Some of you had some great responses, thank you! As for the others, some of the immature folks felt the need to flame and criticize, but what can you do... It's the anonymityof the internet.
Of course I could just go out and spend time playing the game, but it's easier to ask what people think first hand... Especially those that have played FFXIV as well. Those are the people that I wanted to hear from... Some things you can't just watch videos and expect to gain answers.
As someone who has reached level cap and done pretty much all there is to do at max level in both games I will give you my 2 cents.
ArcheAge is not worth leaving FFXIV for. Let me say that as someone who is currently playing AA. I like ArcheAge but really there isn't much depth to the game at all on a lore or world scale. The quest are generic and boring because they don't matter. The story is boring and inspirational because it too doesn't matter.
All that matters in AA is Castle Siege, World PvP, Trading, and Farming.
FFXIV is a more complete beast in my honest opinion. I also feel like it has a much better community and more to do. Yes even with the hunts being full of awful people that doesn't even compare to the horrid community that AA has developed. Dungeons are alright in AA but not nearly as well crafted or thought out as FFXIV.
All in all it doesn't hurt to try ArcheAge again as it is a F2P mmo with P2P option but since you asked for a direct comparison to FFXIV I'll tell you not to bother as they are two completely different games. If you really enjoy FFXIV then I feel like ArcheAge isnt the game for you.
Sorta a long post but going to give you my persective of someone who played AA through alpha/beta and someone who runs a guild in XIV since launch of 1.0 to current.
The differences between FFXIV and AA are extreme. They are litteraly on the opposite ends of the spectrum of MMO design.
Archeage is based on open world, high competition between players, complex game systems, player based economy, PvP, and large scale guild focus. The game has long term goals and things many people will have to come together to achieve. You are unable to succeed in all areas of the game without a guild. The game is "Free to play", although you have to pay to play the game in all its aspects... and you will spend more then the standard sub fee if you play hardcore and do not want to fall behind.
FFXIV is based on instances, limited to no competition between players (all openworld content is designed so the whole server works together), Extremly simplistic game systems and very little versatitily in a specific job (1 brd is the same as all brds). It is based on quick rewards and pure linear advancement. The economy is almost purely for vanity purposes all crafted gear is subpar compaired to current endgame drops only exception is food and meds. The games content is designed with lowman/8-man statics. The guild is nothing more then RP element and chat channel. The game is a sub fee and all players are on a constant equal level in what they are capable of doing.
FFXIV is a game modeled after World of Warcraft and is about as pure of a themepark as you can get. The devs designed that so that you would have to play the game the way they want you to. A game on rails is how it is said. It is designed to be all fun all the time. With limited time sinks and grinds... although the relic progression got hellishly grindy compaired to everything else. But even that is less then 1/20 of the time sink you will find in AA.
The question to ask is which one is more appealing to you. Did you like/still like WoW? Do you feel WoW was the best mmo ever made? Do you hate grinding? Do you hate tab targeting? Do you hate games that force you to be in large groups? Do you have limited playtime? Do you hate PvP? Do you hate crafting/gathering in mmos? Did you feel EQ and FFXI were bad mmos?
If you answered yes to anything above, you should not play archeage in my opinion.
Personally I find massive flaws in both games.
Final fantasy if you are not a new player has about 1/5th the amount of relevant content it should have. Next patch there is actually less relevant content then the current path........ (good job SE....moredots....). If you are in a good guild/static in XIV you can litterly do 1 weeks of content in 4hrs. The economy in XIV is just utter garbage... unless you want vanity gear there is no reason at all to make more then 50-60k a week (takes like 20mins) to cover food/repairs. Litteraly everything crafted is vendor trash gear compaired to entree level endgame gear in each patch. If you play XIV more then 20hrs you will hit a wall where you are just going to be bored out of your mind. If you are new it will take 5-6 months. If you are existing it will take 1-1.5 month into the 3 month Major patch cycle. Guilds are hard as hell to maintain because everything is based on 8man static groups. And the devs stated that was by design. Almost all of the games content rewards very weak gear or vanity items.
FFXIV is a casual player only game in my opinion. OR a game you have to have a 2nd mmo to fill up your time while you wait for more content/resets. (If you play a mmo for more then 20hrs a week.... you better like vanity/achievement hunting if you are playing FFXIV as your primary mmo). Pure gear/content treadmill in XIV. But that content comes really fast, content will be introduced quicker and in larger quantities compaired to AA, at least if the patch rate remains constant with both games.
