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FFXIV over WoW...is it worth my time?
Son0fZeus
Member Posts: 49
Finally got some time to start a new MMO or resurrect an old one at that. I have a very well advanced WoW account with couple 85's and a buncha gold that I was thinking of resurrecting and playing but FFIX has caught my eye..
The fact that a new one is coming out this year got me into thinking of trying this one out. ( NEVER played and FF before)
Do you guys think its worth starting over on FFIV and giving it a shot or should I resurrect my WoW account.
I'm sure all the actual players will tell me the game is great, and I get that, but WoW is great also. And if they are both great or very alike...I rather resurrect the account which is already advanced into the game and I'm very familiar with the interface/gameplay.
If someone can tell me the most important differences between WoW and FFIV, that would be great!!
-K
Comments
FFXIV has a journey that is worth playing through, however it seriously lacks replay value. Leveling to max can become grindy at times but is reasonable in length, class quests are immersive and dungeons are decent. They buffed the exp from other sources but people would just grind fates for hours, I'm sure they still do.
End game content at this point is much easier with all the catch up systems they've implemented, and 4 out of the 5 games raid bosses are a joke compared to the high end raid content in WoW. End game gearing also makes no sense, the highest ilvl armor can be boughten with currency, and most of it (for bard atleast) was BiS so getting raid gear was not exciting at all.
If you've cleared siege heroic or don't want to play WoW until warlords comes out, I would give FFXIV a go until then. However ultimately it failed to keep me and every other WoW player I know from staying because of large replay value issues.
Played-Everything
Playing-LoL
The difference between WoW and FFXIV is very simple. FFXIV has much better graphics than WoW, and WoW has much better combat than FFXIV.
Why is FFXIV's combat so bad? For example in WoW for my dk the global cooldown is one second. Figuring out what skill to use next in that one second and managing resources is really not that hard. Now FFXIV has a 2.5 second gcd, that would have been fine if they had actually made the classes more complex... but they didn't in some cases the classes are even simpler than my WoW dk. The problem is that your brain doesn't slow down simply because they increase the gcd, so in most cases people will be able to figure out what skill to use in well under a second which leads to a huge amount of dead time every time you want to use a skill and you're just stuck there spamming the same button over and over waiting for the skill to go off.
Also people may tell you that FFXIV has better crafting, but this is facetious because WoW's crafting, while it doesn't have a minigame to go with it is far more useful and relevant to PvE and PvP because you actually need the item enhancement things crafters produce whereas in FFXIV ever interacting with crafted gear/items is completely optional and you can farm better gear than crafters can produce in the basic 4 person dungeons.
I actually went back to WoW because I was playing FFXIV and said "this is pretty but I might as well be playing WoW."
Honestly? FFXIV's over emphasis on end game gear grind is what put me off. It really is the only thing they care about. Yes that is a big part of WoW but there's so much to do beyond the gear treadmill I honestly don't do the treadmill myself.
You can buy FFXIV for $15.00 and play for an entire month. That will allow to form your own opinion. I know players who've come from wow that LOVE FFXIV and I know players who went back to WoW.
Regardless, it will be the best $15.00 you've spent because you'll get a lot of enjoyment out of it. And if you don't, you spent 1/3 of what you would have spent on other games.
Do yourself a favor and try it. The only thing you will lose is $15.00 but gain the peace of mind in knowing that you found a game you love, OR, know for sure it's not the game for you.
I quit months ago because of how repetitive the game is. Reaching max level was far too fast, no journey whatsoever, everyone keeps to themselves and it's just a major fate/instance grind. IMO they have one of the best crafting systems ever and yet it's worthless and again pathetically easy to reach max level.
Seeing as how you've played WoW, you'll probably enjoy this. The gear is all about item lvls, similar to WoW. The instances are recycled, again similar to WoW, like heroics. The community is similar to WoW. You'll fit right in.
I made the switch and never looked back, but I would recommend that you buy the game (as its really cheap at the moment) and take advantage of the free month that comes with it. That way you can form your own opinion.
I have played both games and don't like either one of them, it's not there bad it's just not my kind of game.
But if I have to choose between the two I would choose WOW any day of the week.
WOW is HUGE and there are lots of stuff to grind to keep you occupied and if you are a fan of raiding and stuff then there is no competition, WOW is the king.
No matter how much I hate WOW there just isn't any other game out there that comes close in the raiding department.
i cant believe no one has mentioned the fact that u can b every class in the game without making an alt. just switch ur weapon and u go from a tank to a healer in a second. u start back at lvl 1 so u have to lvl each class but its the same toon. once u get a mount it is usuable for all classes right away. u also learn every profession available. again, all on the same toon. no alt ever needed. that alone is a HUGE difference from WoW. no getting on xxx toon to send over money or craft xxx item. do it all on one toon.
then there is combined classes. archer at lvl 30 + lancer at lvl 15 allows u to do the quests to unlock the bard. another difference from WoW. FFXIV has alot more to offer than what is being said here. like the above post said, try it for urself. i have 8 lv 85+'s in WoW and am currently playing FF. only way u will know it play it not ask opinions from others
I really didn't like it. I bought it and played it a week. It's just move here.. kill.. quest giver.. kill... guest giver.. move here.. kill.. quest giver.
