Next to Everquest , FFXI has the best memories for me. So I guess for me it is also that whole attachment to the Final Fantasy series and I just love everything about it. I also like that this game is so beautiful. The weather engine is amazing. I do not know how to explain it this game just clicks for me.
I remember back when not liking something was enough in and of itself, apparently it requires justification and giving people the opportunity to convince you to like something. Just don't play the game, is that all together too hard to do?
The older I get the more pretentious and ridiculous some of these threads get. I'm all for game discussion and debate, but at least have a solid foundation for your opinion, even if it is simply "do not want".
You don't have to like the game, nor understand why a lot of other people like it. You're perfectly allowed to put it in the "don't give a damn basket" like I do with most things.
Before you get riled up about the title, its not a flaming or trolling thread. I have personally tried out the game, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was that made the game so appealing. It might be that I have a hard time understanding the appeal for most Asian mmos in general, but I keep hearing really good things about this game and I'm disappointed that I can't "get" then game. For those of you who like the game, is there something that sticks out for you? or does FFXIV just pull off the standard theme park mmo really well?
Are you a Final Fantasy fan? That's a huge aspect of the attraction.
There is nothing unique about this game besides maby its crafting system it is alot more deep them most mmos.
What an understatement. If you dont appreciate and understand that in-depth and functioning crafting system/housing/economy is a critical foundation to an mmorpg, then there is nothing that can be said to you, you will never ever understand the true appeal of ffxiv.
Most memorable games: AoC(Tryanny PvP), RIFT, GW, GW2, Ragnarok Online, Aion, FFXI, FFXIV, Secret World, League of Legends (Silver II rank)
There is nothing unique about this game besides maby its crafting system it is alot more deep them most mmos.
What an understatement. If you dont appreciate and understand that in-depth and functioning crafting system/housing/economy is a critical foundation to an mmorpg, then there is nothing that can be said to you, you will never ever understand the true appeal of ffxiv.
A lot of people will not get beyond themselves to see where FFXIV truly shines. Everyone in this thread that has said "WoW Clone" simply hasn't looked beyond what is similar with the 2 games. FFXIV is a tab target MMO that has a large variety of well polished features. Anyone claiming it to be a clone of a different game doesn't understand what a clone is.
A Final Fantasy game to me is a game that will have an intruiging story, stunning visuals and a remarkable music score. This game hits all of those points for me. Everything else it has to offer is just gravy.
Was in it for 3 weeks, managed to level a job to 50 and to get geared up to a point where I pass the gear checks for most if not all the endgame content. The game definitely has potential. The big turn off for me is that the end game fights seem scripted with absolutely no random (that's what I've experienced, at least). The bosses do not have a "chance" to choose from a list of abilities to use, they will just use a sequence of abilities in some well known order. There is no challenge as long as you know what to expect - the only challenge comes from people not being able to learn the "cheat sheets" and from the special effects which sometimes cover your screen in such a way that you cannot see what's going on.
Example: "cheat sheet" for one of the hardest fights in the game (or that's how it is considered), Titan Ex: http://i.imgur.com/9kBP1Re.png (or just Google Titan ex cheat sheet). The abilities and the exact order in which they are used, phase by phase.
I just bit the bullet and upgraded my trial to the full game. I'm currently lvl 18 PUG and so far I am enjoying the game, its grindy but strangely I like it. I guess because its familiar. However, it does seem often quiet for an MMO. I have tried to strike up some conversations with some players with some limited success, but the "MMO community" feel that I normally love about these games isn't really there with this one. I did manage to get into a FC though (and not a spam invite one) and was able to small chat a little with some of the members.
I enjoy undercutting people in the market place - it's the only PvP a crafter gets.
When MoP first released I heard a lot of players saying, "Omg the world is so beautiful--blah, blah, blah."
And as a hardcore PvPer my response was, "Omg Trolololol Newbz!"
This is the first MMO where I can say I care about the world. The environments are just as much a character as you are. They're sprawling expanses filled with rich jewel-toned colors, crystals, foliage, etc... Combined with the EPIC soundtrack and it's deadly. I spent HOURS roaming around taking screenshots, exploring every nook and cranny I could find. I've NEVER done that before... and it's... it's awesome. It's breathtaking in weird way. I would never have imagined in my 20 years of existence that a game could take my breath away.