Archeage is a guild based game with tons of long term goals with a heavy focus on PvP. But very little instant gratification, which is something the NA community as a whole is not used to. The whole I beat X boss why did I not get a uber sword of awsomness. Or the "WTF this takes 30ppl to kill and drops 1 item that is BS" crowd. and how can we forget the "I quit mr.leet killed me while I was mining" folk. There is also a lack of content in terms of PvE in Archeage at endgame. yea it is a pvp focused game, but that will still lose a chunk of players. PvP everyday all day will get old. Guilds are easy to maintain because they are required. But hard to form because for non-pvp content you need in some cases 30+ ppl online at once time (So guilds of 60+ ppl will be required). Also they have about half the land for farming you should have... so even people paying cannot experiance the whole game in some cases.
Archeage is a PVP players game and a game for those who want the old school mentality of grouping to accomplish PvE and long term goals.
To the op if you like XIV, stay with it for awhile. There are tons of people who love the game it all comes down to what kind of gamer you are. But if you hated AA before nothing has changed so youwill probably still hate it.
As someone who has reached level cap and done pretty much all there is to do at max level in both games I will give you my 2 cents.
ArcheAge is not worth leaving FFXIV for. Let me say that as someone who is currently playing AA. I like ArcheAge but really there isn't much depth to the game at all on a lore or world scale. The quest are generic and boring because they don't matter. The story is boring and inspirational because it too doesn't matter.
All that matters in AA is Castle Siege, World PvP, Trading, and Farming.
FFXIV is a more complete beast in my honest opinion. I also feel like it has a much better community and more to do. Yes even with the hunts being full of awful people that doesn't even compare to the horrid community that AA has developed. Dungeons are alright in AA but not nearly as well crafted or thought out as FFXIV.
All in all it doesn't hurt to try ArcheAge again as it is a F2P mmo with P2P option but since you asked for a direct comparison to FFXIV I'll tell you not to bother as they are two completely different games. If you really enjoy FFXIV then I feel like ArcheAge isnt the game for you.
OP, you got to level 8 and quit because the quests are "horrid", yet the first three hours of FFXIV quests are even more "horrid". They are basically run around city and talk to people with no voice overs and no cut scenes, my point is you can't really judge a game based on an hour or two of play.
With all that said, FFXIV is a heavily instanced, lobby style game with a focus on raiding (very similar to WoW). AA is an open world game with a much more sandboxy environment that is heavily PvP based. If you are looking for a new better WoW/FFXIV, AA probably isn't the game for you. However, if you are looking for something different with a much more open and free world you may like it.
AA is F2P so you can basically play it and see for yourself.
As someone who has reached level cap and done pretty much all there is to do at max level in both games I will give you my 2 cents.
ArcheAge is not worth leaving FFXIV for. Let me say that as someone who is currently playing AA. I like ArcheAge but really there isn't much depth to the game at all on a lore or world scale. The quest are generic and boring because they don't matter. The story is boring and inspirational because it too doesn't matter.
All that matters in AA is Castle Siege, World PvP, Trading, and Farming.
FFXIV is a more complete beast in my honest opinion. I also feel like it has a much better community and more to do. Yes even with the hunts being full of awful people that doesn't even compare to the horrid community that AA has developed. Dungeons are alright in AA but not nearly as well crafted or thought out as FFXIV.
All in all it doesn't hurt to try ArcheAge again as it is a F2P mmo with P2P option but since you asked for a direct comparison to FFXIV I'll tell you not to bother as they are two completely different games. If you really enjoy FFXIV then I feel like ArcheAge isnt the game for you.
Thanks, this was exactly what I was looking for.
This post is completely subjective.
AA is a sandbox which means that the community dictates the world. For example if you are a pirate your "game" is to roam the open waters and pillage and plunder from others. If you are a mercenary your "game" is to take contracts and execute them, so on and so forth. Questing in AA is there to help introduce you to the different mechanics and features of the game as well as give you a path to max level.
FFXIV on the other hand is a themepark MMO, what the community as a whole does has little effect on the game, the devs release content and the challenge is to get loot and see the new content (hence it being a themepark). This would also be why the lore is stronger in a game like FFXIV, because the lore is the game.
It's comparing apples and oranges really. I would compare AA to a game like shadowbane or Darkfall and FFXIV to a game like Rift or WoW. Comparing AA to FFXIV is like comparing a Land Rover SUV to a Porsche 911 Turbo, you really can't!
AA is too much like WoW for my own personal liking, thrown in with a bit of typical Asian grinder (and a few back doors that allow gold spammers and hackers in, free of charge).
