What's so good about FFXIV?

[Val the Moofia Boss]

One thing I'd like to know is, what do people consider "meaningful" gear progression? Considering every MMO I've played in the last decade, you raid to get gear that will help you raid better and do nothing else, FFXIV is pretty standard in that regard. I don't think I've played a game where gear was anything more than a way to kill raids faster. And look better sometimes.

You won't find meaningful gear progression in any of these gear treadmill themepark MMOs. You will only find it in 20+ year oldschool MMOs like Ultima Online or FFXI, where if you did a quest to obtain a special belt at level 30 (or in SWG, bought it from a crafter because the best gear is crafted and isn't a drop), you were still using at level 75 because the effect on it was so good for one particular build. Also, even if you got stuff that wasn't optimal for you to use, you could still give it to a friend who would get a lot of use out of it, and it felt like a special gift. Or you could sell it for a ton of money.

In themepark MMOs with gear treadmill like FFXIV, gear is nothing special. It's just a stat stick you forget about and replace in a couple hours anyway. Any drops you get are soulbound to you so you can't give it away or make money off of it. Crafted gear isn't the best gear in the game so crafters aren't very powerful.

[Miriamel105]

Hm, okay, seems this forum got no moderation but a fascists ruler who does what he pleases. In this case I will leave this shit place behind, if I waste my times with fascists I won't do this over a game.

[Wrecktangle]

One thing I'd like to know is, what do people consider "meaningful" gear progression? Considering every MMO I've played in the last decade, you raid to get gear that will help you raid better and do nothing else, FFXIV is pretty standard in that regard. I don't think I've played a game where gear was anything more than a way to kill raids faster. And look better sometimes.

This has kind of always been my argument especially when people compare WoW and FF14. I honestly don't notice or care about the gear stats in either game. 99% of the time, both games ilvl is king so it doesn't even matter (barring trinkets). I wouldn't even be mad if they scrapped "gearing" entirely and made it fully cosmetic. Obviously I'd hope for that resource to go somewhere else interesting in the game, but that's how little I care about stats on gear and I say this as a savage/mythic raider with good parses.

[Poppincaps]

Yeah, gearing in this game isn't the best, but I haven't seen any MMO with vertical progression that had an interesting gearing system. At the very least FF14 makes gear a relatively painless experience whereas "other MMOs" require a large time investment to progress your character.

[BiggestNoob]

I'd say it's just more about your time not being thrown away on RNG. Spending an hour to do something to get nothing is not meaningful, especially if even if you get the drop it's still up to 5 RNG factors to determine if it's actually an upgrade. If you can point to the specific item(s) you want and work your way towards it, then everything you do is meaningful, and you will eventually get there. That's exactly how FF's gearing philosophy works, and it's not exclusive to savage raiders.

As for stand out items, those exist in FF, primarily as glam, and you work towards those as well. Relics, glowy gear, etc. People still wear things from ARR because they look cool, and you can go get those now even if it takes a bit of work.

[Velnora]

You won't find meaningful gear progression in any of these gear treadmill themepark MMOs. You will only find it in 20+ year oldschool MMOs like Ultima Online or FFXI, where if you did a quest to obtain a special belt at level 30 (or in SWG, bought it from a crafter because the best gear is crafted and isn't a drop), you were still using at level 75 because the effect on it was so good for one particular build. Also, even if you got stuff that wasn't optimal for you to use, you could still give it to a friend who would get a lot of use out of it, and it felt like a special gift. Or you could sell it for a ton of money.

In themepark MMOs with gear treadmill like FFXIV, gear is nothing special. It's just a stat stick you forget about and replace in a couple hours anyway. Any drops you get are soulbound to you so you can't give it away or make money off of it. Crafted gear isn't the best gear in the game so crafters aren't very powerful.

By progression, I view having meaningful ways to increase in power over time. Being able to get to level cap, and geared out in a matter of hours is uninspiring and dull. Further gets compounded with patch dungeons having gear, that is already obsolete upon release.

[BiggestNoob]

By progression, I view having meaningful ways to increase in power over time. Being able to get to level cap, and geared out in a matter of hours is uninspiring and dull. Further gets compounded with patch dungeons having gear, that is already obsolete upon release.

