Guild Wars 2

no contest. ff6 and 4 and a sexy picture of rydia wins.

oh wait…what did i say…

TL;DR
my experience with ff: downloaded. started. boring starting cutscene (oh noes, pirates..or whatever). it was unskipable or the button was well hidden. when i finally was through it, i was running around city, clicking all these ‘!’ and ‘?’ npcs, scrolling their walls of text, trying to find anything on that useless minimap, getting rid of constantly popping up windows that try to explain something, but fail hard at it. after around 40minutes i closed and uninstalled it. in that time i had no chance to even try battle, cause i got bored. sorry – i felt like in other 100’s generic korean mmo’s, just with FF in title. oh and GUI. its terrible by all means.

gw2: you create character, start with little explanation of story and are already in the heat of battle (ok, the last feature pack seriously ruined leveling experience if you ask me – glad ive leveled my alts on old rules). then things are slowly explained to you while you progress. GUI is simple yet good looking. no need to go into details as its gw2 forums and everyone knows details.

all u said might be correct but ffx has 2 million subscribers while gw2 has far less and did not do well in the latest nscoft report.
so say what ever you want but numbers wont lie.

I’d still be playing FFXIV if they hadn’t introduced pigeon-holed classes and jobs and an armor system where you can’t wear whatever you want. While the first iteration definitely needed polish, it didn’t need to have it’s core, open skill system obliterated. It reminded me of UO and pre-NGE SWG.

Also didn’t care much for the l33t-d00d-ification of content, especially with respect to the story, requiring party play where it didn’t used to exist.

And finally, while the world became amazing, the character level graphics and graphics in other areas were totally dumbed down so it would run on the PoS3 and below, and it took away from how well the characters looked (which are 9/10ths of the law).

I remember i once got a beta invate to that game. Downloaded the client for hours
and when i finally was ready i noticed that the game was only playable in a small
800×600 window and even there it was laggy as hell

Worst beta i ever saw .. and i was in a lot of betas. Killed at least any further interest
in that game.

It’s not really fair to compare the two games to be honest. They cater to different people.

Guild Wars 2, is a very casual game. It allows players to come back to the game, without them feeling that everyone else has better gear than them. ArenaNet has done a good job on making it as easy as possible for both new and older players to get into the loop without very much effort. It allows you to replay story missions without having to go through the hassle of queueing with others, or having to find a party (cept for dungeons of course). While other games focus on gear progession and large end game raids, GW2 focuses more on the social and cosmetic aspect. I really don’t want to start on the whole WvW debacle, but Arenanet has a huge potential endgame right there.

Other traditional MMO’s are not like this (atleast not the ones I played)

Now, I just want to state that I am not saying that Guild Wars 2 is less MMO than others, it’s just very casual friendly. I for one think that’s what defines it, and makes it different from the others.

IcarusMelody.5312:

Man I wish leveling via dungeons wasnt largely looked down upon in GW2 without needing your lvl80 to do everything first before swapping out. I liked the challenge that was in dungeons at the level you unlocked them at. Folks have runned them so many times though that most have zero patience for it :x

Yeah, I really do consider the dungeon communities in FF14 and GW2 to be racing each other to the bottom. And that’s really sad, because GW2 has an easy way to start dungeon groups. It’s keeping them together and insured against trolls that’s the problem. :\

It’s ok to play another MMO behind Guild Wars , I also play WoW along with Guild Wars , nothing wrong there . As for Final Fantasy , I quit that game since every character looked too cartoony , the game was great but I just did not connect with the game .

notebene.3190:

an armor system where you can’t wear whatever you want.

This is a picture I recently took of my Bard, who’s currently only not raiding because I don’t care to, but is doing all the end-game content just short of raiding.

Looks like I can wear whatever I want.

Edit: Also, the PS3 limitations do not affect the PC graphic options.

Sai.5908:

It’s ok to play another MMO behind Guild Wars , I also play WoW along with Guild Wars , nothing wrong there . As for Final Fantasy , I quit that game since every character looked too cartoony , the game was great but I just did not connect with the game .

Play WoW, but FF14 is too cartoony?
Irony. (I tease because I love. =P)

Though, I do like the relatively sincere aesthetic for GW2. It’s not grimdarkgritty like Warhammer was (past tense, dead game, lol) or ESO, but it doesn’t abuse bright and shining color palettes like WoW or FF14.
GW2 is refreshingly free of visual distraction. …Except in zergmob boss fights. >_>

Xae Isareth.1364:

sorudo.9054:

the one thing i DON’T like about GW2 is exactly what the OP sees as a good thing, scaling.
i don’t want my lvl 60 character to feel like a starter character, it needs to feel like i actually am stronger then the rest.
overleveling is a part of a level system such as this, scaling ppl down diminishes the joy and reason of levels and shows that they can just as much remove levels and start using a non-level system.

i rather overlevel then be kicked down just because i am in a lower level area, i think that’s one of the reasons why GW2 feels so empty and distant compare to, let’s say, SW:ToR.
i level to become more powerful, if i reach a certain level it needs to matter.