The crafting and progressions of skills makes no real sense, requiring a bunch of irrelevant skills and materials to make the most simple of items. The character levels, like WoW, are quest based and easy to obtain... too easy in fact. Follow the golden exclamation points "!"
This game is a typical Themepark, with a few extra options thrown in to make people think there's a Sandbox somewhere. Once you hit max level though, you'll find there are only a few real options open to you and you will get bored, really... really... really fast.
If you liked WoW, then who knows, you may actually like this game. It seems the people defending how good this game is are the ones who played WoW for years and came directly from that game. Those who have gotten a taste of more unique games out there, realize how far short this one has fallen.
Archeage is a PVP players game and a game for those who want the old school mentality of grouping to accomplish PvE and long term goals.
Well that depends what somebody understands under the term pvp. Imo pvp is a competition between players on a more or less equal level. In AA i did not find any open world pvp in that sense at all (on land). In AA everything is about ganking, most of the times the victims are underleveled players who are killed while questing (rule no 1 in AA, only quest at peace times or your ass will be ganked until no tomorrow). Or they are killed by their own faction while mining or gathering other resources. This has nothing to do with pvp, this is just slaughtering players who cannot defend themselfes yet. It´s boring and it´s stupid.
So the other choices are either going out to the sea and hope to find pirates or a group of other players delivering tradepacks, or arenas (1v1, 5v5). Going out to the sea can be fun but it is very luck dependend. Sometimes you cruise for for an hour without finding somebody. Arenas are OK but first you have to do your equip grind or you can´t compete.
If you look at pvp in AA, well it´s pretty standard and nothing special at all. Plus because of the equipment progression new players will have a really rough time until they can compete.
What i did sometimes was to go in low level areas to hunt pk´ers or reds that try to kill low level players. This is fun for quite a time but gets old after a while too.
OP, you got to level 8 and quit because the quests are "horrid", yet the first three hours of FFXIV quests are even more "horrid". They are basically run around city and talk to people with no voice overs and no cut scenes, my point is you can't really judge a game based on an hour or two of play.
With all that said, FFXIV is a heavily instanced, lobby style game with a focus on raiding (very similar to WoW). AA is an open world game with a much more sandboxy environment that is heavily PvP based. If you are looking for a new better WoW/FFXIV, AA probably isn't the game for you. However, if you are looking for something different with a much more open and free world you may like it.
AA is F2P so you can basically play it and see for yourself.
Where to start... First, I don't know exactly what level I got to... I just know that I played about 2 hours. Second, there are a ton of things to do in FFXIV that of which ARE NOT instanced. I'm a casual player, and I find plenty to do without stepping into a Raid or Dungeon.
When I did play AA it showed a little promise, but it just felt like it was more of the same... I can choose to put down the game at that point or not, and I chose to put it down because I didn't feel like going through that again. For the short time I played the game I noticed a few things. The world is big, but when you're questing you move around A LOT... Couple quests here and there, now go run 3 miles that way and hit the next quest hub. It seemed VERY linear... With FFXIV I at least had options to EASILY go to another area AND switch to another class without having to make a new character.
Another thing I noticed... The community in AA is the WORST I have seen in a very long time. FFXIV, for me, has had one of the best.
Could I be missing a lot of the game? Sure... There's probably something I'm not seeing. If that is the case then the game does a pretty piss poor job of introducing me to the things I can do besides running around looking for quests to pick up and turn in. THAT is one of the reasons why I created this thread.
Comments
Wrong advice. AA is the same old as always - get levels, grind for gear, pvp or craft at end game.
Nothing new there, just some fluff and tweaks here and there...like any MMO has to offer it's own unique feature set.
Some of you had some great responses, thank you! As for the others, some of the immature folks felt the need to flame and criticize, but what can you do... It's the anonymity of the internet.
Of course I could just go out and spend time playing the game, but it's easier to ask what people think first hand... Especially those that have played FFXIV as well. Those are the people that I wanted to hear from... Some things you can't just watch videos and expect to gain answers.
As someone who has reached level cap and done pretty much all there is to do at max level in both games I will give you my 2 cents.
ArcheAge is not worth leaving FFXIV for. Let me say that as someone who is currently playing AA.
I like ArcheAge but really there isn't much depth to the game at all on a lore or world scale.
The quest are generic and boring because they don't matter. The story is boring and inspirational because it too doesn't matter.
All that matters in AA is Castle Siege, World PvP, Trading, and Farming.
FFXIV is a more complete beast in my honest opinion. I also feel like it has a much better community and more to do. Yes even with the hunts being full of awful people that doesn't even compare to the horrid community that AA has developed.
