Final Fantasy XIV - Page 86

To be fair, I'd probably find the last two issues everywhere else. Plus games in this specific genre require too much time investment (like the tenth time I've realized this) ...

... let this be a record that I will not touch traditional MMORPGs again (anything like WoW, Archeage, Maplestory etc.).

1. A significant amount of quests can be considered dumb. It's a lot of running back and forth, doing X of Y, kill X of Y. The upside of the last two is that the amounts required for any quest never go above 10 (or rarely). But yes, a lot of the basic quests and story quests are like that. Not all of them mind you, but a fair amount.

2. I'd say equipment progression is one of the weak points of the game. It's not bad per se, just unimaginative. The real progression, as you can imagine, comes in late game, once you reach 50. Early on, you just get better gear as your level increases, and that's about it. Pretty standard I believe. In the later stages of the game, it comes down to "gear level", more commonly known as "item level" or "ilvl". Where the game is now, the most powerful gear is pretty damn strong, and the older content is being facerolled by people who have the latest gear. It's not incredibly hard to acquire either, unless you're shooting for absolute best with Coil gear (T10-T13). Overall, the gear system is effective but simplistic, and lacks variety. Crafting is absolute beast though. It's a game within the game, and anyone who gets into it loves it. It's really deep and well thought-out.

3. FFXIV was heavily designed around group-play. All of the end-game content is meant to be played in groups, or ideally in statics (premade groups). You can rely on the Duty Finder to find random groups and so on, but when it comes down to it, there is little content you can do by yourself, just your character alone. This is a by-design choice, it's not really circumvetable or meant to be avoided. If you want to just kind of be your own man, clearing content solo, FFXIV isn't the ideal game for it.

Long story short: if you are playing FFXIV and expecting it to be a more immersive version of FF7 or the older FFs, you're going to be sorely disappointed. It's an excellent game, and easily the number 2 sub-based MMO on the market right now, but it may not be for you.

- The game is gorgeous, and about to be even more so. DX11 support is coming with Heavensward
- Heavensward (the expansion) is about to come out. June 23rd, on preorder right now. It's looking great so far.
- The game receives updates at a frenetic pace. One major patch every three months. Every patch features about as much content as WoW would release in an entire year. Some patches would have been legitimate expansions, really.
- The game itself goes on sale very often, and can be acquired at a cheap price. I've seen many people buy it for like $15.
- The content of the game is pretty damn good. Yes, it's group-centric, but the end-game fights are challenging and interesting. The dungeons (in most cases) are really good as well.
- The community is REALLY nice. I've been playing for a little over a year now, and 95% of the people I encounter are ridiculously friendly. It's by far one of the most, if not the most, friendly communities out there.
- The devs are excellent at communication, Yoshida especially. They do a lot of back and forth with the community, and there's a solid interaction between them and us. They do the Letter from the Producer, which is the high point of all that.
- There's a very active reddit community as well. You should check it out.

- Keep playing. Ideally, I would tell you to stick to it until you're 50, because that's when the game truly begins, but if you're seriously tired of it by 35-40, then maybe you should just let it go.
- Unless you're really absolutely misanthropic and hate the idea of pairing up with people, try to join a Free Company. They are FFXIV's guilds, and joining one helps a lot. You'll find people to play with, players who will help you clear content, and e-friends in general. Failing that, try joining a Linkshell (basically big groups of players with their own chat room, but not quite a FC), or using the Party Finder.
- Don't be afraid to try out different classes. The game's design heavily favours that. You can use the Gear List to save the classes you try and switch easily. I don't know what you're playing, but it's possible that going from DPS to healer/tank or vice versa could help you enjoy the game more and see it under a new light. FFXIV has an incredibly flexible class system, and you should explore it.
- Join communities if you feel like it. Reddit would be good, they're active and most everyone there is friendly.
- Do everything the game has to offer. By sticking to the main story line and the main game, you'd be losing out on a lot of things. Crafting especially. I can never seem to find the time for it, but crafting in FFXIV is top notch. Anyone who gets into it comes out a total crafting addict (not in a bad way).
- TRY THE GOLD SAUCER! YOU SIMPLY MUST.