You can't be geared out in a matter of hours. 530 is current gear, the best you can do instantly is 510 upgraded to 520 with quite a bit of grinding. If you farm uncapped tomes to get 490 crystarium gear then run Paglth'an to get in 505 you can jump in current content without crafted gear, which is a viable gearing alternative while you work on 530 which takes a while, even at 900 tomes a week.

[Kraenen]

This has kind of always been my argument especially when people compare WoW and FF14. I honestly don't notice or care about the gear stats in either game. 99% of the time, both games ilvl is king so it doesn't even matter (barring trinkets). I wouldn't even be mad if they scrapped "gearing" entirely and made it fully cosmetic. Obviously I'd hope for that resource to go somewhere else interesting in the game, but that's how little I care about stats on gear and I say this as a savage/mythic raider with good parses.

Which is kinda unfortunate, since there's a lot of depth that could be added if there were meaningful decisions about stat points to be made (do I want to be really avoidant as a rogue, or deadly, etc...), although perhaps that's best just left to talents.

[Wrecktangle]

Which is kinda unfortunate, since there's a lot of depth that could be added if there were meaningful decisions about stat points to be made (do I want to be really avoidant as a rogue, or deadly, etc...), although perhaps that's best just left to talents.

How so? I'd be curious to see how they could improve gear stats and make them meaningful decisions without some completely bonkers overhaul. I'm just thinking of all the games I've played over the years to see how gear could be more interesting and sure there are some ideas, but generally gear has always boiled down to throughput, defense, or glamour.

[xmirrors]

You can't be geared out in a matter of hours. 530 is current gear, the best you can do instantly is 510 upgraded to 520 with quite a bit of grinding. If you farm uncapped tomes to get 490 crystarium gear then run Paglth'an to get in 505 you can jump in current content without crafted gear, which is a viable gearing alternative while you work on 530 which takes a while, even at 900 tomes a week.

My issue is that there is no incentive to get to 530. A fresh 80 can buy a full set of 510 crafted gear and be able to do...well, pretty much all of the content the endgame offers. There's also nothing exciting about gear itself apart from the glamour. They're all just stat increases across the board...no weapons or trinkets or rings with unique effects.

It's not a serious problem for me, since I don't play the game seriously, but a more in-depth system would certainly be welcome. I would go out of my way to join a static and jump into the hardest content if there was a more interesting progression in gear and specific items that I could set as goals.

- - - Updated - - -

How so? I'd be curious to see how they could improve gear stats and make them meaningful decisions without some completely bonkers overhaul. I'm just thinking of all the games I've played over the years to see how gear could be more interesting and sure there are some ideas, but generally gear has always boiled down to throughput, defense, or glamour.

Set bonuses are the example I always share. It gives you a reason to aim for specific drops, even if the set bonuses aren't crazy unique, and makes the gear more memorable. I still fondly remember some of the set bonuses from WoW.

[Wrecktangle]

Set bonuses are the example I always share. It gives you a reason to aim for specific drops, even if the set bonuses aren't crazy unique, and makes the gear more memorable. I still fondly remember some of the set bonuses from WoW.

Assuming these set bonuses are throughput oriented, then this suggestion would be removing the last remnant of "meaningful" gearing decisions FF14 has left which is splashing tome and savage raid to hit an optimized set. Set bonuses themselves were hamstringing to most people. Sure we all liked the power spike for hitting the bonuses, but there's 42 different ways you could bring that function/feature into the game, and I'm not sure set bonuses are the optimal path. In all honesty, I'd do this with Materia if we were doing it with anything.

[Itori]

Your reply is flawed, getting to 52/62 took dozens of hours, if I did not enjoy the game after dozens of hours, then it failed for me, please, I need you to understand this.

Would you say that to a new WoW player who said “i made it to lvl 48, the game sucks” im more than certain your response would be “the fun doesnt start till endgame”

[Velnora]

You can't be geared out in a matter of hours. 530 is current gear, the best you can do instantly is 510 upgraded to 520 with quite a bit of grinding. If you farm uncapped tomes to get 490 crystarium gear then run Paglth'an to get in 505 you can jump in current content without crafted gear, which is a viable gearing alternative while you work on 530 which takes a while, even at 900 tomes a week.

