Feedback from a new player

[Tankymctankface]

Seldom does a game move me enough to provide feedback, especially this early on.

But it really feels like Wow back in 2005. I am truly loving FF XIV. This will be a long long long post, as I'll try to give as detailed feedback as a new player, as possible, while it is fresh in my mind.

Firstly the boring stuff. My past mmo experience, pc I'm running on etc. Please also bear in mind that I am posting from an authentic new player perspective, and I've only just finished the end credits, and what looked like a submarine primal cut-scene of Heavensward. So it is possible that some of the stuff I will comment on may be changed in the content that I'm going to get in to. In such cases, ignore my comment and please tell me about it, if possible, spoiler free. If anything I say can be interpreted as bad or nice, please believe me, I mean it in the nicest way.

Past MMO's I've played: UO, Wow, Rift, AoC, Warhammer Online, Aion, Eve, SWtor, BDO, Tera. There might be a couple more that I don't remember. Pretty much every "wow-killer" when that was still a thing, except GW and GW2.

PC used currently. i7-8700 3.2 GHz
PAlit 3070
32gb ram
Prime Z370-P mobo
Bunch of mixed NVME, SSD and platter drives.
Redragon Perdition Pro

Leveling:
I'm really enjoying the leveling experience. It's not too fast like BDO, which is boringly fast. And it's not too long and grindy like Aion at launch. Even Wow these days is waaay too fast. The exp given is a bit much, as I'm over leveled, but the level-sync system is really really good there. Makes the content feel relevant. Somehow it's also managed that the starter town like Uldah are not empty. They feel alive with lots of players around. This is something that's lost in Wow for instance that I played retail just before picking up FFXIV a couple of weeks ago. 3 maybe 4 weeks ago IIRC.
ARR feels lacking and drawn out. But not too much to be too much of a bother. It could use more voiced cut scenes to make me feel progression. Heavensward is much better in this.

Novice Network:
Though it took me a while to find a person with a crown to get an invite, I also appreciate that the Novice Network is firstly moderated, and second invite only. So no RMT spammers and such stuff. I found the player base to be really friendly, and even in the dungeons I've done. I'll really miss it if I ever can no longer join it.
I'll be honest, I'm not expecting the same on the forums though, but that's just from other MMO forum experience, I could be wrong.

(1/5)

[Tankymctankface]

Cut-scenes and Voice acting:
Heavensward is a big step up from ARR. To the point where I'd think it's probably worth redoing ARR voice acting and sound effects completely to enhance new player experience. And it's not the voice actors themselves, it's the sound effects (or lack thereof in ARR during cut-scenes), and the jerky, one sentence at a time, with an uncomfortable pause in between each new line that makes it so distracting.
For instance, in heavens, when I fought the 2 Ascians at the end, just before they combine, they put their arms up in the air for the invocation, and there's the clap of their sleeves' cloth when they raise their arms. That was great! But in ARR it's almost like listening to James T Kirk delivering.... lines.... one word... at a time...
The tutorials and explanations of the game mechanics is solid. I didn't have too much trouble finding my way around and learning how the game works etc.

Character development:
Really like the one character can do everything bit. And the little that I've done around professions feels like there's a lot on offer there, and I'm looking forward to get into that. But I don't have a lot of experience there. As I get additional skills I really do have the feeling that my character is getting better, which is a big "well done" to SE.

I don't have any experience in housing and cosmetics an all that yet, and again, something that is enticing that I'm looking forward to get in to!

NPC mechanics:
Really love the ground markings and telegraphing of upcoming abilities etc. Everything could be a bit harder, but I also like that there's an easy mode to get everyone to see and experience dungeons. Maybe a difficulty beyond Extreme that removes all the ground markings? I don't know, I just think Extreme (the little experience that I've had there, and Hard) are not really that hard.
Oh, and I love tab targeting. I don't like the BDO action-mmo thing. Holy trinity, tab targetting is where my love lies.

Story:
Really really love the story! It's really one of the strongest parts of the game that I am thoroughly enjoying. It's almost as good as the stories in SWtor in terms of execution, and better than swtor in terms of the story itself and the lore. I'm not a big FF aficionado, with only FF VII original launch and the FF movies to draw from. And the story of XIV feels familiar and is complete enough that I don't feel I'm missing certain elements.
The "I am the greatest, and only I can save the world every 5 minutes" feels a bit over the top though. I'd much rather be like the avengers. A part of a team of heroes. Not a deal breaker though. But to me, that's really where Wow lost it. When every NPC you meet has already heard of me and how awesome I am.

(2/5)

[Tankymctankface]

Web site to find an FC:
My only problem here is that the posts made in each FC introduction is sorted in reverse order by date. The oldest posts are at the top. It made me think that the FC I wanted to join was dead because the "last" activity was over a year ago. That should be sorted latest post or comment at the top. Luckily one of the mods in NN was also an officer of the FC, so that got sorted quickly.

Mounts:
I really appreciate not being able to fly in new zones. I've played too many MMOs where flying happens too soon and you miss everything that was worked so hard on by the devs. And you can't not fly, because you'll be at a distinct disadvantage behind everyone else. So that's a really nice touch.Wow certainly grabbed that idea from XIV for Dragon Flight.
And the mount speed coupled to pickups and quests is truly awesome! It keeps older mounts relevant, so you're not just always using your fastest mount.
I will say though, that dragonflight changed they way I would see a flying mount forever. If your mount runs out of stamina, you float to the ground and run, until you have enough stamina for take off. Would love to see a mount stamina kinda thing developed, with skills that influence how you can recover stamina while flying. Along with quests and pickups to level certain aspects of your mount. Stamina regen rate, flying low or diving steep to regain stamina, or just increasing your mount's total stamina. That really changed a flying mount from just a way from point a to point b, to minigame in itself with it's own skill building.

