WoW or FFXIV

[Nkagnito]

I'v been playing for the last week thought I'd put my thoughts here.

The good:
Don't mind the style as much as I thought I would, liking it in fact, music is good.
Not minding the long GCD either which is surprising (playing archer).
Haven't dabbled with other classes much (carpenter to lvl5) but it seems pretty cool the way that works.

However there are some bad bits some of which really piss me off:
When I created an account I couldn't actually make a character as ALL the realms were full. I understand expac had just been released, but to have a new player coming in, creating a character and then asking them to choose a realm, before telling them... actually no you cant play is just ridiculous. At the very least it should allow you to finish the character creation process and then put you in a queue. So that sucked and I didn't end up playing until the day after.

There's no toxic chat... great! That's because there is pretty much no chat at all. To the point I thought I'd not got the chat set up correctly. It was only when some sort of hunt happened and suddenly the chat lit up with "inv plz" that I knew I hadn't. I know a lot of people are on controllers so that wont help, but it just seems so lonely.

Finally this one doing my nuts in... the forced dungeons. Yada yada, I know people have had this moan and the answer is MMOrpg etc etc. And I dont mind forced dungeons to an extent... however last few days I've been playing early before work and I haven't had much luck getting one. In the end I logged on in the evening and did the dungeon (Sastasha). All went fine no problem. Thought right I can get back to the nitty gritty. But no.. another dungeon straight away (tam tam). So again I logged back in afternoon. And now they have thrown in another one! If they want to do this they need to spread them out cos its relentless at moment and it's taken me 3 days to do them. Add to that the fact the main quest line gives so much XP now that doing smaller side quests in the mean time is pointless.

So that's my take on it early doors, I am liking it, but if the forced dungeons carries on like it does I'm really gonna struggle to play just due to my personal play times

To answer which dungeons are required up to lvl 50 and which ones are optional:

Lvl15 Sastasha (story dungeon for quest "It's Probably Pirates.")
Lvl16 Tam-Tara Deepcroft (story quest "Fire in the Gloom.")
Lvl17 Copperbell Mines (story quest "Into a Copper Hell" )
Lvl20 Halatali (OPTIONAL)
Lvl24 The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak(Story "Into the Beast's Maw")
Lvl28 Haukke Manor (Story "Skeletons in Her Closet,")
Lvl32 Braflox Longstop (Story "The Things We Do for Cheese.")
Lvl35 Sunken Temple of Qarn(OPTIONAL)
Lvl38 Cutter's Cry(OPTIONAL)
Lvl41 Stone Virgil (Story "In Pursuit of the Past")
Lvl44 Dzemael Darkhold (Optional but needed for some Grand Companies)
Lvl47 Aurum Vale (Optional but needed for some Grand Companies)
Lvl50 Castrum Meridianum (story)
Lvl50 Praetorium (story)
Lvl50 Wanderer's Palace (optional)
Lvl50 Amdapor Keep (optional, but required for your relic weapon)

[Wezmon]

Thanks for that. Doesn't seem to bad. I think its just the way they have done those first 3 all in a row it feels relentless and its slowed down any progression I was making. Nowadays I generally play in very short stints, 10-30 mins and I have no motivation to jump in at the moment as I cant commit the time to queue and do a dungeon, even though they have been very short to be fair.

My initial post makes it seem like there's more bad than good, it's just because I have expanded on the bad more. I am still enjoying the game and I really feel it has potential for me personally.

[Sorrior]

I'v been playing for the last week thought I'd put my thoughts here.

The good:
Don't mind the style as much as I thought I would, liking it in fact, music is good.
Not minding the long GCD either which is surprising (playing archer).
Haven't dabbled with other classes much (carpenter to lvl5) but it seems pretty cool the way that works.

However there are some bad bits some of which really piss me off:
When I created an account I couldn't actually make a character as ALL the realms were full. I understand expac had just been released, but to have a new player coming in, creating a character and then asking them to choose a realm, before telling them... actually no you cant play is just ridiculous. At the very least it should allow you to finish the character creation process and then put you in a queue. So that sucked and I didn't end up playing until the day after.

There's no toxic chat... great! That's because there is pretty much no chat at all. To the point I thought I'd not got the chat set up correctly. It was only when some sort of hunt happened and suddenly the chat lit up with "inv plz" that I knew I hadn't. I know a lot of people are on controllers so that wont help, but it just seems so lonely.