The flow was much worse than WoW. I'd stick with WoW if you still enjoy it.
The differences are that FF has much better graphics but it has this childish theme to it. I know people say WoW is childish cos it's cartoony.. but really, lore and story wise, it isn't childish at all. FF is completely linear, in WoW you have a choice of what route you take most of the time (there's areas of outland I've never even been to other than to do a simple ferry quest). New armor and weapons come in very slowly in FF and it's basically the same item progression for everyone.. there is little choice, what you find is either better or worse than what you already use. There's absolutely no debating which item to use.
I don't play WoW, cos I've played it to death. But I just couldn't bring myself to continue killing pokemon looking creatures and seeing either really camp (gay looking) or over the top cute players and NPCs.
It's the usual generic MMO, although a polished one. I don't recommend it to anyone.. there are much better ftp games (that are seriously free if you choose them to be) that are MUCH better. Rift being the main one.
I have played extensively both WOW and XIV:ARR.
WOW is THE most polished experience in any MMO to date. With a free trial up to level 20 this would be my first suggestion, especially as the starting zones have been refreshed since MOP. It's good fun playing all the starting zones with each race. Pandarian and Goblin noticeably my favourites out of the bunch.
XIV:ARR has a low entry of around £20 and for that you'll get your money's worth in your first month no bother. However the game isn't massive as an MMO veteran would like so I would treat XIV as a holiday.
Expect months of content with the WOW expansions to get your teeth stuck into, whereas XIV isn't mature enough yet.
With Wildstar and Elder Scrolls Online on the horizon, there isn't a better way to see what else is on the market in the run up to it.
Is the exact reason I terminated my Sub.
Crafted gear stops at iLvl 70. Raid gear goes to iLvl 90.
What was the point of such a robust and complex crafting system then?
It will feel faster and get faster at later lvls depending on your class.
@OP Personally I like it more than WoW for a few reasons but a big one is the community seems better overall. But, if you never played FF before it may not be the best for you honestly :P. It steals a lot from WoW and puts in with a FF flavor. My Suggestions buy it (on sale if you plan on playing through PS3, or wait for sale since they happen pretty often) and try it for that month to see if it's you cup of tea.
The game is worth the entry price + 3 months subscription. After that it starts to get a bit dicey as you'll burn out on end-game gear grinding really fast. It would help if the crafting in the game were more relevant to the market, but the design team behind the game are pretty adamant on making all true raiding gear come from dungeons. Also, that subscription number is coming from someone who plays this game on a rather casual schedule.
The biggest difference is FFXIV is made by Japanese, so it feels nicer in terms of animation/graphic if you're into JRPG style. However WoW has better exploration. In FFXIV you have no talent tree and very little room to create your own build.
You can try FFXIV for about 2~3 months if you want. For any serious MMORPG players it doesn't take more than 2~3 months to experience everything in FFXIV. Being "advanced" in WoW doesn't really matter because it's quick to catch up in FFXIV.
simple put if you never played anything other then wow go back to wow, from what I could notice is most people who started with wow say tehy prefer it because they have a life or wow did better(with was not true but in they head....).
FF14 is more like graphics, they also make it a lot more easier, I liked more the first launch even more the craft there, but each to his own.
Given the fact that WOW has over 8 years worth of content the choice was easy for me. After couple of months i was basically done with FFXIV. I am not even a hardcore player and yet at this moment WOW sub is more worth my money. I play casually and the amount of content WOW has will take me good year or two to finish it.
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rpg/mmorg history: Dun Darach>Bloodwych>Bards Tale 1-3>Eye of the beholder > Might and Magic 2,3,5 > FFVII> Baldur's Gate 1, 2 > Planescape Torment >Morrowind > WOW > oblivion > LOTR > Guild Wars (1900hrs elementalist) Vanguard. > GW2(1000 elementalist), Wildstar
Now playing GW2, AOW 3, ESO, LOTR, Elite D
FFXIV will hold any ones interest for roughly 2 maybe 3 months. Most of the people that play the game max out all of the roles and jobs.. (to me is pointless) End game... There isn't any... compared to some solid MMO's out there. Getting to 50 is a good run lots to do then it all drops off...
Let me sum up most of the posts.
Games that are 5-8 years old have more content.
A game that came out 6 months ago has less content.
