Thanks for the overwhelmingly positive response everyone! This is insane and totally unexpected. If you have any suggestions for new videos, please do let me know! My current idea for a new video is “Ways in which WoW and FFXIV can learn from each other”. I don’t particularly wanna bottle myself into the MMO niche, but this is a topic I enjoy and love to talk about so I’ll likely be making more videos about it. Thanks again! Lemmie know your suggestions!
Something to think on, is FFXIV is written like a book. Arr and sb have first book/ first book in a new trilogy style. The books that come after are reliant on the less popular books that flesh out the world. Also, SE has always done slow wind up on it's mmos, too slow but a vast improvement over xi.
You also have to add in the class quests in FF14. wow class quests are pretty boring and meh. ff14 also has side quests, like Manderville...etc This also adds interesting flavor to the game as well.
The ceaseless crying when you talk about "Flow" during the music segment simultaneously got me to laugh and relive the trauma behind the context of that song. I still remember my sibling asking if I was OK because they could hear me sobbing from my room. What Sokken and Ishikawa accomplish together using music and writing is just unparalleled.
Right? I am laughing, but I can feel my eyes tearing up at the same time. Playing this game has gotten so bad that if I come out of my room crying my roommate asks if I have been playing FF14 again before anything else. :P ....and I love every second of it. :)
Haven't seen it being mentioned by others in the comments yet. But you can still play the story of jobs you boosted through New Game+. I believe it's under the duty section of the menu bar.
Years ago, a friend got me into WoW, but it was back in its heyday of BC and WotLK. I did return briefly for Cataclysm, but I had very different interests than my friend. He kept trying to pull me into end game, while I literally stopped to smell the roses (Herbalism/Alchemy). Years later, I had the good fortune of not having one person, but a small friend group (enough for a light party) to start playing FFXIV with. This was during Stormblood and they were invaluable to me. (We still play to this day, and my original WoW friend has also come over to Eorzea) I am sorry about your friend, I know how it can feel without someone there. My mom actually played games and she was my P2 so much of the time. She passed away a couple years ago, and there are some games I don't know that I'll think of the same way again. Thanks for sharing.
As a veteran, I sometimes watch a bunch these comparisons just to see what other peoples opinions are. I really liked your perspective on things and the style of the video was very cozy. But the end really hit me right in the feels. There was something really powerful and sad about that last part that got me tearing up. I know I'm a stranger but hope everything works out for you and that you're doing okay.
@@allzofeel I've seen only 1 video. It happens though, i just dont think people are making vids of if? my sis tried WoW out when we ran out of content in FF14 just before EW launched, and she talked me into it. It will never be my main MMO, but we're having a good time playing it casually a couple times a week.
One very important thing about the "in-game purchases" is that FFXIV doesn't HAVE them in-game. They are never advertised and you never feel pressured to pay anything, hell, you might not even know a cash shop exists if somebody doesn't tell you. The store also asks you like 5 times if you REALLY want to spend money. Meanwhile WoW, Destiny and most MMOs nowadays just have paid store right in the game's main menu.
well... Yesn't. Recently... in 6.1 or 6.15 a function was added. To check outfits in the shop when you sleep on a bed in a inn. It's far from implementing the shop into the game, but still. (also a bit off topic, but i'm still mad for how much one fricking bike costs in the shop. Cloud's bike.)
@@zenixvampirchik652 Cloud's bike has a set travel speed, allowing you to get a faster travel speed even in lands that you haven't gotten the riding map. It's a very minor pay to win. Also, it's account-wide, meaning that any alt characters, future and present, will get it too.
@@zenixvampirchik652 at the risk of sounding like a blind fan girl, I feel Yoshi P has deserved the benefit of trust. He mentioned that he didn't like putting the cash shop into the game at all, but at the same time, he wanted people to be able to test the cash shop items on on their own character. A few shots of full sets on other characters can't be compared to getting full access to testing separate pieces and how they all dye etc in-game. And that's why he wanted to put the cash shop items in a menu, and he wanted to put them in a place that was as unintrusive as possible. If the cash shop ever appears in game, I'll rescind the trust shown here. But I fully believe him for now. Shouting in the novice network for people to link you items you want to see sucks, after all.
@@simj202 uh, no, sry. I didn't mean to say that bike is p2w. It's just a personal thing. Cuz I want it. But it costs like some older full single player games. And... Yeah
@@KiddDaPhoenix oh, I trust yoshi p for now. But what will happen when he'll leave? Especially after rumors about him working/starting to work on his own MMO.
Flow really makes the tears flow. Even without the context of where the song fits within the story. On an interview the poor singer confenssed that it took 30 takes to get the final cut of the song done cause it kept making her sob.
@@mangalover0149 She also has a producer background as well, and at this time Soken was in hospital with cancer. The singer said that it was hard for her to evoke the emotion without falling into it.
I’m a FF14 player through and through, but I hope dragon flight marks a new era for wow and gives them something they actively wanna go back to. Regardless of what you prefer, everyone needs a game they can call home at the end of the day
As someone who's home was wow for years, I want to thank the ff14 community for allowing me to to make ff14 my home. I may or may not return to wow, but the people I've met and played with in ff14 made the whole pandemic bearable. Thank you.
Sadly wow is pretty much done. The company and the players lost their way. It's been a game being played for going on 19 years (I say 19 not 18 that because I did play in my first beta back in 2003). It's just past it's expiration date. There will come a day that ff14 will hit the same thing.
I spent 14 years in WoW. I loved it for what it was, but I think of it now like an old relationship. I'm glad I did it, but it was time to move on. I'm happier in FFXIV, not because I have any resentment towards WoW, but because Eorzea has been a ridiculously pleasant experience for me.😁
Funnily enough, it was the opposite for me. I played FFXIV since ARR launch, and WoW casually on the side sometimes. But Endwalker happened, I raided and cleared the first tier, and realised... It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the game anymore. It's that I was satisfied with what I accomplished on it, and didn't get that joy anymore. So I went back to seek it on WoW. FFXIV and WoW are both very fun experiences, which bring their own things to the table, and I'm glad most people in the comments here are able to respect that.
I was a WoW Vet from Wrath; I left at the end of Cataclysm; it took a while, but I finally jumped on the FF train and never looked back. Part of me wishes WoW was still the great game it was, but it isn't; there's no going back to that. And that's OK.
i was a wow vet from near the begining and its quite sad and disappointing on what it has become in recent years sorta funny that i predicted this when activation first bought out blizzard as for when i quit i started to loose intrest after legion i plaied a bit of bfa wasnt to impressed then the whole blitz chung thing happened and i gave up on blizzard and activision entirely
As an older gamer who has spent many hours in both games, I really enjoyed your comparison: great voice, editing and analysis. I could feel your love for both games and really identify with your sense of nostalgia and loss. I thought this was a solid video before your heartfelt closing, but that ending had me sitting in quiet contemplation for several minutes. Not a lot of content hits me like that and I had to leave a comment. The games we play and love are as much about the people we enjoy them with and the period of our lives when that happens. Time marches on but we can always remember. I look forward to more of your content and wish you well my friend.
I'm glad someone else put into words how I felt about this video and especially the end. I just sent a lil message to my in-game besties to tell them I appreciate them inspired by this.
It wasn’t until one day when I was progressing through bojza as a sprout 🌱 I saw someone outside the duel ring on a flaming wheel mount. So I messaged them and ask them how they got that mount, and they told me it was a store mount. So it took me about 500hours to find out that ffxiv had a store where you can buy mounts and cosmetics 💀.
First I want to say that I sincerely hope that you're doing okay, man, and that you've found some peace in the happy memories you have of both games. There's just something that becomes a part of us when we play and a large part of that is the friendships we make along the way. I'm glad that you've had an excellent time in Eorzea, and I hope that you continue to have some awesome experiences as the story continues to evolve and you discover more and more of the hidden gems in the side content! (also, 10/10 WoL!). As someone that only flirted with WoW for a bit, it's real interesting to see the comparison between the strengths and weaknesses of the two games, and I think you've done an excellent job showcasing each objectively. I can't wait to see more from you :)
I feel you with the friends aspect of playing...really any MMO. I started playing FFXIV right when 2.0 launched and had a Free Company fairly quickly. We were pretty tight up until mid Stormblood, then the FC just kind of fizzled and people went their separate ways. The person I used to play with on a daily basis ended up moving to Korea, and I have not seen him online since. Now, I've been trying to find an FC that I feel like a part of, but I just haven't found it yet. I don't really have "FFXIV friends" to play the game with anymore and it sucks because it makes me not want to play the game as much due to that. When I log on now, it's mostly playing a single player game with dungeons thrown in.
(this highly HIGHLY depends on the server you're on) but i've found that my server(twintania - light) novice network, is friendly enough to remind me of a certain relic called "Barrens chat" and so i grinded out crafting/gather mentor specifically to get back in there once i wasnt a sprout anymore.
I have the same thing happen to me and it realy sucks to play solo and trying to find a nice guild or especially a buddy to team up with. Maybe post your ingame name and server.
@@dafire9634 Omega chaos has also quite a decent Novice Network. Tho the mentors there can be a bit... all over the place. From actualy helpfull to super trolling. Tho i have a nice FC atm that can help with stuff. I mean... someone Made me stockings for my Miqo'te for free. Something that was 100.000+ gil on the market
Great video. About the gameplay, it all depends on what your history is with the MMORPG in my opinion. Overwhelming majority of players who tries FFXIV are MMORPG gamers who has played WoW only. This not only engraves the culture of WoW into a person but it also molds their personality and expectation. I have been playing MMORPG since 1999. I have tried most of them including the ones people never heard of. I even played FF11 online for 8 years which has the slowest combat gameplay for MMORPG to date. As I bounced from MMO to MMO, I really didn't build that preference of what MMORPG gameplay should be. All I got from it was every MMORPG approach in different ways and it all matters to how the content caters to it. So, coming to FFXIV never made me notice the speed of GCD.
