Sell FF XIV to me

[Tommy T]

Well, I've been flirting with the idea of trying it out until Legion is released.

Downloading the demo on Steam at the moment.
I've looked on the FF XIV Reddit, but didn't get much information.

What's this game about? What makes it different to WoW? How in-depth is it?
The only FF I've played in the past, is FF III (which I rank as one of my favourite games).

[Totemslap]

During ARR it would have been easy, because the game was legitimately really fucking good at that point. But the endgame content in Heavensward is a complete mockery, so I really can't bring myself to recommend the game. The leveling experience is pretty solid, especially the expansion leveling content, but once you reach 60 you'll realize you have virtually nothing to do, and the raid tuning is god damn horrid. There's a serious disconnect between what the developers think players want out of PvE endgame, and what the players actually want. I know quite a few people who played during ARR but have quit due to the god-awful endgame in Heavensward.

If you want a fun leveling experience and don't care about endgame at all, the game is worth getting. If not, steer clear.

[Deleted]

During ARR it would have been easy, because the game was legitimately really fucking good at that point. But the endgame content in Heavensward is a complete mockery, so I really can't bring myself to recommend the game. The leveling experience is pretty solid, especially the expansion leveling content, but once you reach 60 you'll realize you have virtually nothing to do, and the raid tuning is god damn horrid. There's a serious disconnect between what the developers think players want out of PvE endgame, and what the players actually want. I know quite a few people who played during ARR but have quit due to the god-awful endgame in Heavensward.

If you want a fun leveling experience and don't care about endgame at all, the game is worth getting. If not, steer clear.

Completely disregard that since the model is the exact same as ARR. This dude probably joined at the end of ARR when all content was available. Heavensward offers the exact same content and more meaning.

Patch every 3-3.5 months, First one was a month off cause the team wanted a vacation after making heavensward so its excusable since they gave us the expansion with a 3 month downtime from their last ARR patch.
Each patch goes like this:
- "Hardcore-Midcore patch": Brings a new wing of the main raid in both normal and savage, new story mode quests, 2-3 new dungeons, new currency gear, new crafting receipes, new trial (basicaly a 1boss raid but super fun and challenging enough in extreme) and since the release of heavensward they also bring in a new feature with every major patch like the diadem in our last one
- "Casual-Softcore patch": New story mode quests, new LFR raid (not related to the other raid, completely different enviroment and story and gear), catch up mehcanisms for the prev patch, 2-3 new dungeons, new trial, new dailies and reputation, new fun mini games at the gold saucer and a completely new feature or an advancement to the relic weapons change, QoL improvements, new vanity and hildy quests (as they seem to be returning, its a comical questline)

This cycle repeats itself all throughout the expansion untill you get to the point where you have 6-7 relevant trials, 15+ dungeons in the currency roulette, a complete main raid in both normal and savage, a complete lfr story and the entire arc of the story and relic weapons.
Like I said the guy probably joined at the end of ARR where he had all those available because realisticly other than cutting one dungeon and making it 2 instead of 3 every patch for the sake of adding other stuff the patch cycles have been exactly the same with arguably more content per patch in heavensward than ARR.

Other activities include collection triple triad cards, leveling every class in the game on one char which takes a while and raiding at the highest possible level (aka savage) which is still pretty brutal and challenging. All in all the game has a lot of stuff to offer and the content patches are only 3-3.5 months appart so you ll always have something to do
Most content also stays relevant for a while either through currency mechanics or vanity reasons etc etc so I think you ll enjoy your experience

[Eleccybubb]

What the above poster says. FF14 basically has less at the start, way more at the end and released in a faster timeframe than WoW's content.

- - - Updated - - -

During ARR it would have been easy, because the game was legitimately really fucking good at that point. But the endgame content in Heavensward is a complete mockery, so I really can't bring myself to recommend the game. The leveling experience is pretty solid, especially the expansion leveling content, but once you reach 60 you'll realize you have virtually nothing to do, and the raid tuning is god damn horrid. There's a serious disconnect between what the developers think players want out of PvE endgame, and what the players actually want. I know quite a few people who played during ARR but have quit due to the god-awful endgame in Heavensward.

If you want a fun leveling experience and don't care about endgame at all, the game is worth getting. If not, steer clear.

ARR had about 1-2 bits more endgame than Heavensward did at the start so disregard that. The only raid at the start of 2.0 was the first 5 wings of coil and CT was 2.1 along with the extreme primals and 3 new dungeons.

[Deleted]

What the above poster says. FF14 basically has less at the start, way more at the end and released in a faster timeframe than WoW's content.

- - - Updated - - -



ARR had about 1-2 bits more endgame than Heavensward did at the start so disregard that. The only raid at the start of 2.0 was the first 5 wings of coil and CT was 2.1 along with the extreme primals and 3 new dungeons.

Coil did not come until a later patch! ARR didn't have a raid in the beginning.

[Eleccybubb]

Coil did not come until a later patch! ARR didn't have a raid in the beginning.

