Help me replace WoW?

[Deleted]

dont quit wow, it is pointles there is no better MMO out there.

[Deleted]

http://store.steampowered.com/

Send me a postcard.

[Faroth]

TL,DR: which game took you away from WoW?

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn.

Disclaimer: I play on a Mac, and I absolutely loathe Windows so I'd rather avoid using Bootcamp. I am aware this limits the choice of games. Also, for MMOs, it may be worth to keep in mind I reside in Sydney, Australia.

FFXIV is going to be on MAC with the expansion next month. I don't recall on the server locations, though.

Things I like about WoW:

- Raids and dungeons (when they were challenging, like back in TBC/WotlK);
FFXIV has new a new progression raid every 6 months and a new "casual" raid every six months. They alternate in 3 month periods so Progression/Casual/Progression/Casual raids. The casual raid is basically puggable with 24 people but requires following mechanics, even after you outgear it (sometimes outgeared people not following mechanics is a faster wipe on one boss). Every 3 months we also get a new dungeon +2 hard mode dungeons, but those are sometimes entirely new maps in the old dungeon and they're always with new bosses with new mechanics from the old, not just a scaled up version.

- The huge community, with the always present theory crafting;
Community is pretty good and growing. Theory crafting is there and expands not just from usual combat but also into crafting and gathering.

- The accessibility: the game is extremely user friendly to me, but it might be just because I'm 8 years experienced (more on this later);
FFXIV is very accessible, but you might be irritated with it at first. It was designed with players new to MMOs in mind, so there's a lot of tips and hand holding at the start and the global cooldown is 2.5 seconds, so combat is slower pace early on.

- The active designer team: I like how there is always some sort of news about the game coming from Blizzard;
I have to say their design team is amazing. Yoshida does regular producer live letters where he gives updates on the game and answers questions from the forums. They're translated, of course, since Yoshida is Japanese. :P
Sokken is the music director/composer and he's a pretty cool guy at the conventions they've had.
And then there's localization director, writer, and lore writer Michael Koji Fox. The Japanese players got jealous that the English version had *more* lore than the Japanese because of his work and now the localization and dev team work more hand in hand rather than just working after. He also convinced the dev team to change the god Nald'thal into a dual deity for the sole reason of being able to have NPCs curse with "Thal's balls." SOLE REASON. Plus early localization had to be submitted to Sony for PS3/PS4 and NO NPCs can have blank dialogue....so he just put F*CK in the blank ones for the deadline and it passed. No F*CKs made it to final product. X3
Here's Michael Koji Fox performing a 12 voice musical piece live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1dxkMhkHcA

- Update: cartoon-esque graphics: for some reason I'll chose them over realistic graphics every day.
Aesthetics will be a personal choice, but I feel like FFXIV strikes a good balance of fantasy art style that's not cartoony but not realistic either. Some feel it's a little too anime for them, but I don't really see it.

Things I dislike about WoW:
- No significant reward system outside group content (I know it's a MMO but yeah);
FFXIV won't be too different unless you enjoy gathering and crafting. To be fair, it's nothing like WoW. It has a progression system with increasing difficulty and ability rotations to craft high end items. If you like soloing and enjoy making money, you can make a focus on crafting. Some people play the game solely for crafting with no raiding or combat gear progression at all after cap.

- Tight class system;
Little different here. Similar to guildwars, one character can be any class by changing the weapon you have equipped. You level each one separately, gear them separately but don't have to re-run quests/zones. That said, leveling additional jobs without quests can be a little grindy but you get xp bonuses to make up for it. They're all well tuned though and nerfs/buffs are like precision tuning rather than nerf bats.

- Too many quests and repetitive levelling process in general;
Quests will get you to 50 with possibly a few left over, but then you're out. The only quests after that will be the Main Scenario story quest that's really generally pretty awesome. And the way the story led into the expansion was nothing I expected. It made it personal and painful rather than "dragons, go save the world!"
Leveling your additional classes will be done through repeatable quests, active events in the world, or running dungeons. Plus xp bonuses from doing challenge logs and hunting logs. It goes fairly quick though.

- Main storyline feels too detached from character growth;
Main storyline is integral and central to the game. You're playing a standard RPG as far as the story goes. Each class also has their own class story that unlocks new quests every 5 levels.