Very fair point! But of the various MMOs I've played, these two had the most similar combat and therefore I felt like it was a fair comparison to make. I wouldn't compare Lost Ark and New World for example, but WoW and XIV are similar enough to me that a comparison seems reasonable
@@miqotesoulia8620 Less manipulation, more just the fact of becomming more accustomed to a certain style over years of experience. Like if you spent years driving an automatic car and then switched to manual, it wouldn't be totally alien by any means but it's certainly a bit of a learning curve :)
@@LargeLadCharles Most MMOs in the early 2000s when internet moved away from dial-ups didn't even have this particular system lol. WoW and FF despite being dominant in the field are actually in the minority. Flyff, Tibia, Runescape and a whole bunch of other Korean MMOs only had auto-attack as a common feature, everything else was different from leveling up, class, talent trees to skill usage. I wish MMOs with other game styles would get popular too so we get more competition in the market.
That ending part though is really sad and I fully understand it, I had a friend from university who played wow with for many years until he passed away, I can't imagine getting back to wow after that even though there are others to play with, losing a special person is really hard and hope you sort it out cause in the end no one lives forever.
Very well done, heartfelt, and honest. I loved this. I hope the memories continue to be sweet, new ones built sweeter, and one day you have a good friend once again.
I've been playing XIV since ARR launched, pretty much. I think you captured that bittersweet feeling, through nostalgia and relationships very, very well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. It's... weird to play the games in a different way after life changes, but I'm glad you still are. That means something too-- as there's so much more to experience. Cheers friend!
I’ve always wanted WOW to have a MSQ like FF XIV, even back before XIV existed. I get joy out of going through the leveling/story. Endgame usually is boring for me. I’d really love WOW to be completely overhauled.
well they technically made "main quest of the zone"... which basically is the same old stuff but with new presentation. Creating actual msq (or wrapping up all the current story, cutting unimportant and adding important stuff from outside of the game) is a tremendous task for a wow. It's basically as if asking for remake of whole story system and progression... Too much work. Even look at what it currently has - u can barely play the story at all if you creating a new character for... Idk, Legion, draenor, pandaria or whatever expac u missed/want to replay/revisit the story of it... And you simply was throwed at shadowlands after reaching required lvl. And even without it (if you didn't bought shadowlands) You overleveling everything so fast... Part of the game simply feels hollow cuz of it. And scaling mobs do not really allow to feel "progression" as much as before. New players have it worse (in a way) they are simply kicked right into bfa after tutorial zone. Likely without any (or with barely any of it) knowledge about the lore or characters. And they are getting trown right into the stories and drama of bfa. How can they care about characters, story at all? They often apperciate the art style of zones in bfa though.
i'd say that unfortunately they are too far out to make wow a story focused game, and in reality it never was, its always been "gameplay first with story being the cherry on the cake" and also, we have evidently seen with the last 2 expansions, that the game's engine itself is not able to make for good ingame story, the animations are janky when you look at them close up, the camera is constricted, and so many other things, not to say that the majority of the playerbase(especially after how shadowlands drove out the majority of the lore enthusiasts) doesnt care about story, and even blizzard doesnt, because they'd rather you get to endgame in 6hours than experience the story, and most of the major events arent even ingame and they're in some books, and some of these books have a lot of their content retconned as well, its a complete mess.
MSQ is the worst dungeon are lock behind that and raids nah keep that away from mmos , then after you finish the MSQ you have 108 quest to do just to get to the next expansion bro really unless you pay to skip yea nah I’m good, ESO WOW SWTOR has good story quest that you are not lock
The end hit me in my feels as I've lost a decent amount of people like that for no reason to the point I abandoned myself and stopped caring about playing and having fun with others. In the end, I'm alone and I prefer it to be this way so I don't have to suffer. I do hope you face a far better fate than I had.
"Yours is a long road, my friend, and it stretches on to places beyond imagining. With your every step, these grand adventures shall grow more distant and faint. And there may come a day when you forget the faces and voices of those you have met along the way. On that day, I bid you remember this... That no matter how far your journey may take you, you stand where you stand by virtue of the road you walked to get there. For in times of hardship, when you fear you cannot go on... The joy you have known, the pain you have felt, the prayers you have whispered and answered-they shall ever be your strength and your comfort. This I hope-I believe, here at memory's end."
Until you reach endwalker and realized that whoever wrote the story forgot about the meaning of the song and shat all over the place, giving birth tothe worst expansion of FFXIV and fighting with shadowland for the nº1 dumbest plot.
@@queenbean7071 Yeah, i don´t think im in the majority here and i know the devs did a good job putting enough sparkles and good music to distract the average player from the lack of quality in Endwalker's story, but in the end this expansión is just that, style over substance.
The cooler part of FFXIV is that if you're an old series fan, you'll notice a LOT of references. Akin to seeing bosses like Xande and the Cloud of Darkness.
Just a little note regarding job boosts in XIV. The vast majority of the community agrees that boosts are acceptable when you’re using them on alts. Since you’ve already experienced the story and understand how to play these jobs, boosting to help level an alt for whatever reason is deemed as acceptable and not socially stigmatizing.
I don't normally comment on videos but after seeing your conclusion, I had to leave something here. I had a fallout with a whole group of friends and it really flipped my life upside down. We all played WoW and going back to it by myself felt really hollow and I had that pang of pain similarly to what you felt. I went on to playing FFXIV and the community and story itself has really helped me heal and learn to be okay with my situation. I am able to look back at the memories of my friends fondly instead of the bitter way that I used to. I wish my old friends can experience the joy that FFXIV has given me. But I am thankful I was able to experience this alone as well. Wishing you the best and hope you found peace in your situation as well.
It feels so odd to me that some people can't believe it's possible to love more than one game, or that if only one is loved that somebody want all other games to be bad. I used to love playing WoW, I played from when it released. Even if I never played it again, I would still be happy if it managed to get out of this sad situation it's in.
I rarely leave comments on RUclips videos, but I have to leave one here to let you know how much your video resonated with me. Our stories are eerily similar. I began playing WoW in late 2004 when it released (when I was only 12 years old), and have played it more or less consistently for the past 18 years, with breaks here and there. The last few years of WoW were excellent for me as me and my best friend helped lead a large roleplay guild together, but in summer 2021, the two of us decided it was time to check out FFXIV since many others were doing the same. We both fell deeply in love with the game, and spent countless hours talking about our mutual love for the MSQ, the stories, the side quests, and how much positivity we felt in the game after having experienced the sourness of Shadowlands. And then, in early April of this year, all of that ended sadly when our friendship ran its course. I'd give anything to have that person back in my life again, and as I listened to you talk about your best friend in this video, I felt the same pangs of longing and regret as I remembered my friend that I enjoyed many hours of WoW and FFXIV with. And then in reaching the video's end-I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. I wouldn't trade the good memories I have of these games and the people I've played them with for anything; you're absolutely correct that they become a part of someone's life. The zones, the music, the stories. For me there is a very real sense of comfort and security in logging on and running through the shadowed glens of Ashenvale and Tirisfal, or flying over the icy ravines of Coerthas or the lightswept dunes of Ahm Araeng. They may be virtual locales, but for the time we've all spent there, they're just as much a part of our lives as any school or club or cafe full of the memories and feelings and faces of friends long gone. It hurts when life takes such turns. I just wanted to leave comment to sort of "reach across the aisle", so to speak. You're not alone, even when it feels like you are. Stay strong. Keep the faith. At duty's end, we will meet again. We will. We will...
absolutely great vid and i loved your honest opinions on both. i entered the mmo fray with guild wars followed by years and years of wow. and then i tried ff and i have been hooked for a decade. but i would like to add as a little tid-bit for the ff job boosts and such. for a long time the only stuff in the store were just cosmetics. yoshi-p stated over and over that they did not want to skip stuff because it was meant to be experienced, not skipped. but after much pressure from the fans they added it to help with the grind, only for those that wanted. i think initially all the cash shop even had was just fantasias. it took them years to add skip potions and even then there's job skip potions and *then* there's story skip potions.
Just watching this video now, it's honestly so refreshing to see both games in a positive light. Having played both games thoroughly over the years and putting in countless hours into each, they're both games that are super close to my heart, so it was super sweet to hear someone sharing their more personal opinions and experiences with things in each game and how each one affected you. This video just resonated super well with me because of such a similar opinion on each, especially that ending bro, felt that in my heart and its with you.
In WoW, you always felt like a bystander watching the story but never truly part of it. In FFXIV, you are a participant of the story; your achievements are lauded as YOURS, the characters ask for YOUR input. You don't simply exist in the world of FFXIV; you're fully a part of it!
I don't know what it is about ff14, but when I go into a raid or a dungeon, I'm almost always up for some joking around and making puns from the get go. People are usually responsive to that, so it's fun. Also, you're kinda selling me on WoW a little bit, but my biggest barrier to entry has always been the leveling process in that game. It takes one evening to get a job from 1 to 90 if you know what you're doing in ff14. I can't imagine grinding mobs for exp when I could be having fun. Also creating alts if I don't like my class, which is really bad in my case because I'm super indecisive with stuff like that. The last job I leveled in ff14 was black mage because I thought I'd hate it. Turns out it's the job that suits me the best even though it was my last one. I never would've learned that if I had to level alts to try all of them. I've always wanted to try WoW but the barrier to entry is just too high. Also I'm probably gonna get shit on for being a new player.
