Wow refugees, what are you enjoying about the game?

[Nize]

So I've played for a month and a half now and just finished Stormblood MSQ. I've played WoW since beta stress test and at a more consistent basis since Cataclysm. I grew up on Final Fantasies, however. Despite that, the modern FFs were a huge turnoff for me and I disliked FF11 so I neglected to even bother to touch FF14. Until now...

The most notable thing I like about the game as compared to WoW is probably the story and characters. I've stopped caring about a lot of the characters in WoW while pretty much every character in FF14 draws an emotion from me. I've felt sadness, love, anger, and even hatred from my relationship with many of these characters. And I think that's why. Relationships are a key part of the character development and player interaction here. Characters seem to genuinely care about each other.

Music is absolutely amazing and awe-inspiring. While I've liked some of WoW's soundtracks like Legion's and MoP's, I felt that Soken's work really matches Uematsu's mastery. At one point in my life, I remember telling myself how my favorite composers in gaming were always Japanese ones, but as I fell out of love with Japanese games, I started to forget why that was. Thankfully, FF14's soundtrack was a swift reminder of why I felt that way at one point.

Combat. Underrated. At least, for what I thought it would be coming into the game. It's an absolute blast to play and far more difficult once everything starts to fall into place.(I'm talking to you, Monk positionals) But, as I am still not at the end game putting into practice and still getting my feet wet, I'll talk more about the animations and sound. As a Warrior, I felt like my attacks were incredibly chunky and hardhitting. As a Samurai, I feel there's a major finesse to all my attacks. They are so fitting and impactful and the moves feel like they matter.

Anyhoo, those are what popped in my mind. I'm tired now so I'll just list a few other things I like about the game that I can recall that I won't delve into too much. Roulettes and scaling. Gold Saucer. Poetics and gearing. The endgame reward system seems very intriguing with those similar currencies. Less of pointless boring grinds and more of meaningful fun ones. WoW's reward structure has seemed incredibly unfulfilling for a long time. Gear from raiding and a valor-like currency that matches it makes it seem simple and fulfilling.

I'm loving FF14, and while I don't hate WoW as many others do, I also share their disappointment in the direction the game has been headed toward. I do regret not having involved myself with the game prior as seeing how people have reacted to trailer releases at their shows would have been amazing. But, here we are, and I'm just thankful to be part of it.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

If this place gets put to the torch (and it will be put to the torch because ive seen the previous cutscenes with our main protagonist), im gonna holy spam the shit out of every imperial i meet

Remember, the vast majority of Imperial soldiers you face in the game aren't fighting you willingly. They are conscript/slaves from conquered territories who are being forced at gunpoint to fight for the Empire, or else they die (and perhaps their families too? It's unclear). The only Imperial forces who are probably willingly fighting you are pure-blooded Garleans (basically anyone who dresses in the armor in the pic below). Garleans seem to always wear that armor, are usually ranked Centurion, and wield either a Gunblade or pilot a magitek mecha.



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While I've liked some of WoW's soundtracks like Legion's and MoP's, I felt that Soken's work really matches Uematsu's mastery.

Eh, I like FFXIV's music too, but when you go through WoW's OSTs, I find that there are just as many awesome tracks in WoW as in FFXIV. I think it comes down to the way those tracks are presented to the player. In WoW, the music isn't set to play all of the time, and there are many different tracks for a single zone, so you might not ever hear a good track. Also, most of WoW's tracks tend towards ambient songs that took a while to pick up, whereas FFXIV's tracks tends towards shorter, melodic tracks with a very obvious tune you can hum along with. Whereas in FFXIV, there is only one track per zone (per day/night), and the music plays on loop all of the time, so you are guaranteed to hear it. Another thing too is that FFXIV likes to give a lot of bosses their own tracks, but in WoW the only boss who has their own music is the phoenix from Firelands, and the Gunship encounter from ICC (and it's remix in Dragon Soul).

[ippollite]

Its okay, we... er... 'won'(?). I mean, we would have won since im a whm and can just dodge mechanics and heal to infinity. But plot armor was the real winner yet again. The imperial lackeys are safe outside of normal routine quest slaughter.

Anyways, a few things. Ive only had the Mol for 15 minutes and if anyone hurts them, i'll kill them, and then myself.

Also, played around with gpose (because i wanted to capture a photo with my favorite 4 characters so far in game - gosetsu, Hien (is that his name, im in the middle of a cutscene and too lazy to tab back), Lyse and Cirina (i told you, 15 minutes and i love them all to bits). There was this really nice saturation level. I took my photo, went back in game and everything is completely washed out. I understand the aesthetic reason behind it, but damn, i wish they'd let me saturate everything a bit. You dont really notice how colorful and vibrant the world really COULD look if they just gave me the option. Actually, maybe they do. I should check.

