Could probably credit their Novice Network and Mentor system, but as a newbie in FFXIV, the community feels very eager to help you. It’s easy to feel lost or not know what to do next, but all these issues become alleviated by the community itself being happy to help. Just by hanging out in the Novice Network, you never feel bad for asking astoundingly newbie questions such as “what is a combo”.
I believe as far as attracting new players, that’s just an advantage FFXIV has over WoW. It’s something WoW could create its own system for to create a welcoming feeling for newcomers.
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My experience with “mentors” in FFXIV is that 90% of them only put on the flag for it because it puts a crown/sword/whatever next to their name like how people always asked Runescape mods how they got the icon by their name. Most of them seem to have basically no idea what they’re doing and aren’t there to be helpful.
My experience with the “novice network” chat is that, while occasionally helpful, it’s largely spammed with ASCI art to such an extent that I just left it because it’s obnoxious.
At the end of the day, FFXIV’s community IS more welcoming, but it’s a combination of people wanting commendations in group content for the vanity rewards (if you’re a jerk no one is going to commend you, especially if you’re DPS) and most servers being relatively low pop. Hop over to Balmung or Mateus or something and server chat is much more akin to WoW on high/full realms.
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FF14’s community is way nicer and I’ve only encountered very few toxic people, even in PVP surprisingly. But I don’t suggest you go with a mentor, they don’t care about mentoring anyone, just want the thingy on char. Have friends to help you and teach you instead.
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I am not remotely familiar with the game, but is it safe to assume that there are other players answering questions?
If so, how is that a credit to the game rather than the players?
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Oh yeah I forgot about that… I think you get the Crown thingy and even a Mount if my memory is not mistaking it… 
IN my little sample it is objectively better for me. I won’t say as a whole because I don’t know the state’s but when I tanked and screwed up I wasn’t berated. I explained what I thought I was supposed to do and one of the DPS said you missed step X. After that we sailed through no issues.
I’ve had many encounters there like this. I just didn’t care for the design of the game overall, which is why I’m here. Wish I could have the best of both but I must pick and choose.
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What you say is true… me and my freind sub resently again and yeaaaaah the difference is big… he was all sorts of rusty with so many changes after Lich King…
I try to warn him to go DPS but he insisted oh man… that was a mess and he quickly got a few sharp words or the group just left…
I wish I could have the best of both worlds too 
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I’ll drop this video here:
It’s an interesting little analysis, but there is quite a bit to think about. The FFXIV community is nicer, more welcoming and more inclined to be helpful… though sometimes a bit touchy on a few subjects. That being said, “toxic” players in FFXIV are quick to earn scorn from the community… something they’re not used to.
But despite many of the different systems, many of them similar to WoW, FFXIV somehow hasn’t devolved into the same spiral of toxicity WoW has.
Of course, this raises obvious question – Why is WoW so toxic?
I think quite a few people, from their islands of civility, don’t realize (or ignore) the toxicity of the broader WoW community… and in doing so, they’re more or less allowed it to become worse over time. Whether they like it or not, it is the toxic portion of the community is what the average person (and newcomers) see when they’re in WoW.
So why has the WoW community fallen so far?
Is it because the reputation for a “bad” community is attracting all the players who don’t mind (or engage in) this toxic behaviours and creating a positive feedback loop?
It’s hard to say, but it’s something which needs to be addressed.
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Oh wow never gave it so much though about it… but is true now that I think back.
Also it is true Toxic player are quick to earn scorn…it can get really bad for toxic players and this without violating any rules, I seen it. 
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As a former mentor in FF14 it is hit or miss. Some really want to help and others just want the crown and quicker queue times. It can be really frustrating for new and returning players. The Novice Network at least on Crystal is helpful with many of the mentors actually wanting to be there. It’s when you come across them in PuGs that the crown means less and they tend to me more jerks and unhelpful.
As a person with several thousand commendations (yay white mage) it is treat for the entire raid to give you a commendation when you pull their butts out of the fire in a near wipe on the final boss with a Limit Break 3 and bring everyone back. Good times, good feels.
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I don’t understand this. EVERY server since Shadowbringers has been out has always had a queue, even if its only 10-30 people in the evenings. Rarely 50+, and this isn’t on the “streamer” servers or the “full” servers.
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This makes me think people weren’t around when so many damn paladins yelled “BANKAI!” during wings back in BC.
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WoW is a much more competitive game and playerbase than FFXIV is. The games have an overlap in playerbase, just like all MMOs do, but there is also a significant difference in the general “type” that each game retains, and that has an impact on the social environment of the game in general.
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It’s because their devs are dedicated to the creation of a warm, welcoming, and friendly community. Meanwhile, Blizzard’s got a game director who tells people to just play his favorite faction if they want to experience Warcraft.
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That game excels at keeping content relevant by providing rewards for helping new or lower level players. The game thrives on it’s ability to encourage working together. It’s a lot more social as well which means people care about their characters rep since most people have all classes maxed on one char. The player base is also more mature since the average age is mid to late twenties+
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People blow up on people in wow for not playing perfectly. People blow up in FF to defend themselves playing like crap, neither game has a great general population.
One dungeon run I did a BLM wasn’t aoeing at all. Kindly said he should AoE on trash pulls, he basically told me to f off
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I have like a 7 person queue on Mateus. I can guarantee you a server like Siren has no queue.
Thats weird considering I actually made a character on that server the other day (since I’m on entry) and had a 13 queue. shrug
I liked the name of it 
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Skid Row is more welcoming than the WoW community, so I am not surprised.
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