Being a new player probably not, I tried wow again about a year ago and found it was decently welcome. It is when you get later in levels that you can find issues if you don't build optimal or don't know or remember what your doing you can run into aggressive players. The biggest issue for wow for me was that I had 0 clue what was happening in the story and so I didn't connect with the story or my character at all and that led to me.getting tired and/or bored with it.
Beautiful vid! You describe the differences between the games magnificently. Hit the nail on the head. I'm sorry that you had a falling out with your friend. :/
I know that feel about friends coming and going in games, I feel guilty for not being involved with WoW as much as I used to. I still have a collection of guild friends and I value WoW as a whole. I just wish I was around more with the. Big love from another Large Lad, keep having fun.
11:13 idk if someone else had mentioned it. But the question for the statue of Thaliak's water source is actually answered way back during Heavensward. If you ever played the Moogle Beast Tribe quests, one of the quests involves you finding a water-aspected crystal. That crystal you find is later used as the water source for the fountain you're rebuilding.
I stayed because you have a great voice! But overall good video, especially since I have a relatable experience from both games. Thought your input on each game's community and job/characters boosting was spot on.
First, I'd like to say how much I like this video. It's not the usual "WOW VET TRIES FFXIV AND IT LITERALLY CHANGES HIS LIFE!!!!" bandwagon-chasing; it's a calm, measured introspection on your experience with both games as well as an even-handed criticism of the downward trajectory of WoW as a whole. I'm going to sub to your channel, and I hope to see more of your work soon -- thought not to where it'd interfere with your enjoyment of the hobby. Too many content creators turn the game into their lives and the pressure that brings destroys the enthusiasm they had that made them worth watching in the first place. I'm sorry you and your friend parted ways, but I hope your enjoyment and fond memories overcome your feelings of loss. To be Fair and/or Balanced, FFXIV definitely isn't without its sins, but YoshiP and the dev team seem infinitely more understanding and empathetic with their players than the folks at Blizzard, whose design philosophy boils down to "let's make content for Scarab Lords, by Scarab Lords" with a generous helping of "let's increase earnings by artificially drawing out content while offering just enough paid boosts and P2W mechanics" tossed in by the suits above. WoW used to be the game for casual folks escaping Everquest, and when they lost sight of that things only went downhill. World of Warcraft is easily the most generic, amateurishly written big name property in the biz. WoW's storyline is a chain of Marvel movie trailers pinned together with duct tape and Family Guy-level pop culture references. WoW doesn't have characters, it has action figures the developers smash together while making "pshew" and "kshow" noises with their mouths that they then tell you to drop some Benjamins on the novels, comic books, and side-games so you can understand why this action figure is now a bad guy and why this one was a secret good guy all along and that genocide is good and cool and fine, actually. Compared to World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV is literature. It has well-defined characters and individual arcs, it brings attention to things other than war after war after war. It has the player be an actual character, forming relationships and bonds and actively making the world a better place for their presence beyond "CHAMPION, I NEED YOU TO COLLECT 10 BOAR LIVERS, AND THEN YOU MUST SLAY TITANIC OVERGOD KILL'THUNDER GOREAXE". The Warrior of Light is the hero of the story, while the player characters in WoW may as well not be there -- and in the cutscenes, isn't. Square-Enix is a crapshow of a company, but the FFXIV crew has largely remained unaffected and is still miles above the breastmilk-stealing Cosby suite-renting sex-pests at Blizzard. Yes, the cash shop is a thing that exists and it sells items that, in all honesty, should be available in-game for free, but there isn't any P2W option beyond buying story and character boosts, and while I think they're pretty scummy, you're essentially paying to skip the exact thing you've already paid for -- like buying a three-course dinner and then hiring someone to eat it for you so you can get the after-dinner mint. Boosts exist primarily for players who want an alt on another server but don't want to start from scratch again, but that's a small niche indeed, and doing the content once on one character should unlock the content for others.
@@LargeLadCharles Perhaps another video focusing on where WoW lost you and where FFXIV finally took hold of you? From there you could tell what you really want in a game now that you're older, wiser, and with less free time? When we were kids we could afford to spend time grinding our proverbial genitalia against the grindstone in WoW for almost infitessimal rewards, but now we need games that respect our time better, that give us better value for time spent and have the decency to say, "You're done with the Content for now, you can stay and piddle around with stuff you put off or you can unsubscribe; we're here for you no matter what!" That attitude is refreshing, and does more to keep customers than every "CHAMPION! YOU MUST COLLECT 500 MOTES OF TITAN-FORGED FEL-CORRUPTED GRUNDLE GREASE TO EMPOWER YOUR NIPPLE RING OF THROGMOR'GAR!" chore in WoW.
Correct for the Most Part, except that your character is but a mindless husk with no personality and the "do it all" hero, Doesnt matter if to defeat the villian or to hunt some rabbits
"Welcome, and well met..." *sobbing intensifies* Nice video! Sadly... Well... I wouldn't say that it is sad, the game, the community and the story shoved me away of the game, there was so many issues, so many... Things... That in the end drove me away from wow. When I left the game, my guildmates asked me why, and I told them that I rather remember wow at a game that I liked over hating it and I still believe, it was the right choice for me.
This video was really nice. Especialy the end. The music in the end parts of shadowbringers is so delightfull. And sorry about what happened between you and your friend. All i really can say is to remember, remember they were once a friend who cared.
When I began my journey back from 2013 I was convinced by a dear friend to join 14, my first mmo. I was in awe and knew this was special just in the week alone. Years went by and my love for 14 just felt like a page of life with friends and Allie’s just exploring and playing hero, but reality is a cruel teacher, I lost my dad just before the pandemic and now after three months just starting to recover after moms passing, leaving me with my sis in our childhood home. As much as I want to hop back on 14, my heart rn is not in a place of comfort, I can’t neglect what we have left and ik how it feels to lose. I hope you recover well
Best part in music in FF14 is that it do not simply "exist" or "good" or "catchy" - it is part of a whole, of story and game. There is always a leifmotif and/or a reference to something that happened before, for example theme of pretty much every location and all combat music from Stormblood have a reference to Stormblood trailer, which is essentially the expansion's main tune; and all those tracks still sound completely different. Alex Moukala did amazing video about leitmotifs in Final Fantasy XIV and how deep they can lead, I recommend watching it, beware of spoilers though. Also his reaction videos - he does a very good job explaining inner workings and what was actually referenced.
When I think about the community, I always thing of a time I went to Limsa and saw people in say explaining for half an hour how to play Scholar to someone who bought a job potion or something. I think a good addition to the game would be similar to the Dreamfitting function they added a while back in having an area where the you get explained the job and how it works, as well as just running around and trying it out. It lets you know exactly what you're getting. The last bit reminds me of how I lost my dad almost a year ago. One of my sisters and I got him to try it out, and while we didn't spend as much time playing together as I would have liked, I do have good memories and think about them all the time, while also thinking about the things he never got to see or try, which was very depressing for at least a month, but now it makes me want to try producing videos where I could explain things in a way even he would understand easily.
As a "die-hard" FF14 fan I can definitely understand the ARR complaints. It was made fairly quickly for the relaunch and you can definitely feel it. Rushed zones, lot of gear that doesn't look all that great, and a definite slog for a lot of the story. Heavensward and onward are fantastic though, which is why the free trial is brilliant; let players get through the worst and have a proper taste of what's to come for free, and they'll be far more likely to continue than someone subbing to start in ARR. I know that much from personal experience, ARR originally drove me away because I didn't want to pay for something that wasn't fun, which is what also kept me from playing past level 10 in wow. Only went back to 14 because I really wanted to see if it would get as good as people were saying a few years later and didn't want to waste the sub money when I got bored 3 hours later of ARR. I also agree with the evaluation of the 14 community in general. In nearly 4k hours I've had maybe 3 encounters with problematic players, period. In terms of store I love that 14 is so seperate from the cash shop. You have to actually go to the site, it's not some button hovering in your UI always trying to catch your eye, and the one store option is something asked for by the community; the ability to try on gear before buying them in the shop. In terms of missing the story you can use the New Game + feature to replay any job quests for classes you boost.
I must be weird because I don't think the ARR 2.0 quest lines were bad at all. I enjoyed them, heck I still enjoy going through them when I create alts today. Now the ARR patch quests that you are forced through are painful. Since they are no longer current they really feel like they drag as they extend the story line through what feels like meaningless time sink. That was fine in ARR when it was what was new, but they really need a revamp to streamline it. I have gotten people into ff14 and most have had the biggest issue pushing through those quest lines. It really feels like a slog when you get that close to what everyone says starts the great story line and then you hit a wall that you have to go slog through before actually getting there.
