What's so good about FFXIV?

[Vampiregenesis]

Why is everyone migrating to this game now? what makes it so good?

Active Thread Warnings:
This is not an FFXIV vs. WoW thread and needs no additional game vs. game rhetoric. Let's stay on topic concerning the enjoyment of FFXIV and keep unrelated criticisms in other threads.

[Myradin]

No Sylvannus.

[Stormxraven]

Because its not wow and people are looking for new things to try

[Fencers]

Gameplay people find enjoyable most likely. Which is the case with every video game ever.

[Guyviroth]

I dunno. People got bored with WoW but still need their MMO fix? Not sure.

I played with the 30 day free trial a couple of years ago, and again recently with the free weekend. I can say that the one thing I liked about FF14 is that you don't need alts. You can level up one character through every class/job and can mix and match some abilities between the two.

However, I could not stand the GCD. The GCD is like, 3 seconds or something. Combat feels kind of unresponsive too. Like, it'll only show damage at the point the attack animation hits, but will not calculate it until the entire animation is finished. It feels clunky.

[dlld]

The weeb stigma has been broken, primarily by wow streamers. Is I think the nr 1 reason people are trying it out now in such large numbers and not say in BFA or WoD droughts, periods of time who where also largely disliked. FF14 itself hasn't exactly changed a ton.

[McNeil]

The game feels very alive and the community actually likes the dev team. Its a good alternative game for a lot of WoW refugees

[hydrium]

I left for FFXIV back during WoD but occasionally come vacation back here in WoW, here's what I like.

Endgame raiding is 8 people. This leaves more responsibility on each person and they make more demanding encounters. It's no longer just "get 25 people geared and push the win button.".

I don't personally care for the story but everyone that I talk to that *does* care says it's extremely well done. Personally I only watch the dungeon and raid cutscenes, they're very enjoyable.

Crafting matters, crafted gear acts as a bridge between tiers. This means crafters stay relevant throughout the expansion...add on that crafting is fleshed out and you can seriously play a crafter/gatherer without touching a combat class except to do story quests.

Gold Saucer, chocobo racing and breeding is fun for me, I love doing it. I also enjoy triple triad and the mini games.

Most importantly, FFXIV doesn't include *MUST DO* systems. Everything is purely optional, a quote I heard puts it best. Wow made me feel like I was just wasting time, FFXIV makes me want to waste my time.

[dope_danny]

Well i jumped ship for it in WoD but in general right now? its wrath-mop style wow with weekly currency and tokens for gear, its an established IP rather than a new mmo so isn't going to die any time soon or flop on release, again, and its a good videogame.

I mean where else are the wow refugees going to go for a hotbar mmo that models like a popular era of wow? Rift?

[Mojo03]

Basically it’s enough like WoW that it’s familiar, but also different enough it feels like a breath of fresh air.

People also have 10 years of stuff to do and it’s all relevant still, unlike WoW which pretty much only makes the newest patch relevant, and to a less extent the current expansion.

It also respects your time. It doesn’t pressure or funnel you into doing certain things like WoW does.

I started in April and I honestly didn’t like it much at first. I kept playing because it was good enough and I heard it gets amazing once you get to Shadowbringers.

I very slowly started to like it more as I leveled and unlocked stuff. I’m now max level and have been playing for 3 months and legitimately think it’s a better experience than WoW.

Plus the devs and community are light years better than.

[infinitemeridian]

It feels like an MMO and not an instanced lobby game where the devs and playerbase are obsessed with bigger numbers.

[Rogalicus]

It feels like an MMO and not an instanced lobby game where the devs and playerbase are obsessed with bigger numbers.

It feels exactly like instanced lobby game (you don't really see other people outside of cities and all meaningful content is done through DF and PF) with obsession over bigger numbers (i.e. vertical progression).

[Skorpionss]

Why is everyone migrating to this game now? what makes it so good?

It has Cat girls AND Bunny girls.

[starstationprofm]

It's a new and shiny game. WoW brings 1 patch worth of content in 9.1, FF14 has years worth.

I'm sure the hype will die down once they run out of story and realise the endgame is pretty shit.

[Pratt]

They made leveling easier than it used to be. I quit after realizing I had played for over 100 hours and still had like an entire expansion to get through.

[infinitemeridian]

It feels exactly like instanced lobby game (you don't really see other people outside of cities and all meaningful content is done through DF and PF) with obseesion over bigger numbers (i.e. vertical progression).

Neither are true in my experience.

[Golforth]

For me, apart from the obvious, I really enjoy that the Devs respect my time/respect me as a person. For Blizzard it's just system, system, system, engagement metrics, etc. and they don't care AT ALL about their playerbase, just about how much money they can milk out of us. And while Square Enix certainly is after my money too, the game itself is still a passion project for the devs and they value me as a player. Many of them play FFXIV themselves and they want the game to be FUN instead of wanting to force me to login every day/week.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Why is everyone migrating to this game now? what makes it so good?

Execution. 90% of the game's content isn't irrelevant like in WoW (where only the current expansion's content gets played). Doesn't have system bloat like Artifact Power/Azerite Power/Anima. Doesn't put you on a treadmill like WoW does, forcing you to log in and do 3 hours of chores every day; you can go at your own pace and you're not really missing out if you don't decide to play for several months. The story content is legit good, up there with the best JRPGs such as the Trails series. Music is pretty great throughout the entire game (whereas MoP and WoD were the only WoW expansions that had great music throughout the expansion).

[ClassicPeon]

Well i jumped ship for it in WoD but in general right now? its wrath-mop style wow with weekly currency and tokens for gear, its an established IP rather than a new mmo so isn't going to die any time soon or flop on release, again, and its a good videogame.

I mean where else are the wow refugees going to go for a hotbar mmo that models like a popular era of wow? Rift?

MoP had excellent raids though.

The one thing wow just objectively does better is raids. Its one of the reasons i wont ever be playing it properly

[Soimu]

It has cat girls!
That's all you need.