Finally this one doing my nuts in... the forced dungeons. Yada yada, I know people have had this moan and the answer is MMOrpg etc etc. And I dont mind forced dungeons to an extent... however last few days I've been playing early before work and I haven't had much luck getting one. In the end I logged on in the evening and did the dungeon (Sastasha). All went fine no problem. Thought right I can get back to the nitty gritty. But no.. another dungeon straight away (tam tam). So again I logged back in afternoon. And now they have thrown in another one! If they want to do this they need to spread them out cos its relentless at moment and it's taken me 3 days to do them. Add to that the fact the main quest line gives so much XP now that doing smaller side quests in the mean time is pointless.

So that's my take on it early doors, I am liking it, but if the forced dungeons carries on like it does I'm really gonna struggle to play just due to my personal play times

They slow down ALOT soon

[Wezmon]

Ace, I'll stick with it. I guess before the expac it wouldn't have been so exaggerated as the side quests were necessary for progression? (that appears to be what most posts on other sites say in relation to this "go do the other quests") but now they have increased xp from the main line, i'm above my level only by doing hunting log and main story. I think I'll spend the time messing with some carpentry

[SageWisdom]

Chat is quieter because people talk with FC chat and Linkshells instead.

[Baconeggcheese]

I'm pretty damned new too only been playing 3(?) weeks fairly casually but my experience has been a bit different, not sure if you're server might be causing it.

There's no toxic chat... great! That's because there is pretty much no chat at all. To the point I thought I'd not got the chat set up correctly. It was only when some sort of hunt happened and suddenly the chat lit up with "inv plz" that I knew I hadn't. I know a lot of people are on controllers so that wont help, but it just seems so lonely.

I don't really pay attention to chat but there are times I noticed people talking, for me it doesn't feel lonely because I'm tripping over other players constantly no matter what time of day I log in. What I've noticed is people are too busy actually playing / enjoying the game to have the time to just sit there and talk outside of the major cities.

For instance I saw some random cat lady in a bikini on the beach asking for help, so I go start the event and this happens:

http://i.imgur.com/cZhSzDr.jpg

and this amount of people per zone isn't uncommon at any time of day, it's just not usually so concentrated. It's kind of hard to feel lonely with so many people around. If you're wanting more conversation with other players that's usually what guilds (FC) are for or those chat things you can join that I forget about cause I'm not super interested atm.

So that's my take on it early doors, I am liking it, but if the forced dungeons carries on like it does I'm really gonna struggle to play just due to my personal play times

I'm kinda surprised you're having problems with the dungeons, I'm not sure how the queing works but I've never had a que longer than 5 minutes and the dungeons themselves are quite short.

it's actually blown my mind that there's only 2 dps for every dungeon and yet somehow as a dps I never have to wait more than 5 minutes to get in one. And even then a lot of them pop almost instantly, and I play off peak times (early morning or super late) because during peak times I'm too busy raiding in wow.

[Thyranne]

For instance I saw some random cat lady in a bikini on the beach asking for help, so I go start the event and this happens:

http://i.imgur.com/cZhSzDr.jpg

and this amount of people per zone isn't uncommon at any time of day, it's just not usually so concentrated. It's kind of hard to feel lonely with so many people around. If you're wanting more conversation with other players that's usually what guilds (FC) are for or those chat things you can join that I forget about cause I'm not super interested atm.

When you go to Northern Thanalan your reaction will be like "HOLY SHIT IS SOMEONE GIVING AWAY MONEY IN THIS PLACE OR SOMETHING???" hehe.

[arisoh]

When you go to Northern Thanalan your reaction will be like "HOLY SHIT IS SOMEONE GIVING AWAY MONEY IN THIS PLACE OR SOMETHING???" hehe.

Lol yeah. When I got to the power plant area where people were hardcore FATE farming, it was like a moshpit.

[BurningSkies2018]

When you go to Northern Thanalan your reaction will be like "HOLY SHIT IS SOMEONE GIVING AWAY MONEY IN THIS PLACE OR SOMETHING???" hehe.

Lol, yeah it's pretty awesome out there. I love it.