I started playing after the Endwalker server crisis. Been a big Fan ever since. 1300 hours since February and its fricking september now. I really liked ARR as i went in open minded and blind. Story was a bit sluggish but was alright. Starts to pick up around the lvl 40 ish and from there its great. Although i do have to say.... HEAVENSWARD.... my god that was just absolute Bliss for me to go trough. From start to finish, the Dragonsong war was just amazong to experience. I Cried multiple times wich is not something i do quickly. Especialy difficult to fight a Big story related Trial with tears in your eyes. (V3.3 for those who know) Stormblood: uhm... pacing was all over the place. Got an intense Hate towards the main villain but the music is fantastic. The dungeon boss music was such a Banger when i heard it the first time. Got myself a Cottage in the Kugane housing district, great place :) Shadowbringers: i don't have anything to say about it except that shadowbringers has been 100% of pure Joy to play. From Effed up villains and monsters to just emotional Damage and stunning area's and music. Specificly the final area And dungeon were just... "chefs kiss" the last time was i enjoyed a Game this much must have been FF14 heavensward and FF7 remake before that in 2021. Endwalker: well i am halfway endwalker and sofar i absolutely Love it. Things escalate so hard, absolute banger music, tragic story but that 1 zone. And without any spoilers on what the zone includes. Mare lamentorum is just an absolute treat. The music is calming, the zone is absolutely beautifull and the story is intense as fuck as ALOT is at stake. Probably not as much as the rest of the expansion but i do not know that yet And i just can't wait to go further into it. 7.0: i do not know how the developers hope to make the next expansion surpassing shadowbringers AND endwalker. IF they manage to make a 3rd expansion being an absolute overkill of Joy and emotions... well fuck, that would just be incredible if they pull it off. They're on a streak at the moment. Lets just hope 7.0 is gonna be amazing
11:35 is a mood. Feel those feelings, my dude. E: As far as the Character boosts, when it comes to a new players, I'm of the mind that it's always preferable for someone to play through the MSQ in its entirety. Even if you skip the cutscenes, you can at least get a sense of where these characters come from and how they operate in the greater narrative. WoW could never. WoW *would* never. I think it's a testament of how the world in FF14 is built and I appreciate that.
On the music part, many of us in the 14 community joke about.... 'Paying for the banging OST, and getting a free game on the side'.. XD As for the community, same. I've had one or two bad actors, but they usually get taken down REAL fast. One of my favorite, recent, bits of interaction was a healer in.. That 'Dead' place.. You know the one. Asking me, I was on warrior taht time.. "So, how much we going?" ".. Uuhhh.. fel cleave go brrr?" "Green dps, gotcha. :D"
okay but... at the very end when you started to talk about the falling out with your old bestie,,, and the Amaurot music behind,,,,,,,,,, I did not wish to cry today omg 😭
You mostly mirrored my own feelings on both games (though I dropped it during the ending parts of BFA, so I can't say much of the Shadowlands story and gameplay) I had just kinda, lost my passion for the game, despite having played it for 10 years and enjoyed most of that time... I can even sorta relate to the ending part, even if not directly, cuz my best friend who got me into the game, he originally started playing the game with his girlfriend at the time. But after they broke up, he's not really been playing the game much anymore.
I tried out the Free Trial of FF14 when I started hearing a bunch of stuff about it, and that was during a moment in time where the next content drop was the next expansion, the summer of 2021. It has issues, no game is a game without them, but I decided to just straight up buy the game while I was still in the Heavensward post-expansion quests simply because it felt like a crime to NOT give them money. And now I cry everytime 2 specific songs from Shadowbringers and Endwalker play and can't look at a specific character without having my mouth shoot into a smile...
As someone who hasn't played WoW since vanilla, I really enjoyed this video! Your dulcet tones make it easy to listen to, and it's nice to hear these considered thoughts, rather than some of the more emotion-driven "wow bad ffxiv good" videos. I'm glad you're enjoying your time with FF14, and I hope you continue to do so! The story with your friend hurt; if I were in your position, I don't know if I'd still be able to enjoy these games, being reminded of them. But I'm glad that that's not the case for you, and that these games can still give you positive feelings too!
Around 10:40--where you struggle to remember dungeon and raid themes? 100%, as someone who had played since stress test beta way back in early '04, there are very few dungeon themes that truly stick out in your memory without having that "Ah! I recognize that!" moment if it's played for you. The only one that pops to mind is the brief but frenetic and grandiose piece you got as you first stepped into Shadowfang Keep in vanilla(War:Prelude if I recall correctly), a wonderful, empowering piece you hear a handful of times later in the game, but it comes and goes in only 50 or so seconds. Beyond that, even the stuff I can remember from Ahn'Qiraj and Naxxramas, or even Tempest Keep and Black Temple--it's all kind of a blur. It's very lovely ambience, they suited things well, but that's just it--it is made to fade into the background and set the stage for wherever you are. Shalandris Isle in Ghostlands will never fail to bring me to tears and give me chills every time I hear it, but it is just one among a few tracks that stick out in my memory clearly after all this time away from the game. XIV doesn't slouch in that either--the zone themes are equally lovely and memorable(Thanalan's BGM is for me today what Elwynn and Durotar were for me back then), but WoW's soundtrack seems to almost entirely focus upon environmental and background pieces. You don't get many "Assault on New Avalon" style tracks. XIV flipped the script on me and kept throwing one memorable melody after another at me, and it boggles my mind how Soken and his team continue crank out music on such a level, at such a pace. I don't know if it's a difference in Eastern vs Western game development styles, but XIV has massively prioritized and focused upon the music side since its inception, to the point that the fanbase often jokes "Wow, this great soundtrack also comes with a free game".
I found this by chance, and though I’ve never played WOW and only a FF player for the last couple years - the end is what really got me. I’ve had the same circumstance, and still have been dealing with the grief of that loss and even some of the memories from the good times we had prior to that. But hearing your focus on the positives, and what the new meaning of the game holds for you despite that person no longer being there is very reassuring in a way. I’m deeply sorry for the loss of your friend, it’s a pain I know very well and empathize with, but it’s immensely better that you can carry on despite that and continue to forge good and better memories for yourself. Take care and enjoy your ventures in Eorzea 💛
Same as you 15 years of WOW, started FF in 2019, took breaks during ARR(the recent updates to it are such an improvement hope they keep improving it ) but after HW I was hooked. I also feel they should give us more abilities in start(lvl50 should have current lvl 60 amount of abilities). As for WOW my opinion is that first time since BC I will not start the expansion from launch and might give it a shot in 10.2 if they keep their "promises that they made from LISTENING" and making me do 20 hours a week of chores, which for me is not content, to do couple hours of things I like to do. However I do not blame anyone who tries it but my advice is be careful, I have been fooled to many times by Blizzard and recent 3/4 expansion drained mine and my whole guilds nostalgic love for the game. RP player still not tried RP in FF. Oh boi you are in the candy shop, enjoy yourself. Btw new adventure plate update is awesome. Sorry for long rant, great video though P.S: Sorry about your friend hope in the end you guys work it out
The devs talked about this briefly in an Interview a while ago and since the storycontent got so vast over the years and with 6.1 beeing the start of a new story they want to make it so that people can start the story there so there might be an overhaul of the basecombat in the early levels. I would like to see more early gameplay like SMN or MNK with the core rotation being unlicked somewhen during lvl 30-50
@@zirilan3398 well, but 6.1 is more of a... start of a buffer between stories? Likely it will influence what happens next, but devs said something along the lines of - "You will not get any hints about 7.0 story until 6.5. patch. Albeit i'm not sure if 6.5 would be an actual endwalker patch, or a prepatch for a 7.0
This was a great comparison video. I played FF11 then went to FF14 when it launched. My wife and I went to WoW and we picked the Warlords expansion to try it out. Everyone said that was a bad time to start. But we did anyways, it wasn't bad. I thank you though for talking about the story as I thought I was going crazy because I actually started leveling a char up without boosts because I felt I was missing so much of WoW's story. As I got higher though, it felt like I was missing so much and now it makes sense as to why. Read different books, play different games just to understand where the story is fully going seems so crazy to have to do. I did enjoy my time in WoW with my wife as we played in Shadowlands but the story just seemed lacking along with the community. So we went back to FF. I do want to comment on your friend though, I am not sure what happened but I you have to remember. They are still here, my mind went to worse case and they had passed on from this world. All you can do is extend an olive branch and hope they will take it. If they don't, then you have done all you can and shouldn't have regrets if you had done all you can. I wish you the best and thanks for the video. tldr; Great vid, helped me understand WoW and your friends not dead. Just talk to them.
I had to literally stop the video to laugh myself to tears at "CEASELESS CRYING"! 🤣🤣🤣 Ahhh, the reactions to everyone who's finished MSQ will never fail to make me cackle and sob in solidarity.
I played FF14 way back in Heavensward for a bit but eventually got bored and didn't return for a while. During covid, near the end of Shadowbringers, I started playing with my girlfriend at the time. It was the first game of its type she'd ever played and she fell in love with it, and I fell in love playing it with her. We played through all of Endwalker together when it came out, and we raided together too, making a bunch of new really great friends. Around a month or so ago, we broke up. And for a while, it really seemed impossible for me to play the game again. And still, when I think about the story and all the emotional moments we experienced together, it does make me think of her. I'm really lucky our mutual friends were so awesome and supportive, and the feeling that I'd be "alone" in my ongoing adventures has cleared up immensely. I even still raid with my ex, haha. There's something really special about a game like FF14, that seems to bring the wholesomeness out in a lot of people. The story really rubs off on you. Endwalker's themes of despair and carrying on to find happiness anew genuinely inspired and drove me at times recently. Not many games I can say that about. And to share it with so many people is an incredibly heartening experience.