You can buy a full set of crafted 510 gear, then farm raids for vendor gear. It doesn't take very long at all. Along with the fact, you do not see a reflection of power increase as you attain higher ilvls.

[Wrecktangle]

Would you say that to a new WoW player who said “i made it to lvl 48, the game sucks” im more than certain your response would be “the fun doesnt start till endgame”

I know this wasn't directed at me, but I would absolutely listen to the persons complaints. I'd ask questions to see if I could understand their POV.

Sidebar - How many hours of gameplay is it to get to level 52 in WoW these days (I haven't leveled in over a decade)? Pretty sure it's no where near the equivalent in FF14 though, so not a great comparison nonetheless.

[Lane]

Sidebar - How many hours of gameplay is it to get to level 52 in WoW these days (I haven't leveled in over a decade)? Pretty sure it's no where near the equivalent in FF14 though, so not a great comparison nonetheless.

It's like 10 hours /played from level 10 (starting level of allied races) to 50. I'm sure it varies + or - depending on leveling route.

[Lane]

I have been playing Samurai, and i had to admit, that without the Squadrons, it feels like it takes forever. I did Dungeons and Roulette and still took me like 1 week to get from 50 to 60.

I didn't notice it with my main job (DRG), but that was with the MSQ. When I unlocked and had to level MCH, ugh. I usually love leveling alts, but I always have the quests to redo. I'm not sure why there's no NG+ for alt jobs that give EXP. I also don't understand why HW jobs start at 30 instead of 40.

I just unlocked squadrons yesterday, haven't had the opportunity to do anything with them yet.

[Sorrowseer]

Would you say that to a new WoW player who said “i made it to lvl 48, the game sucks” im more than certain your response would be “the fun doesnt start till endgame”

I would say they spent a long time in a game and its the games fault after all that time, they didn't enjoy it, play a game for 100 hours then you will like it, fuck that mate.

[BiggestNoob]

My issue is that there is no incentive to get to 530. A fresh 80 can buy a full set of 510 crafted gear and be able to do...well, pretty much all of the content the endgame offers. There's also nothing exciting about gear itself apart from the glamour. They're all just stat increases across the board...no weapons or trinkets or rings with unique effects.

It's not a serious problem for me, since I don't play the game seriously, but a more in-depth system would certainly be welcome. I would go out of my way to join a static and jump into the hardest content if there was a more interesting progression in gear and specific items that I could set as goals.

I think it's intentional just so the balancing can always be good. While you can do all the content at 510 since that's the min ilvl of e12s, it makes it significantly harder. The incentive for most people to get to 530 is to make their raiding easier for farming savage mounts or extreme mounts. I'm hoping SE starts adding 3 ultimates per expansion, so then there'd be another incentive, with that last one doing a lot to fill the content gap before the next expansion.

[Mojo03]

I didn’t think the story was that great. It’s okay, but not amazing or anything.

It’s cool how it all connects and everything, and it does get better the more you understand the lore, but I never really felt that engaged and curious what was going to happen next the vast majority of the time. It felt more just slow and tedious.

I had a hard time getting into the cutscenes to, the characters looked and felt like animatronic puppets to me and I just couldn’t take it seriously.

I did try to like it, but I just can’t really get into it.

I do like the game and I play it instead of WoW now, but I don’t get the story hype.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I'm still stuck in the part that i have to train them and give them missions. I'm still going blind on this feature, so i choose to level them up as training. I hope it doesn't take forever before i'm able to use them for Dungeons....or idk what else? Are they also companions?

You level them up by sending them out on the facebook missions or doing dungeons with them. The facebook missions take a long time so do that before you log out for the day. Also they have to be a minimum level before you can do dungeons with them so it'll be a few days of sending them out on facebook missions before you can actually do dungeons with them.

You never really need to bother with the "training" function. I suppose if you're staying logged in for a few hours, you can go to your Grand Company's headquarters and send them out on the 1 hour long training to give them a tidbit of exp, but really it's micromanaging you don't need to do. Might be worth the exp during the first 20 levels to get them able to do dungeons ASAP but after that I wouldn't bother.