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WoW or FFXIV?

  • WoW

    Votes: 162 15.9%
  • FFXIV

    Votes: 859 84.1%

  • Total voters
    1,021

monketron

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,867
8.2 has fixed a fair number of problems. From what you hear from the devs they seem to know the issues BFA had and I'm confident whatever 9.0 brings will be pretty good. Those saying classic had balanced classes though, I can only assume you happened to main one of the op classes and don't care that what you say is true or not, only that you were happy.
 

Mr_DyZ

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Jun 12, 2019
776
I full expect Blizzard to announce a new WoW expansion this Blizzcon. Given the recent track record, the expansions tend to alternate between good and bad. Legion was great (imo), but BFA is pretty bad (as evident by number drops too).

FFXIV is great, but I still think it's a much more difficult game to get into now (for new users) compared to WoW, which can be a huge turnoff for some. Still think WoW is more well-rounded with all of it's offerings, but that's a personal preference. Not everyone will consider PvP in WoW to be good. I, however, love it.
 

ZangBa

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,040
I played through the entire vanilla story with 2 different characters and the first expansion. I gave up midway through the second expansion because it never got any better and I was bored to death. Everyone told me it would get better once I got to the first expansion content and it was still the same old boring shit. I really wanted to see the FFT stuff but I couldn't stomach the game anymore. The gameplay is leagues below WoW, probably because of consoles, the GCD alone is bad enough. Nice try with that bullshit tho.

I've played WoW for years and I've always been critical of it, but I would rather play any expansion of the game than ever play FFXIV again.
 
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Deleted member 4346

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
8,976
They announced Classic the same time they announced BFA though?

I'm all for giving BFA the rightful criticism it deserves, but let's not pretend Classic is a response to that.

That's fair, I had forgotten the timeline, but Classic was more of a reaction to Nostalrius, and still, overall, is an indication of how much "modern" WoW has failed the player base. I started in vanilla, played every expac up to pre-patch for BfA before quitting in disgust. Since Wrath the game has been on a slide. Legion was ok (my god the story has lost its way, stop with demons, it's boring!) but the best things about that expansion Blizzard abandoned for the next expansion.

I played through the entire vanilla story with 2 different characters and the first expansion. I gave up midway through the second expansion because it never got any better and I was bored to death. Everyone told me it would get better once I got to the first expansion content and it was still the same old boring shit. I really wanted to see the FFT stuff but I couldn't stomach the game anymore. The gameplay is leagues below WoW, probably because of consoles, the GCD alone is bad enough. Nice try with that bullshit tho.

I've played WoW for years and I've always been critical of it, but I would rather play any expansion of the game than ever play FFXIV again.

By level 60 you have so many off-GCD abilities, and WoW has pruned so much from rotations, that the gameplay is far more engaging at endgame in XIV. The GCD criticism is lame; it's valid at early levels but later on, not at all. Encounter design is better in XIV, too.

I do think the post-2.0 main story quests are awful. Heavensward MSQs were great but there are a hundred quests between 2.0 and 3.0, most of them just mind-numbing.
 

Wamb0wneD

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
18,735
World of Warcraft is the best game ever made.

Come fight me.
It's the only game next to Ocarina of Time and Mario 64 that left me stunned when walking through it for the first time. Like "legit jaw on the floor the entire time" stunned.

I fell off after Wrath though. Those were some of the best gaming times I ever had.
 

Deleted member 2761

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,620
I'm dying at the people who are recommending Classic; those are the days of one-button caster rotations, gear itemized so poorly that greens were better than purples, and dungeons that took 5 hours to organize and run.
 

elenarie

Game Developer
Verified
Jun 10, 2018
9,835
8.2 has fixed a fair number of problems. From what you hear from the devs they seem to know the issues BFA had and I'm confident whatever 9.0 brings will be pretty good. Those saying classic had balanced classes though, I can only assume you happened to main one of the op classes and don't care that what you say is true or not, only that you were happy.

