Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

I don't play WoW. I play FFXI. Wow has a lore behind it, It's just hard too follow with how often they change things with the expansions. FFXI has a lore also, a deeper one that actually connects and makes sense throughout the expansions. Ffxiv has a story, yes. But it took a lot of what WoW has; play style, practically the whole quest system, the battles. Granted mobs might be harder, It's still the same button mashing like WoW. At least in xi, there was a unique feel to the battle system. There wasn't some cheesy arrow that shown us where to turn quests in. I loved xi, but after playing xivs beta, I just can't go to another game that is to similar to WoW, aion, and others, no matter how good the lore may be.

I think a main reason for why it always gets so much hate nowadays is because of the business model Blizzard used on it. In the beginning with Vanilla it was an extremely grind heavy game with endgame that made it incredibly worth it, but over time Blizzard gradually made the game easier with each expansion to attract new players. The community became toxic with vets of Vanilla saying it became too easy for others when they had to grind for a long time to hit the end. I mean even now with the newest expansion if you pay certain money you can make a character at level 90. However, another big reason that WoW seems to always get so much hate seems to kind of be due to the mentality of it being an MMO with a bunch of toxic players and outdated gameplay. I don't know, but I just see a lot of people tending to judge these games without ever really playing it and giving it a chance. I mean I think every game has its flaws and strengths while WoW obviously is past its prime and hasn't really tried to change a whole lot over the years but it's still a decent MMO. As of right now though I play FFXIV just because I like it and it feels like Vanilla WoW, to me, in terms of how the game is set up but it also has its own FF flavor that makes it an enjoyable game (plus the music is pretty good). I typed up a much better first response but for some reason it got deleted so sorry if this wasn't that insightful.

Also, in terms of WoW lore it was pretty coherent even up to now and connected really well with the RTS games. But, it did become a little weak especially with the newest expansion because the whole panda race was an easy way for blizzard to appeal to fans since originally that area of the Warcraft lore was set up as purposefully ambiguous in warcraft 1-3.

I had a bunch of text, the right captcha, and it still deleted. Tl; dr version. .. Thanks for issue on warcraft lore, I only know what I hear from my friends who are big into wowed. Do didn't know there was a hard wow, that makes me feel a little better. It's kinda like how ffxi introduced abyessa. "Go from level 30-99 in just 6 hours! You don't even have to be at the computer to get levels!" .../angermode

I like mmo's where I can put in more than just a few months and still have alot to work towards, which is probably why I still play runescape, almost 13 years and I'm still nowhere near finishing everything. I keep hearing it only takes a few weeks to max out in wow, I was also told that most people play it for the PvP aspect, though I'm not too big into PvP, I might have given it a go if I had friends that played it. I like how in FF:XIV they have a bunch of classes and jobs that can be leveled up, even non-combat jobs like mining, botany, carpentry, etc. I'm also pretty excited to have an mmo final fantasy game I can earn trophies in. I started out with a ranger that I will probably have focus on botany and carpentry so I can make armor and weapons for my class while being able to collect the necessary ingredients for them. I also might dabble in mining, blacksmith and armorer not long after, since my roommate took the role of the tank I could possibly make him some pretty decent stuff. I tend to copy everything I plan on posting, just in case it doesn't actually post, I can't tell you how many times I have typed up a short story of a response just for it to have automatically logged me out or internet goes down, lol.