You see the problem with not having scaling is that dead content becomes inevitable. If you outlevel content when there’s no scaling, you’ll obliterate that content. If you can obliterate that content then obviously the rewards can’t be good. If the rewards aren’t good then no one does the content.

If a piece of content is inevitably doing to be dead, then the developers won’t bother putting effort into it. That’s why the middle parts of most MMOs are incredibly boring.

there are two reasons for that:
1.) players in general are to much focused on their own group of players, not helping a stranger in lower levels.
2.) low level areas are exclusive for low level players, it would actually not hurt if they added plenty of mini dungeons in low level areas for mid and high level characters.

also, the reason who mid and low level areas are boring is because every single MMO is just way to small to really put the level system in good use, slow leveling becomes boring because you’re forced in a really small place without any room to move.
you also have to keep in mind that allot of MMO’s (including GW2) forces levels as unlock milestone, you can’t get anything done without having a level up.

ideally MMO’s should be at least 20X bigger then the biggest 3D MMO around (EVE online doesn’t count, that game is 90% filled with nothing, only 10% of the game is an actual playground).
levels should be allot slower, as in a week or so per level, in return all the levels should do is make you a bit more powerful.
so skills, weapons, armor, choice of skills, all not bound on levels.

i have a design ready but with plenty of work behind it (i first need to figure out how to explain this without making it complicated to understand >_< ), but this would be how an MMO in my mind would be.
that way a game has plenty of re-playability, makes levels less important, opens up the world for plenty of other activities and gives some breathing space.

funny how noone talks abbout how BAD and DEAD is PvP in that game

thats a HUGE + for GW2

once you finish PvE and in best gear there is nothing to do outside of runing the same raids dungeons till your eyes bleed.

in GW2 once you do the events that come weekly you can go back and PvP that is not the same every single times.

in my opinion for a MMO to have longevity it needs PvP or it gets super repetitive and boring.

After a recent discussion, some weeks ago about that game, I decided to try the free trial for FF 14. Let’s just say I uninstalled it less than an hour later . . . and leave it at that.

IMHO, FFXIV > GW2 right now for me. Why? Because I’m actually having fun there more compared to GW2, but that’s because the trait system changes from April destroyed the best thing about GW2, making alts. Many things also came to mind.

Crafting? FFXIV has some of the best.

Battles? While it’s basic Holy Trinity, people have to KNOW their classes to avoid bringing down the party since 1 person dying can completely wipe a group. Here in GW2, 1 person regardless of class can do an entire fight by themselves, so there is no real need to get better. You suck? Another person will pick up the slack.

Dungeons? 29 of them (will be 32 on the 20th), each different with their own unique mechanics.

Raids? Two 24 man raids with another coming on the 20th, plus 13 ‘floors’ of the superdungeon known as Binding Coil of Bahamut, which requires skill to survive.

If the trait system here in GW2 had never had the April patch that destroyed it, I’d be playing both of these games equally, simply because I had fun here before that patch and I have fun in FFXIV. But right now? Sorry, GW2 doesn’t have my heart and money, FFXIV does.

I like ff14, but not well enough to pay for it. Affording it isn’t even a vague concern, but rather, feeling that it’s worth my dollar.

It’s very pretty and there’s nothing particularly wrong with it now. I’m just tired of the raidy-gear-treadmill game.

Played wow for too long. Played SWTOR for a fair while.

In done with that style of game. Feels like I might never go back to it either.

I prefer gw2’s method of rewarding skill to be good than brainless dungeon and raid farming so your gear can finally be good enough to do the next set of dungeons and raids, ad nauseum.

Ff14 seems to be pretty alright as a raidy-gear-treadmill game though. I’d pay it before paying to play wow ever again.

RyuDragnier.9476:

Crafting? FFXIV has some of the best.

This is . . . kind of the only thing which makes me sad about dropping my subscription. That crafting was entertaining.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

RyuDragnier.9476:

Crafting? FFXIV has some of the best.

This is . . . kind of the only thing which makes me sad about dropping my subscription. That crafting was entertaining.

I’m leveling all the crafters and finishing up on the gatherers right now. Crafting can get addictive, but because I’m lazy I’m pretty much using the Ixal daily quests (crafter beast tribe) along with the Provisioning and Supply for the Grand Companies to level up all the crafters faster. My goal is everything at level 50 before the expansion comes out later this year.