Besides that...
The crafting is boss mode
Havent tried PvP but I've heard some good things
SMN is perfection
PvE is actually interesting (I hate PvE)
Player Housing
MARRIAGE (What MMO has marriage seriously)
Lots of events and fun stuff to do to kill time
And there are TONS of new content/patches planned in the near-future
Interior design (You can kill crap tonnes of time arranging the furniture in-home)
And the BEST feature? The COMMUNITY. Everyone is excessively nice and more than willing to help. Any trolls in chat have been beaten into submission and flamed/ignored away. These people are like wine and every other gaming community is elephant excrement.
If you cant enjoy this game I feel kinda bad for you
Was in it for 3 weeks, managed to level a job to 50 and to get geared up to a point where I pass the gear checks for most if not all the endgame content. The game definitely has potential. The big turn off for me is that the end game fights seem scripted with absolutely no random (that's what I've experienced, at least). The bosses do not have a "chance" to choose from a list of abilities to use, they will just use a sequence of abilities in some well known order. There is no challenge as long as you know what to expect - the only challenge comes from people not being able to learn the "cheat sheets" and from the special effects which sometimes cover your screen in such a way that you cannot see what's going on.
Example: "cheat sheet" for one of the hardest fights in the game (or that's how it is considered), Titan Ex: http://i.imgur.com/9kBP1Re.png (or just Google Titan ex cheat sheet). The abilities and the exact order in which they are used, phase by phase.
you just keep mentioning titan though :P , i agree with you that most fights are scripted but some are DPS check and some are tactical. and then some in coil that has enough RNG in it to make you on your toes, then there is Coil Savage that will clearly full or RNG XD
I feel the same way as the OP. While the games setting is pretty and the armor is cool looking, I don't understand why this game has received so many accolades?
This questing in this game feels like a system from 2004 with walls of text (not that this is a bad thing just not something that you would expect in a high budget game released in 2013). I honestly don't know if I will ever be able to do wall of text questing games again. The combat in this game feels slow, clunky and dated, heck WoWs combat is more engaging and fast paced and that's saying a lot.
There may be a lot to do with crafting/raiding/PvP etc but getting to max level to raid seems like it would be a major chore with lots of bad combat and walls of texts. With that said due to the combat system I can't imagine PvP to be all that engaging in this game either.
The combat is actually a lot faster than it looks. I felt the same way, all the way up until almost max level. The thing is, its sort of like WoW. It slowly builds. The game simmers. Then it kind of explodes. At endgame combat is incredibly faster and more interesting.
When MoP first released I heard a lot of players saying, "Omg the world is so beautiful--blah, blah, blah."
And as a hardcore PvPer my response was, "Omg Trolololol Newbz!"
This is the first MMO where I can say I care about the world. The environments are just as much a character as you are. They're sprawling expanses filled with rich jewel-toned colors, crystals, foliage, etc... Combined with the EPIC soundtrack and it's deadly. I spent HOURS roaming around taking screenshots, exploring every nook and cranny I could find. I've NEVER done that before... and it's... it's awesome. It's breathtaking in weird way. I would never have imagined in my 20 years of existence that a game could take my breath away.
Besides that...
The crafting is boss mode
Havent tried PvP but I've heard some good things
SMN is perfection
PvE is actually interesting (I hate PvE)
Player Housing
MARRIAGE (What MMO has marriage seriously)
Lots of events and fun stuff to do to kill time
And there are TONS of new content/patches planned in the near-future
Interior design (You can kill crap tonnes of time arranging the furniture in-home)
And the BEST feature? The COMMUNITY. Everyone is excessively nice and more than willing to help. Any trolls in chat have been beaten into submission and flamed/ignored away. These people are like wine and every other gaming community is elephant excrement.
If you cant enjoy this game I feel kinda bad for you
Good luck.
I have been playing the game since early access and i can tell you for sure that there is nothing 'sprawling' about the zones in FFXIV. That is quite a misleading thing to say considering the small size of the maps full of invisible walls. Yes enviorments even though static are beautiful to look at but there is nothing in zones which demand s HOURS of roaming around in terms of exploration.
Exploration leaves much to be desired. However it does well in terms of over all content.
And since you asked what other MMO has marriage seriously. Answer is Rift and i am sure there are others.