As I've made the foolish mistake of trying to cut contact with my best friend, I somewhat understand how you feel, although your circumstances are unique to mine own. If at all possible, I hope one day you can link back up and put this behind you. But if not, that's also fine. Great video btw, even if the topic is well-known, your personal flair gave it character :D
I know many people with amazing memories from wow and i think to myself: there will be time ff14 will die and rot, and doubtfully it will be allowed to cease in dignity, such is SE's curse. But looking back on time spent in Eorzea and about: has your journey been good? Has it been worthwhile? These memories will stay with you, and shape you, even when you forget about them.
"Yours is a long road, my friend, and it stretches on to places beyond imagining. With your every step, these grand adventures shall grow more distant and faint. And there may come a day when you forget the faces and voices of those you have met along the way. On that day, I bid you remember this... That no matter how far your journey may take you, you stand where you stand by virtue of the road you walked to get there. For in times of hardship, when you fear you cannot go on... The joy you have known, the pain you have felt, the prayers you have whispered and answered-they shall ever be your strength and your comfort. This I hope-I believe, here at memory's end."
Or in the words of a specific character. Remember, remember we once lived. If you have so many good memories from a game... don't you dare to forget them.
Good comment on the buying boosts in each game - I agree that people are *way* less tempted to buy the job boosts in FFXIV since the story is so good. I guess in this case we would be talking even about each job's story quests for your alt jobs, and they are quite good as well (which ended in shadowbringers and became role quests, but even so...) i just simply dont desire to buy a boost nearly as much as i did in WoW for my main job especially.
Absolutely my point! I was daft enough to buy the Dark Knight boost and now will never be able to experience that story properly unless I make another character
I played both games and both certainly have their appeal, I have more attachment toward XIV just because I feel more engaged with the world, but I the time I had with WoW was certainly an experience. I wish the best of luck for you as you continue your journey in both games.
I loved this!! I've never played WOW, so it was really nice seeing the difference of each MMO (and learning about WOW too!) put into a comprehensive video like this, and your voice is incredibly soothing!! It makes for the perfect video to chill to. Thank you so much for making this!! This was lovely! The Flow section made me laugh out loud; that song NEVER fails to make me emotional. I have it set up in my character's apartment and every time I dip in there, I have to take a minute and just sit in the feels before doing what I was supposed to, haha!! EDIT: I just reached the end and I'm so sorry! Tbh, it is the worst kind of feeling - when you've invested so much time and passion into something with another person, and then very suddenly no longer having that person. When I first started playing FFXIV, it was like that for me too. I joined a good friend's FC, made some other friends in there, and very suddenly all kinds of craziness occurred and I wound up moving servers and losing contact with that FC. It really, really sucks and the game can feel incredibly empty going forward from there, but I can promise you - from personal experience - it doesn't stay this way. I genuinely hope that you're doing better these days, and that you've found a new direction for your passion and if it stills takes you to FFXIV, the community definitely always has a spot for you!
21:43 My heart was not prepared for that BGM... T_T I agree with this a lot. I started playing WoW in Cataclysm and I've had both good and bad experiences throughout. Highlights would probably be helping people with TLPD, Aeonaxx, and of course the friendship moose mount runs. That said, I started FFXIV in 2019 and average PF mount runs are like the friendship LFGs. When I was learning SoS EX in ShB I went with a random group and only one of us had done it and were guiding us through it. It took us 9 hours for the clear, but there wasn't any toxicity. I've also done 6hr+ BLU clears for achievements/titles with zero toxicity. I've had *maybe* two rude people in all of the instances I've done. The same cannot be said about WoW. Ffs, I've gotten flack in BGs because I'm on an RP server. I have a lot of love for WoW, I met some of my best friends in that game... but I have a lot of love, if not more, for FFXIV. I recently got back into WoW because I'm cautiously optimistic about Dragonflight, but oof is it rough getting used to the community after being away.
Nice video. Here's an idea for your next video, the ways they can learn from each other. FFXIV jobs feel good at high levels for the most part, but IMO the worse gameplay at lower levels is a bigger problem for this game than it is in wow. And that's because of how duties and level sync work in FFXIV. Although there are other ways, the most efficient and fun way to level alt jobs is by running the various daily duties and trials for the bonus xp rewards. And when the game selects a duty for you, it sticks you in a very low level dungeon like 60-75% of the time, meaning you don't even get the pleasure of using the new abilities you've earned from leveling up. Yes, you can go in and specify certain dungeons to queue for, but the way I play the game, I'm happy to just do 1 run daily of each type to get the XP and currency rewards, and then I can log out or go back to doing stuff on my main job. But it feels like I get punished for playing that way. I understand SE does this to keep plenty of lifeblood flowing through older content, but since they're converting a lot of older content to be compatible with the trust system, that seems like a good opportunity to ease up on the intense pruning that level sync entails, or change duty finder to not put you any lower than -10 of your current level or something like that. The larger point I'm making here is that leveling alts in wow *can* be fun, sometimes, when you're doing content you like with a decent group. But leveling alt jobs in FFXIV for me has been almost always a massive slog. And that's not to mention that if you're an altoholic, like I am in WoW, forget about it. Yes you can play every job on one character, and that's a wonderful feature. But what if I *want* a lalafel white mage and a hrothgar warrior? What if I want to roleplay or just generally get the experience of playing this game as 2 or more completely different characters? If I'm a player like that, FFXIV is unfortunately extremely inhospitable. I adore my WoL, but she's a SAM/MNK/DRK/MCH, and being a white mage just doesn't suit her at all. She's not a caster. That's just how it is. I've started multiple alts I intent to be my caster character, but I don't stick with it for obvious reasons. This game might as well only let you create one character per world because it clearly expects you to be dedicated to just one. And I just wish they were more flexible in that respect. So in a nutshell: WoW is much friendlier to alts, and I wish FFXIV would take a page out of that book.
I have to say this is the first time I've seen a comment like this and gladly hold the opposite belief. I had a night elf hunter and a blood elf paladin and a pandarian monk in wow. I started in bc/wotlk Era so the "golden years" of wow. At the time I loved it. Had add on to tell me.what quest to do and how to efficiently grind levels. But I hated how boring it was. Dungeons were hit and miss. I was a solo player as I kept weird hours thanks to my job. But ff14 over the last...7 years I've been playing has been amazing. 3 different characters on 3 different worlds. And I've loved leveling each of them. Granted I've left the other 2 as memories and no longer play them for personal reason but even so, as an omni 90 I never once hated the leveling experience in 14. I enjoyed every dungeon run and being able to appreciate how my character grew from sastasha all the way to the latest dungeon. Seeing how at that time I was a fledgling adventure just getting my feet wet. Ff dungeons, for me, often turn into temporary chat rooms while we just zoom through content or talk to the sprout and answer questions. Wow dungeons felt like a competition between ninja loot and not wanting to get flamed I always felt I had to be 100% on. But again my opinion glad you have yours. 😊
I think a very important point that wasn't brought up in the store section is that in WoW there is a connection between your wallet and your gold, where as in FF there isn't. That is MASSIVE at least for me.
It's not something I mentioned for the simple reason that FF14 doesn't have that, and therefore I can't really 'compare' anything. However, on reflection I definitely should have mentioned it at least a little just to say how much I dislike it and think it's bad for the game.
@@LargeLadCharles thanks for response. The WoW token has been a problem for so long. I feel no one talks about it or forgets it. Thank you for your input.
Awesome video, love the tone and pacing of it, and I agree with most points (except the stuff about ARR gear; I still think that looks superior to anything in WoW, even endgame gear). This really resonates with me, and I hope to see more content from you! The only thing I lament about FF is that Omega (EU) doesn't really have adventure-style RP hubs in the same way Argent Dawn EU did. The billboard nightclub "RP" stuff is... yeah, not my style. Also joined FF with two real-life friends, and there was also a falling out where one of them outright said that the other two of us were "wastes of time", and decided to become attached to some psycho manipulator who dropped him like nothing later on. He hasn't responded to messages for seven months, ignored hundreds of olive branches we tried to reach out to him. It hurt, but (at least in our case) we couldn't keep holding out hope for this guy. If he comes back, he comes back. In the meantime, we met some new people and made some new connections that were worth their weight in gold. These things happen, man, and there are always more fish in the sea, as cynical as that sounds... Hope you're doing alright and recovering from the loss, king. 👑 tl;dr- Great video, we came from the same section of the WoW community. Had a similar experience of friendship loss after joining FF, trust me when I say things will get better. Also, subbed. B^)
I know this is an "old" video but I wanted to comment. Your conclusion hit home 100%. Had a best friend I made in the game to the point where we called each other brother. Unfortunately, we no longer talk/play. Whenever I login or install WoW, that sadness you reference is quite real. I hope you're doing well! I appreciate your video so very much. Take wonderful care.
Really enjoyed your take in this comparison. Sorry to hear about the friend. On the note of job quests in ff14, the journals in the inns can also do job quests so you can still see the story there as well. Every person is different as you said. Wishing you the best and hope you keep enjoying it!
That end caught me off guard. Take care man. I've played both WoW & FFXIV but I'm more of a FFXIV guy & played the game a lot more than I played wow. Both games honestly have great things about them.
Personally, I dislike WoW. I don't harbor ill will toward the game or anyone who enjoys it, though. I will say, though, that your take is one of the best I've heard about both. It's very obvious that both games are very important to you, and you crafted this video with affection toward both. Quality content.