- PvP never really got me.
Not too much and totally optional. Abilities are separate from PvE so no game changes due to PvP balance

What I'd like:
- The chance to play an archer-archetype character without being tied to a freaking pet;
Bard is an archer with a few support songs available. No pet.

- An easy to learn hard to master kind of depth;
I'd say yes. The key of FFXIV is learning encounters and getting out of things in time. There are no add ons to guide you.

- A story where your choices actually matter;
This will be a no. It's not Dragon Age, so your choices can't alter the course of the game or it would be a cluster of non-cohesion.

- Freedom of character customisation, I mean skill trees not tied to classes etc.
Also unfortunately a no, but you do get to choose some skills from two other classes for your main one. Not as in depth as you'd like.
To be fair, this is really hard to do for a development team as balancing would become near impossible.

What I'm keeping an eye on at the moment:
- Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn: Let's begin by saying that I have played every FF game I could get my hands on when I was a kid, I think that Tactics and FFXII are definitely the best in the series, followed by FFIX and FFII (FF7 doesn't count, that's a life-defining experience, not a game). I am glad to see they have brought the Job system from FF Tactics, but I fear another cancer-giving story like FFXIII. It's finally coming to Mac with the new expansion so I'm looking forward to trying it.

The story is SOOO GOOOOOOD, especially at the end here. It's far more FFVI flavor than FFXIII with an empire invading the country, beastmen summoning the Primals (Ifrit, Garuda), the Warrior of Light facing off. Political intrigue actually builds to a crescendo, etc. If you liked Tactics, you'll like the political aspects to Ul'dah (city state). Trust me, the story is nothing like XIII.

[cuafpr]

ARR is going to get a second look at me if the implement flying mounts properly and a more open world that doesn't feel as segmented which seems to be how they are leaning. Flying mounts and better animations would get Rift a third look as well.

[Faroth]

ARR is going to get a second look at me if the implement flying mounts properly and a more open world that doesn't feel as segmented which seems to be how they are leaning. Flying mounts and better animations would get Rift a third look as well.

World may still be somewhat segmented due to PS3 requirements, but I've read rumor that after Heavensward the next expansion will likely be seamless as PS3 support will probably not be continued. Just PC/PS4

[Deleted]

I have to say I'm pleasantly surprised with the response this thread has received, thanks everyone for participating. I will definitely try FFIV out next month, but I'm still very keen in knowing of single player games, so feel free to add more.

First of all, I want to point out my avatar and our kindred love of FFT. Quite right it is one of the best in the series, though my experience with the FF series is somewhat limited (FFI, VII, VIII, XIV, XI, XIV only).

Good ol' Ramza, FFT just had the best story ever on a computer game if you ask me. If you can I would suggest trying FFXII, it take place on the same world (Ivalice) and it really is as suggestive as Tactics.

OP: Why not just test any of the "free" MMOs and there are a shitload of threads on GW, Rift, Wildstar etc in the forum. Plus magazines, websites...yadayada...why would you believe our random recommendations more?

Because I don't have much time for research honestly, and I like the discussion here.

Thank you for the laugh.

@ OP: When did you play GW2? I don't recall them having had a trial in quite some time.

Back in October last year I think, they gave a free trial weekend.

Did you try SWTOR? It is a great Solo RPG with 8 Storylines and MMO features

Sounds great, but I've never been a fan of Star Wars (I know, the nerd in me is ashamed) and sci-fis in general.

Also, the reason why I stubbornly continue to play on my Mac is plain laziness: I could just as well install Windows via Bootcamp, but beside the fact that it takes a lot of disk space, I just never stumbled across a game that made me scream "OMG I needs ta play dis!". If you have one, throw it in the mix. I never could be bothered to partition and install Windows is all.
I also want to mention that I have owned all Playstation consoles in the past, and PS1 and PS2 completely stole my social life away - much (much) more than PS3 did - so I wouldn't exclude getting a PS4 in the future.

[cuafpr]

World may still be somewhat segmented due to PS3 requirements, but I've read rumor that after Heavensward the next expansion will likely be seamless as PS3 support will probably not be continued. Just PC/PS4

wow i had to check and yep still PS3 support uhg..... seems only WoW and Rift have truly captured the open world feel to me.