Dungeons are alright in AA but not nearly as well crafted or thought out as FFXIV.
All in all it doesn't hurt to try ArcheAge again as it is a F2P mmo with P2P option but since you asked for a direct comparison to FFXIV I'll tell you not to bother as they are two completely different games. If you really enjoy FFXIV then I feel like ArcheAge isnt the game for you.
Sorta a long post but going to give you my persective of someone who played AA through alpha/beta and someone who runs a guild in XIV since launch of 1.0 to current.
The differences between FFXIV and AA are extreme. They are litteraly on the opposite ends of the spectrum of MMO design.
Archeage is based on open world, high competition between players, complex game systems, player based economy, PvP, and large scale guild focus. The game has long term goals and things many people will have to come together to achieve. You are unable to succeed in all areas of the game without a guild. The game is "Free to play", although you have to pay to play the game in all its aspects... and you will spend more then the standard sub fee if you play hardcore and do not want to fall behind.
FFXIV is based on instances, limited to no competition between players (all openworld content is designed so the whole server works together), Extremly simplistic game systems and very little versatitily in a specific job (1 brd is the same as all brds). It is based on quick rewards and pure linear advancement. The economy is almost purely for vanity purposes all crafted gear is subpar compaired to current endgame drops only exception is food and meds. The games content is designed with lowman/8-man statics. The guild is nothing more then RP element and chat channel. The game is a sub fee and all players are on a constant equal level in what they are capable of doing.
FFXIV is a game modeled after World of Warcraft and is about as pure of a themepark as you can get. The devs designed that so that you would have to play the game the way they want you to. A game on rails is how it is said. It is designed to be all fun all the time. With limited time sinks and grinds... although the relic progression got hellishly grindy compaired to everything else. But even that is less then 1/20 of the time sink you will find in AA.
The question to ask is which one is more appealing to you. Did you like/still like WoW? Do you feel WoW was the best mmo ever made? Do you hate grinding? Do you hate tab targeting? Do you hate games that force you to be in large groups? Do you have limited playtime? Do you hate PvP? Do you hate crafting/gathering in mmos? Did you feel EQ and FFXI were bad mmos?
If you answered yes to anything above, you should not play archeage in my opinion.
Personally I find massive flaws in both games.
Final fantasy if you are not a new player has about 1/5th the amount of relevant content it should have. Next patch there is actually less relevant content then the current path........ (good job SE....moredots....). If you are in a good guild/static in XIV you can litterly do 1 weeks of content in 4hrs. The economy in XIV is just utter garbage... unless you want vanity gear there is no reason at all to make more then 50-60k a week (takes like 20mins) to cover food/repairs. Litteraly everything crafted is vendor trash gear compaired to entree level endgame gear in each patch. If you play XIV more then 20hrs you will hit a wall where you are just going to be bored out of your mind. If you are new it will take 5-6 months. If you are existing it will take 1-1.5 month into the 3 month Major patch cycle. Guilds are hard as hell to maintain because everything is based on 8man static groups. And the devs stated that was by design. Almost all of the games content rewards very weak gear or vanity items.
FFXIV is a casual player only game in my opinion. OR a game you have to have a 2nd mmo to fill up your time while you wait for more content/resets. (If you play a mmo for more then 20hrs a week.... you better like vanity/achievement hunting if you are playing FFXIV as your primary mmo). Pure gear/content treadmill in XIV. But that content comes really fast, content will be introduced quicker and in larger quantities compaired to AA, at least if the patch rate remains constant with both games.
Archeage is a guild based game with tons of long term goals with a heavy focus on PvP. But very little instant gratification, which is something the NA community as a whole is not used to. The whole I beat X boss why did I not get a uber sword of awsomness. Or the "WTF this takes 30ppl to kill and drops 1 item that is BS" crowd. and how can we forget the "I quit mr.leet killed me while I was mining" folk. There is also a lack of content in terms of PvE in Archeage at endgame. yea it is a pvp focused game, but that will still lose a chunk of players. PvP everyday all day will get old. Guilds are easy to maintain because they are required. But hard to form because for non-pvp content you need in some cases 30+ ppl online at once time (So guilds of 60+ ppl will be required). Also they have about half the land for farming you should have... so even people paying cannot experiance the whole game in some cases.
Archeage is a PVP players game and a game for those who want the old school mentality of grouping to accomplish PvE and long term goals.
To the op if you like XIV, stay with it for awhile. There are tons of people who love the game it all comes down to what kind of gamer you are. But if you hated AA before nothing has changed so youwill probably still hate it.