Great video! I like how it seems your character is similar looking in both games. I was really into WoW lore even if it was sporadic but when I really started to wonder "wtf was that?" was around Legion ending. The fact that Illidan kinda leaves out without explaining or good reason, bugged dialogue and obviously the sword lol. Around BFA when I quit I was really hyped that Baine was gonna be important (I played a Tauren) but he literally don't do anything. After everything in there plus the horrible gameplay loop and crap community I just dipped and been hooked on FF14 for a year now, love it to death, I was not new to the franchise but by Heavensward, especially after the final boss of the expansion (imo one of the best final bosses ever, not only on an MMO) I became a walking advertisement for the game.
You hit the nail on the head about FF boosts being for story-skippers, a very niche group. There is a second group though. The rare group of people who have maxed their characters, and are intentionally building up alts. In those cases, there are people who'll buy the boosts because they already know the story and how to play the job, and are just trying to get their alts closer up to their main characters.
Lovely video. I love seeing people's insight on the game whenever they play. (Sobbing is accurate X'D) Also, just to add, I got a skip for my second character because it took months to get through the story once and doing again while still doing content on the other would be hell. I don't recommend a sprout do it at all.
Hi, Lominsan here. Except the occasional outlier, or the cold shoulder people in general give to people leveling up, I can confirm that the vast majority treat others warmly. Almost too warm, depending on who you ask. Personally, I find the friendly vibes amazing. Especially the spontaneous parades they sometimes do for some reason. They somehow know when you're a mod user, and make extra sure you have a nice view of their endeavors. You don't get that often nowadays.
The theme playing at the end when you were talking about your friend. I fully understood the pain of it. About 7 year ago I started playing FFXIV hoined an FC that my sister and her wife were in. This FC started in FFXI, was remade in FFXIV 1.0 and then again in 2.0. Over time we became great friends with our FC mates as well as our neighbours in the lavender beds. Until our old FC returned to the game. He became the new leader again and things turned bad. He wanted us to start paying for being part of the FC even though we were all friends at the time, if anyone needed something we would just share anything we had in game. He and the neighbour's FC leader pretty much decided that they didn't want us doing any content together. It quickly turned to actual arguments outside of the game and it broke both our FC as well as our neighbour's FC. We spend so much time playing together, from release of FFXIV 2.0 through a several expansions and now..... it's basically me and just one other guy I met way later who keep the FC alive. While I look back on these years I can't help but smile, while I also have a real sad feeling of the hurt caused by this.
I do apologize sincerely for what has happened between you and your friend. I did enjoy the video and I am certainly glad that you are going to focus on the positives. Take all the time you need to heal. I know I am a stranger but, in the rp sense, I am also your sister in Hydaelyn. Your fellow Warrior of Light. Take care of yourself first. But let the good experiences get you through these tough times.
I teared up just from him mentioning Ardbert… the scene with Seto is probably the first time I actually just full on cried during the msq story… the only other time I came close was with that random side quest with motoyas brooms and you gotta find the one she put memories of Yshtola in that was fukn sad…
I'm a console player and just have a dinky laptop so I've never played WoW. But I really hope that Dragonflight is good for all the WoW refugees. While I'm so glad to have you all here in Eorzea, it's clear that WoW has been so special for you all for many years. I cant imagine how I would feel if FFXIV just slowly got bad after playing it for nearly 10 years. I hope Dragonflight is good for you all and whether it is or isn't, we Eorzeans will be here to welcome you again if you return
I really enjoyed this comparison and I find myself agreeing with a lot of your points. I do have one criticism, the popping noises when you have icons show up are super distracting.
Thank your for your great video Charles! As someone who played WoW from the very beginning and had a fall-out with it after playing it for nearly a decade and now closing in on playing FFXIV for nearly 7 years, I appreciate your honest, respectful and heartfelt take here. Keep up the good work, and may your wishes all come true! ~
There's one big difference between WoW and FFXIV in in-game purchases is wow token. I almost don't know what to spend my gil on. Keep getting refunded when buying house, which is also only 3 million gil. Since the wealth keep piling up, I even thinking just to spend it on gilded mikoshi mount. I can go gathering for a bit, craft food for raids. or just outright buy it. other than that I just have fun trying EX4. wow payers need to buy wow token to raid. every failure has consequences in dollar.
Hugs and well wishes to you, buddy. At least you still have those memories and a lot of life ahead of you. Chin up and learn from what you can. I'm glad you're enjoying the game as much as I am after a nearly equal number of years in wow! Also, if you're on the RP data center (Crystal), the rp community is only growing. Trick can be to find an fc with a theme and personality that jives well with yours. Lemme know if you'd like to reach out to more rp folks!
Crying at the mention of The Crown of Domination while showing the fucking Burger King Crown of Disappointment pretty much sums up my sentiment about the Shadowlands
I am a wow refugee from a few years back (i joined at the end of stormblood) and personally i won't go back to WoW. However, I do hope the new expansion brings something back to the game for those that play. People should be able to enjoy the game of their choice and fet joy out of it
One good thing about an FFXIV boost, great for players who want to play on another server with friends, and have already completed the story of the game and the Job story.
@@LargeLadCharles it really depends on what the person has going on. If I had a FC I really liked, and a house, I'd be really reticent to do a full server transfer without good reason to do so.
@@LargeLadCharles Its understandable, at least now with DC travel you can move to other data centres in your region without needing to get a transfer. Been a godsend for me in terms of being able to join in with community things since most of the communities I'm part of are on the other regional DC to my main.
Thanks for the overwhelmingly positive response everyone! This is insane and totally unexpected. If you have any suggestions for new videos, please do let me know! My current idea for a new video is “Ways in which WoW and FFXIV can learn from each other”. I don’t particularly wanna bottle myself into the MMO niche, but this is a topic I enjoy and love to talk about so I’ll likely be making more videos about it. Thanks again! Lemmie know your suggestions!
Something to think on, is FFXIV is written like a book. Arr and sb have first book/ first book in a new trilogy style. The books that come after are reliant on the less popular books that flesh out the world.
Also, SE has always done slow wind up on it's mmos, too slow but a vast improvement over xi.
You also have to add in the class quests in FF14. wow class quests are pretty boring and meh. ff14 also has side quests, like Manderville...etc This also adds interesting flavor to the game as well.
I hope you continue to enjoy your life, to fullest.
Your voice is amazing mate. And the deiting is pretty good, hope you put out more videos
boring video shit takes
"The rains have ceased, and we have been blessed with a beautiful day... but you are not here to see it..."
Damn you, why you gotta punch me in the feels?
Damn and with how the video ended
How dare you... ;n;
bro i read you dang comment just as he was ending the video FAK
I didnt come here just to feel attacked.
The ceaseless crying when you talk about "Flow" during the music segment simultaneously got me to laugh and relive the trauma behind the context of that song. I still remember my sibling asking if I was OK because they could hear me sobbing from my room. What Sokken and Ishikawa accomplish together using music and writing is just unparalleled.
Flow is soooooo good. Even by their usual standards, that one is particularly excellent.
Right? I am laughing, but I can feel my eyes tearing up at the same time. Playing this game has gotten so bad that if I come out of my room crying my roommate asks if I have been playing FF14 again before anything else. :P
....and I love every second of it. :)
I can't listen to Answers anymore without tearing up. I both hate it and love it at the same time.
Haven't seen it being mentioned by others in the comments yet. But you can still play the story of jobs you boosted through New Game+. I believe it's under the duty section of the menu bar.
Yep, I recently played through the parts of ARR that was updated in the recent patch, and the changes were all pretty good. New Game+ for the win.
New Game+ saves the day
Years ago, a friend got me into WoW, but it was back in its heyday of BC and WotLK. I did return briefly for Cataclysm, but I had very different interests than my friend. He kept trying to pull me into end game, while I literally stopped to smell the roses (Herbalism/Alchemy).
Years later, I had the good fortune of not having one person, but a small friend group (enough for a light party) to start playing FFXIV with. This was during Stormblood and they were invaluable to me. (We still play to this day, and my original WoW friend has also come over to Eorzea)
I am sorry about your friend, I know how it can feel without someone there. My mom actually played games and she was my P2 so much of the time. She passed away a couple years ago, and there are some games I don't know that I'll think of the same way again. Thanks for sharing.
sorry for your loss i hope u are doing well that's never easy to deal with
As a veteran, I sometimes watch a bunch these comparisons just to see what other peoples opinions are. I really liked your perspective on things and the style of the video was very cozy.
But the end really hit me right in the feels. There was something really powerful and sad about that last part that got me tearing up. I know I'm a stranger but hope everything works out for you and that you're doing okay.
Thanks so much my dude, have a great day
Would be good to find a ff14 to wow player comparison. Seeing a lot of wow to ff14 player comparison.
@@allzofeel I mean... I wonder why that doesn't happen 😅
@@allzofeel I've seen only 1 video. It happens though, i just dont think people are making vids of if? my sis tried WoW out when we ran out of content in FF14 just before EW launched, and she talked me into it. It will never be my main MMO, but we're having a good time playing it casually a couple times a week.
One very important thing about the "in-game purchases" is that FFXIV doesn't HAVE them in-game. They are never advertised and you never feel pressured to pay anything, hell, you might not even know a cash shop exists if somebody doesn't tell you. The store also asks you like 5 times if you REALLY want to spend money. Meanwhile WoW, Destiny and most MMOs nowadays just have paid store right in the game's main menu.
well... Yesn't.
Recently... in 6.1 or 6.15 a function was added. To check outfits in the shop when you sleep on a bed in a inn.
It's far from implementing the shop into the game, but still.
(also a bit off topic, but i'm still mad for how much one fricking bike costs in the shop. Cloud's bike.)