(3/5)

[Ishe-P]

I will say though, that dragonflight changed they way I would see a flying mount forever. If your mount runs out of stamina, you float to the ground and run, until you have enough stamina for take off. Would love to see a mount stamina kinda thing developed, with skills that influence how you can recover stamina while flying. Along with quests and pickups to level certain aspects of your mount. Stamina regen rate, flying low or diving steep to regain stamina, or just increasing your mount's total stamina. That really changed a flying mount from just a way from point a to point b, to minigame in itself with it's own skill building.

This really stood out to me; I like the idea of a flying mount minigame with this level of immersion, but unfortunately the open world doesn't seem to have much value beyond the MSQ and that seems to be the holding pattern at least for now. Yeah you can fly out there and do stuff, but there is a point where you'll find it isn't valuable to do so. Your mileage may vary of course, I think the open world holds more water when you're not max level everything. But if they implemented something akin to Dragonflight's flying system, I think that would certainly make things more interesting. It wouldn't have to be flying mount changes per se, but to do a little more with the open world than what they have been could really freshen things up for the old timers.

[caffe_macchiato]

I run a reshade firstly, to make the game more vibrant. So I run a couple of plugins that increase vibrancy and over-saturates the colours a bit, along with some plugins that remove the white haze, and adds clarity and definition.
Then, I run the 4k texture pack. That alone currently stands at 372Gb worth of modification.
Then, just about every nsfw add-on I can find. It's how I prefer to play. Over the top boob sliders, the npc dancers in uldah are topless, my own character is anatomically correct when naked. Bust multipliers beyond the body replacements. Breast physics jigglers to the extreme etc etc.
I prefer a square minimap over the round one.
ACT for emnity or aggro management.
Hunty, because on one of the mobs the ingame description of where to find it is wrong.
Death Recap so I can figure out why I got 1 shotted
GatherBuddy
Globetrotter
Item Vendor Location
Market board
Party Icons
Male Paladin idle pose for female Paladin
and Simple Tweaks

(4/5)

Y’all, come on now, this is taking the piss and I couldn’t have done it better myself. Can I give Reddit Gold to this poster?

[Ivtrix]

Add-ons:
I've seen the youtube video about the world first kill and the controvesy around add-ons, since the game does not support it. I also saw a yt creator mention that devs called for input on which features they can rather add to the base game to eliminate the need for addons.
My take on this has always been that any MMO should support add-ons. It allows for the customization that you can never achieve by trying to add a feature or features that will satisfy everyone. I play with a client that is strictly speaking very much against the TOS, and I'm definitely not ashamed of it, nor am I worried about getting my account suspended or banned. There are a lot of other MMOs and games out there that will gladly accept my money.
I run a reshade firstly, to make the game more vibrant. So I run a couple of plugins that increase vibrancy and over-saturates the colours a bit, along with some plugins that remove the white haze, and adds clarity and definition.
Then, I run the 4k texture pack. That alone currently stands at 372Gb worth of modification.
Then, just about every nsfw add-on I can find. It's how I prefer to play. Over the top boob sliders, the npc dancers in uldah are topless, my own character is anatomically correct when naked. Bust multipliers beyond the body replacements. Breast physics jigglers to the extreme etc etc.
I prefer a square minimap over the round one.
ACT for emnity or aggro management.
Hunty, because on one of the mobs the ingame description of where to find it is wrong.
Death Recap so I can figure out why I got 1 shotted
GatherBuddy
Globetrotter
Item Vendor Location
Market board
Party Icons
Male Paladin idle pose for female Paladin
and Simple Tweaks

(4/5)

god himself has descended from the heavens

[Nizzi]

Add-ons:
I've seen the youtube video about the world first kill and the controvesy around add-ons, since the game does not support it. I also saw a yt creator mention that devs called for input on which features they can rather add to the base game to eliminate the need for addons.
My take on this has always been that any MMO should support add-ons. It allows for the customization that you can never achieve by trying to add a feature or features that will satisfy everyone. I play with a client that is strictly speaking very much against the TOS, and I'm definitely not ashamed of it, nor am I worried about getting my account suspended or banned. There are a lot of other MMOs and games out there that will gladly accept my money.
I run a reshade firstly, to make the game more vibrant. So I run a couple of plugins that increase vibrancy and over-saturates the colours a bit, along with some plugins that remove the white haze, and adds clarity and definition.
Then, I run the 4k texture pack. That alone currently stands at 372Gb worth of modification.
Then, just about every nsfw add-on I can find. It's how I prefer to play. Over the top boob sliders, the npc dancers in uldah are topless, my own character is anatomically correct when naked. Bust multipliers beyond the body replacements. Breast physics jigglers to the extreme etc etc.
I prefer a square minimap over the round one.
ACT for emnity or aggro management.
Hunty, because on one of the mobs the ingame description of where to find it is wrong.
Death Recap so I can figure out why I got 1 shotted
GatherBuddy
Globetrotter
Item Vendor Location
Market board
Party Icons
Male Paladin idle pose for female Paladin
and Simple Tweaks

(4/5)

P*rn addiction has rotted your brain dude

[VelKallor]

GatherBuddy

Everything I have seen says this is automated. Is this a botting tool?

[Ivtrix]

Everything I have seen says this is automated. Is this a botting tool?

my understanding is its an ingame version of the garlondtools bell

but i dont 100% know

http://www.garlandtools.org/bell/

edit: this reddit comment seems to explain it in depth

https://www.reddit.com/r/ffxivdiscus...eb2x&context=3