My dislike for FFXIV isn’t just the game revolving around traditional quest hubs and raiding mentality (which personally sucks for me. I wouldn’t play it for free, nevermind pay monthly for it).

But even more than that, I get dialogue from strangers that say “I can tell by how you’re dressed that you’re an adventurer”. People say the dialogue in Guild Wars 2 is bad, but at least in Guild Wars 2, when I’m just starting out, I’m not “an adventurer”. I’m not just some random guy looking to make a name for myself.

Humans start out in a situation fighting against something that means something. The centaur problem is pervasive. Charr fight ghosts. Asuran’s fight the Inquest. The norns go on a great hunt to make a name for themselves. The Sylvari start in the dream, before they’re even born.

This puts me in the game and the world right away. Rift had a great start too for this reason.

Just playing those first few hours in FFXIV (when I’d already been level 15 in Guild Wars 1) and just listening to the inane NPCs that are beyond generic to me, it just makes me feel like I’m wasting my time.

I mean yes, I can go kill 3 giant lady bugs and then go back to the quest giver and get my reward…but why would I want to.

Guild Wars 2 still feels organic to me when I play it. FFXIV feels completely contrived.

Squaresoft has been my absolute favorite game company almost my whole life… Not anymore though… I liked Enix too so I didn’t mind them working together but as soon as they started doing Online games and stupid card games I lost it all for them… I realy liked Final Fantasy 1-10, 12 … After that it all went downwards.

I won’t play iether FFXI or FFXIV even if it is free.

EdgarMTanaka.7291:

Squaresoft has been my absolute favorite game company almost my whole life… Not anymore though… I liked Enix too so I didn’t mind them working together but as soon as they started doing Online games and stupid card games I lost it all for them… I realy liked Final Fantasy 1-10, 12 … After that it all went downwards.

I won’t play iether FFXI or FFXIV even if it is free.

The entire FF franchise went to “hell” when the main devs of the FF series left to create Mistwalker in 2004.Look at the timeline and how FF has been progressing since then,it basically ( eventhough i still enjoy playing the FF series ) went downhill since these 3 keyfigures left.

Hironobu Sakaguchi
Kensuke Tanaka
Nobuo Uematsu

They made Lost Oddyssey ( a True FF game,with a different name ) and after that a few random games and it became kinda quiet.

Loading screens in cities. That’s all I have to say.

Caedmon.6798:

EdgarMTanaka.7291:

Squaresoft has been my absolute favorite game company almost my whole life… Not anymore though… I liked Enix too so I didn’t mind them working together but as soon as they started doing Online games and stupid card games I lost it all for them… I realy liked Final Fantasy 1-10, 12 … After that it all went downwards.

I won’t play iether FFXI or FFXIV even if it is free.

The entire FF franchise went to “hell” when the main devs of the FF series left to create Mistwalker in 2004.Look at the timeline and how FF has been progressing since then,it basically ( eventhough i still enjoy playing the FF series ) went downhill since these 3 keyfigures left.

Hironobu Sakaguchi
Kensuke Tanaka
Nobuo Uematsu

They made Lost Oddyssey ( a True FF game,with a different name ) and after that a few random games and it became kinda quiet.

It does not feel right to talk about this here… So I will just quickly say I am a fan of the Final Fantasy Tactics world (Inlcuding Advance) so Final Fantasy XII was one of the best FF games for me, though as you say Final Fantasy X was the last real Final Fantasy.

Also I have missed those Mistwalker prod games due to them being awfully expensive, but someday I will play them.

Vayne.8563:

My dislike for FFXIV isn’t just the game revolving around traditional quest hubs and raiding mentality (which personally sucks for me. I wouldn’t play it for free, nevermind pay monthly for it).

But even more than that, I get dialogue from strangers that say “I can tell by how you’re dressed that you’re an adventurer”. People say the dialogue in Guild Wars 2 is bad, but at least in Guild Wars 2, when I’m just starting out, I’m not “an adventurer”. I’m not just some random guy looking to make a name for myself.

Just playing those first few hours in FFXIV (when I’d already been level 15 in Guild Wars 1) and just listening to the inane NPCs that are beyond generic to me, it just makes me feel like I’m wasting my time.

I mean yes, I can go kill 3 giant lady bugs and then go back to the quest giver and get my reward…but why would I want to.

Guild Wars 2 still feels organic to me when I play it. FFXIV feels completely contrived.

XIV is as quest centric as you wanted it to be. You can literally just run the main scenario and dungeons to go from 1-50. I did it 3x on separate characters. First at launch,then with my brother, and later some friends.Dungeons teach you how to play with others. Teamwork is what made MMO’s great and addicting for me personally and despite how much GW2 likes to bunch up strangers it hardly requires it.