Thanks, this was exactly what I was looking for.
What you said about FFXIV, I completely disagree... That's the type of response I'd expect from anyone that didn't have a complete grasp on the game.
OP, you got to level 8 and quit because the quests are "horrid", yet the first three hours of FFXIV quests are even more "horrid". They are basically run around city and talk to people with no voice overs and no cut scenes, my point is you can't really judge a game based on an hour or two of play.
With all that said, FFXIV is a heavily instanced, lobby style game with a focus on raiding (very similar to WoW). AA is an open world game with a much more sandboxy environment that is heavily PvP based. If you are looking for a new better WoW/FFXIV, AA probably isn't the game for you. However, if you are looking for something different with a much more open and free world you may like it.
AA is F2P so you can basically play it and see for yourself.
This post is completely subjective.
AA is a sandbox which means that the community dictates the world. For example if you are a pirate your "game" is to roam the open waters and pillage and plunder from others. If you are a mercenary your "game" is to take contracts and execute them, so on and so forth. Questing in AA is there to help introduce you to the different mechanics and features of the game as well as give you a path to max level.
FFXIV on the other hand is a themepark MMO, what the community as a whole does has little effect on the game, the devs release content and the challenge is to get loot and see the new content (hence it being a themepark). This would also be why the lore is stronger in a game like FFXIV, because the lore is the game.
It's comparing apples and oranges really. I would compare AA to a game like shadowbane or Darkfall and FFXIV to a game like Rift or WoW. Comparing AA to FFXIV is like comparing a Land Rover SUV to a Porsche 911 Turbo, you really can't!
This is you today
This is you once EQ Next Launches
AA is too much like WoW for my own personal liking, thrown in with a bit of typical Asian grinder (and a few back doors that allow gold spammers and hackers in, free of charge).
The crafting and progressions of skills makes no real sense, requiring a bunch of irrelevant skills and materials to make the most simple of items. The character levels, like WoW, are quest based and easy to obtain... too easy in fact. Follow the golden exclamation points "!"
This game is a typical Themepark, with a few extra options thrown in to make people think there's a Sandbox somewhere. Once you hit max level though, you'll find there are only a few real options open to you and you will get bored, really... really... really fast.
If you liked WoW, then who knows, you may actually like this game. It seems the people defending how good this game is are the ones who played WoW for years and came directly from that game. Those who have gotten a taste of more unique games out there, realize how far short this one has fallen.
Well that depends what somebody understands under the term pvp. Imo pvp is a competition between players on a more or less equal level. In AA i did not find any open world pvp in that sense at all (on land). In AA everything is about ganking, most of the times the victims are underleveled players who are killed while questing (rule no 1 in AA, only quest at peace times or your ass will be ganked until no tomorrow). Or they are killed by their own faction while mining or gathering other resources. This has nothing to do with pvp, this is just slaughtering players who cannot defend themselfes yet. It´s boring and it´s stupid.
So the other choices are either going out to the sea and hope to find pirates or a group of other players delivering tradepacks, or arenas (1v1, 5v5). Going out to the sea can be fun but it is very luck dependend. Sometimes you cruise for for an hour without finding somebody. Arenas are OK but first you have to do your equip grind or you can´t compete.
If you look at pvp in AA, well it´s pretty standard and nothing special at all. Plus because of the equipment progression new players will have a really rough time until they can compete.
What i did sometimes was to go in low level areas to hunt pk´ers or reds that try to kill low level players. This is fun for quite a time but gets old after a while too.
Why would I even want to bother?
I self identify as a monkey.
Where to start... First, I don't know exactly what level I got to... I just know that I played about 2 hours. Second, there are a ton of things to do in FFXIV that of which ARE NOT instanced. I'm a casual player, and I find plenty to do without stepping into a Raid or Dungeon.
When I did play AA it showed a little promise, but it just felt like it was more of the same... I can choose to put down the game at that point or not, and I chose to put it down because I didn't feel like going through that again. For the short time I played the game I noticed a few things. The world is big, but when you're questing you move around A LOT... Couple quests here and there, now go run 3 miles that way and hit the next quest hub. It seemed VERY linear... With FFXIV I at least had options to EASILY go to another area AND switch to another class without having to make a new character.
Another thing I noticed... The community in AA is the WORST I have seen in a very long time. FFXIV, for me, has had one of the best.
Could I be missing a lot of the game? Sure... There's probably something I'm not seeing. If that is the case then the game does a pretty piss poor job of introducing me to the things I can do besides running around looking for quests to pick up and turn in. THAT is one of the reasons why I created this thread.