With the release of Shadowbringers, I see a lot of people complaining that even though it seems great, it's an MMO so they won't play because they need all the expansions, need to play with other people, and so on.
But hey, it actually isn't so difficult !
So here we go, how to start FFXIV:
"But it's expensive !"
- Get the Complete Edition ! On Amazon.fr, it's currently a 30€. In it, you get the base game, all expansions and 30 days of game time! Link
- You can get a cheap-ish subscription for about 12€/month. If I'm not mistaken, this allows you to play up to 1 character per world. Which shouldn't be an issue since every character can use all the jobs, classes, etc. ! No need to create another character to try out another class you might like! Also, FFS, that's about the same amount than a McDonald's Meal (YMMV depending on where you live). Worst case scenario, you eat pasta with tomato sauce two nights in a row.
"But it's online !"
- Well yeah, it's a MMO. But you can honestly do basically everything without needing to actually be social with other people. Got a dungeon to do for the main story? Hop into the LFG Queue, maybe say "Hi!" because you're polite, and off you go.
- FFXIV is one of, if not the most, the friendliest community! I'm certain that even without trying, you'll make some great encounters in the game and maybe get new friends for life :)
- There is actually a real, overarching story unfolding over the multiple expansions and such, it's not like corean MMOs where you have a world and some lore but not much story, or even WoW where every expansion is more or less it's own self contained story.
"I've heard the ARR is boring and the combat sucks !"
- Usually, those two complaints come from people that dropped the game pretty early, honestly. And it is absolutely understandable! To be fair, ARR is a slog. There are some cool moments but they are few and far between a lot of boring fetch quests. The story (and the quests) start taking off at about level 35, which represents probably about 30+ hours of game time to get there. Yeah, that's a big commitment for such a "it gets better" situation, we all know that. But it's also worth it :)
- Regarding the gameplay, it's just not true (as long as you like "MMO-tabtargeting-WoW-like" gameplay, that is). If someone complains about it, it's mostly because that person dropped the game early. Absolutely no MMO I've played up until now had interesting low level combat! And just like the story and the quests, the gameplay starts shining at around level 35 to 40, depending on your class, since this is when you'll be getting most of your end game skill kit complete. As an example, I play a White Mage as a challenge to myself since I've never healed in MMOs before. The first 5 or 6 dungeons, I was DPSing (which in this case means, pressing the same two buttons without stopping) most of the time and maybe cast cure twice during a boss battle. My kit wasn't complete, the dungeons were way too easy, and while it was fun getting new gear, the process of getting there was boring. Now (and mind you, I'm "only" level 59), I can't even talk about having a rotation since I'm never doing the same stuff twice for any given battle encounter. I gotta watch buffs, debuffs, DoTs, HoTs, placement, timers and whatnot. The level of engagement the game asks from the player, even for standard dungeons and maybe some main story encounters, is on the same level as WoW Mythic raids! Combat is intense, challenging and holy balls is it fun! But yeah, I had to get through the ARR slog to get there. AND IT WAS WORTH IT!
- But if you really can't handle all that, you can buy (with REAL money) a class boost to get you up to (I think) level 70. If you're interested in the story, I'm sure you'll find recaps on youtube.
Last but not least...
"I don't have time for an MMO!"
- Yeah we all got work, school, a social life and maybe other hobbies we'd like to attend to. But you know what, you don't need to rush through the leveling content! While a lot of MMOs get really enjoyable once you're max level, I find that FFXIV is really unique in that it actually is great starting at level 1. Sure, those 35 first levels are a slog, but the world building, the characters you meet, the politics, etc... are all top notch. You start caring about the characters and the world, you get upset when something bad happens, you become happy when something good happens, you progress in such a beautiful world where you see something new and fun around every corner. I myself am usually not able to play more than 5 hours a week, but I know I'll get to Stormblood and finally Shadowbringers eventually, so why can't you? Also It's really not that kind of MMO where you need to log in daily for multiple hours to be able to keep up with everyone. Sure, hardcore raiders will always be ahead of you, but honestly... who cares?
Some closing words...
FFXIV really is a masterpiece, and while it does have its flaws, it's definitely one of my favorite experiences of the past few years when it comes to video games. I hope that I could answer some of the questions I saw recently on Era and that some of you will consider picking this up soon :) See you in Eorzea!