@@zenixvampirchik652 Cloud's bike has a set travel speed, allowing you to get a faster travel speed even in lands that you haven't gotten the riding map. It's a very minor pay to win.
Also, it's account-wide, meaning that any alt characters, future and present, will get it too.
@@zenixvampirchik652 at the risk of sounding like a blind fan girl, I feel Yoshi P has deserved the benefit of trust.
He mentioned that he didn't like putting the cash shop into the game at all, but at the same time, he wanted people to be able to test the cash shop items on on their own character. A few shots of full sets on other characters can't be compared to getting full access to testing separate pieces and how they all dye etc in-game.
And that's why he wanted to put the cash shop items in a menu, and he wanted to put them in a place that was as unintrusive as possible.
If the cash shop ever appears in game, I'll rescind the trust shown here. But I fully believe him for now. Shouting in the novice network for people to link you items you want to see sucks, after all.
@@simj202 uh, no, sry. I didn't mean to say that bike is p2w.
It's just a personal thing. Cuz I want it. But it costs like some older full single player games. And... Yeah
@@KiddDaPhoenix oh, I trust yoshi p for now. But what will happen when he'll leave? Especially after rumors about him working/starting to work on his own MMO.
Flow really makes the tears flow. Even without the context of where the song fits within the story. On an interview the poor singer confenssed that it took 30 takes to get the final cut of the song done cause it kept making her sob.
She also had to produce and record it all by herself because it was recorded in the height of covid.
@@mangalover0149 She also has a producer background as well, and at this time Soken was in hospital with cancer.
The singer said that it was hard for her to evoke the emotion without falling into it.
I shame i dont like the song, Just like dragonsong
@@Exel3nce no surprise zero likes.
The end actually broke my heart. I hope you find peace my friend.
I’m a FF14 player through and through, but I hope dragon flight marks a new era for wow and gives them something they actively wanna go back to. Regardless of what you prefer, everyone needs a game they can call home at the end of the day
As someone who's home was wow for years, I want to thank the ff14 community for allowing me to to make ff14 my home. I may or may not return to wow, but the people I've met and played with in ff14 made the whole pandemic bearable.
Thank you.
@@MrSprite69 something about that beautiful sentiment followed by the word barnacle makes this way funnier than it should be
It won't....
Sadly wow is pretty much done. The company and the players lost their way. It's been a game being played for going on 19 years (I say 19 not 18 that because I did play in my first beta back in 2003). It's just past it's expiration date. There will come a day that ff14 will hit the same thing.
I call both home at the end the day! FFXIV is all for me. WoW is to play with old friends from far away.
I spent 14 years in WoW. I loved it for what it was, but I think of it now like an old relationship. I'm glad I did it, but it was time to move on.
I'm happier in FFXIV, not because I have any resentment towards WoW, but because Eorzea has been a ridiculously pleasant experience for me.😁
Funnily enough, it was the opposite for me. I played FFXIV since ARR launch, and WoW casually on the side sometimes. But Endwalker happened, I raided and cleared the first tier, and realised... It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the game anymore. It's that I was satisfied with what I accomplished on it, and didn't get that joy anymore. So I went back to seek it on WoW.
FFXIV and WoW are both very fun experiences, which bring their own things to the table, and I'm glad most people in the comments here are able to respect that.
@@Axaelyn wow is objectively worse than FF14 though, so I would say you have digressed. I hope for a speedy recovery!
@@austins.2495 bro told you hes whole story and u reply with "objective bad" ok 😂
Same. Had fun memories with wow but lets not kid ourselves, ffxiv is really amazing.
@@austins.2495 shut up moron
"You gather pieces of happiness, precious and fragile, only to lose them. Then start again. On and on it goes..."
I was a WoW Vet from Wrath; I left at the end of Cataclysm; it took a while, but I finally jumped on the FF train and never looked back. Part of me wishes WoW was still the great game it was, but it isn't; there's no going back to that. And that's OK.
same boat. Only with Destiny. Keep my fun memories intact and not tarnishing it with the TAINT that is Activision. Glad to have cut it out of my life.
i was a wow vet from near the begining and its quite sad and disappointing on what it has become in recent years sorta funny that i predicted this when activation first bought out blizzard as for when i quit i started to loose intrest after legion i plaied a bit of bfa wasnt to impressed then the whole blitz chung thing happened and i gave up on blizzard and activision entirely
We all make bad decisions in our life
As an older gamer who has spent many hours in both games, I really enjoyed your comparison: great voice, editing and analysis. I could feel your love for both games and really identify with your sense of nostalgia and loss. I thought this was a solid video before your heartfelt closing, but that ending had me sitting in quiet contemplation for several minutes. Not a lot of content hits me like that and I had to leave a comment. The games we play and love are as much about the people we enjoy them with and the period of our lives when that happens. Time marches on but we can always remember. I look forward to more of your content and wish you well my friend.
I'm glad someone else put into words how I felt about this video and especially the end. I just sent a lil message to my in-game besties to tell them I appreciate them inspired by this.
It wasn’t until one day when I was progressing through bojza as a sprout 🌱 I saw someone outside the duel ring on a flaming wheel mount. So I messaged them and ask them how they got that mount, and they told me it was a store mount. So it took me about 500hours to find out that ffxiv had a store where you can buy mounts and cosmetics 💀.
FF14 is better in most ways. Over all it's the new king 👑 of the online gaming world
First I want to say that I sincerely hope that you're doing okay, man, and that you've found some peace in the happy memories you have of both games. There's just something that becomes a part of us when we play and a large part of that is the friendships we make along the way.
I'm glad that you've had an excellent time in Eorzea, and I hope that you continue to have some awesome experiences as the story continues to evolve and you discover more and more of the hidden gems in the side content! (also, 10/10 WoL!). As someone that only flirted with WoW for a bit, it's real interesting to see the comparison between the strengths and weaknesses of the two games, and I think you've done an excellent job showcasing each objectively. I can't wait to see more from you :)
Thanks so much for the kind comment! And in that last note, if there’s anything in particular you’d wanna see from me I’m open to suggestions! :)
I feel you with the friends aspect of playing...really any MMO. I started playing FFXIV right when 2.0 launched and had a Free Company fairly quickly. We were pretty tight up until mid Stormblood, then the FC just kind of fizzled and people went their separate ways. The person I used to play with on a daily basis ended up moving to Korea, and I have not seen him online since. Now, I've been trying to find an FC that I feel like a part of, but I just haven't found it yet. I don't really have "FFXIV friends" to play the game with anymore and it sucks because it makes me not want to play the game as much due to that. When I log on now, it's mostly playing a single player game with dungeons thrown in.
(this highly HIGHLY depends on the server you're on) but i've found that my server(twintania - light) novice network, is friendly enough to remind me of a certain relic called "Barrens chat" and so i grinded out crafting/gather mentor specifically to get back in there once i wasnt a sprout anymore.
I have the same thing happen to me and it realy sucks to play solo and trying to find a nice guild or especially a buddy to team up with. Maybe post your ingame name and server.
Mine is Honi Slate on Cactuar, but luckily with how things are now, the server doesn't really matter anymore.
@@dafire9634 Omega chaos has also quite a decent Novice Network. Tho the mentors there can be a bit... all over the place. From actualy helpfull to super trolling.
Tho i have a nice FC atm that can help with stuff. I mean... someone Made me stockings for my Miqo'te for free. Something that was 100.000+ gil on the market
@@cherrydragon3120 laughs in Louisoix , Chaos
our novice network is run by the sprouts and completely chaotic
Great video. About the gameplay, it all depends on what your history is with the MMORPG in my opinion. Overwhelming majority of players who tries FFXIV are MMORPG gamers who has played WoW only. This not only engraves the culture of WoW into a person but it also molds their personality and expectation. I have been playing MMORPG since 1999. I have tried most of them including the ones people never heard of. I even played FF11 online for 8 years which has the slowest combat gameplay for MMORPG to date. As I bounced from MMO to MMO, I really didn't build that preference of what MMORPG gameplay should be. All I got from it was every MMORPG approach in different ways and it all matters to how the content caters to it. So, coming to FFXIV never made me notice the speed of GCD.
Very fair point! But of the various MMOs I've played, these two had the most similar combat and therefore I felt like it was a fair comparison to make. I wouldn't compare Lost Ark and New World for example, but WoW and XIV are similar enough to me that a comparison seems reasonable
@@LargeLadCharles I can agree with that. FFXIV did take a lot of inspiration from WoW.
Though my personal experience is more like OP.
well said, its like they've been manipulated to play THAT ONE AND ONLY STYLE. Insane to think.
@@miqotesoulia8620 Less manipulation, more just the fact of becomming more accustomed to a certain style over years of experience. Like if you spent years driving an automatic car and then switched to manual, it wouldn't be totally alien by any means but it's certainly a bit of a learning curve :)
@@LargeLadCharles Most MMOs in the early 2000s when internet moved away from dial-ups didn't even have this particular system lol. WoW and FF despite being dominant in the field are actually in the minority. Flyff, Tibia, Runescape and a whole bunch of other Korean MMOs only had auto-attack as a common feature, everything else was different from leveling up, class, talent trees to skill usage. I wish MMOs with other game styles would get popular too so we get more competition in the market.
That ending part though is really sad and I fully understand it, I had a friend from university who played wow with for many years until he passed away, I can't imagine getting back to wow after that even though there are others to play with, losing a special person is really hard and hope you sort it out cause in the end no one lives forever.
