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LF a MMO. ESO or FF:XIV ARR?
Evening community,
I have come here with a great question, I know there is much hate around one of the games, ESO in particular, but I want a sincere answer from all if you can.
First in my wishlist of an MMO, I am a Bioware junkie, I love good stories, dramas and romances, that's what gets me atached to a game is the character and the story, I loved Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion & Skyrim's main and side quest stories, some felt like filler but the great majority made me feel emersed, as well as Mass Effect 1 to 3 (w/o ending), Dragon Age 1, 2 (Just for the timespan thing, loved it in Fable I, loved it there as well) and Inquisition, immersion are the characters, the background and the boice acting.
Besides the Story and the immersion, I love PvP, when it is well placed, I loved the thrill of playing Lineage II and just having that PK/Karma system, where you could lose all that grinded armour, it felt there was a real consequence to murdering people, I loved it, besides the great community there was.
Now turning to the games at hand, FF:XIV ARR, since it is the game I am playing trial, the game from what I read, heard and seen, is quite vast, filled with great and numerous community, great features, such as housing, crafting, dungeon, FATE, social (marriage & guild), and great story from what I heard. But from what I played, main story and side quests feel like a grind, I am lvl 13, which is still early on I know, but the voice acting in english is rather strange and mostly detaching, and the japanese version, is well, japanese, although I've watched many animes, I can't play with that voice over 'cause I feel so detached from the character and the story (I don't know why, I've loved FF X, X-2 and VIII) then there's almost no voiceover quests, which makes me feel even more detached from the story, i just find myself reading so fast, that i skip some of the conversations, and feel more like go here kill 3 mobs, go there dig something up (which the animation is throwing a sparkle in the air) and go somewhere else put an animal in the bag (sparkle in the air animation), even the main story-line doesn't have voice over o.O, and also the PvP from what I've heard is non-existant, and the battles don't feel epic but a sparkle battle, and I love Final Fantasy, which is unsettling for me to have such opinion.
Concerning ESO, I've only played beta, it did have voice-over, of main quests I think, which gives much more immersion (blame Bioware for having this precedent with SWTOR), but there were sooo many bugs, I mean, I tried grouping and was so frustrated I just gave up and did another thing, the world felt empty, there weren't too many players, but I've heard even though the 700k subscribers, it feels in majority empty, I've also heard the main story and sidequests are forgetable, which is a great downside if it is true, but being in Elder Scroll universe it cannot be at least somewhat interesting, it has great PvP from what I've heard and quite epic, which is a great upside for me, as well as quite passable graphics, but if it does have a small community playing it will be a great downside for me, as I like to group up and PVE and PVP, and also solo some thing, and the upcoming Justice System, seems to be a like the Karma System I loved so much in L2, but I haven't played since beta, I am not sure how it has evolved...
Can someone offer insight and advise preferably on one of these games, with the following things I do enjoy in an MMO?
Comments
Well, to be honest you have pretty much answer your question yourself. Let's see.
Good story - FFXIV's main storyline quest is great. The story is very interesting and it's a very long quest chain which gets further updates constantly. Almost every major patch expands the story of the game. The biggest problem is that the gameplay of every FFXIV quest feels extremely generic. The side quests are even worse. They haven't even tried to hide how generic these quests. But overall the main storyline is very interesting. YOu should be able to follow it without having to do much side quests depending on how many dungeons you do, rested xp, class role.
ESO has some great quests and some interesting storylines. They feel a lot more immersive as a whole because they are more varied gameplay wise, they use phasing and they are fully voiced. But the actual "main" story is not as a good FFXIV imo both in terms of length and quality.
PvP - if PvP is really important to you then FFXIV is a big no no. PvP in FFXIV is just non-existant. The main appeal of FFXIV is that it has a lot vanity PvE systems and some awesome dungeons from around level 40 all the way to max level. You can also do everything on 1 char so you don't have to ever make an alt.
ESO's PvP was okay. The mass scale Cyrodill PvP is just that. Mass scale. If you like this knid of thing, it's good. IF you are after more focused battelground/arena style PvP, you won't find it here.
Bugs and bots have mostly been addressed in ESO. Not a big problem anymore. There are enough people playing ESO. Also there are a lot of interesting systems coming up in ESO - justice system, spellcrafting system, champion system. FFXIV is a much more traditional themepark MMO but it does the whole themepark MMO thing REALLY well.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
There fixed it for you
If you look for story, you might enjoy SWTOR.
Guild Wars 2 has nice gameplay minus subscription fee
The Secret World has nice story too.
I don't know you people completely ignore 99% of the game market just because 2 semi-ok games retain subscription. Both games you've listed are underperforming, and that is a fact.
Steam Winter sale is on. Skyrim, Oblivion and Morrowind are still outselling TESO. A 6 month old game. Need I say more?
FFXIV is for the final fantasy fanboys. It brings nothing new to the table. Its Final Fantasy themed WoW. If I were you, i'd pull the trigger on WoD instead of FFXIV, but hey, that's just me.
If every MMO was like darkfall, there would be nobody playing MMOs.
OP if someone told you ESO was empty they wouldn't be being truthful. 700k is the lowest estimate I've heard. 800k was in July. ESO has grown since then. People are everywhere. except the vet zones >.<
Apart from rubbish PvP and no voice acting I can't comment on FFXIV but all of your points on ESO are moot.