Classic had balance? Sure, as much as poop tastes like strawberry.
 

rochellepaws

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,456
Ireland
Two MMOs heading in opposite directions. It was a difficult question a few years ago but WoW has seen a steady decline from a team at Blizzard who seem increasingly out of touch with their userbase while FFXIV goes from strength to strength.

For me, dungeons and raids were what I always enjoyed in WoW and I feel that the mythic+ system has destroyed them both through firstly encouraging an anti-social e-sports rote execution mindset in dungeons and secondly disrupting the gearing system to a point where raids feel unrewarding. The game just doesn't have much appeal to me anymore while FFXIV has a much nicer community and developers with fresh, creative ideas.

Classic isn't even worth mentioning. That bubble will have burst before the year ends.
 

ZangBa

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,040
That's fair, I had forgotten the timeline, but Classic was more of a reaction to Nostalrius, and still, overall, is an indication of how much "modern" WoW has failed the player base. I started in vanilla, played every expac up to pre-patch for BfA before quitting in disgust. Since Wrath the game has been on a slide. Legion was ok (my god the story has lost its way, stop with demons, it's boring!) but the best things about that expansion Blizzard abandoned for the next expansion.



By level 60 you have so many off-GCD abilities, and WoW has pruned so much from rotations, that the gameplay is far more engaging at endgame in XIV. The GCD criticism is lame; it's valid at early levels but later on, not at all. Encounter design is better in XIV, too.

I do think the post-2.0 main story quests are awful. Heavensward MSQs were great but there are a hundred quests between 2.0 and 3.0, most of them just mind-numbing.
Not taking GCD into account, I never could get into the "feel" of the game regardless. I especially disliked being leveled down for content like dungeons while leveling and having my skills taken away so that I was basically pressing 2 buttons through 15+ minutes of bland content. I've gotten to endgame once in the game and just didn't have the will to play through it all. Everything I experienced during the leveling process and dungeon crawling was just not fun at all for me. And honestly I really didn't care for the story quests even after the 2.0 drag. I started skipping most cutscenes because the way the game shows cutscenes has to be the worst ever, and the plot was just too bland for me to care. How can I be invested in anything after doing fetch quests to and from Waking Sands for hours.

I'll give FFXIV one thing though, I liked the mode where you go through a dungeon and the UI looked kind of like old FF games, you started at level 1 and leveled quickly throughout. I don't remember what it was called but unique fun stuff like that, which could give an alternative to endgame raiding, would help either game at this point for me. Now if they had a Marlboro mount, then we'd have something compelling.
 

Napalm_Frank

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
5,738
Finland
May i remind you this exists:
220px-Cataclysm_Cover_Art.png


In all honesty though WOD could be worse as i have only played WoW from BC to Cata and Cata was so incredibly bad it made me permanently quit the game. I cannot even begin to describe how bad Cataclysm was.
Cata was fuckin awesome at launch doe.
 

Gankzymcfly

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
643
And then again in 55 days once people realize nostalgia only gets you so far.
Tell that to the thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of people who have been clearing content on private servers for the past 4 years...I'm more concerned about how Activision is going Activision the shit outta classic in the event it starts surpassing retail in popularity.
 

eathdemon

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
9,690
Tell that to the thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of people who have been clearing content on private servers for the past 4 years...I'm more concerned about how Activision is going Activision the shit outta classic in the event it starts surpassing retail in popularity.
the ruinscape aproach might be the right play, make new content in the style of classic.
 

whistleklik

Member
Oct 27, 2017
260
Kentucky
I'd go with WoW personally. I think FF14 is kind of a strangely structured game and it may turn people off with how they do things. I think classic will reinvigorate WoW. I played the beta quite a bit and loved it. Hopefully Ian will realize that people want to be challenged and have more choices in customizing their characters. BFA is a pretty dud expansion compared to legion. It's too tainted to save at this point.
 

Deleted member 32018

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 8, 2017
7,628
Tell that to the thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of people who have been clearing content on private servers for the past 4 years...I'm more concerned about how Activision is going Activision the shit outta classic in the event it starts surpassing retail in popularity.

