I started my MMO career in Everquest in '99, moved over to WoW in January of '05. I’ve tried literally every MMO released on PC since then due to getting frustrated with WoW from time to time or in the boring extended content droughts between xpacs.
There are many things other MMOs (both older and newer than WoW) do better than WoW which I would like to see implemented in WoW. But from an overall standpoint, nothing compares to WoW. As a total package, it’s pros outweigh the pros of every competitor and their cons tend to drastically outweigh the cons I find in WoW.
For me personally, FFXIV is trying to bridge the gap between eastern and western MMOs and I’ve never played an eastern MMO that I was a fan of. They feel a lot more cluttered, the art direction is a lot more anime inspired and just feels really awkward and lacking and I personally enjoy the stylized art direction of WoW which I feel ages much better overall. Animations feel incredibly blocky and stiff and lacks the character and personality you find in WoW. It feel very grind oriented and felt much more like doing chores than gameplay in other MMOs. I tried really hard to love FFXIV as I grew up on Squaresoft FF titles and to this day feel they’re unbeatable in the JRPG genre, it just didn’t translate to an MMO well. This is of course all just my subjective opinion and I’m sure you could find others with the exact opposite opinion.
People comparing MMOs or games is common. There are pros/cons to each and we all wish we could conglomerate all the best features into 1 game but that’s just wishful thinking and banter.
Yes, both forums have their share of issues but I’ll take the issues here any day of the week.
I was just elaborating why I like to play a MMO alone most of the time.
I banged my head against the wall in group finder E1S for around 6 hours and kinda gave up after that. Haven’t touched it or any of the other S modes since.
It’s like they are holding onto to some feelings and need some reassurance that their preference for WoW is the correct one. It’s like they got out of a bad relationship and want to discuss how much they prefer the new relationship, never mind that some people have broken up with the person they are currently dating.
Sure, people compare games, but go to some neutral forum or something similar if you want a more informed opinion. Posting on the WoW forums “hey, WoW is awesome right?” and finding agreement, from people on the WoW forums, isn’t exactly shocking.
As you said, things about WoW are overstated, things in FF14 are understated. It’s a bit like listening to the developers really. Soon we’ll hear how much they love the mission table for example.
I think WoW does combat better, but FF14 has a better narrative. I finished 5.3 recently in FF14 and the feels were real. I don’t think I’ve ever really had that in WoW. Maybe the Jaina questline in BFA, but then they sorta rolled her back by the end of the expansion it felt like. Garrosh killing Cairne could have been one but they put that in a book instead of the game.
this is a very well written post and I agree with all the points.
I played FFXIV for quite some time. and altho the story was “cool” and entertaining… I wouldn’t call it ZOMG AMAZEBALLS… like everyone seems to think it is.
I tried all the jobs, but ended up sticking with Machinist for sole fact it’s flashy, it’s fun, and it’s very very active.
OP hit the nail right on the head tho… wow has so many “cool” player mechanics… FFXIV is just kind of a stale button masher. it’s a nice place to visit for sure, but It’s not even close to a “wow killer” lol
Generally, many would prefer the resources placed elsewhere, it wasn’t always a feature in the game, and when it appeared, it wasn’t exactly loved other than the fact it produced gold for them. Very hated in Legion as it time gated many things. Not uncommon to hear “why is a mobile game in my MMO?” and I’ve never really heard anyone say “WoW is so awesome, you have to see their mission table” which was really my point. Even in your own comment you downplay them.
I played WoW since launch and took a break when FF14 Reborn came out and played that until just recently. I did Extremes but never stepped in to savages. I had fun. I enjoyed the healing classes. I enjoy how they told a story. Alas, the way the game is designed (and stated by Yoshi-p) to give you small bursts of patches which are quickly completed depending on your interest in the game (casual, hardcore, Ultimate raider). So, for me, I was done all the content with in 2-3 days and then had nothing new to do but dailies for the next 3-5 months.
I will admit I LOVE FFXIV’s Glamour system (Tmog). I wish I could turn so much of my plate armor in to something nice like a dress or cloth looking. However, I feel I just have more more to do in WoW then I did in FFXIV besides standing around the Quicksands and reading all the character Bios linked. Leveling another toon was just me looking at the creation screen and then noping out because I didn’t want to go through all of that again or pay for a story boost.