Yes it did. The first 5 turns came out in 2.0. You unlocked it after doing the Hard Mode of Ifrit, Titan and Garuda. Then Labyrinth in 2.1 then Second Coil 2.2 then Sycrus 2.3 then Final Coil 2.4 and 2.5 World of Darkness.

[Deleted]

Yes it did. The first 5 turns came out in 2.0. You unlocked it after doing the Hard Mode of Ifrit, Titan and Garuda. Then Labyrinth in 2.1 then Second Coil 2.2 then Sycrus 2.3 then Final Coil 2.4 and 2.5 World of Darkness.

Oh ok! :P
Sorry then was a little missinformed as I myself joined in 2.3

[Eleccybubb]

Oh ok! :P
Sorry then was a little missinformed as I myself joined in 2.3

I joined in Heavensward DW. I'm just a research nerd and I do it with every game I bloody play!

[SorinGabbiani]

I was so eager to answer this thread, that after about 5 years of regularly coming to mmo-champion for the WoW forums, this is the thread that got me to make an account and post. I can relate to the op: tired of mythic raiding, loved ff3 somethin crazy. So just yesterday I installed ff14 and the heavensward xpac from steam. I could. not. put. it. down. Having played every "WoW-killer" title that comes out - this is by far the best experience I've had so far.

Visually - where to begin. Character creation is the best, most customizable I've seen in any game. The world looks phenomenal. I get so tired of WoWs graphics and having to use my imagination to make something visually appealing to me. Final fantasy looks awesome and is a joy to walk around in the world.

Soundtrack - it's final fantasy. The same genius does the soundtrack that's done the others. its amazing.

Gameplay - this is where I have a few gripes so far. Beginning the game took a long time to get to any combat, and the quests are very wordy. I find myself breezing through the dialog to get back to leveling, and I may be missing story points that I enjoy. That being said questing is still more fun than I find in wow.

Combat - this I love so far. I'm going for dragoon, which requires me to have a lvl 30 lancer, and a level 15 marauder (still figuring out how this multi class works - or jobs), and the attack animations and visual effects are so....friggin...good. The rotation I'm getting even at my low level of 17 is engaging, not monotonous or robotic. Very fluid and fun. I will get to endgame, and I hope that it's nice progression content. I do think they need to offer less hardcore endgame, to get subscriptions up and people playing. Definitely keep the hard modes with greater challenge and rewards, but early on people will get discouraged if there's low population to help and the content is too difficult.

Classes, jobs, professions, etc.- still kind of figuring this out, but I really like the idea of multi-classing and having to meet pre-requisites to play different classes. Feels like a real pnp rpg in that, and is better imo than just selecting a race/class and out the door.

This may be the first time in my long gaming history that I've ever "reviewed" anything. But I definitely think this game deserves an actual shot and has gotten a bad rep from the first ff mmo they made. This is so much better. And has 5mil active subscriptions according to them. I feel like this game can be great, and a great alternative to wow - if players spread the word and they continue experiencing growth. The formula is there, the graphics are there, and the gameplay is there. I plan on playing this quite a bit waiting for legion, and even after considering they actively add content.

Thanks for reading, glad I finally made a mmo-champ account.

[Berethos08]

Soundtrack - it's final fantasy. The same genius does the soundtrack that's done the others. its amazing.

Gameplay - this is where I have a few gripes so far. Beginning the game took a long time to get to any combat, and the quests are very wordy. I find myself breezing through the dialog to get back to leveling, and I may be missing story points that I enjoy. That being said questing is still more fun than I find in wow.

The wordy nature definitely doesn't change. One of the things this game definitely doesn't skimp on is dialog between characters (from personal experience, only LOTRO has approached the level of wordiness), and that's something I actually appreciate. Trying to convey emotional, heartfelt, or serious moments in a story as lore rich as FFXIV's is with only a few sentences (the way WoW and many other MMOs do it) per quest or interaction simply wouldn't work.

That being said, unless you're really wanting to know the side stories and lore bits that make up the world building, you're fine just focusing on the story quests, and most cutscenes can be viewed later from the "Unending Journey" item in any Innroom (which unlocks around level 10 I think, through the main story) if you want to rush through first and take in the story later. Also, the completed quest tabs have every quest you've done with a healthy description of the events - pretty much the only thing you'd miss out on is the dialog itself in non-cutscene quests. Of course, I definitely don't want to miss those, and even talking to non-quest giving NPCs at various points you'll see their dialog change to fit the story, but to each their own.

As for the music...that's probably an unintentional compliment, as the genius behind the rest of the series, Nobuo Uematsu, is the mind behind only maybe 25% of the music, and much of that is stuff that came from the original 1.0 release. Masayoshi Soken is the one that has done the bulk of the music in this game, and is definitely a talented composer in his own right. Either way, the music is definitely an amazing part of the game.