Thousands of hardcore players sure. The casual players will drop off fast once they realize it's not what the nostalgia-driven hardcore players have said it is. There is absolutely 0% chance it surpasses retail. That's a pipe-dream of those that hate retail and want the game to be back to when you just sat there and watched your character auto-attack.
 

Stoof

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,807
I tried playing WoW at Cata, Pandas, and Warlords and I could never get into it. While I've now picked up FFXIV for the recent expansion and haven't been so engrossed with a game in a long time.
 

Deleted member 14735

Oct 27, 2017
930
And then again in 55 days once people realize nostalgia only gets you so far.
There are plenty of people with no nostalgia for Classic who are excited for it. I joined in Cata but as the xpacs have gone on what I enjoyed about the game has been stripped away bit by bit with the modern game now bearing no resemblance to the game I fell in love with. The idea of a game pure of the casino design of the modern game, pure of the daily chores design that existed in Cata but has ramped up significantly, a game that instead places agency on the player to do as they like, when they like, while working towards clearly defined end goals. My only concern is the class design but it isn't a big one, that's the least of my problems with BfA, I feel like the overall game design is the much more important thing in the case of MMOs. You can have iffy gameplay as long as the game systems facilitate freedom and enjoyable grouping.

I have faith Classic will be more successful than a lot of its detractors would like to think.
 

Noumena

Member
Jan 20, 2019
97
In my opinion, FFXIV is an excellent MMO. Started palying in 2016 when Heavensward was already out for a year. Got hooked since then and really enjoyed the new expansions that were added tremendously (Still not even close to finishing Shadowbringers Main Scenario Quests but so far its amazing). Oh and by the way, the music in this game is outstanding!
 
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filkry

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,893
I personally prefer XIV, but I've gone back for every recent expansion in both. I think WoW is the best game for itemization-focused players and a better game for a wider variety of players. XIV is a better game for story-focused players and those who appreciate a single high-quality boss over 4-5 less polished encounters.

There's also the huge question of which audiovisual aesthetics you prefer.
 

Gankzymcfly

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
643
Thousands of hardcore players sure. The casual players will drop off fast once they realize it's not what the nostalgia-driven hardcore players have said it is. There is absolutely 0% chance it surpasses retail. That's a pipe-dream of those that hate retail and want the game to be back to when you just sat there and watched your character auto-attack.

Retail is hemorrhaging subs which would suggest a majority of players "hate retail".... and you characterizing WoW classic as a time when "you just sat there and watched your character auto-attack" sounds like the words of a person who never played vanilla in any meaningful way.
 

Deleted member 32018

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 8, 2017
7,628
and you characterizing WoW classic as a time when "you just sat there and watched your character auto-attack" sounds like the words of a person who never played vanilla in any meaningful way.

I've played the beta, that's enough for me. I started WoW around BC launch, so no I haven't played a lot of vanilla. Does this not back up my point of it being a nostalgia driven thing?
 

Euman

Member
Oct 25, 2017
455
It's the only game next to Ocarina of Time and Mario 64 that left me stunned when walking through it for the first time. Like "legit jaw on the floor the entire time" stunned.

I fell off after Wrath though. Those were some of the best gaming times I ever had.
Same here. I remember rolling my very first toon (NE Hunter, what else?) and the sheer wonder running up to Darnassus and seeing the Ancients walk over me. Or the first time in Ironforge/Org and realizing "wow, there's really a lot of people here" lol.
 

Gankzymcfly

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
643
I've played the beta, that's enough for me. I started WoW around BC launch, so no I haven't played a lot of vanilla. Does this not back up my point of it being a nostalgia driven thing?

Not really. I would argue its a community driven thing; classic WoW is great a fostering healthy communities. Just because you played a beta by yourself for a few minutes and didn't enjoy it doesn't really change that. I know several others like yourself who never played vanilla, but tried it on a private server, became engrossed in the community and have continued to play for years.
 