Triple wurm, and tequatl are also basically washed down versions of raid encounters that casual players can do in XIV.Except you do it with 24 players so its naturally more engaging because your actions matter much more than fighting it with 99 other randoms.New players might feel the game is stagnant/archaic in combat but any piece of the endgame would convince them wrong immediately.

That being said anyone with little to no experience with XIV still doesnt have 2cents worth noting. Not to mention the writing in XIV is definitely better and wittier where it matters; the story. GW2 doesnt have quest dialogue for a comparison anyways but I bet you’re still hearing the same 4-8 one liners from different npcs across Tyria.

I say the same to XIV players who say absurd statements about GW2 like: “I installed GW2,laughed, and uninstalled 10 mins later”. And thats fine and dandy thats there choice but also their loss.I Give credit where its due. GW2 did a hell of lot right and I still encourage friends to give it another try (because they basically did the above.)but how its being managed is so disheartening.

Anet had a year headstart on launch and Yoshida’s passion for improving and delivering XIV passed them up in no time in quality updates. They listen to their players and are open with their future plans.No signs of slowing down, they’re not taking breaks every other update. They create polls for what new things should take priority outside steady content. Not to mention every Primal they introduce amazing boss themes and is akin to adding another Giganticus Lupicus encounter which I thought Anet would’ve tried to 1up by now but go figure.

TL;DR -No MMO gives you the best they have to offer in 2-3 hours. GW2 doesnt either.
XIV has a bright and exciting future.
GW2 : Anet wont say.

IcarusMelody.5312:

Vayne.8563:

My dislike for FFXIV isn’t just the game revolving around traditional quest hubs and raiding mentality (which personally sucks for me. I wouldn’t play it for free, nevermind pay monthly for it).

But even more than that, I get dialogue from strangers that say “I can tell by how you’re dressed that you’re an adventurer”. People say the dialogue in Guild Wars 2 is bad, but at least in Guild Wars 2, when I’m just starting out, I’m not “an adventurer”. I’m not just some random guy looking to make a name for myself.

Just playing those first few hours in FFXIV (when I’d already been level 15 in Guild Wars 1) and just listening to the inane NPCs that are beyond generic to me, it just makes me feel like I’m wasting my time.

I mean yes, I can go kill 3 giant lady bugs and then go back to the quest giver and get my reward…but why would I want to.

Guild Wars 2 still feels organic to me when I play it. FFXIV feels completely contrived.

XIV is as quest centric as you wanted it to be. You can literally just run the main scenario and dungeons to go from 1-50. I did it 3x on separate characters. First at launch,then with my brother, and later some friends.Dungeons teach you how to play with others. Teamwork is what made MMO’s great and addicting for me personally and despite how much GW2 likes to bunch up strangers it hardly requires it.

Triple wurm, and tequatl are also basically washed down versions of raid encounters that casual players can do in XIV.Except you do it with 24 players so its naturally more engaging because your actions matter much more than fighting it with 99 other randoms.New players might feel the game is stagnant/archaic in combat but any piece of the endgame would convince them wrong immediately.

That being said anyone with little to no experience with XIV still doesnt have 2cents worth noting. Not to mention the writing in XIV is definitely better and wittier where it matters; the story. GW2 doesnt have quest dialogue for a comparison anyways but I bet you’re still hearing the same 4-8 one liners from different npcs across Tyria.

I say the same to XIV players who say absurd statements about GW2 like: “I installed GW2,laughed, and uninstalled 10 mins later”. And thats fine and dandy thats there choice but also their loss.I Give credit where its due. GW2 did a hell of lot right and I still encourage friends to give it another try (because they basically did the above.)but how its being managed is so disheartening.

Anet had a year headstart on launch and Yoshida’s passion for improving and delivering XIV passed them up in no time in quality updates. They listen to their players and are open with their future plans.No signs of slowing down, they’re not taking breaks every other update. They create polls for what new things should take priority outside steady content. Not to mention every Primal they introduce amazing boss themes and is akin to adding another Giganticus Lupicus encounter which I thought Anet would’ve tried to 1up by now but go figure.

TL;DR -No MMO gives you the best they have to offer in 2-3 hours. GW2 doesnt either.
XIV has a bright and exciting future.
GW2 : Anet wont say.

Completely irrelevant though. The game you’re describing is still a trinity game, based around dungeons and raids for the most part and for a lot of us, we’re here to get away from that.

Vayne.8563:

Completely irrelevant though. The game you’re describing is still a trinity game, based around dungeons and raids for the most part and for a lot of us, we’re here to get away from that.

ok GW2 dont’ have raids, I grow to accept that.