[Berethos08]

To answer which dungeons are required up to lvl 50 and which ones are optional:

Lvl15 Sastasha (story dungeon for quest "It's Probably Pirates.")
Lvl16 Tam-Tara Deepcroft (story quest "Fire in the Gloom.")
Lvl17 Copperbell Mines (story quest "Into a Copper Hell" )
Lvl20 Halatali (OPTIONAL)
Lvl24 The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak(Story "Into the Beast's Maw")
Lvl28 Haukke Manor (Story "Skeletons in Her Closet,")
Lvl32 Braflox Longstop (Story "The Things We Do for Cheese.")
Lvl35 Sunken Temple of Qarn(OPTIONAL)
Lvl38 Cutter's Cry(OPTIONAL)
Lvl41 Stone Virgil (Story "In Pursuit of the Past")
Lvl44 Dzemael Darkhold (Optional but needed for some Grand Companies)
Lvl47 Aurum Vale (Optional but needed for some Grand Companies)
Lvl50 Castrum Meridianum (story)
Lvl50 Praetorium (story)
Lvl50 Wanderer's Palace (optional)
Lvl50 Amdapor Keep (optional, but required for your relic weapon)

While not dungeons there is also the required group content called Trials - those show up levels 20, 34, and I think 44. Required to progress but they are just single boss fights, no trash or anything.

[Tabbycat]

I can say I'm having more fun with FF than I thought I would. I would say the only bad things I've experienced so far is:
1. Sometimes the background music is just really bad. It makes me miss Jeremy Soule.
2. Loading screens. There are too *bleep* many of them.
3. Related to #2. The map is crazy hard to figure out if you are directionally challenged like I am sometimes. There's no straight shot to anything. And many times there are no obvious clues to where you are going. Eventually you sort of figure out the map but it sure is frustrating.

Then there's the good:
1. The combat is fun.
2. Leveling is not too bad.
3. You can play every class on one character. I can start out a Conjurer and end up a Lancer or an Archer. How cool is that?
4. The storyline is actually pretty entertaining.
5. I'm only at level 10 but I'm actually enjoying myself and interested in finding out what is going to happen next in the main storyline.

[Deleted]

To answer which dungeons are required up to lvl 50 and which ones are optional:

Lvl15 Sastasha (story dungeon for quest "It's Probably Pirates.")
Lvl16 Tam-Tara Deepcroft (story quest "Fire in the Gloom.")
Lvl17 Copperbell Mines (story quest "Into a Copper Hell" )
Lvl20 Halatali (OPTIONAL)
Lvl24 The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak(Story "Into the Beast's Maw")
Lvl28 Haukke Manor (Story "Skeletons in Her Closet,")
Lvl32 Braflox Longstop (Story "The Things We Do for Cheese.")
Lvl35 Sunken Temple of Qarn(OPTIONAL)
Lvl38 Cutter's Cry(OPTIONAL)
Lvl41 Stone Virgil (Story "In Pursuit of the Past")
Lvl44 Dzemael Darkhold (Optional but needed for some Grand Companies)
Lvl47 Aurum Vale (Optional but needed for some Grand Companies)
Lvl50 Castrum Meridianum (story)
Lvl50 Praetorium (story)
Lvl50 Wanderer's Palace (optional)
Lvl50 Amdapor Keep (optional, but required for your relic weapon)

While not dungeons there is also the required group content called Trials - those show up levels 20, 34, and I think 44. Required to progress but they are just single boss fights, no trash or anything.

Thank you both so much for these posts. I've only been playing the trial for a week or so but I've really fallen quite in love with the game and would love to continue on with it, but the required grouping is scaring me quite a bit as I suffer really badly from anxiety made worse from having seen some really awful behaviour in other games. This list of dungeons and trials is so helpful, it's allowed me to look up the details for the first dungeon and I now feel almost ready to risk it and have at least some idea of what I'm doing. It really is so appreciated that you took the time to post this.

It's a beautiful game that seems to have so much depth, it reminds me of how limitless and vast vanilla WoW felt; I've been wishing I could have that feeling back for two expansions now and suddenly I feel I've found it. I love it, so far at least!

[Sorrior]

Thank you both so much for these posts. I've only been playing the trial for a week or so but I've really fallen quite in love with the game and would love to continue on with it, but the required grouping is scaring me quite a bit as I suffer really badly from anxiety made worse from having seen some really awful behaviour in other games. This list of dungeons and trials is so helpful, it's allowed me to look up the details for the first dungeon and I now feel almost ready to risk it and have at least some idea of what I'm doing. It really is so appreciated that you took the time to post this.

It's a beautiful game that seems to have so much depth, it reminds me of how limitless and vast vanilla WoW felt; I've been wishing I could have that feeling back for two expansions now and suddenly I feel I've found it. I love it, so far at least!