I normally just read these boards and never cared to post before, but after seeing some of these posts saying the community is better than in other MMORPGs, I have to vehemently disagree.
The community was mostly positive for the first few months of the game's release, which is typical of an MMORPG that employs the usual tank/healer/dd mashup. After the majority of players hit end game, the good will of the populace was quickly eroded by the grinds, the vast gap in skill level between different demographics of gamers, and the culture that forms around lockouts. As a result, it is a field full of hot land mines just waiting to be stepped on.
As for the above posters saying that good people have chased off trolls, I think you have that in reverse. Passive-aggressive individuals have been chasing off anyone who has any good feedback to offer on the game. Bringing up any complaints about the trinity, lack of depth in combat, or the lockout culture that encourages static groups will result in a lot of insinuated personal attacks against you.
There is simply no escaping that the community for the game is in the exact same situation as many others. In some ways its even worse because of the kind of fan-boy/fan-girl -ism in the community. The effect of redesigning the game has also in some ways made things worse because people who genuinely don't like the game keep hoping that Yoshida is going to make it into something better than it currently is, when all signs show the contrary at the moment.
I normally just read these boards and never cared to post before, but after seeing some of these posts saying the community is better than in other MMORPGs, I have to vehemently disagree.
The community was mostly positive for the first few months of the game's release, which is typical of an MMORPG that employs the usual tank/healer/dd mashup. After the majority of players hit end game, the good will of the populace was quickly eroded by the grinds, the vast gap in skill level between different demographics of gamers, and the culture that forms around lockouts. As a result, it is a field full of hot land mines just waiting to be stepped on.
As for the above posters saying that good people have chased off trolls, I think you have that in reverse. Passive-aggressive individuals have been chasing off anyone who has any good feedback to offer on the game. Bringing up any complaints about the trinity, lack of depth in combat, or the lockout culture that encourages static groups will result in a lot of insinuated personal attacks against you.
There is simply no escaping that the community for the game is in the exact same situation as many others. In some ways its even worse because of the kind of fan-boy/fan-girl -ism in the community. The effect of redesigning the game has also in some ways made things worse because people who genuinely don't like the game keep hoping that Yoshida is going to make it into something better than it currently is, when all signs show the contrary at the moment.
Well just gonna have to agree to disagree. In game I see mostly positive and helpful people with a few bad eggs which is bound to happen. Unfortunately on these forums and the lodestone there are some over the top fan boys but at the same time there is just as many haters some of them come here a lot always telling us the same thing over and over. "Until they make it XI it sucks" and goal post moving on when the game will fail or go f2p.
To the first underlined, it's all well in good to give feed back on how to make the game better. How ever I have seen many lodestone users doing so very aggressively with very colorful language and mean spirited tone so of course people come right back at them in the same manner. I see this happen to often really.
To the second underlined, It's been almost a year now and honestly the game is pretty much set on the path it's going to take. I don't know how you want this game to be but if your wanting drastic changes I think you are wasting your time.
Nothing I posted has anything to do specifically with me. I'm just stating what I've seen since the beta all the way to the current patch. When end game is about the efficiency of doing things over the fun of doing them, you get an end game community that is pretty much the same as any previous MMORPG. That doesn't mean there are no friendly people online, but it effects the forums and the highest tiers of play.
Also, there are clearly some very vocal people who still do want to see things change in the game. Unfortunately, there are a ton of downers, cyber bullies, and draconian thought police on those forums, so any attempt to put a good idea out is ultimately drowned in a lot of negative posts and threads. I think a lot of feedback is given a negative light because of that.
As for OP's confusion on the whole deal with this game, its the marketing. The game is doing better financially because it has enjoyed simultaneous releases on the ps3 and PC, a second release on the PS4, and has a release for Xbox One coming sometime after. It is giving frequent content updates, and the developer does throw people a bone once in a while instead of completely ignoring the fan base. On top of which, the game has a better story than the horribly done FFXIII, and so in the eyes of fans its an improvement. However, it really isn't anything special in the story department when compared to other RPGs. Its just they are starting from such a low point that anything would be better to a fan.
Oh, my bad on the assumption I made there the way it read sounded that way to me. However still just gonna have to agree to disagree. Like I said a lot of what I see is not just giving feed back but unprovoked nasty letters to SE with sometimes even name calling. So hence the back lash from the community. Like I said I have seen some nasty stuff from some of the fan boys as well but all this is mainly on the forums from what I've seen.