1) There are nearly no bugs now thanks to the many patches ZOS has released.
2) Not empty at all, every non-veteran zone and Cyrodiil are all buzzing with activity.
3) The initial stages of the main quest are quite trivial and involve getting insight on ESO's backstory, but once you get to Sancre Tor that's where it really becomes interesting. The final main quest, God of Schemes, is the absolute best quest in the entire game. I'll never forget the moment I (SPOILER ALERT) was imbued with god powers to defeat a huge Daedric army and Molag Bal himself.
4) ESO's community is fairly mid-sized for an MMO. While it doesn't have quite as many subs as FFXIV, it certainly isn't far off.
Only thanks to the megaserver, the population is not spread across shards. Same came be said about Gw2 once they introduced the megaservers, there is no empty land. Yet people like you would like to spread "game is dead" rather than log in and check it out for themselves before looking stupid
Of the two I preferred ESO, I like the immersion it offers through the storylines and how things change around you due to phasing.
Then again, I also get irked by the constant flow of people that are on the same quest step and that are constantly running back and forth while I'm trying to make some important decision like killing a certain NPC or not. Which breaks the immersion again and makes it feel a lot like every other generic MMO out there at those moments.
Damn shame they didn't go with true instances for certain quest parts like SWTOR did, as well as TSW - both strong competitors when it comes to story-driven MMOs. (Even Neverwinter did that part better than ESO)
My SWTOR referral link for those wanting to give the game a try. (Newbies get a welcome package while returning players get a few account upgrades to help with their preferred status.)
https://www.ashesofcreation.com/ref/Callaron/
FFXIV ofc... Great community, huge end game content, best class system I've ever seen in a theme park mmo, amazing story with continuous updates. And on top off all these, FFXIV is the most polish and quality mmo after WoW out there. The only weak point of FFXIV is pvp. If you're looking for a good pvp system don't play this game. But if you're a pve player, don't even think about other games. Go with FFXIV.
When accusing others of being less truthful it is always a good idea to give some facts while giving a counter argument.
Simply saying 'it has grown since then' means nothing especially when you accuse others of lying.
OP if you are not into PVP just don't bother with ESO since as PVE MMO end game is non existent. FFXIV ARR you will have long term reason to stay subbed.
Well out of the two I would say ESO, really, and I kind of feel strange recommending it, as I would not do so sometime ago.
But if getting immersed is what you like, then have you considered The Secret World? From what I saw and read, the quests and the world are immersive and really well done. Personally, what turns me off from TSW is the combat and animations, I just can't bear them. If you don't mind however, then you should have a geat time.
PVE and BioWare Junkie here. personally i am planning to jump back into FF14: ARR before i get to ESO again but didn't enjoy FF14's main story (compared to many MMOs the story is good but generally it's not in my opinion) but i am only talking about the story that was presented at ARR's launch they probably added story content afterwards not sure though. also i couldn't bare the English Voice so i played with Japanese voice over. (some parts are voiced but as you noticed not all the parts. i understand how it can be disturbing for some)
as for ESO i only played the beta and really liked it but i felt it doesn't worth the money at the time they probably fixed many things by now so personally my plan is to wait for a while longer then give it a real try after replaying FF14: ARR. again my experience with ESO lacks and i am not up to date with FF14: ARR updates just wanted to share my own plan about these two games so it might be useful for you.
also GW2 to some small extent at least is a mix of those two games so there is also that. also story-wise personally i like The Secret World and WoW (you also probably played SWTOR already)
my top MMOs: UO,DAOC,WoW,GW2
most of my posts are just my opinions they are not facts,it is the same for you too.
Two wrongs doesn't make one right. Where is your data for your claim? let see it first.
So still nothing on subject of your claim regarding how much ESO has grown? no factual information or links?
Typical. Time to put nails into this coffin because you are never going to reply. I waited for almost a week hoping you would provide us with some insider information.
I missed you post... crazy huh? Fear not, I have not forsaken you!
Anyways, since the first superdata report of ESO having 800k subs in June of 2014, ESO has sold around 160k more physical boxes. We all know the rate of digital downloads is much higher than the rate of physical box sales, anywhere from 4-10 times as much.
Let's just say ESO sold only 4 times as many digital downloads as box sales, although I believe the rate is much higher, that would mean ESO has added 640k sales since last june.
As I said earlier, that growth can be seen in game.
You disappoint me. I waited for so long and this is what you give me? some old link from superdata mixed with more of your personal opinions?
Nevermind. Time for curtains and exit.
For ESO:
PvP is totally epic. From HUGE battles to 1 on 1 ganking. Although, it'll be hard to find someone alone in cyro. But that's what update 1.6 is for.
Bugs are far and few between now. The developers have done TONS of work on that.
Population? Well, in the main city in each zone you will always find loads of people. Out questing? There will most likely always be a person or two around unless in off peak hours. But primetime? Its BOOMING. However, having an amazing guild will also make your experience feel that much more amazing.
When needing to group most people just shout as the grouping tool is eh... Its barely used by most. When it is it matches players of different level ranges because there is no advanced filtering. But I have never had a problem pugging.
Next time click the link. The link is of physical box sales, highlighting June through December... Did you already have you response planned or something?
Come on man pick it up!