If WoW were setup like FFXIV

Community General Discussion
604

I guess this is where there may be a big difference in perception.

To many players “alts” is referring to the ability to play an alternate job/class/spec. In this way FFXIV is WAY more friendlier than WoW.

But if you’re referring to simply just playing another character of a different race, then that’s far from the above reference of an alt. When you’re playing a game, your race has such a menial impact on your gameplay. Maybe in GW2 it has a larger impact than ffxiv and wow, but even that is more related to cutscenes and story than actual gameplay. But between the latter 2, it’s hardly a thing.

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605

New job is one reason; the other part is to experience new looks, new lore. It’s particularly appealing to FFXIV players who lean on the roleplay side, it’s why the bestseller of Square’s exceptionally large cash shop is Fantasia, last I checked. In FFXIV, as I’ve said before, you would think they would be more lax on customizations as a result–but Square does so love their microtransactions. And as much as some people don’t like hearing it, one of their new races is required, without a disclaimer, to spend $$$ for customization that all other races can get for 2k gil–because the devs rushed the models for Shadowbringers. There has been no update on that situation for two years. They are banking on a situation they themselves created. That is a terrible look on any company.

TL;DR: I have never felt more keenly aware of a game trying to milk me for microtransactions on top of my sub than I have playing FFXIV.

Customization aside–alts in general are a grind, make no mistake. But in the leveling of one, WoW is easier in the journey in both aspects.

You can level all jobs on one character in FFXIV, yes. Your first job will complete the MSQ, unless you switched over to another, but all in all, your MSQ will be gone before you leveled all the jobs available. Sidequests you may have skipped along the way will still be used up before you have leveled all the jobs available. New Game Plus gives no exp and no rewards; it’s just a story replay.

You now are stuck in a seemingly endless grind of deep dungeon dives (Palace Of The Dead and Heaven-On-High, which make Torghast look really nice) and the same dungeons/raids via roulette, to level all the rest. The Main Scenario gives some of the best exp, esp. if you get Praetorium. Except Praetorium also has a mandatory one hour and five minutes roughly of unskippable cutscenes, every time.

Rested time is shared between PvE and DoH (crafting). Leveled that baby 20 CRP a bit? You just blew all the rested exp for your 50 RDM. Warcraft gathering uses rested exp, too, but it gives you PvE exp. In FFXIV, Gathering only levels Gathering.

The repetition gets very, very old, very fast, and with the number of jobs available, it is very, very boring. (PotD groups can also be some of the most ill-tempered, new player unfriendly pits I’ve seen in any MMO. They don’t care you need those silver chests to level your Aetherpool stats, and they will let you know it just enough to skirt outright harassment.) That’s one of the things that make me laugh when people swear the FFXIV community isn’t toxic. They definitely are, they are just afraid of losing their accounts because the GMs are ruthless with the banhammer. As a result, the bads are kings and queens of passive-aggressive badgering in-game–and no better than any other MMO community in private channels. Or Warcraft forums.

In Warcraft, I can roll a fresh alt, and thanks to Chromie, I can level in any xpac, questing in places I haven’t seen before, learn new things about the world and characters. It’s great for would-be loremasters. The leveling is exceptionally fast, and for me it always stays fresh. Queue times are rarely noticeably long, even for DPS classes, and I quest while I wait–and thanks to Warcraft being far more friendly with accountbound things, it just feels like an extension of my main. And boom–I have my desired new look, new lore, without spending a dime, and the time cost is far less tedious. And even for that race, what would cost me $$$$ to change in FFXIV? In-game silver at the barbershop.

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606

wOw GuD fF bAd

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607

WoW is about the end game now, Final Fantasy is about the story.

I have a level 38 Paladin in FFXIV and so far the leveling experience has been very enjoyable. You can pretty much focus on the main quests to level which are easy to spot with all the distinct quest markers. I’m pretty excited to see where the story takes me, haven’t felt like that in WoW since Wrath.

Everyone is different however. We’re all gamers just trying to have fun!

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608

At the end of the day I see where you’re coming from, but I disagree.

But that’s because of the subjective nature of what we each consider “alt-friendly”.

You reference FFXIV:

Almost all players I know level this way in WoW.

Players have even been BEGGING Blizz to make the intro questline skippable, even if it offers more/better xp per time spent.

This feature was pretty cool for new players- but for existing players that have already seen/done/leveled through that content and just want to play a new class, the ability to pick an expansion to level through is irrelevant.