But are you suggesting GW2 dungeon are subpar or suppose to be subpar to other games?

laokoko.7403:

Vayne.8563:

Completely irrelevant though. The game you’re describing is still a trinity game, based around dungeons and raids for the most part and for a lot of us, we’re here to get away from that.

ok GW2 dont’ have raids, I grow to accept that.

But are you suggesting GW2 dungeon are subpar or suppose to be subpar to other games?

I think its just that GW2 is not based around dungeons .. or that you don’t have to
play dungeons if you don’t like them.
I don’t like dungeons really that much, but in other MMOs if you don’t play them
you never get good items since crafted/open world stuff << dungeon stuff << raid stuff.

laokoko.7403:

Vayne.8563:

Completely irrelevant though. The game you’re describing is still a trinity game, based around dungeons and raids for the most part and for a lot of us, we’re here to get away from that.

ok GW2 dont’ have raids, I grow to accept that.

But are you suggesting GW2 dungeon are subpar or suppose to be subpar to other games?

I’m saying I don’t want to play a trinity game. I don’t like fixed roles. I’ve never particularly liked dungeons anyway, because I wanted an MMO I could play for the open world instead of instances. I mean the thing that defines an MMO is the open world. Lots of games have instances that aren’t MMOs.

So why should the focus of games be on dungeons and raids, which are instanced content? It wasn’t what I wanted and it is one of the reasons I’m here.

they’re both great games, but if GW2 was your first MMO, I can understand the preference to GW2. My first MMO’s were ultima, wow, etc. 5 different skill bars, a myriad of skills for any situations, etc are what I’m used to (and honestly prefer, in my personal opinion GW2’s UI and skills are too oversimplified)

Vayne.8563:

laokoko.7403:

Vayne.8563:

Completely irrelevant though. The game you’re describing is still a trinity game, based around dungeons and raids for the most part and for a lot of us, we’re here to get away from that.

ok GW2 dont’ have raids, I grow to accept that.

But are you suggesting GW2 dungeon are subpar or suppose to be subpar to other games?

I’m saying I don’t want to play a trinity game. I don’t like fixed roles. I’ve never particularly liked dungeons anyway, because I wanted an MMO I could play for the open world instead of instances. I mean the thing that defines an MMO is the open world. Lots of games have instances that aren’t MMOs.

So why should the focus of games be on dungeons and raids, which are instanced content? It wasn’t what I wanted and it is one of the reasons I’m here.

If you mean people can get good gear without doing dungeon, “that’s fine”. So people aren’t forced to do it if they don’t want.

But it’s a bit disheartened if you mean GW2 dungeon is subpar. Especially hearing from someone who is so passionate on defending GW2 for the past 2 years.

Me personally I think GW2 dungeon is pretty good. Coupled in GW2’s combat mechanic. I find it pretty interesting.

laokoko.7403:

Vayne.8563:

laokoko.7403:

Vayne.8563:

Completely irrelevant though. The game you’re describing is still a trinity game, based around dungeons and raids for the most part and for a lot of us, we’re here to get away from that.

ok GW2 dont’ have raids, I grow to accept that.

But are you suggesting GW2 dungeon are subpar or suppose to be subpar to other games?

I’m saying I don’t want to play a trinity game. I don’t like fixed roles. I’ve never particularly liked dungeons anyway, because I wanted an MMO I could play for the open world instead of instances. I mean the thing that defines an MMO is the open world. Lots of games have instances that aren’t MMOs.

So why should the focus of games be on dungeons and raids, which are instanced content? It wasn’t what I wanted and it is one of the reasons I’m here.

If you mean people can get good gear without doing dungeon, “that’s fine”. So people aren’t forced to do it if they don’t want.

But it’s a bit disheartened if you mean GW2 dungeon is subpar. Especially hearing from someone who is so passionate on defending GW2 for the past 2 years.

I don’t think Guild Wars 2 dungeons are par or sub par. I never implied it. I personally prefer running dungeons without a trinity. There are some dungeons I like better than others, but I’ve not played dungeons in FF XIV. However, I have played Trinity dungeons in other games (including Rift, WoW and Lotro).

In general, I don’t enjoy the trinity as much. For me it’s a matter of feeling contrived. Imagine how stupid Lord of the Rings would have been if Frodo was never in danger. People would only attack Boromir and Gandalf would heal him. To me, that’s all about the mechanics and not about the game.

Now in Guild Wars 2, a lot of people stack and kill stuff. That feels just as cheesy to me and I dont’ like it.

The difference is, I can run Guild Wars 2 dungeons in a group with people without stacking, and yes, it’s harder and takes longer, but that I prefer.

You can’t do that in most games with dungeons unless you’ve outleveled those dungeons, at which point it’s just as cheesy (to me).