Oh, and i can happily report that the aethyryte compass targets the nearest shard. I just spent twenty minutes trying to get into the grand hall place to find the node only to finally find the entrance and be denied. I then went questing elsewhere and found a new node. I dunno if this is how its always worked and im just an idiot, but in heavensward they were like homing beacons that refused to move even if you were right on top of a new node through questing.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I took my photo, went back in game and everything is completely washed out. I understand the aesthetic reason behind it, but damn, i wish they'd let me saturate everything a bit. You dont really notice how colorful and vibrant the world really COULD look if they just gave me the option. Actually, maybe they do. I should check.

Install Stormshade and use the Colors reborn preset. Turn off everything except technicolor so you won't get any frame drops during normal gameplay.

[ippollite]

Theres a reason i always default to your advice. Thanks.

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More blogging. They just gave a creation myth to a random group of people on the steppes. I dont know why, but i think thats really lovely. In fact, this whole zone has been awesome. They started off with culture shock and spent the whole time teaching the player about the Au Ra on the steppes. Was that when they were introdu... but yugiri came in 2.1? Im assuming they werent playable though until stormblood, because theyre leaning really heavily on their culture. And im all for it. This is a great way to involve your playerbase in the game and make them care about the NPCs inhabiting it.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Im assuming they werent playable though until stormblood, because theyre leaning really heavily on their culture.

Au Ra were introduced as a playable race in the Heavensward expansion.

Highlander Hyur were introduced in ARR but you didn't go to any of their countries until Stormblood either.

[Raetary]

Not that i've played a ton, only at lvl 18 but im enjoying myself so far.

I wish the game had more voice acting tho.

Also:
What the actual fuck did i stumble upon?

[ippollite]

I like hien. He's a total asshole. But he's clear and direct.

[neik]

Not that i've played a ton, only at lvl 18 but im enjoying myself so far.

I wish the game had more voice acting tho.

Also:
What the actual fuck did i stumble upon?

Wait for Limsa Lominsa shenanigans. The things you haven't seen yet..

Also, no voice acting this early. You going to have to wait for it later on.

[Aliven]

Not that i've played a ton, only at lvl 18 but im enjoying myself so far.

I wish the game had more voice acting tho.

Also:
What the actual fuck did i stumble upon?

The true badass. Only the true skill can shine even when wearing a fat choccobo head. Embrace it.

[Pendragon]

Tried to play it for a few hours but I couldn't get into it. Graphics are boring and just seem like every other weeb game(do they mass produce these games or something?), the animations and spell effects are ok-ish, the general gameplay is poor, and the UI...the UI is possibly the worst UI I've ever experienced. Cheap and ugly.

The game just feels cheap overall. It's a shame because I was hoping it would be my go-to MMO.

[Super Kami Dende]

Tried to play it for a few hours but I couldn't get into it. Graphics are boring and just seem like every other weeb game(do they mass produce these games or something?), the animations and spell effects are ok-ish, the general gameplay is poor, and the UI...the UI is possibly the worst UI I've ever experienced. Cheap and ugly.

The game just feels cheap overall. It's a shame because I was hoping it would be my go-to MMO.

This whole post comes over as WoW Fanboy copium.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Is it really necessary to insult people and write them off as "WoW fanboys/FFXIV haters/trolls" just because they said they didn't like a game?

[Pendragon]

This whole post comes over as WoW Fanboy copium.

I don't play WoW anymore because it's garbage. Nice meme though babe.

[Echo of Soul]

Is it really necessary to insult people and write them off as "WoW fanboys/FFXIV haters/trolls" just because they said they didn't like a game?

If they write off the game after only a few hours of gameplay I think it's fair to write them off after a few lines of text

[Delever]

If they write off the game after only a few hours of gameplay I think it's fair to write them off after a few lines of text

The average zoomer only has a few hours of attention at best after all.

[Maljinwo]

I honestly don't understand when people call the UI poor

You can modify the position and scale of anything to your liking. Is it confusing or something?

[justandulas]

If they write off the game after only a few hours of gameplay I think it's fair to write them off after a few lines of text

If the game doesn’t get good until after ARR, like 20-50 hours in, then yeah you have the right to question a game.

[Cattleya]

One person comes into the "what do you like about the game" topic just to call it poor, ugly, cheap and boring, someone takes the bait and immediately a handful of people fall over each other to defend the bait, classic forums

[Wrecktangle]

This whole post comes over as WoW Fanboy copium.

If they write off the game after only a few hours of gameplay I think it's fair to write them off after a few lines of text

You guys really feel the need to go on with the personal attacks just because they don't like the game you're playing?

It's things like this that I don't think the awesome so great, can never be bad community doesn't realize how toxic or hypocritical they really can be...