[Khadyn]

Having played both WoW and FFxiv, FF wins the graphics and music game yet manages to lose on overall addiction. Itemization is lackluster with exception to the graphics.
Square Enix have spent a lot of time on making the game but loses big points on marketing. Heavensward came in incompatible versions to upgrade ARR that resulted in many returns and wasted buyers time. The upgrades should have been negotiated to be cross-honored to get their customers online and subscribed to play instead of running back to the store to return something they just purchased. I hate it when companies don't make their products easy.

[Eleccybubb]

Having played both WoW and FFxiv, FF wins the graphics and music game yet manages to lose on overall addiction. Itemization is lackluster with exception to the graphics.
Square Enix have spent a lot of time on making the game but loses big points on marketing. Heavensward came in incompatible versions to upgrade ARR that resulted in many returns and wasted buyers time. The upgrades should have been negotiated to be cross-honored to get their customers online and subscribed to play instead of running back to the store to return something they just purchased. I hate it when companies don't make their products easy.

Erm no it wasn't. If you wanted the pc version you buy the pc version, If you wanted a ps3 or ps4 version then you bought those versions. It's not hard to read PC, PS4 or PS3 on the box. As for the steam one that was it's own thing since ARR. As for the incompatibility issues they were only found on the Mac version after a horribly released client in which they gave out refunds which is plenty. And if you mean other incompatibility issues then list some because the only one I've encountered was activating my Steam ARR key in which I was given a new one for.

[Berethos08]

Having played both WoW and FFxiv, FF wins the graphics and music game yet manages to lose on overall addiction. Itemization is lackluster with exception to the graphics.
Square Enix have spent a lot of time on making the game but loses big points on marketing. Heavensward came in incompatible versions to upgrade ARR that resulted in many returns and wasted buyers time. The upgrades should have been negotiated to be cross-honored to get their customers online and subscribed to play instead of running back to the store to return something they just purchased. I hate it when companies don't make their products easy.

Strictly speaking, that's issues with accounts and billing, not marketing.

Mogstation and all that isn't the easiest to use, but it does assume the user is going to at least double check that they are going through the right process and have read the fine print. Other companies have managed to generally implement systems that prevent users from mucking things up due to their own stupidity, Square hasn't.

[Claborn]

I liked the game but always had terrible ping so fights like Ravana Ex were extremely hard to learn. I had to learn to move before attacks showed up, was really unfun. I don't have any ping problems with any other game and I heard the only server they had in NA was in canada and I live in los angeles.

With that being said, i have an inactive account with heavensward if you want to send me a pm.

[Eleccybubb]

Strictly speaking, that's issues with accounts and billing, not marketing.

Mogstation and all that isn't the easiest to use, but it does assume the user is going to at least double check that they are going through the right process and have read the fine print. Other companies have managed to generally implement systems that prevent users from mucking things up due to their own stupidity, Square hasn't.

The mogstation page has links for adding a license depending on platform. I don't see how someone with a boxed copy or digital could muck up clicking the wrong platform. Credit card stuff however I agree is a small pita since you have to add it through the actual settings instead of being able to set it up with your sub instead like other companies.

[Strangebrew]

Lets not kid ourselfs here though, the differences in steam and regular PC licenses is extremely confusing, plenty of people have fallen into the trap, myself included.
It's something Squeenix and valve sorely need to fix, or atleast they need to clarify it way easier.

[Graeham]

FFXIV is pretty solid overall - and whilst it obviously isn't going to be to everybody's tastes I've come to enjoy it quite a bit. It's the only MMO other than WoW that managed to keep me invested for more than six months - and I've since turned my back on WoW and made FFXIV my primary MMO since the game's relaunch. One of the main perks is that the content patches are frequent - usually every three months. If you take a break and come back after six months or so...then there's plenty of new content.

If you take a break in certain other MMO's...either there's no fresh content upon returning or it's all seasonal/temporary stuff.

[shanattah]

As someone who don't like transmog at all in WoW I love the art concept in FF tho I still haven't done any glamour (transmog in FF).

As someone who raid on top level in WoW I feel the raiding concept in FF good for the hardcore and the casual, not so much for the midcore as the DPS checks are in general very high but mechanics are very simple. I'd honestly not recommend this game for someone that only want to raid but FF have so much otherwise to engage in that you might change your mind if that's what you wanted to do.

I love the depth in FF, the story is better than WoW and the game systems like combat and crafting is so much more advanced compared to WoW

Alot of ppl say they love the music in FF, I say the music is good but there's too little of it, I played the first 40 levels with only in-game music and there was almost never music outside combat or on ur chocobo.

[Berethos08]

Ummm...

There's a lot of music outside combat and riding your Chocobo. I'm legitimately confused as to how you didn't hear much of it.

[Graeham]

There's an option in the sound menu to turn off your mount theme which causes the regular zone music to play instead even if you're mounted. In fairness, some of the original zones don't boast a track at night - but the expansion zones do and have constant music playing. Though when you consider that every dungeon/raid has its own theme...there's no shortage of great music to be found.