Dunlop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,479
That's a pipe-dream of those that hate retail and want the game to be back to when you just sat there and watched your character auto-attack.

riiight, playing Vanilla WOW on a PVP server was some of my best MMO memories. Leveling a Horde character when the quests brought you to Hillsbrand was insane as you were jumped constantly.

Want to run a dungeon? You need to actually hook up with people and travel there with the same risks of being attacked on the way.

Everything now is click a button for instant gratification.

Concerning "auto attack", I haven't played WOW since Cataclysm but even back then there was mods and addons that could pretty much play your character for you. I would imagine they are much more robust by now
 

Shoichi

Member
Jan 10, 2018
10,469
I'd go WoW, but I can understand why people go FFXIV

I'm too entrenched in WoW lore that even if the gameplay is meh its still enjoyable to play around. FFXIV doesn't have the same history to me with lore going back through a number of books/other games.
 

Deleted member 32018

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 8, 2017
7,628
Just because you played a beta by yourself for a few minutes and didn't enjoy it doesn't really change that.

I played with friends and it was more than a few minutes but ok.

The community thing is nonsense too. You can find that anywhere if you look hard enough. It's also easy to play on a private server because it's free. Plenty play on FFXI private servers too, it doesn't mean that a retail classic server is going to be successful.
 

Cerulean_skylark

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account.
Banned
Oct 31, 2017
6,408
The amount of passion and candor The FFXIV team has, especially when it comes to directly addressing community requests and issues in their regular live letter streams alone should put FFXIV over WOW.
 

Phil me in

Member
Nov 22, 2018
1,292
I can't agree with that. Some classes/specs were completely worthless/broken.

If you were a Paladin, good luck being anything but holy. You'd get laughed out of a room for choosing to raid as any other spec. Shaman was incredibly overpowered and exclusive to the Horde, which Blizzard was forced to undo in the first expansion (Burning Crusade) because they couldn't balance it.

Classes aren't in the best place right now, but none are as worthless/broken/straight up not fun to play as they were in Vanilla.

I had to wait 8 God damn years before my class was fun to play and became more than a portal/candy bitch (Warlock).

I can't remember classic too well. What was op about shamans? I'm planning on playing classic at launch.
 

Wamb0wneD

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
18,735
Same here. I remember rolling my very first toon (NE Hunter, what else?) and the sheer wonder running up to Darnassus and seeing the Ancients walk over me. Or the first time in Ironforge/Org and realizing "wow, there's really a lot of people here" lol.
Darnassus man...I really love the nightelves aesthetic and most foresty areas in WoW always looked the most pretty to me. Especially motherfucking Moonglade and Feralas. God I need to get back into Classic I think, even if it's just for the nostalgia and see some of these places again.
 

Cipherr

Member
Oct 26, 2017
13,444
Isn't WoW Classic getting great impressions from the betas?

Beta ending in a few days, but yeah Ive had a fucking blast with the Classic beta. I subbed for 3 months just to have a chance to get in, and got lucky. In all that time I havent even been tempted to try the retail side and wont inbetween the beta ending and Classic launching despite the fact that I have a paid active sub for this period.

That should pretty clearly illustrate how different the audiences of the two games are to be honest. They may be "the same game" but I don't think theres a lot of overlap with the actual gamers playing both BFA and Classic WoW to be honest. On both sides you have people who cannot really fathom how the other side finds "that game" entertaining.

As for the poll, Ive been heavily tempted to try FF14 but I only havent because of pending Classic WoW. If it wasn't a thing I would have already tried it. But for now Ill just wait on Classic WoW since its so close.
 

Berordn

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 26, 2017
9,751
NoVA
The amount of passion and candor The FFXIV team has, especially when it comes to directly addressing community requests and issues in their regular live letter streams alone should put FFXIV over WOW.
I mean, this is something they both do? Live letters are all well and good but it's not like the WoW devs don't also do Q&As fairly often prior to major content updates.
 

Shoichi

Member
Jan 10, 2018
10,469
Have you not played other Final Fatasy games? The lore is all there.

Is it a continuous story though? with references made by main characters to past major events in past games/books? I've played a few but its always felt they were all in their own self contained world/story (maybe I just need to look deeper).

