangerous environments, a mount that lets you teleport through sand portals, a mount that glides (that can be used for insane flying tricks if you master it), a mount that actually flies (short spurts, has an endurance thing for how long that lasts).

Gear: It's all horizontal, with each gear having different substats you switch between. Example, one type has Power/Toughness/Vitality (basically damage/defense/HP), another can have Healing/Condition/Vitality (healing/DoTs/HP). Once you unlock Exotic gear (orange), the only thing higher are ascended pieces (pink) and legendary (purple, same stats as pink, just unique cosmetics that you can change stats whenever). Due to this, gearing out is rather easy and the only gear changes you go for are cosmetic or are because you want to try a different build.

Classes: All of them are absolutely unique, and the elite specializations alter the classes further, making for some very interesting variations of the base class.

Races: The only 2 weak links here are Humans, and Norn (giant humans that transform into beasts). Outside of those 2, most if not all of the races in this game are completely unique. Sylvari are sentient plant people that as a race are only 20 years old when the game starts. Asura are basically goblins with super high tech magical devices and golems. Charr are the former villainous faction from GW1 who are essentially demon cats in the middle of their industrial steamtech revolution with tanks, helicopters, guns, etc. Those are just the playable races too. You have Skritt, which are rats that get smarter as more of them gather. Tengu, which are sentient bird people. Kodan, who are bear people, etc etc. There are a lot of unique races in this game.

Regions: A ton of explorable zones with hidden locations, across a large amount of biomes. Swamps, plains, ocean (you can swim and explore underwater), desert, jungles, postapocalyptic wastelands, snowy mountains and frozen lakes, etc etc.

Free Trial: Has some restrictions, but you get the base classes and a TON of content to do without paying a dime. I'd say it's comparable somewhat with FFXIV's free trial.

[Velvet_Lunarfang]

GW2 has the following:

Mounts: These things are used not just for a simple "Get from Point A to Point B faster", but they're also used for platforming. A mount that can jump super high up to scale cliffs, a mount that hovers over water and dangerous environments, a mount that lets you teleport through sand portals, a mount that glides (that can be used for insane flying tricks if you master it), a mount that actually flies (short spurts, has an endurance thing for how long that lasts).

Gear: It's all horizontal, with each gear having different substats you switch between. Example, one type has Power/Toughness/Vitality (basically damage/defense/HP), another can have Healing/Condition/Vitality (healing/DoTs/HP). Once you unlock Exotic gear (orange), the only thing higher are ascended pieces (pink) and legendary (purple, same stats as pink, just unique cosmetics that you can change stats whenever). Due to this, gearing out is rather easy and the only gear changes you go for are cosmetic or are because you want to try a different build.

Classes: All of them are absolutely unique, and the elite specializations alter the classes further, making for some very interesting variations of the base class.

Races: The only 2 weak links here are Humans, and Norn (giant humans that transform into beasts). Outside of those 2, most if not all of the races in this game are completely unique. Sylvari are sentient plant people that as a race are only 20 years old when the game starts. Asura are basically goblins with super high tech magical devices and golems. Charr are the former villainous faction from GW1 who are essentially demon cats in the middle of their industrial steamtech revolution with tanks, helicopters, guns, etc. Those are just the playable races too. You have Skritt, which are rats that get smarter as more of them gather. Tengu, which are sentient bird people. Kodan, who are bear people, etc etc. There are a lot of unique races in this game.

Regions: A ton of explorable zones with hidden locations, across a large amount of biomes. Swamps, plains, ocean (you can swim and explore underwater), desert, jungles, postapocalyptic wastelands, snowy mountains and frozen lakes, etc etc.

Free Trial: Has some restrictions, but you get the base classes and a TON of content to do without paying a dime. I'd say it's comparable somewhat with FFXIV's free trial.

Are all the races playable?

[Skivvy]

GW2 has the following:

Mounts: These things are used not just for a simple "Get from Point A to Point B faster", but they're also used for platforming. A mount that can jump super high up to scale cliffs, a mount that hovers over water and dangerous environments, a mount that lets you teleport through sand portals, a mount that glides (that can be used for insane flying tricks if you master it), a mount that actually flies (short spurts, has an endurance thing for how long that lasts).

Gear: It's all horizontal, with each gear having different substats you switch between. Example, one type has Power/Toughness/Vitality (basically damage/defense/HP), another can have Healing/Condition/Vitality (healing/DoTs/HP). Once you unlock Exotic gear (orange), the only thing higher are ascended pieces (pink) and legendary (purple, same stats as pink, just unique cosmetics that you can change stats whenever). Due to this, gearing out is rather easy and the only gear changes you go for are cosmetic or are because you want to try a different build.