Vayne.8563:

I don’t think Guild Wars 2 dungeons are par or sub par. I never implied it.

Alright. I somehow get the idea from your previous post dungeon just aren’t important in this game.

Maybe I’m reading too much over the line.

I generally really like dungeon in this game. And many of my guild mates do too.

Two completly different games with different approaches. GW2 is more mainstream and arguebly more popular in the west while FFXIV has its’ own loyal fanbase while being more popular in the east. Asia aside, FFXIV is a successful title, that may not have had the same success at release like GW2, however have been doing well, delivering their promises of improving the game and driving the story forward.

PS. For the people who mentioned it, FFXIV doesn’t have 2 millions subs neither did it ever had such an amount at any time-period. It has over 2 millions accounts created overall in both the western and the eastern market which is below many games including GW2 and SWTOR (which is sad since I liked FFXIV much more than SWTOR). The game is healthy though and has a huge player-base.

Both games can learn from eachother a thing or two however they are still too different in one way or another.

laokoko.7403:

Vayne.8563:

I don’t think Guild Wars 2 dungeons are par or sub par. I never implied it.

Alright. I somehow get the idea from your previous post dungeon just aren’t important in this game.

Maybe I’m reading too much over the line.

I generally really like dungeon in this game. And many of my guild mates do too.

I generally like them too. But they’re not central to the personal story (outside of once) like they are on the other game, nor are they required for progression like they are over there.

And I can also enjoy them more with the GW2 method of handing out loot rather than Need/Greed/Pass.

What i’m really interested to know is how many players FFXIV does have in the west,
since if we count the eastern market, that is still very different, we then have also to
talk about Lineage I + II and Aion for example.
However in the west L2 was celebrating 64k users when i played it while it had over
2 millions subscribers in the east, and was at that time (before WoW release) the most
successful MMO ever.

laokoko.7403:

Vayne.8563:

I don’t think Guild Wars 2 dungeons are par or sub par. I never implied it.

Alright. I somehow get the idea from your previous post dungeon just aren’t important in this game.

Maybe I’m reading too much over the line.

I generally really like dungeon in this game. And many of my guild mates do too.

You have to understand, in most MMOs, dungeons are what you do at max level period. Dungeons and raids.

Rift had one single epic quest line that took you through every dungeon and culimated in a raid. That was it. It because very obvious to me that Rift was trying to funnel every player into raids, but I didn’t want to raid. It doesn’t interest me. I don’t find it fun. And I don’t want to depend on 20 people to maybe have a good time.

I wanted more open world stuff. When I was playing that stuff wasn’t really supported. The currency from open world dynamic events was planarite. I’d already hit the cap for it, but there was nothing to buy with it anyway. There was simply no reason to do the open world stuff and many people ignored it.

I wanted a game that centered around the open world because that’s what I prefer. In Guild Wars 2, the dungeons aren’t a game requirement for most things. I can get max level gear without ever entering a dungeon if I want. That’s the difference I’m looking for.

I can go to any zone I enjoy to level or even just run around on my 80 and still get some rewards at level. You can’t do that in most MMOs.

Beldin.5498:

What i’m really interested to know is how many players FFXIV does have in the west,
since if we count the eastern market, that is still very different, we then have also to
talk about Lineage I + II and Aion for example.
However in the west L2 was celebrating 64k users when i played it while it had over
2 millions subscribers in the east, and was at that time (before WoW release) the most
successful MMO ever.

It’s not as high as people are saying. Last April the game hit 2 million registered accounts total. I’m pretty sure Guild Wars 2 is as or more successful. That said, because of the subscription fee it’s likely that FF makes more money over all.

Vayne.8563:

Rift had one single epic quest line that took you through every dungeon and culimated in a raid. That was it. It because very obvious to me that Rift was trying to funnel every player into raids, but I didn’t want to raid. It doesn’t interest me. I don’t find it fun. And I don’t want to depend on 20 people to maybe have a good time.

That was also just “stolen” from EQ2. I even did that epic line in EQ2 classic but it
was already a big pita how much time we wasted wiping at Darathar each week,
and the first group finally even disbanded without ever beating him, and then
finally someone postet the trick in the forums and we managed it with another
group of people.
However 1 month or so after i finally had my epic weapon we got the first addon
and that already invalidated alle the hours i wasted into that.

Still the amount of content that EQ2 had and pushed out was emough to play it
for nearly 5 years.
Rift however only lasted 5 month until i noticed that there is simply not enough
beside dungeons / raiding .. since we didn’t even got lvl 50 items from purple shard
from World Event bosses.

