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Help me make an informed decision. FFXIV vs ESO, pros and cons
Hello everyone. As the title says, I'm on the fence choosing between FFXIV and ESO. I've played FFXIV for a few months and stopped subscribing due to lack of time. Also played ESO's open beta and was pleasantly surprised, 'tho I don't know much about the game. Now that I have time again I need your help making an informed decision. I'll list here those wich are the pros and cons of FFXIV for me, and some of ESO's too from what I've gathered in the beta. Essentialy, I'm looking at you for more information about ESO so I can make a fair comparison between both games.
---FFXIV---
Pros:
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The Final Fantasy world/feel. I'm a huge FF fan and I think the MMO captures some of it's essence. So this is a subjective/emotional factor, difficult to quantify.
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Versatility: I love the ability to play all classes on just one character, as well as crossing skills between them. It adds a deep customization and focuses the game on just one character.
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Story: With lots of cutscenes and voice acting, the devs put a lot of work into the lore. Most MMO's just use a boring background story that nobody cares about, as an excuse for sending you off to kill 10 boars and gather 15 daisies. Not FF 'tho. This adds more depth to the game and it's important for me.
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Exploration: FF rewards players for exploring the cities and outposts, since most of the features are unlocked through quests that you happen to find on your journey.
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Crafting: I've played a lot of MMO's and this one has, in my opinion, the best crafting system I've ever seen. It's so deep and complex that it can fill class roles just like a mage or warrior. So, crafting that requires x/y/z number of items and then just pressing a button won't do it for me.
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Endgame: This is important later on. I loved GW2 until I reached max level. As soon as WvW starts feeling old and you're tired of the same instances over and over again, the game ends up shelved and uninstalled. So endgame is important for me.
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Polished: I haven't encountered any bugs whatsoever and the game feels very fluid.
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Community: Last but not least, FFXIV has one of the best online communities I've ever encountered. This is a must on any MMO's I play from now on.
Cons:
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Lack of quests: I started leveling my second Disciple of Magic class and got bored half way there. Since I completed all the story and secundary quests, leveling at that point relies mostly on levequests and dungeons, and as a dps... well, mostly levequests. It's absolutely boring. This was a major turn off factor for me.
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Combat: FFXIV uses the classic tab targetting combat we see in most MMO's. Although it's very well executed, at this point, having played GW2, Tera, Neverwinter, Vindicuts (...), I was looking for something different, more dynamic. This is not a big factor but it's somewhat relevant.
---ESO---
Pros:
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Elder Scrolls feel: Just like with FF, I'm an ES fan and once again, I think that this MMO grabbed its essence. At least from the few hours I played.
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Combat: Major turn on for me. Active, dynamic, action combat. From what I saw, very well executed. Please, correct me if I'm wrong here.
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1st person view: I love the 1st person view and few MMO's use it. Makes me feel more immersed in the game.
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Voice acting: The quality of the quests is incognito to me, but the voice acting seemed very good. Plus, the game relies on dialogue rather than walls of text.
Cons:
- Didn't find any, but I'm sure there's plenty. Talk me about your experience!
?:
- Endgame, questing, crafting, community, versatility, story, exploration, polishing... All incognitos to me, let me know your opinion!
Thank you very much for your time!
Comments
For me the biggest factor to go with ESO is the art style. I know sounds superficial but i just can not stand FFXIV art style. I am more into western look otherwise both games are neck to neck in terms of quality of content.
Although, if (only if) you are an adventurer and explorer kind of player than i would say go with ESO. FFXIV zones are very small and feel like you are trapped inside a shoe box. Too many invisible walls and offers nothing to explorer types.
ESO on other hand has huge maps and breathtaking environments. FFXIV is very close to WOW model and if you are burned out on that again go with ESO. It does very well to differentiate itself from WOW and stand on its own.
Op
for me neither game is worth $15/month
ESO offers good pve....but hasen't figured out how to run AvA without many glitches.
Pure pve has no interest for me.
Square-Enix has shown the players that they are absolutely committed to the game in the long-term. This is not a given in the MMO industry. Most MMO companies end up screwing the players time and time again. FFXIV was developed fully in-house with internal funding, which makes a stark contrast to most MMO games.
If ESO devs are like FFXIV devs, then go for it. FFXIV will be there when you quit, waiting.
I didnt play EsO, im FF XIV player so i cant compare them and cant say go for that game..But Square Enix adding huge update to game tonight if you care to check patch notes here http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/6378f50e359d5753715d3140fe0482c3e441d852
I hope you can find your game soon..
Fine, fine. I'll re-sub, you twisted my arm.
The only reason to me, to play ESO would be for the PVP, its probably the games most standout feature as unfortunately i found the rest of it a bit mediocre compared to the PVE experience in FFXIV;ARR. While art style is also pretty much a personal preference thing, i did like the graphic style of ESO and thought it was pretty good, but again, i preferred that of FFXIV;ARR's which felt far more vibrant, even 'cheerful' , and far less 'dreary' than ESO's aesthetic, rather than an indication of 'quality' as i regard them both as being good, but preference wise, i preferred the more vibrant atmosphere of FFXIV;ARR.
Despite being a long time fan of Elder Scrolls games, from Daggerfall to Skyrim, i didn't like the character customisations in ESO, it didn't feel natural nor Elder Scrolls, but this was mainly the magic, which is perhaps, with thieving, my favourite thing in Elder Scrolls games, and ESO just did not do either of those things at all well, i hated the magic system tbh, if they had got at least that part of the game right i probably would have stuck with the game
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The PVP in ESO is its best feature, but, i have enough PVP orientated games already that have combat systems i can at least enjoy using. If PVP is a major consideration though, then ESO is your game, if not then FFXIV;ARR has the better PVE experience, and a lot more group friendly activity, something that ESO is still struggling to support. Both games though are far more enjoyable as a group experience its just a shame that FFXIV;ARR supports this far better than ESO does.