609

I came from the original FF. You know what drew a lot of us? Your race choice mattering. When you picked X it was good for Y. In FF you didn’t have that. In FF if I wanted to experience another race, it was like you need to start over again. I know race changes exist but I did enjoy the journey on each of these toons.

When they relaunched I tried it, and went back to it a few times after. It still didn’t draw me in. As much as some applaud the multi spec toons, I still hated it. The GCDs didn’t change enough for my liking either. I will say the music is still a draw for me in FF though, I have already posted this tune this week but it’s worth sharing again.

That’s the thing though I see plenty who want multi class here, for me that would end my WoW journey.

610

But the rub there is that you have choices. In FFXIV you have no more story to keep you occupied. Only a blind grind and maybe “Crawling” on loop on your music player.

I assume you mean the Maw? Odds are, that choice will come too–hell I hope so, because if Darion makes that cold pun one more time I am leaving him in the Maw forever. As it stands now, though, I do love a free level, because even on a fresh 48 the intro isn’t difficult.

If you enjoy the Warcraft lore, it’s highly entertaining. I’ve played since Wrath, and I still found new material. It’s subjective, but I’d bet bucks players will notice the grind more keenly after their 300th PotD, because last I delved in, one wipe gives you nothing but a loadout.

611

If wow lvling is trash, what is ff14 lvling?
Id picture it something like guzzling down sewage.

612

I don’t know, the comment was on WoW and wasn’t being compared to anything else.

You ok?

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613

I mean, there’s no requirement for you to stay on the same toon if you wanted to try a new class. Yes, you’d have to prepare yourself to re-do the entire journey, that’s just the price you’d be paying to stay single-class.

614

Which is why I explained I preferred WoW. I understand the grind to want multiples, but didn’t see the point. The draw from the original FF to WoW for me was that race choice mattered, that it wasn’t just a skin like it is in FF. I get why people like it, but I personally don’t. And you see, when I tried it again, that didn’t change for me, so I chose to no longer take part.

I didn’t go to the forums demanding it be more like this, I realized that people like different things.

Sorry for reiterating the same point.

615

To be fair though, in WoW race choice doesn’t really matter either. All that selecting a race does is set before you what classes you can choose, that’s it. A Tauren Priest isn’t necessarily better or worse than a Gnome Priest. Yes, there are small racial differences, but those differences don’t usually dictate a class being played differently.

Ideally, all classes would open up to all races AND there’d be the ability to swap classes, but not everyone would be forced into it. It’d be up to you, like professions used to be before they became utterly irrelevant.

616

If WoW were setup like FFXIV

Hmmm, wonder where i got ff14 from on this topic specifically mentionning ff14.
How curious.

Besides, describing wow lvling as trash inherently implies you are comparing it to something else.

617

Neato, still had nothing to do with the comment you targeted.

Once again, you ok?

618

It mattered in Vanilla, so please stop trying to down my feelings. You want to dance around it, but this is my opinion. Race choice never mattered in FF. That’s a fact. You wanted to heal on your priest in Classic, not a dwarf oh get out of here!

That’s a completely disingenuous comment. Let’s be real here they want dual specs too, so if I choose not to partake, I will not get groups because instead of playing the game that offered what you wanted you demanded changes here that plenty dislike.

619

… What?

But…
But it did.

Are you immune to logic?
How utterly confusing.

620

It did? Where? I mean it literally says only one thing lol.

621

yeah and in BFA, you can play allied races but you’re stuck with playing one gender due to “lore” reasons (eg, you unlock Highmountain Tauren, but you can only play as a Male Highmountain)

622

Been around since Vanilla. Played a Tauren. I didn’t feel any worse of a member of a given class than anyone else that was a different race. I played a Warrior the same on a Tauren as I would on a Troll, or an Orc, or later races down the line.

Again, some racial perks were nice, but that wasn’t class-based at all.

I never said that we ought to combine classes, that’s actually something FF did away with (at least in XIV, I know XI still does it). I stand by that we should be able to just swap a class so that we can immediately play the class we want on a character aesthetic we like without having to go through creation and everything else all over again. Plus, it would make borrowed power systems a lot more tolerable since you’d be on the same character and thus be spared certain grinds.

623

It would never work beyond redesigning the whole game, and personally again I don’t need another Cata.

Like I said earlier, you have a game that offers what you want. Play that. When I didn’t like FF I didn’t push for it to be redesigned. You think people don’t want the dual specs, but it has come up. I encourage you to peruse the bounty of topics related to this that were moved to off-topic.