One thing as a fellow anxiety sufferrer is that this games communitt is REALLY friendly by and large say your new and you will often get 'ok cools let us know if you wanna know" or. "don't worry about it"

[Deleted]

One thing as a fellow anxiety sufferrer is that this games communitt is REALLY friendly by and large say your new and you will often get 'ok cools let us know if you wanna know" or. "don't worry about it"

Thanks very much for this, it really helps to have such reassurance. I really appreciate the advice

[Aruhen]

Thank you both so much for these posts. I've only been playing the trial for a week or so but I've really fallen quite in love with the game and would love to continue on with it, but the required grouping is scaring me quite a bit as I suffer really badly from anxiety made worse from having seen some really awful behaviour in other games. This list of dungeons and trials is so helpful, it's allowed me to look up the details for the first dungeon and I now feel almost ready to risk it and have at least some idea of what I'm doing. It really is so appreciated that you took the time to post this.

It's a beautiful game that seems to have so much depth, it reminds me of how limitless and vast vanilla WoW felt; I've been wishing I could have that feeling back for two expansions now and suddenly I feel I've found it. I love it, so far at least!

As a person who's been suffering from severe anxiety since my childhood I'd say I wouldn't worry too much about it. I love to play a tank (which is a commanding role) but most of the time my anxiety prevents me from doing it in games like WoW. In this game? I'm more than happy to play it as the community is very friendly. This game in a sense is a dream come true for people like us because of the community.

[Sorrior]

As a person who's been suffering from severe anxiety since my childhood I'd say I wouldn't worry too much about it. I love to play a tank (which is a commanding role) but most of the time my anxiety prevents me from doing it in games like WoW. In this game? I'm more than happy to play it as the community is very friendly. This game in a sense is a dream come true for people like us because of the community.

Mhmmm agreed though I still get nervous or prefer dps sometimes I LOVE tankinh and overall this games community is amazing

[Goatlust]

If you're an Aussie, I would highly recommend WoW over FFXIV, simply because Square Enix are too cheap or idiotic to buy servers in decent locations. Servers being in Canada means that the lag for Australians is much much worse than it ever was when WoW servers were in the US for us. People will tell you to go play on a Japanese language server to get 150 ping, but honestly in 2015 Square Enix can take a hike. I enjoyed getting to level 50, but the actual PvE with kill mechanics that you have to walk out of in 1.5 seconds which is often literally impossible with Aussie ping, yeah, not worth touching.

Options:

Play WoW with <50 ping with fellow Aussies.
Play FFXIV with English speakers with 300+ ping.
Play FFXIV with Japanese speakers with ~150 ping.

Pretty clear choice for me.

[Berethos08]

Thank you both so much for these posts. I've only been playing the trial for a week or so but I've really fallen quite in love with the game and would love to continue on with it, but the required grouping is scaring me quite a bit as I suffer really badly from anxiety made worse from having seen some really awful behaviour in other games. This list of dungeons and trials is so helpful, it's allowed me to look up the details for the first dungeon and I now feel almost ready to risk it and have at least some idea of what I'm doing. It really is so appreciated that you took the time to post this.

It's a beautiful game that seems to have so much depth, it reminds me of how limitless and vast vanilla WoW felt; I've been wishing I could have that feeling back for two expansions now and suddenly I feel I've found it. I love it, so far at least!

For the details of these various dungeons, I like the videos done by either MTQcapture or Mrhappy1227. Seeing the fight and having its mechanics explained can definitely make going for the first time less stressful, and both do a good (and concise - most of their videos are 5 minutes or so) job showing mechanics and explaining what to watch out for. Bonus points that both have good narration voices/styles, so they aren't rough on the ears either.

You can find a video for every fight you'll need to do for the story through them if you'd like, all the way up through 60.

Of course, that being said, as Sorrior said often other members of the group are willing to give you a heads up on what to watch out for or any "must do" mechanics that are part of the fight if you ask.

[Faroth]

For the details of these various dungeons, I like the videos done by either MTQcapture or Mrhappy1227. Seeing the fight and having its mechanics explained can definitely make going for the first time less stressful, and both do a good (and concise - most of their videos are 5 minutes or so) job showing mechanics and explaining what to watch out for. Bonus points that both have good narration voices/styles, so they aren't rough on the ears either.

I'll second MTQCapture. Mizzteq is a great guide for dungeons and fights. Mrhappy is okay, but I feel the videos are overly long and he sometimes gets the wrong stuff out in the race to be the first with a video up.

Though Mrhappy often does live Twitch streams of the non-translated Live Letter from the Producer with someone doing translation for him. It's nice to get a general idea of what Yoshida is sharing, though the best is when Koji-Fox is available to do their live translating (Koji-Fox is the head of the localization team here in the US and a pretty awesome guy).

[maixmaxi]

I don't have the stomach to dedicate time to a 25 year old engine that can run on a toaster.. i live in the today.