Totally fine, my friend! Everyone is entitled to a difference in opinion! Cheers, and enjoy the game!
The community is mostly fine, until you run into the tank with the little man syndrome and messes up your party.
I play a tank now just so I don't have to deal with the amount of douchebaggary the general tank population gives PUGS. Plus I'm an older gamer and I'm better at it anyways.
To be honest, the appeal is generated by an illusion of things that aren't really there. Its banking on nostalgia to sell itself more than anything else. The game hints at complexity that is never delivered through an unfinished cross-class skill system and the fact you are locked into a single job for end game raids, thus having multiple lvl 50 jobs really doesn't add much to end game. Its even more cookie cutter than most games due to the lack of customization. The raids and dungeons are all long hallways designed to be smashed through with the bare minimum of strategy. An isometric hack-and-slash would have been a better choice for the way Yoshida has taken the game, but I digress.
Its just a cheap fast food MMORPG experience whose success is due to brand recognition and rapid releases on various consoles besides PC. It's release schedule is tactically being done to boost its rep with the "see? Our subscriptions are holding steady" marketing ploy. The game doesn't honestly know what it wants to be, and a lot of its subsystems aren't even done that well (like inventory management and lack of name changing service).
I can tell you after having played the game for half a year that the end game is boring. I have a hard time just getting on to do anything at this point because everything is just a monotonous grind. I've tried coming back several times to give the game another chance, but it's just a mindless gear treadmill.
I can tell you after having played the game for half a year that the end game is boring. I have a hard time just getting on to do anything at this point because everything is just a monotonous grind. I've tried coming back several times to give the game another chance, but it's just a mindless gear treadmill.
If that's how you choose to approach the game, then I guess that's a fair assessment. People that view the game in this way though are typically people that play solo, or are people that only login once a week for raids and don't care to participate in the other content the game has to offer or engage with other players within their FC/intra-server community.
I can tell you after having played the game for half a year that the end game is boring. I have a hard time just getting on to do anything at this point because everything is just a monotonous grind. I've tried coming back several times to give the game another chance, but it's just a mindless gear treadmill.
If that's how you choose to approach the game, then I guess that's a fair assessment. People that view the game in this way though are typically people that play solo, or are people that only login once a week for raids and don't care to participate in the other content the game has to offer or engage with other players within their FC/intra-server community.
I apologize if I'm coming off as extremely harsh. I'm on my last legs for the game at the moment.
That being said, I've done everything there is minus crafting. The issue I've run into is that by making the game ultra-simple, there isn't enough depth to individual jobs by the end of the game to really get me excited about raiding as any single one of them for months on end. On top of which, the game is all about mixing up different player demographics that traditionally never get along in the first place.
They don't have a good golden middle for raids like in World of Warcraft (at least as my memory serves for Wrath of the Lich King) that can really unify the community. Coil is just too difficult for the poor new guys, while on the other extreme Crystal Tower is just too easy to really give them a good raiding experience. I've tried training them, but the ratio of attrition rate to progress is too low to be enjoyable for anyone involved.
I can tell you after having played the game for half a year that the end game is boring. I have a hard time just getting on to do anything at this point because everything is just a monotonous grind. I've tried coming back several times to give the game another chance, but it's just a mindless gear treadmill.
If that's how you choose to approach the game, then I guess that's a fair assessment. People that view the game in this way though are typically people that play solo, or are people that only login once a week for raids and don't care to participate in the other content the game has to offer or engage with other players within their FC/intra-server community.
I apologize if I'm coming off as extremely harsh. I'm on my last legs for the game at the moment.
That being said, I've done everything there is minus crafting. The issue I've run into is that by making the game ultra-simple, there isn't enough depth to individual jobs by the end of the game to really get me excited about raiding as any single one of them for months on end. On top of which, the game is all about mixing up different player demographics that traditionally never get along in the first place.
They don't have a good golden middle for raids like in World of Warcraft (at least as my memory serves for Wrath of the Lich King) that can really unify the community. Coil is just too difficult for the poor new guys, while on the other extreme Crystal Tower is just too easy to really give them a good raiding experience. I've tried training them, but the ratio of attrition rate to progress is too low to be enjoyable for anyone involved.
