WoW or FFXIV

[Andyconda]

So, does anyone have any insight to both games and could list the pros and cons of each that might persuade me to pick FF over WoW. Ive been playing wow for many years and im looking for something new

[Grym]

What did you like about WoW?

[ngc2440]

Let's put this as simple as possible.

If you are bored of WoW and want to try something new play Final Fantasy. The worst that will happen is you will be out 20 bucks (assuming your computer can handle it).

If it turns out you don't like it you can switch back to WoW.

[Moxal]

Why not just download/play the FFXIV free trial and make your own pro/con list?

[Deleted]

as someone who played WoW for 10yrs just,

FFXIV without a shadow of a doubt, the quality difference is staggering.
The community (on average) is without a doubt the best I have ever experienced in ffxiv also

[Grym]

I think ngc's idea is better, buying the base game isn't too bad and you get a month with it, worse thing is you just bought a game that you didn't really like, but it doesn't cost that much anyway.

The problem with the trial version is it only hit Lv20, and be fair, the lower level sucks lol.

[Gsara]

It took me awhile to play FF14 because I played a lot of wow and other games and didnt want to commit to another mmo. The best decision Ive made towards gaming in the last year was dropping wow and playing FF14.

It is a much better game overall and it actually seems like the devs give a shit about the game. The only issue I had was the GCD but I dont even notice now that Ive gotten used to the game.

[Lathais]

I dislike the way WoW does it's raids. I mean, it may have changed since I played, but I really really hated running normal for a few weeks to gear up, then running normal and heroic together and having to run basically the same raid twice a week. Also, did not like having separate 10/25 man versions of the same raids. As I said, not sure if they have changed how this all works or not, but I do know there is LFR now, so that's another step to go through possibly. LFR>Normal>Heroic>Mythic? $ tiers of the same raids? No thanks, not for me.

On the other hand, FFXIV just has one difficulty, the raids seem like they are smaller chunks at a time, and some of the story ones do not even give loot. It's not like a gear treadmill, you run them for the story and the fun of it. You run them again and get currency that is used to buy gear, and get a bonus to that currency if someone else in your run is there for the first time. That system kind of encourages people to help out newer players and you get currency so guaranteed loots, not just a random chance week after week that you may be competing with a different person each week for and watchthe loot you want go to 5 different people who were only there for that weeks run while you were there for 2 solid months.

In addition, I am not a huge fan of the cartoony style of WoW. I think FFXIV looks a lot better. That's just a personal preference thing though.

Also, of course WoW basically did away with talent trees at this point, but I hated that too. It was just the illusion of choice. There were cookie cutter builds and that's what you were expected to use. Even now with the simplified trees, there still seems to be an optimal way. FFXIV does not have talent trees. Period. You get what you get. No illusion of choice. Just get rid of the illusion, it's better that way.

The fact that you can level all classes on one character in FFXIV is also amazing too. You get a bonus when leveling classes lower than your highest class too. You don't have to save up currency that you could be using to gear out your main to buy heirlooms to get bonuses, then mail them back and forth between different characters every time you feel like playing something else. It's just there.

Crafting is a lot cooler in FFXIV as well, but is also totally optional. If you don't want to craft, no big deal. In WoW, the crafts give you bonuses, either in the form of unique gems/enchants or straight stat bonuses like from mining. This makes there be optimal crafting options for each class and you pretty much HAVE to level crafting and have limited choice in which crafts to level. FFXIV you can level all crafts or none, totally up to you.

I am sure there are more, this is just off the top of my head.

[Thelxi]

FFXIV is a very solid game that is growing fast. No one can tell you which one you will end up preferring in the long run. Just give it a go and see for yourself. Personally I fell back onto WoW, but I know some people that swear they will never touch WoW again.

[jcf190]

If you've been playing WoW for years it's effectively free-to-play now. So why not play both?

[miguelcrespo85]

FF 14 hands down! FF 14 is the only MMO that actually gives new content. dungeons, raids, story line, etc.. WoW doesnt even do that and they make MORE MONEY

[Shadow Fox]

Well. For me: If I where playing MMO's alone, I'd probably be playing Aion /Wildstar /FF:ARR without question.

But I normally only play online games that have the ability to play with friends, which at this point in time, is WoW /Minecraft / And here in a few days, Elite Dangerous with occasional multiplayer-Indie games like Dark Starve. Even play Battlefield 4 /CoD sometimes, even though I'm terrible and dislike most First Person Shooters.

Straight comparing WoW to FF:ARR. I'd say FF:ARR all the way. The major nightmare, is Square-Enix's account management pages. Last I logged in, they where a bit of a pain in the ass to try and navigate / register / save settings. If you have the option to, I'd say set up a Steam-Wallet inside of Square-Enix's account management.