The Wow/ Rift ship has sailed. I havn't played WoW in 3 years and no plans on going back. I am enjoying FFXIV immensely (especially the end game challenging encounters, the music, the lore, and the story).
The game is coming out with content every 3 months. I play 2-4 days a week with my FC and we have a blast. For me, it more than justifies the subscription. I can play but also have time for other things (work, family, console games, etc).
I play ff14 and I can give you an honest opinion: go with wow, FF14 is just a half-assed wow clone, your first time thru the game and hitting 50 you'll love it, the problem comes after that. AFter your first 50 your next one pretty much has to spam dungeons or leves to level, the lv 50 content is not fun at all, and unless your a tank or a healer expect to sit in 30-60 min or longer queues to even attempt to do anything. You have hard mode and extreme mode primals, which are just go in kill boss get 1 item, or rather roll on 1 item, a few dailies for tokens to get some i70/90 gear, crystal tower which lets you loot 1 item per rl week (resets on monday), the last thing is bahamuts coil which is bascally enter it kill boss get 2 items to roll on then do the next turn. There is no real raids or anything of the sort yet (crystal tower doesn't count its a complete joke). Once you've done each of these a few times the game has 0 to offer anymore.
Leveling an alt job is also very boring, if your a dps expect to be waiting 30 mins between dungeons in a queue, though you can do leves or help out in fates. all and all most other mmorpgs have more content at release than ff14 does after being out half a year. Most of the "endgame" content in ff11 is just reguratated crap. All the primal fights for example. If you want another game reccomendation I'd reccomend Rift, it plays simmlar to wow/ff14 except they actually did something unique with the soul system, bascally every base class can fulfil 3 diffrent roles depending what souls you spent points in, clerics actually can do all 4 roles (Dps, Tank, heal, Support).
Dispite being old everyquest 2 is also a fairly decent game that has a swath of content. It also has alternate advancement which is like talent point systems, except it goes to like level 300+ for each class, you can lv it as you lv up and when your at cap it still levels.
Most people don't notice ff14's problems till they go to lv up an alt and then they relize just how shallow the entire game actually is as a whole. AT the point I am at, I only login to do the daily for mythology tomestones for i90 gear, which cap at 450/week (daily gives 80-90). I haven't done any of the extreme primals mostly because I don't feel like sitting in queue or party finder for possibly hours just to try and most likely fail to kill it totally wasting my time.
To make it worse the story is also pretty garbage tier, its squares usually trash, resistance group fighting the big bad empire, with entirely predictable things that they consider plot twists. Bascally if you've played an FF since like ff4, you can pretty much guess the entire storyline in FF14, because it does not deviate from squares generic boring formula.
All in all I wouldn't reccomend FF14, Go with WoW or Rift they are better games, and were better at release than ff14 is now. Hell I have seen newly released f2p mmorpgs with more endgame content than ff14 currently has, and thats pretty sad.
Being a pessimist is a win-win pattern of thinking. If you're a pessimist (I'll admit that I am!) you're either:
A. Proven right (if something bad happens)
or
B. Pleasantly surprised (if something good happens)
Either way, you can't lose! Try it out sometime!
WoW has more content in it obvious for its age.
The issue with XIV is not lack of content, that will come in time. It is the design concept and at this point I have to say tallent of the devs. It just feels extremly weak compaired to older games that were released and are being released soon. It is just an extremly shallow game in almost every area. Story, world, endgame, progression. The economy is worthless. Gathering is worthless. PvP is a complete joke. If you are in a good static at endgame you can do all the content the game has to offer that is worthwhile everyweek in 4hrs or less (note most of the people are not in a hardcore experianced group though but it is very possible to do). It is dumbed down so much it is just bad in many areas because of it.
FFXIV is a subpar game in my opinion. But then again so is WoW:Panda Land (that game has been getting worse with each expansion lately) , SWTOR, Tera, RIFT so honestly I cannot reccomend anything out of the market now. Genre is just in a state of perpetual crap atm it seems. FTP cash grabs and poorly made p2p games.
In the end XIV vs WoW. Are you a Final Fantasy Fan? If you are you will probably like XIV at least level 1-50 the first time. If you are not a FF fan and just like mmos... choose WoW. XIV is more or less a WoW clone anyways with 1/10th the content overall with better graphics.
I am playing XIV because I am a hardcore FF fan. But I see it in my own guild people who grew up with FF and who were longterm XI players are slowly getting more and more pissed off at this game. Trust me it is hard to keep paying that sub when you spend 70% of your time walking around the hub city just talking on team speak because there is nothing worthwhile to do in game.
FFXIV is more of a filler mmo then it is a long term investment atm. Hopefully the devs change that soon before it is too late. The game has/had potential but they are throwing it away atm because they are scared of pissing off any 1 group of player, they are overlay focused on beating rmt, and they are worried about deviating from the WoW framework of a mmo because of 1.0