Beldin.5498:

Vayne.8563:

Rift had one single epic quest line that took you through every dungeon and culimated in a raid. That was it. It because very obvious to me that Rift was trying to funnel every player into raids, but I didn’t want to raid. It doesn’t interest me. I don’t find it fun. And I don’t want to depend on 20 people to maybe have a good time.

That was also just “stolen” from EQ2. I even did that epic line in EQ2 classic but it
was already a big pita how much time we wasted wiping at Darathar each week,
and the first group finally even disbanded without ever beating him, and then
finally someone postet the trick in the forums and we managed it with another
group of people.
However 1 month or so after i finally had my epic weapon we got the first addon
and that already invalidated alle the hours i wasted into that.

Rift also stole the lore from Aion with barely any changes, without even bothering to change the name of the “good” capitol city. lol

Vayne.8563:

Rift also stole the lore from Aion with barely any changes, without even bothering to change the name of the “good” capitol city. lol

I more or less expected that they took some things from EQ2, since producer Scott Hartsman was from EQ2.

I especially didn’t understood why they didn’t had different balancing for PvE and PvP,
since we also had that in EQ2, and i hated it in Rift when PvE skills were nerfed all the
time just because people in PvP were crying that skill x was OP.

Vayne.8563:

Beldin.5498:

What i’m really interested to know is how many players FFXIV does have in the west,
since if we count the eastern market, that is still very different, we then have also to
talk about Lineage I + II and Aion for example.
However in the west L2 was celebrating 64k users when i played it while it had over
2 millions subscribers in the east, and was at that time (before WoW release) the most
successful MMO ever.

It’s not as high as people are saying. Last April the game hit 2 million registered accounts total. I’m pretty sure Guild Wars 2 is as or more successful. That said, because of the subscription fee it’s likely that FF makes more money over all.

Actually FFXIV has less players than people realize. The 2 million registered accounts probably misled a lot of people who though that number was actual subscription rather then just accoutns created. recently they released some info and well square Enix has 3 MMOs running FFXIV, FXI, Dragon Quest 10. Combined they have just under 1 million subscriptions.

http://www.polygon.com/2015/1/2/7480177/square-enix-final-fantasy-14-final-fantasy-11-dragon-quest-10-subscribers

They dont say how many subs they have individually. Obviously FFXIV has the biggest number I’d imagine but how big that is, is hard to say. I’d imagine that FFXI and Dragon quest are profitable if they havent been shut down so I imagine they have at least 100k each which puts FFXIV in the range of 600-800 subs perhaps? dont know this part is speculation on my part.

They have enough to keep many servers as “closed” to character creation to prevent overcrowding. I think the number 600-800 is lowballing it by quite a bit, though that’s more from what I would see on festival times.

. . . which as we all know from GW1, is when everyone logs in for the goodies. Even lapsed players.

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

They have enough to keep many servers as “closed” to character creation to prevent overcrowding. I think the number 600-800 is lowballing it by quite a bit, though that’s more from what I would see on festival times.

. . . which as we all know from GW1, is when everyone logs in for the goodies. Even lapsed players.

actually its probably a bit too high. I did some research and it turns out dragon quest had over 300k subs as off march last year.
“In a 2014 interview, producer Yosuke Saito said, in Japan, Dragon Quest X has 300,000 active audiences per a day”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Quest_X

note thats active players per day not subs which is likely larger (though might have fallen since then)

on Reddit players dont complain about lack of players in FFXI either so there has to be a healthy population there as well.

That being said they’ve said plenty of times that FFXIV is their top earner so I imagine the number of subs is defintely above 500k. Which means probably 600k-800k isnt that off the mark just if Dragon Quest didnt drop in popularity in the last 9 months its probably closer to the 600k then it is to the 800k

Galen Grey.4709:

Tobias Trueflight.8350:

They have enough to keep many servers as “closed” to character creation to prevent overcrowding. I think the number 600-800 is lowballing it by quite a bit, though that’s more from what I would see on festival times.

. . . which as we all know from GW1, is when everyone logs in for the goodies. Even lapsed players.

actually its probably a bit too high. I did some research and it turns out dragon quest had over 300k subs as off march last year.
“In a 2014 interview, producer Yosuke Saito said, in Japan, Dragon Quest X has 300,000 active audiences per a day”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Quest_X

note thats active players per day not subs which is likely larger (though might have fallen since then)

on Reddit players dont complain about lack of players in FFXI either so there has to be a healthy population there as well.

That being said they’ve said plenty of times that FFXIV is their top earner so I imagine the number of subs is defintely above 500k. Which means probably 600k-800k isnt that off the mark just if Dragon Quest didnt drop in popularity in the last 9 months its probably closer to the 600k then it is to the 800k

Isn’t it kind of silly to argue about another game’s population on these forums? All I can say is that after playing both games, XIV feels very much alive, even without megaservers. The armory system assures a healthy population on even low level maps and dungeons. All major cities are bustling even in off-times and it’s always easy to find a PUG for stuff (granted i played pld/war so that might have helped).