But hey, it actually isn't so difficult !
So here we go, how to start FFXIV:
"But it's expensive !"
- Get the Complete Edition ! On Amazon.fr, it's currently a 30€. In it, you get the base game, all expansions and 30 days of game time! Link
- You can get a cheap-ish subscription for about 12€/month. If I'm not mistaken, this allows you to play up to 1 character per world. Which shouldn't be an issue since every character can use all the jobs, classes, etc. ! No need to create another character to try out another class you might like! Also, FFS, that's about the same amount than a McDonald's Meal (YMMV depending on where you live). Worst case scenario, you eat pasta with tomato sauce two nights in a row.
"But it's online !"
- Well yeah, it's a MMO. But you can honestly do basically everything without needing to actually be social with other people. Got a dungeon to do for the main story? Hop into the LFG Queue, maybe say "Hi!" because you're polite, and off you go.
- FFXIV is one of, if not the most, the friendliest community! I'm certain that even without trying, you'll make some great encounters in the game and maybe get new friends for life :)
- There is actually a real, overarching story unfolding over the multiple expansions and such, it's not like corean MMOs where you have a world and some lore but not much story, or even WoW where every expansion is more or less it's own self contained story.
"I've heard the ARR is boring and the combat sucks !"
- Usually, those two complaints come from people that dropped the game pretty early, honestly. And it is absolutely understandable! To be fair, ARR is a slog. There are some cool moments but they are few and far between a lot of boring fetch quests. The story (and the quests) start taking off at about level 35, which represents probably about 30+ hours of game time to get there. Yeah, that's a big commitment for such a "it gets better" situation, we all know that. But it's also worth it :)
- Regarding the gameplay, it's just not true (as long as you like "MMO-tabtargeting-WoW-like" gameplay, that is). If someone complains about it, it's mostly because that person dropped the game early. Absolutely no MMO I've played up until now had interesting low level combat! And just like the story and the quests, the gameplay starts shining at around level 35 to 40, depending on your class, since this is when you'll be getting most of your end game skill kit complete. As an example, I play a White Mage as a challenge to myself since I've never healed in MMOs before. The first 5 or 6 dungeons, I was DPSing (which in this case means, pressing the same two buttons without stopping) most of the time and maybe cast cure twice during a boss battle. My kit wasn't complete, the dungeons were way too easy, and while it was fun getting new gear, the process of getting there was boring. Now (and mind you, I'm "only" level 59), I can't even talk about having a rotation since I'm never doing the same stuff twice for any given battle encounter. I gotta watch buffs, debuffs, DoTs, HoTs, placement, timers and whatnot. The level of engagement the game asks from the player, even for standard dungeons and maybe some main story encounters, is on the same level as WoW Mythic raids! Combat is intense, challenging and holy balls is it fun! But yeah, I had to get through the ARR slog to get there. AND IT WAS WORTH IT!
- But if you really can't handle all that, you can buy (with REAL money) a class boost to get you up to (I think) level 70. If you're interested in the story, I'm sure you'll find recaps on youtube.
Last but not least...
"I don't have time for an MMO!"
- Yeah we all got work, school, a social life and maybe other hobbies we'd like to attend to. But you know what, you don't need to rush through the leveling content! While a lot of MMOs get really enjoyable once you're max level, I find that FFXIV is really unique in that it actually is great starting at level 1. Sure, those 35 first levels are a slog, but the world building, the characters you meet, the politics, etc... are all top notch. You start caring about the characters and the world, you get upset when something bad happens, you become happy when something good happens, you progress in such a beautiful world where you see something new and fun around every corner. I myself am usually not able to play more than 5 hours a week, but I know I'll get to Stormblood and finally Shadowbringers eventually, so why can't you? Also It's really not that kind of MMO where you need to log in daily for multiple hours to be able to keep up with everyone. Sure, hardcore raiders will always be ahead of you, but honestly... who cares?
Some closing words...
FFXIV really is a masterpiece, and while it does have its flaws, it's definitely one of my favorite experiences of the past few years when it comes to video games. I hope that I could answer some of the questions I saw recently on Era and that some of you will consider picking this up soon :) See you in Eorzea!