TBH it kind of sounds like you're stuck playing with a bunch of baddies in your groups. Coil can be difficult, at first, but after a few attempts at each turn the mechanics start to come pretty easily and it doesn't take more than a few sessions for most groups to surpass each turn. If you're having problems with people not able to grasp the mechanics, failing repeatedly, then getting frustrated and giving up... well that's not really a fault of the game itself but rather people who aren't willing to improve their skills and just expect it to be super easy mode.
It only takes 1 person in the group to bring the rest down. That part can be frustrating. Sometimes the person running the group just needs to draw a line and either make that person step up their game or replace them. No need to make 7 other people suffer because 1 person can't get it together. Recently went through this with 1 of my own static members as well. Now we have a replacement who, although much newer to the game than the previous person, has already proven to be a much much more skilled player who doesnt need to be told the same mechanics over and over and over and over again while still repeatedly screwing it up.
I can see the appeal in a slower, more complex game.
However, remind me: is the game truly open and persistent (aka: you can trek across many zones without seeing loading screens), or do you load each seperate zone (if I remember right, it was like that in the original release)?
I don't want to say that the game can't be good with loading between zones, but true persistance is always a plus for me. Much more so even in these more complex, slower games.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
However, remind me: is the game truly open and persistent (aka: you can trek across many zones without seeing loading screens), or do you load each seperate zone (if I remember right, it was like that in the original release).
The loading screens are terrible because for some strange reason they decided supporting PS3 when the PS4 was about to release.
However, remind me: is the game truly open and persistent (aka: you can trek across many zones without seeing loading screens), or do you load each seperate zone (if I remember right, it was like that in the original release).
The loading screens are terrible because for some strange reason they decided supporting PS3 when the PS4 was about to release.
Would any sane game developer snub an older console in favour of one not yet released and whose sale numbers uncertain. This way they get both console owners
Comments
I remember back when not liking something was enough in and of itself, apparently it requires justification and giving people the opportunity to convince you to like something. Just don't play the game, is that all together too hard to do?
The older I get the more pretentious and ridiculous some of these threads get. I'm all for game discussion and debate, but at least have a solid foundation for your opinion, even if it is simply "do not want".
You don't have to like the game, nor understand why a lot of other people like it. You're perfectly allowed to put it in the "don't give a damn basket" like I do with most things.
Are you a Final Fantasy fan? That's a huge aspect of the attraction.
What an understatement. If you dont appreciate and understand that in-depth and functioning crafting system/housing/economy is a critical foundation to an mmorpg, then there is nothing that can be said to you, you will never ever understand the true appeal of ffxiv.
Most memorable games: AoC(Tryanny PvP), RIFT, GW, GW2, Ragnarok Online, Aion, FFXI, FFXIV, Secret World, League of Legends (Silver II rank)
A lot of people will not get beyond themselves to see where FFXIV truly shines. Everyone in this thread that has said "WoW Clone" simply hasn't looked beyond what is similar with the 2 games. FFXIV is a tab target MMO that has a large variety of well polished features. Anyone claiming it to be a clone of a different game doesn't understand what a clone is.
SWTOR Referral Link
Free Goodies for new or returning players.
See what it gets you Here
Was in it for 3 weeks, managed to level a job to 50 and to get geared up to a point where I pass the gear checks for most if not all the endgame content. The game definitely has potential. The big turn off for me is that the end game fights seem scripted with absolutely no random (that's what I've experienced, at least). The bosses do not have a "chance" to choose from a list of abilities to use, they will just use a sequence of abilities in some well known order. There is no challenge as long as you know what to expect - the only challenge comes from people not being able to learn the "cheat sheets" and from the special effects which sometimes cover your screen in such a way that you cannot see what's going on.
Example: "cheat sheet" for one of the hardest fights in the game (or that's how it is considered), Titan Ex: http://i.imgur.com/9kBP1Re.png (or just Google Titan ex cheat sheet). The abilities and the exact order in which they are used, phase by phase.
I enjoy undercutting people in the market place - it's the only PvP a crafter gets.
THE WORLD IS FREAKING BEAUTIFUL! SERIOUSLY.
When MoP first released I heard a lot of players saying, "Omg the world is so beautiful--blah, blah, blah."