I have played a bit of FFXIV, but don't really care as much about the story which doesn't make me care for the game as much as I did with WoW. Mostly since I heavily played the Warcraft RTS games and read a couple of the books.
 
Oct 26, 2017
19,778
They're both "bad" at this point.

Wish there more innovations in the MMO space. The genre has stagnated for so long now.
I agree about stagnation in general. And a lot of these larger MMOs fail to make me feel like I'm playing with my friends. Instead, I feel like I'm playing them instead of with, mostly because of the lack of quest sharing and such.
 

Cerulean_skylark

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account.
Banned
Oct 31, 2017
6,408
I guess it should also be said. FFXIV's Soundtrack is worth the price of admission alone.

The quality and diversity of genre is staggering.

I played WOW from classic -> Cata and i cannot remember a single theme the way i remember FFXIV's music.
 

Euman

Member
Oct 25, 2017
455
Darnassus man...I really love the nightelves aesthetic and most foresty areas in WoW always looked the most pretty to me. Especially motherfucking Moonglade and Feralas. God I need to get back into Classic I think, even if it's just for the nostalgia and see some of these places again.
I'm definitely coming back for Classic at least for a bit. I'm with you on the NE aesthetic. I want to roll a druid this time and would gladly go through all the NE zones in Kalimdor while leveling if they were closer to other things lol.
 

Gankzymcfly

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
643
I played with friends and it was more than a few minutes but ok.

The community thing is nonsense too. You can find that anywhere if you look hard enough. It's also easy to play on a private server because it's free. Plenty play on FFXI private servers too, it doesn't mean that a retail classic server is going to be successful.
And your limited experience of the beta and next to no knowledge of the actual game is no indication that it won't be successful. It's pretty easy to creative a false narrative of something (like saying "wow classic is just auto attacking") and then shit all over that false narrative...that doesn't mean your narrative now aligns with reality.
 

Deleted member 32018

User requested account closure
Banned
Nov 8, 2017
7,628
And your limited experience of the beta and next to no knowledge of the actual game is no indication that it won't be successful. It's pretty easy to creative a false narrative of something (like saying "wow classic is just auto attacking") and then shit all over that false narrative...that doesn't mean your narrative now aligns with reality.

When you start using "narative" a lot and turn to the "you're not a real fan argument" that's when I dip out. You obviously don't want a real discussion. Being resource starved is a thing in classic (especially early levels), if you are a fan you know this.
 

Gankzymcfly

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
643
When you start using "narative" a lot and turn to the "you're not a real fan argument" that's when I dip out. You obviously don't want a real discussion. Being resource starved is a thing in classic (especially early levels), if you are a fan you know this.

Lol I'm not sure what being resource starved early game in wow classic has anything to do with the conversation at hand...we are talking about if a game is going to be successful or not...never said or claimed you weren't a fan just pointed out (as you noted yourself) your knowledge of classic appears extremely limited likely due to your lack of experience lol just seems like you are upset that I am pointing out your strawman arguments.
 

mordecaii83

Avenger
Oct 28, 2017
6,862
I'm definitely coming back for Classic at least for a bit. I'm with you on the NE aesthetic. I want to roll a druid this time and would gladly go through all the NE zones in Kalimdor while leveling if they were closer to other things lol.
Just to warn you, unless they do some extra class balancing you'll find yourself unwanted at max level. Take it from someone who was a Druid back on release in 2004.

Lol I'm not sure what being resource starved early game in wow classic has anything to do with the conversation at hand...we are talking about if a game is going to be successful or not...never said or claimed you weren't a fan just pointed out (as you noted yourself) your knowledge of classic appears extremely limited likely due to your lack of experience lol just seems like you are upset that I am pointing out your strawman arguments.

WoW Classic does require either much more downtime or auto-attack to save resources because resources are more scarce and regenerate much slower. It's a pretty far cry from FFXIV or modern WoW. FFXIV I don't think I even bother turning on auto-attack most of the time due to constantly needing to use skills.