Zafire wrote:
I am kind of curious about this. I don't want to play another WoW clone, which is why I wont play FF14. I like hearing people compare the two because I never truly hear people say the same thing.
Well since you asked...
I never played WoW, so I don't know how much of a "clone" anything would be to it. But here is what interested me in both games.
FFXI
This was my absolute first MMO. I had never played one before it, and seldom played one while I was playing it. Most were kind of crap when compared to it IMO. I got it back when it came out on PS2, and have played it on 360 and PC as well. (At one point I had a 2nd character to dual box with.) At first I really liked the character models and the somewhat realistic nature of things. I looked at WoW before choosing, and to be honest WoW looked cartoonish to me. They even called their characters "toons" which kind of turned me off of it.
I always liked the atmosphere of FFXI. It was kind of neat being the traditional fantasy game, but with subtle little hidden technology that was beyond the scope for medieval fantasy. I started out as a RDM, in the hopes I could become a RNG/RDM. But to my despair, I learned rather quickly that enspells did not work on ranged weapons. Luckily I found that out before getting RNG, as RDM could use bows. So I changed to RNG/NIN and slowly leveled that up. Found some great friends along the way.
Eventually I started crafting. Loved it for the most part, but steadily began to hate how the skillups dwindled. It became more of a job than anything, but I still enjoyed it. Despite it being a grind, I slowly leveled woodworking, as it supported my job as a bow RNG.
I liked sky, though it was boring a lot of times. I usually had to sit for hours and scan for Zipacna. Which usually got me into trouble, as I would entertain myself by saying in linkshell Zipacna... is not up. By the time ToAU came out, my friends and I experimented in creating our own linkshell, but constant drama pushed us all away at some point, and I played around with my new love COR.
I loved the stories, as I've loved the stories in all FF games. Though CoP was challenging, I loved trying to beat it merely to see more of the story. That made it all worthwhile to me.
However, around the time of Abyssea, I had grown disenchanted with all things "big group". It was a lot of drama. A lot of fighting for who lots what. A lot of corruption in leadership, either favoring themselves or favoring someone close to them. It turned the whole game into a career, which made me feel like a work horse most of the time.
So, with a small group of friends, and a few dual boxes, we set out to conquer Abyssea content. Which was fun for me. And it started getting me into leveling more jobs to 99, as it was far easier and far less of a grind.
Then the dark days came. Voidwatch... Crappy droprates. Crappy gear. Crappy content. Crappy 18 person content. From there it began a cycle of bringing back big group content, and a constant stream of ilvl creeping. I had COR, so I never had a gripe like some of being left out. It just didn't feel like "good" content to me though.
It brought back more of the shouting for hours to get the perfect group. More drama. More lotting restrictions a la dynamis when it was big group. It felt like they tried to bring back some form of dynamis, but make it "new". Then quickly after it became low man content, but by then I had no point to doing it. There was better gear outside of Delve, and somewhat easier to obtain.
So simplified:
1. Liked the story. Still like the story, but will not play until SoA is done.
2. Liked the challenges, until they became filled with drama.
3. Liked the design styles; characters, architecture, etc.
4. Did not like the grinding of everything. Anyone who played pre-ToAU knows what I'm talking about.
5. Do not like the ilvl creeping now, where gear is replaced by next update.
6. Do not like the job balance.
7. Do not like shouting/waiting for group content.
8. Like the newer things they're implementing from XIV. (although it seems to destroy the memory on 360)
FFXIV
First of all the graphics on PS4 blew me away. I know that's not fair to compare to a game that was on PS2. However, FF games are known for amazing graphics. XIV is simply amazing in that respect.
Again, I went back to my XI roots. I wanted to be an Archer and eventually a Bard. This job was simply everything FFXI RNG was not. You could move while shooting. (a huge handicap if you've ever played rng in ballista and had someone run in circles around you) You don't need to carry thousands of arrows with you either. (another huge handicap to XI rng)
It took me a little bit to get used to the fighting system. As it should. Used to auto-attacking, I went out and started auto-attacking things. Very soon afterwards, I found out that using an ability did way more damage. It was the equivalent to having weaponskills, but instead of building TP, you have TP set at 1000, and each ability slowly takes some away.
The next thing I loved, was not having to rest to get HP back (and later MP). It refills like FFXII. This game felt a lot like FFXII online in that regard.
Slowly I began what I thought would be a grind to 50. But after unlocking Leves and Guildhests, and doing a few FATEs and main story along the way; I suddenly found myself level 25 in less than a week. (And not playing 24/7 either)
I took a slight pause to craft and mine at this point. Now I had tried both of these in the beta, and absolutely love their system for it. Crafting is actually fun and levels up in experience (not .1-5 skill ups). The experience is balanced and increases as you level, as long as you craft stuff close to your level. The gathering jobs are fantastically done as well. You can go out and actually gather what you want to gather. If you want copper ore, you go and get copper ore. You don't run around mines all day gathering stacks of pebbles, hoping to get a few copper ores. Each spot has certain items, and each node gives you a list of those items to choose from. You don't have to wander all over a zone to hopefully get something you're looking for.