And as a hardcore PvPer my response was, "Omg Trolololol Newbz!"
This is the first MMO where I can say I care about the world. The environments are just as much a character as you are. They're sprawling expanses filled with rich jewel-toned colors, crystals, foliage, etc... Combined with the EPIC soundtrack and it's deadly. I spent HOURS roaming around taking screenshots, exploring every nook and cranny I could find. I've NEVER done that before... and it's... it's awesome. It's breathtaking in weird way. I would never have imagined in my 20 years of existence that a game could take my breath away.
Besides that...
The crafting is boss mode
Havent tried PvP but I've heard some good things
SMN is perfection
PvE is actually interesting (I hate PvE)
Player Housing
MARRIAGE (What MMO has marriage seriously)
Lots of events and fun stuff to do to kill time
And there are TONS of new content/patches planned in the near-future
Interior design (You can kill crap tonnes of time arranging the furniture in-home)
And the BEST feature? The COMMUNITY. Everyone is excessively nice and more than willing to help. Any trolls in chat have been beaten into submission and flamed/ignored away. These people are like wine and every other gaming community is elephant excrement.
If you cant enjoy this game I feel kinda bad for you
Good luck.
you just keep mentioning titan though :P , i agree with you that most fights are scripted but some are DPS check and some are tactical. and then some in coil that has enough RNG in it to make you on your toes, then there is Coil Savage that will clearly full or RNG XD
I feel the same way as the OP. While the games setting is pretty and the armor is cool looking, I don't understand why this game has received so many accolades?
This questing in this game feels like a system from 2004 with walls of text (not that this is a bad thing just not something that you would expect in a high budget game released in 2013). I honestly don't know if I will ever be able to do wall of text questing games again. The combat in this game feels slow, clunky and dated, heck WoWs combat is more engaging and fast paced and that's saying a lot.
There may be a lot to do with crafting/raiding/PvP etc but getting to max level to raid seems like it would be a major chore with lots of bad combat and walls of texts. With that said due to the combat system I can't imagine PvP to be all that engaging in this game either.
I have been playing the game since early access and i can tell you for sure that there is nothing 'sprawling' about the zones in FFXIV. That is quite a misleading thing to say considering the small size of the maps full of invisible walls. Yes enviorments even though static are beautiful to look at but there is nothing in zones which demand s HOURS of roaming around in terms of exploration.
Exploration leaves much to be desired. However it does well in terms of over all content.
And since you asked what other MMO has marriage seriously. Answer is Rift and i am sure there are others.
I normally just read these boards and never cared to post before, but after seeing some of these posts saying the community is better than in other MMORPGs, I have to vehemently disagree.
The community was mostly positive for the first few months of the game's release, which is typical of an MMORPG that employs the usual tank/healer/dd mashup. After the majority of players hit end game, the good will of the populace was quickly eroded by the grinds, the vast gap in skill level between different demographics of gamers, and the culture that forms around lockouts. As a result, it is a field full of hot land mines just waiting to be stepped on.
As for the above posters saying that good people have chased off trolls, I think you have that in reverse. Passive-aggressive individuals have been chasing off anyone who has any good feedback to offer on the game. Bringing up any complaints about the trinity, lack of depth in combat, or the lockout culture that encourages static groups will result in a lot of insinuated personal attacks against you.
There is simply no escaping that the community for the game is in the exact same situation as many others. In some ways its even worse because of the kind of fan-boy/fan-girl -ism in the community. The effect of redesigning the game has also in some ways made things worse because people who genuinely don't like the game keep hoping that Yoshida is going to make it into something better than it currently is, when all signs show the contrary at the moment.
Nothing I posted has anything to do specifically with me. I'm just stating what I've seen since the beta all the way to the current patch. When end game is about the efficiency of doing things over the fun of doing them, you get an end game community that is pretty much the same as any previous MMORPG. That doesn't mean there are no friendly people online, but it effects the forums and the highest tiers of play.
Also, there are clearly some very vocal people who still do want to see things change in the game. Unfortunately, there are a ton of downers, cyber bullies, and draconian thought police on those forums, so any attempt to put a good idea out is ultimately drowned in a lot of negative posts and threads. I think a lot of feedback is given a negative light because of that.