[Wondercrab]

If I had to put it as simply as possible without getting into the numerous specifics, Final Fantasy seems like a much less smooth, much less polished game, but with overall better, more rewarding, more engaging, core design that isn't afraid to just have *fun*.
WoW is a tight, sleek, smooth, streamlined experience by comparison, but it suffers from very large and very deep problems with the core design at max level, and a design philosophy that feels like it constrains more than it empowers by comparison.

If you were to have asked me at the end of MoP, I would've said that WoW was clearly the better designed game overall, but with all of the problems WoD's run into, I don't think that's the case any longer. They're both very strong MMOs with distinctly different flavours. I personally am having a lot of fun playing FFXIV while I wait with bated breath to see if the devs can get their act together with WoW again.

[Deleted]

I recently picked up FFXIV to play during the wait for 6.2 and haven't regretted it at all. I was actually surprised at how much fun I was having! I've tried out most other MMORPG's that came out to try and change things up like Rift, Wildstar, Star Wars, but none of them could really keep me interested. In FFXIV I sometimes find myself sitting around levelling my professions for a few hours, just because it's fun.

[PixelFox]

I played FFXIV for a while. It's VERY good, but there's a certain taste to it which is very Japanese / Final Fantasy that I had trouble getting used to. It's beautiful, but given the choice I prefer the look and feel of WoW.

After WoW died I found my home in Guild Wars 2, which was a much easier migration from WoW stylistically speaking, and I now dearly love the heck out of it.

If you love Final Fantasy games then you will totally love FFXIV though, as it's like living in one.

If you don't want a complete culture transplant to Japan, then give GW2 a try.

[Grym]

The major nightmare, is Square-Enix's account management pages. Last I logged in, they where a bit of a pain in the ass to try and navigate / register / save settings. If you have the option to, I'd say set up a Steam-Wallet inside of Square-Enix's account management.

LOL trust me, SE is learning, the current Account Management and Mog Station, is already DECENT. You really should look into the horror that is PlayOnline which is a system they used for FFXI....

I have the PlayOnline theme playing in the back of my head again.....

[Gandrake]

ffxiv

more stable class development instead of sporadic shift in design
they make it look like they are the ones who promised content delivery every 3 months
has a superior social experience
prettier gear, less stale equipment selections
instead of LFR they have raids designed for less skilled players and usually put a bit of effort into designing the gear and the last boss usually drops a minion or rare crafting item, presenting a great aesthetic incentive to more experienced players to participate
comparing the game's communities is like pistol whipping a blind kid, FFXIV players are so much more communicative and goal driven than aimless wow players doing shit dps or a horrifically bad job, getting upset when they are so much as given advice on how to stop sucking

the game is more simple, making it easy to get everyone involved

people always want to talk about a wow killer but honestly the last thing i want is the wow players i despise to be playing ffxiv. i just hate playing wow now. i renewed my sub just to finish my shadowmourne which i should have been done with weeks ago but am finishing up today. i just can't find a reason to play the game anymore after becoming so busy with work, how much i hate playing the only class I want to play, and how difficult mythic changes have made things for my guild.

i mean its hard to offer an unbiased opinion, there are a lot of things i am upset with in WoD and the only criticism i have to give to ffxiv is that content isn't coming out in big enough chunks.

[Grym]

instead of LFR they have raids designed for less skilled players and usually put a bit of effort into designing the gear and the last boss usually drops a minion or rare crafting item, presenting a great aesthetic incentive to more experienced players to participate

If it is minion I am not too bothered.

Those bastard put Triple Triad card in WoD last boss.....

/cry

[Deleted]

I was playing WoW since TBC, and decided to try FFXIV because of borefest of SoO. Well I never came back to WoW again,
First of all WoD seemed like an expansion with little new content from announcement, and Blizzard butchered it even more during development. Meanwhile in ARR you wouldn't believe how much new content they added in a period where there was only SoO and timles isle dailies. Instead of doing useless stuff like azzeroth choppers, these hard working Japanese are trying to improve their game, they are humble and respect ther playerbase, unlike Blizzard with their ignorant rockstar attitude.
Game itself is of course really good, I'm loving the job system on one character, crafting is amazing, gear looks beautiful, and the whole game just have this charm to it, maybe it's because of lack of pvp and people just seems relaxed, which is refreshing after all that trade chat trolling I was fed for years.

Can't really say you will like it or not, but giving trial a go doesn't cost anything (but I think ARR is a game that is slowly growing on you, especially at the late story plots, and not one you fell in love from pretty boring and slow start)

[Vago]

FF is a good game, there is a free trial so give it a shot. The only thing(s) I personally don't like about FF is all the cutscenes, which you can skip most, and the GCD. Other than that, great game with lots of content to be so young and they update the content on a regular basis.