Should I buy XIV?Follow

This video will tell you all you need to know: http://youtu.be/sjkEAUGy9qA

Whelp....

ARR doesn't have much depth, so if you've played many MMOs between 2004-2012 you'll know what to expect. If you didn't play 1.23 at all, then you would go in not expecting some of the more interesting changes to XIV that people actually payed to play (it did go P2P at one point and they stated their subs to XIV actually doubled at that period.)

Crafting in ARR is more of a side activity to do to pass the time and maybe make some stuff for yourself, there's no TRUE market in it since dungeons drop the equivillent of an HQ crafted gear for that WITH added stats called 'Aetherial (insert)' and some older 1.0 gear thrown in as well like the old NM drops.

NMs exist, they're called Boss FATEs. It's not similar at all to XI unless you consider the races, the 3 starting nations and that crystals exist :p

You can check it out as it's discounted currently, if you like the current style of MMOs you'll love ARR, but if you're expecting more than the norm because it's tagged Final Fantasy, you'll be disappointed in certain aspects.

Wait for the expansion

I do not disagree that it could be a good idea to try the game before the expansion, but if you do, do it because you are excited to try. ARR is a themepark MMO with tiered progression. What this usually means is that for the most part every expansion is going to completely invalidate everything you have worked for up until that point (to some extent even larger patches does this), with the exception generally to vanity, mounts etc. Now it might be different with the relic weapons in this game, I dunno, but aside from that I do not see any point in gearing up to prepare for an expansion.

I could be completely off of course and Yoshi decides to go for something different, but considering he has been aiming for standard with ARR it seems unlikely. Not to mention that even if SE were to go a different route I doubt they would make it very difficult to catch up rather quickly.

The upside of waiting is that you will probably get a better game when you join and the downside is that well.. you have to wait.

About the actual question of if you should buy it, I say go for it. I mean, unless you are short on money it feels like it can be worth it just to have the chance of finding something you like. Do not expect a game anything like XI though.

I was not saying it is a bad way of doing it, or that gear is not used, I simply responded to your statement that OP should come before the expansion to prepare with gear for the expansion when in actuality most likely the level cap will be raised then making gear obsolete.

The i100 gear will likely still be viable when the new expansion comes out, assuming we get one more iLevel increase before then, which would seem to match the pace of development. Just like right now, i90 gear is still viable for all but two battles in the entire game, even though the shiniest endgame armor is around iLevel 110. If you're the kind of player who is always fixated on having best-in-slot gear, then yeah, you'll find that gear is made "obsolete" rather quickly... but if all you want is gear that allows you to be effective in parties, then gear lasts quite a long time.

Gearing up a job or two before the expansion hits (which, as I said earlier, isn't hard to do in this game) would allow you to jump head-first into the latest and greatest expansion content without having to play catch up. Plus, as I said earlier, there's a ton of stuff now for new players to keep busy with.

EDITED to add this:



This wasn't a *****-up... this was how it was rightfully meant to be. Crystal Tower is meant to be easier, more accessible endgame content, and the first stage of CT was meant to provide a bridge in iLevels between darklight gear (i70) and myth gear (i90). This was to help players get over the hump of beating Titan HM. That first stage of CT dropped better gear than any of the leveling dungeons, except for Binding Coil, which was the hardest challenge in the game. Makes perfect sense to me.

Edited, Jun 23rd 2014 10:38am by Thayos

But the I level of CT gear was right where it should have been, meaning CT had no impact on myth gear still being viable.

I think you guys are a little too hung up on his statement that he needs to buy FFXIV before the expansion to 'gear up'. I'm sure Thayos mostly disagrees with me for other reasons.

anyway, OP was concerned with game depth and FFXIV doesn't have much depth right now. we have no utility or hybrid/multi purpose jobs, our endgame is incredibly shallow and works like a flow chart without much freedom in terms of what you want to do, we have no hub city "Jeuno" yet, there's not much depth in character building (I'm guessing he means sub jobs, gear selection, merit points).

I think ARR was mostly about establishing a good base for the game and I think the expansion will bring some of that depth he wants/we're all craving, so that's why I told him to wait.

I'm just saying, my suggestion to wait for the expansion really had nothing to do with the fact that a lot of the current endgame gear will become useless (relatively) soon

Edited, Jun 23rd 2014 2:56pm by lass5

If you are interested in the game I would pick it up now, especially if you find it on sale. Play the free 30 days and decide. You can always cancel your sub if you don't like it. If an interesting looking expansion comes out or you hear they added more content you can always re-sub for 1 month.

I find there is plenty for me to do playing ~20 hours a week. It would be nice to have some more varied types of activities to partake in but still, I am happy with what there is currently to do for the monthly fee.

Thanks for the info guys, I wish I could go back to the old days of ffxi when everything was new and people were still exploring the maps :(, oh well I might pick up the game give it a try; the days when one person fell through to the bottom of garlaige citadel and mob trained subsequently killed everyone hahaha always give me a nostalgic chuckle.

Edited, Jun 23rd 2014 11:49pm by ihammoud

OP, if you like the lore ARR is lore is good but currently short. Just as previous people have said, level in ARR is very fast. The GOOD THING IS THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY THE GAME!!!!! YOU ALREADY HAVE IT. Anyone that have a 1.0 copy even now, gets a free upgrade to ARR and 30 days of free playing.

Crafting in ARR is getting interesting, there is plenty to do and since SE put the system of gear and now the materia for your relic. Gear is sold for spirit bonding and for looks. You can make plenty of GIL if you play the market right. Just there is not your extremely expensive items anymore.

wat

It doesn't even make sense to me. So many plot holes and contradictions

for me I think the story will be best in its expansions & current time story. I think they should try not to focus on history and lore as much.


Edited, Jun 25th 2014 7:10pm by lass5

Actually FFXIV is heavily self-referential when it comes to its plot. A lot of times things that seem like a plot hole, actually has the answer somewhere else in the game, or, if it seems like there's no answer found, that's likely because they're leaving that hole as a future plot point.

A perfect self-reference example will show itself in the Tamtara Deepcroft Hard Mode. An unfinished story takes a disturbing twist there that many people who've payed attention to the lore and story have already called out.

Are there things left unanswered and some logic that makes you scratch your head? Sure. But again, this is Japanese science/fantasy fiction. There's always going to be matters unanswered.

Like how my GF's retainer managed to get the severed head of Ifrit Extreme mounted on a plaque and delivered to her...