As for OP's confusion on the whole deal with this game, its the marketing. The game is doing better financially because it has enjoyed simultaneous releases on the ps3 and PC, a second release on the PS4, and has a release for Xbox One coming sometime after. It is giving frequent content updates, and the developer does throw people a bone once in a while instead of completely ignoring the fan base. On top of which, the game has a better story than the horribly done FFXIII, and so in the eyes of fans its an improvement. However, it really isn't anything special in the story department when compared to other RPGs. Its just they are starting from such a low point that anything would be better to a fan.
Totally fine, my friend! Everyone is entitled to a difference in opinion! Cheers, and enjoy the game!
The community is mostly fine, until you run into the tank with the little man syndrome and messes up your party.
I play a tank now just so I don't have to deal with the amount of douchebaggary the general tank population gives PUGS. Plus I'm an older gamer and I'm better at it anyways.
To be honest, the appeal is generated by an illusion of things that aren't really there. Its banking on nostalgia to sell itself more than anything else. The game hints at complexity that is never delivered through an unfinished cross-class skill system and the fact you are locked into a single job for end game raids, thus having multiple lvl 50 jobs really doesn't add much to end game. Its even more cookie cutter than most games due to the lack of customization. The raids and dungeons are all long hallways designed to be smashed through with the bare minimum of strategy. An isometric hack-and-slash would have been a better choice for the way Yoshida has taken the game, but I digress.
Its just a cheap fast food MMORPG experience whose success is due to brand recognition and rapid releases on various consoles besides PC. It's release schedule is tactically being done to boost its rep with the "see? Our subscriptions are holding steady" marketing ploy. The game doesn't honestly know what it wants to be, and a lot of its subsystems aren't even done that well (like inventory management and lack of name changing service).
I can tell you after having played the game for half a year that the end game is boring. I have a hard time just getting on to do anything at this point because everything is just a monotonous grind. I've tried coming back several times to give the game another chance, but it's just a mindless gear treadmill.
If that's how you choose to approach the game, then I guess that's a fair assessment. People that view the game in this way though are typically people that play solo, or are people that only login once a week for raids and don't care to participate in the other content the game has to offer or engage with other players within their FC/intra-server community.
I apologize if I'm coming off as extremely harsh. I'm on my last legs for the game at the moment.
That being said, I've done everything there is minus crafting. The issue I've run into is that by making the game ultra-simple, there isn't enough depth to individual jobs by the end of the game to really get me excited about raiding as any single one of them for months on end. On top of which, the game is all about mixing up different player demographics that traditionally never get along in the first place.
They don't have a good golden middle for raids like in World of Warcraft (at least as my memory serves for Wrath of the Lich King) that can really unify the community. Coil is just too difficult for the poor new guys, while on the other extreme Crystal Tower is just too easy to really give them a good raiding experience. I've tried training them, but the ratio of attrition rate to progress is too low to be enjoyable for anyone involved.
TBH it kind of sounds like you're stuck playing with a bunch of baddies in your groups. Coil can be difficult, at first, but after a few attempts at each turn the mechanics start to come pretty easily and it doesn't take more than a few sessions for most groups to surpass each turn. If you're having problems with people not able to grasp the mechanics, failing repeatedly, then getting frustrated and giving up... well that's not really a fault of the game itself but rather people who aren't willing to improve their skills and just expect it to be super easy mode.
It only takes 1 person in the group to bring the rest down. That part can be frustrating. Sometimes the person running the group just needs to draw a line and either make that person step up their game or replace them. No need to make 7 other people suffer because 1 person can't get it together. Recently went through this with 1 of my own static members as well. Now we have a replacement who, although much newer to the game than the previous person, has already proven to be a much much more skilled player who doesnt need to be told the same mechanics over and over and over and over again while still repeatedly screwing it up.
I can see the appeal in a slower, more complex game.
However, remind me: is the game truly open and persistent (aka: you can trek across many zones without seeing loading screens), or do you load each seperate zone (if I remember right, it was like that in the original release)?
I don't want to say that the game can't be good with loading between zones, but true persistance is always a plus for me. Much more so even in these more complex, slower games.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
The loading screens are terrible because for some strange reason they decided supporting PS3 when the PS4 was about to release.
Would any sane game developer snub an older console in favour of one not yet released and whose sale numbers uncertain. This way they get both console owners