Classes: All of them are absolutely unique, and the elite specializations alter the classes further, making for some very interesting variations of the base class.

Races: The only 2 weak links here are Humans, and Norn (giant humans that transform into beasts). Outside of those 2, most if not all of the races in this game are completely unique. Sylvari are sentient plant people that as a race are only 20 years old when the game starts. Asura are basically goblins with super high tech magical devices and golems. Charr are the former villainous faction from GW1 who are essentially demon cats in the middle of their industrial steamtech revolution with tanks, helicopters, guns, etc. Those are just the playable races too. You have Skritt, which are rats that get smarter as more of them gather. Tengu, which are sentient bird people. Kodan, who are bear people, etc etc. There are a lot of unique races in this game.

Regions: A ton of explorable zones with hidden locations, across a large amount of biomes. Swamps, plains, ocean (you can swim and explore underwater), desert, jungles, postapocalyptic wastelands, snowy mountains and frozen lakes, etc etc.

Free Trial: Has some restrictions, but you get the base classes and a TON of content to do without paying a dime. I'd say it's comparable somewhat with FFXIV's free trial.

You explained this far better than I was attempting to do.

One thing that should be pointed out if story is a big thing to you, on top of the expansions, there are also "Living Story" chapters that really fill in a lot of the story, but the older LS chapters are NOT automatically included - even if you buy base game + the xpacs. I believe there are package deals now and then for all xpacs + living stories (check Steam also), but otherwise you will need to buy the older chapters from the cash shop. If you log into the game when a new chapter is released, you WILL get that for free.

About the cash shop, you can buy gems with money OR in-game gold with the exchange option. Handy for those who prefer to save some money and just grind away in-game for things.

Are all the races playable?

They are. And you can play any job on any race.

[Midareyukki]

Are all the races playable?

Not all the ones Ryu listed, no. The playable ones are Asura (imp-like lalafell), Norn (giant buff humans), Charr (panthers), Sylvari (living flora) and normal Humans. Stuff like Skritts, Kodan, Tamini or Tengu aren't playable, but that's not the point he's making. In the roster that IS playable, you have so much variety. Only the Norn are human-like. Compare that to FF14 where until Hrothgar came out, the furthest we've gone from "humans with appendages" was Au Ra. And even then, Hrothgar are literally only fuzzy Roegadyn with a different head model.

And while I doubt they would do this, if GW2 decided to make any of the non-playable "beast" races they have playable, they could with honestly relatively little fuss. Square went up in flames trying to make Hrothgar playable, and that was after they tested out how a furry race would be received with the Lupins... who, again, are just fuzzy humans with a canine head. Compare to the Charr whose anthropomorphic body is still rather feral and different than other races. Or the Sylvari, whose humanoid figure has alien features to them, including glow-in-the-dark skin.

And you can play any job on any race.

That you can. And the best part is that alts aren't server-locked x)

[Mat13295]

The major difference between the two is you'll actually see more than 1-2 people if you leave a city hub in GW2 and go out into the world.

[Kewitt]

Why ask about a competitor game on ffxiv official forms?

[Striker44]

Why ask about a competitor game on ffxiv official forms?

My guess would be chances are better that people who've played one MMORPG might have played the other compared to posting somewhere random.

Personally, I loved the world in GW2. It's very expansive, there's a ton of stuff to do in each zone, the "vistas" are like the Sightseeing Log except you actually get some pretty sweet panoramic shots whenever you reach one. Classes have a lot of variety, and even within a class changing which weapons you use also changes what abilities you have access to. You can also join multiple guilds/FC's on the same toon and switch between which is your "active" guild at any time. There's a lot of good stuff there.

For cons, I'd say the biggest one was the platforming activities. It's very rare a game can get the movement engine just right (WoW is the only one I've played to date where I feel completely in control of precise movement). It felt more like the challenge in GW2 platforming was fighting the engine itself and getting it to register what you were trying to do rather than actually finding the path and doing the jumps themselves. For me, the rest of GW2 was "good." No real cons, but nothing really spectacular, either, once the "newness" wore off. I find I enjoy things like the story and the music immensely more in FFXIV.

I don't know what a few people here were talking about regarding GW2 feeling "inhabited" compared to FFXIV. Maybe it's because I'm on a high-pop server (Greg), but I find the "world" here feels very inhabited and I'm always running into a good number of people wherever I go, even when it's random zones from older expansions.