Back to leveling. What took me from PS2 release to ToAU release, I had done in about a month on XIV. And that is getting my main job to max level. My bard could now finish the first part of main story, and then do Crystal Tower. Which btw looks absolutely amazing in HD.
Shortly after I had unlocked my relic weapon, and was busy getting atmas for it (7/12) when we decided to buy a house. Yes... unlike XI, you can buy a house in XIV. However, on the server we were on, the housing districts were absolutely crowded, and the spot we wanted was 3-4mil. So my friend and I looked into other servers, and found the least populated one the spots were under 1mil. We set out to start all over (this month) and do it all from scratch. In less than 18 days, I'm already lv47 Scholar (or Summoner), simply doing main missions, job quests, guildhests and fates. Not to mention I have all crafts 10+ with goldsmithing and alchemy 27/34 respectively. Miner is 30. They would be higher, but you only get 6 leves a day.
So simplified:
1. Like. Fresh and new. Better graphics that make it hard to go back to FFXI. Less laggy due to better memory allocation. (I won't go into pc on that, as it's a separate issue completely. I know it's far better on pc.)
2. Like. Way less of a grind. There are grindy parts, but you'll find that in all MMOs. The game is rather casual in what you can do at any given time.
3. Like. Decent story that encourages you to level as you go. (like CoP)
4. Like. Far easier crafting/gathering system. With lists of recipes at your disposal, and no wasted time gathering things you don't need.
5. Like. Ease of transportation. Every character, despite job, can warp/teleport to waypoints. (this is something they've gradually started putting into FFXI)
6. Like. You can swap jobs with ease. (FFXI has sort of done that recently with wardrobe and gear sets) However, you still need to run back to mog house. On XIV you do not.
7. Like. Better job balance. Duty finder. (I'll explain both of those after, because it's a major point)
8. Like. I can change my character slightly for a mere 2k gil at any time. After a certain quest is completed, you can change hair style and color, face paint/tattoo, makeup, etc. Can't do this in XI. You're stuck with the same character for 10 years, unless you completely start over. Little things like this make a difference in a game you play over the years. (or for a little bit of money, SE lets you change your character completely, and even gives you 1 free change after a month or so)
9. Like. No skill ups at all on your classes. Your skill comes from knowing how to use your job, and where to place yourself during battles. No more tedious .1-.5 skill up on your sword.
Now... a little on Duty Finder and Job Balance.
A major thing I absolutely hate about FFXI is the job balance. Ever since they've raised the level cap, or maybe before that, the jobs have been completely unbalanced. In general, tanks can't hold hate, some DDs are better than others, and a lot of the jobs are simply not used. FFXI forces you to level jobs you might not even care for, in order to secure a spot in endgame content. This constantly changes, but for the most part, some of your jobs will never be used.
I have a lot of jobs 99. I use about 5 of them for various reasons. For soloing and messing around, I jump on BST, THF or DNC. Neither of those jobs, however, are ideal for endgame content, unless someone wants TH. Then you might get to use THF. Fortunately I have a job that is desired (COR) that I actually enjoy. For some of you players out there, you might not like COR, or BRD, or healing. So unless you have a well-geared DD flavor-of-the-month job, you're pretty much shut out of most big group content. Unless by some miracle you know a guy that knows a guy, that may just let your PUP squeeze in. But unfortunately there's a MNK that will do the job better. So go level your BRD while we do this Delve.
In FFXIV, yes things are simplified, but they are also balanced WAY better. Content usually calls for a tank, a healer, and 2 dps in 4 person groups. In 8 it usually calls for 2 tanks, 2 healers, and 4 dps. Jobs are broken down into these categories, and the content is balanced to where any job can work in either slot. Or if you're "hardcore" you can actually make up your own parties and do the content your way.
This is simplified even better with Duty Finder. An in-game mechanic that takes people from all servers, and groups them together for content they are seeking to do. It is extremely hard to get "left out" in FFXIV. Duty Finder is not racist, nor jobist. It will find you a party to do a duty. You may have to wait a little while, as there are a lot more dps jobs than tanks/healers, but it is not a constant day-filled shouting competition.
Got something better to do? Just sign up for the Duty on the job you want to do it on, then go fish. Once the duty starts, you can easily change jobs back and commence the duty. You don't need to catch a teleport, or hitch a ride to Port Jeuno or Adoulin. You simply go in from wherever you happen to be, finish the duty, then you're right back to where you were fishing.
And THIS, is why they call it casual content. You don't have to spend all day trying to do something. You don't have to spend all day in a particular zone, waiting for an event to occur. You're in control of when you want to do 99% of the content.