Secondly those numbers are more then ourdated; from march 2014. More time has passed since then, than from release to this report. It misses the release on PS4, which boosted sub numbers tremendously, especially in the less PC centric JP market, and 3 major patches. Even if sub numbers were only 1k, as long as the world feels full (which it does) people won’t mind.

Besides, comparing these games is quite silly. They both target a different audience. GW2 is very casual and aims to make everything accessible to everyone. Dungeons and general PvE are not challenging and really good to relax after a hard days work.
XIV aims at a hardcore audience. Endgame dungeons and bossfights are incredibly punishing and require an insane amount of knowledge of ones class as well as team coordination.

Both have their place. Both seemingly do very well. I wouldn’t want to force stuff I liked in XIV on people over here because frankly, it’s the wrong audience but god, if only ANet released more content like Liadri or general PvE stuff were individual contribution mattered. The game is in my mind far too easy and allows for a ‘Imma spam #1 because even if I die, someone else will do my work for me’ mentality.

PS: though they should take a look at housing over there because it’s awesome! In my personal opnion the perfect way of doing housing and certainly the best in the industry by far. Well, that and the epic boss music.

Crovax.7854:

Isn’t it kind of silly to argue about another game’s population on these forums?

Speculating, not arguing.

If you guys want to talk about FFIV, why not go to FFIV forums. If you dont’ have an account for that game. There are other public forums you can go to.

And those forums provide better information anyway. I visit them myself regularly.

Crovax.7854:

Isn’t it kind of silly to argue about another game’s population on these forums?

Considering it’s entirely irrelevant to any fair comparison between both games? Yep.

Both games don’t live up to their potential in my opinion. Although I think FFXIV is doing a lot better than GW2. FXIV is very restrictive as far as classes go, sure you can be all classes but everyone playing the same class is exactly the same. The combat is clunky and boring, but the game has a ton of content and they continually keep adding to it. FXIV also has decently thought out mechanics and decent class balance. GW2 on the other hand has nonrestrictive classes but they are horribly balanced with tons of skills, weapons, traits being completely unviable. GW2 constantly suffers from poorly thought out mechanics and refusal to fix them. GW2 has a real lack of fun content, instead they’ve concentrated on grindy content. Gw2 combat is smooth but spammy and lacking real tactical thought.

GW2 at this point can be described in a single word, apathy. FFXIV on the other hand while not being the greatest in some departments at least seems interested in producing a fun game.

I love how dynamic the boss fights in FF14 and punishing. All the bosses have patterns, if you mess up just one thing either you got one shot or your party got wiped out. It’s incredible fun, also all big boss fights have hard and extreme versions to provide even more challenge.

Also the fan service is great in FF14, they bring all the lovely stuff from previous FF titles, in February they are bringing “Triple Triad” mini game and casino stuff! Gosh! I love Triple Triad.

I wish we’ll get permanent SAB as well ;_; Fun > Grinding for me.

sawworm.8749:

I love how dynamic the boss fights in FF14 and punishing. All the bosses have patterns, if you mess up just one thing either you got one shot or your party got wiped out. It’s incredible fun, also all big boss fights have hard and extreme versions to provide even more challenge.

Also the fan service is great in FF14, they bring all the lovely stuff from previous FF titles, in February they are bringing “Triple Triad” mini game and casino stuff! Gosh! I love Triple Triad.

I wish we’ll get permanent SAB as well ;_; Fun > Grinding for me.

I don’t know why anyone finds one shot or your party gets wiped out fun. I find that sort of thing frustrating.

I suspect (though I can’t prove) the majority of people would find it frustrating as well.

Vayne.8563:

sawworm.8749:

I love how dynamic the boss fights in FF14 and punishing. All the bosses have patterns, if you mess up just one thing either you got one shot or your party got wiped out. It’s incredible fun, also all big boss fights have hard and extreme versions to provide even more challenge.

Also the fan service is great in FF14, they bring all the lovely stuff from previous FF titles, in February they are bringing “Triple Triad” mini game and casino stuff! Gosh! I love Triple Triad.

I wish we’ll get permanent SAB as well ;_; Fun > Grinding for me.

I don’t know why anyone finds one shot or your party gets wiped out fun. I find that sort of thing frustrating.

I suspect (though I can’t prove) the majority of people would find it frustrating as well.

That makes it more like one of those old arcade halls games. I dont like that kinda game, I play for fun and get relaxed. Not hyped up and omg omgomg no mistakes…