Very well done, heartfelt, and honest. I loved this. I hope the memories continue to be sweet, new ones built sweeter, and one day you have a good friend once again.
That last bit... it rhymes with the bery message of endwalker, that the meaning of life is in the little moments of joy
I've been playing XIV since ARR launched, pretty much. I think you captured that bittersweet feeling, through nostalgia and relationships very, very well. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. It's... weird to play the games in a different way after life changes, but I'm glad you still are. That means something too-- as there's so much more to experience.
Cheers friend!
The music at the end combined with your closing actually made me cry.
I’ve always wanted WOW to have a MSQ like FF XIV, even back before XIV existed. I get joy out of going through the leveling/story. Endgame usually is boring for me. I’d really love WOW to be completely overhauled.
well they technically made "main quest of the zone"... which basically is the same old stuff but with new presentation.
Creating actual msq (or wrapping up all the current story, cutting unimportant and adding important stuff from outside of the game) is a tremendous task for a wow.
It's basically as if asking for remake of whole story system and progression... Too much work.
Even look at what it currently has - u can barely play the story at all if you creating a new character for... Idk, Legion, draenor, pandaria or whatever expac u missed/want to replay/revisit the story of it... And you simply was throwed at shadowlands after reaching required lvl. And even without it (if you didn't bought shadowlands) You overleveling everything so fast...
Part of the game simply feels hollow cuz of it. And scaling mobs do not really allow to feel "progression" as much as before.
New players have it worse (in a way) they are simply kicked right into bfa after tutorial zone. Likely without any (or with barely any of it) knowledge about the lore or characters. And they are getting trown right into the stories and drama of bfa.
How can they care about characters, story at all?
They often apperciate the art style of zones in bfa though.
i'd say that unfortunately they are too far out to make wow a story focused game, and in reality it never was, its always been "gameplay first with story being the cherry on the cake"
and also, we have evidently seen with the last 2 expansions, that the game's engine itself is not able to make for good ingame story, the animations are janky when you look at them close up, the camera is constricted, and so many other things,
not to say that the majority of the playerbase(especially after how shadowlands drove out the majority of the lore enthusiasts) doesnt care about story, and even blizzard doesnt, because they'd rather you get to endgame in 6hours than experience the story, and most of the major events arent even ingame and they're in some books, and some of these books have a lot of their content retconned as well,
its a complete mess.
MSQ is the worst dungeon are lock behind that and raids nah keep that away from mmos , then after you finish the MSQ you have 108 quest to do just to get to the next expansion bro really unless you pay to skip yea nah I’m good, ESO WOW SWTOR has good story quest that you are not lock
@@supacheeksc6330 I actually like everything to be locked by progression. Keeps me from feeling overwhelmed.
The end hit me in my feels as I've lost a decent amount of people like that for no reason to the point I abandoned myself and stopped caring about playing and having fun with others. In the end, I'm alone and I prefer it to be this way so I don't have to suffer. I do hope you face a far better fate than I had.
"Yours is a long road, my friend, and it stretches on to places beyond imagining. With your every step, these grand adventures shall grow more distant and faint. And there may come a day when you forget the faces and voices of those you have met along the way. On that day, I bid you remember this... That no matter how far your journey may take you, you stand where you stand by virtue of the road you walked to get there. For in times of hardship, when you fear you cannot go on... The joy you have known, the pain you have felt, the prayers you have whispered and answered-they shall ever be your strength and your comfort. This I hope-I believe, here at memory's end."
10/10, you should make more videos in this style. You've got the perfect voice for it
FFXIV. The game where you can listen to Answers the farther you go into the story, and that song hurts even more as you go deeper into the story.
Lv 89 trial on endwalker, I could not stop sobbing for mommy
It really does get more and more emotional. Being in early endwalker. Things get very interesting
Until you reach endwalker and realized that whoever wrote the story forgot about the meaning of the song and shat all over the place, giving birth tothe worst expansion of FFXIV and fighting with shadowland for the nº1 dumbest plot.
@@Pebeum a very unique take considering i think many people would disagree with you.
@@queenbean7071 Yeah, i don´t think im in the majority here and i know the devs did a good job putting enough sparkles and good music to distract the average player from the lack of quality in Endwalker's story, but in the end this expansión is just that, style over substance.
The cooler part of FFXIV is that if you're an old series fan, you'll notice a LOT of references.
Akin to seeing bosses like Xande and the Cloud of Darkness.
Just a little note regarding job boosts in XIV. The vast majority of the community agrees that boosts are acceptable when you’re using them on alts. Since you’ve already experienced the story and understand how to play these jobs, boosting to help level an alt for whatever reason is deemed as acceptable and not socially stigmatizing.
he might've meant job stories. Some are really good. Like DRK one.
But maybe he didn't know that you can replay them with ng+
I don't normally comment on videos but after seeing your conclusion, I had to leave something here. I had a fallout with a whole group of friends and it really flipped my life upside down. We all played WoW and going back to it by myself felt really hollow and I had that pang of pain similarly to what you felt. I went on to playing FFXIV and the community and story itself has really helped me heal and learn to be okay with my situation. I am able to look back at the memories of my friends fondly instead of the bitter way that I used to. I wish my old friends can experience the joy that FFXIV has given me. But I am thankful I was able to experience this alone as well. Wishing you the best and hope you found peace in your situation as well.
Old Sharleyan - I saw what you did there XD
Sucks to lose a friend, but sometimes all you can do is look ahead and enjoy remembering the good times.
It feels so odd to me that some people can't believe it's possible to love more than one game, or that if only one is loved that somebody want all other games to be bad. I used to love playing WoW, I played from when it released. Even if I never played it again, I would still be happy if it managed to get out of this sad situation it's in.
I rarely leave comments on RUclips videos, but I have to leave one here to let you know how much your video resonated with me.
Our stories are eerily similar. I began playing WoW in late 2004 when it released (when I was only 12 years old), and have played it more or less consistently for the past 18 years, with breaks here and there. The last few years of WoW were excellent for me as me and my best friend helped lead a large roleplay guild together, but in summer 2021, the two of us decided it was time to check out FFXIV since many others were doing the same. We both fell deeply in love with the game, and spent countless hours talking about our mutual love for the MSQ, the stories, the side quests, and how much positivity we felt in the game after having experienced the sourness of Shadowlands.
And then, in early April of this year, all of that ended sadly when our friendship ran its course.
I'd give anything to have that person back in my life again, and as I listened to you talk about your best friend in this video, I felt the same pangs of longing and regret as I remembered my friend that I enjoyed many hours of WoW and FFXIV with. And then in reaching the video's end-I just couldn't believe what I was hearing.
I wouldn't trade the good memories I have of these games and the people I've played them with for anything; you're absolutely correct that they become a part of someone's life. The zones, the music, the stories. For me there is a very real sense of comfort and security in logging on and running through the shadowed glens of Ashenvale and Tirisfal, or flying over the icy ravines of Coerthas or the lightswept dunes of Ahm Araeng. They may be virtual locales, but for the time we've all spent there, they're just as much a part of our lives as any school or club or cafe full of the memories and feelings and faces of friends long gone.
It hurts when life takes such turns. I just wanted to leave comment to sort of "reach across the aisle", so to speak. You're not alone, even when it feels like you are.
Stay strong. Keep the faith. At duty's end, we will meet again. We will. We will...
absolutely great vid and i loved your honest opinions on both. i entered the mmo fray with guild wars followed by years and years of wow. and then i tried ff and i have been hooked for a decade. but i would like to add as a little tid-bit for the ff job boosts and such. for a long time the only stuff in the store were just cosmetics. yoshi-p stated over and over that they did not want to skip stuff because it was meant to be experienced, not skipped. but after much pressure from the fans they added it to help with the grind, only for those that wanted. i think initially all the cash shop even had was just fantasias. it took them years to add skip potions and even then there's job skip potions and *then* there's story skip potions.
Just watching this video now, it's honestly so refreshing to see both games in a positive light. Having played both games thoroughly over the years and putting in countless hours into each, they're both games that are super close to my heart, so it was super sweet to hear someone sharing their more personal opinions and experiences with things in each game and how each one affected you. This video just resonated super well with me because of such a similar opinion on each, especially that ending bro, felt that in my heart and its with you.
In WoW, you always felt like a bystander watching the story but never truly part of it. In FFXIV, you are a participant of the story; your achievements are lauded as YOURS, the characters ask for YOUR input. You don't simply exist in the world of FFXIV; you're fully a part of it!
Love the comparison. Giving you a sub for the voice. That shit's buttery smooth my friend.
I don't know what it is about ff14, but when I go into a raid or a dungeon, I'm almost always up for some joking around and making puns from the get go. People are usually responsive to that, so it's fun.
Also, you're kinda selling me on WoW a little bit, but my biggest barrier to entry has always been the leveling process in that game. It takes one evening to get a job from 1 to 90 if you know what you're doing in ff14. I can't imagine grinding mobs for exp when I could be having fun. Also creating alts if I don't like my class, which is really bad in my case because I'm super indecisive with stuff like that. The last job I leveled in ff14 was black mage because I thought I'd hate it. Turns out it's the job that suits me the best even though it was my last one. I never would've learned that if I had to level alts to try all of them. I've always wanted to try WoW but the barrier to entry is just too high. Also I'm probably gonna get shit on for being a new player.
Being a new player probably not, I tried wow again about a year ago and found it was decently welcome. It is when you get later in levels that you can find issues if you don't build optimal or don't know or remember what your doing you can run into aggressive players. The biggest issue for wow for me was that I had 0 clue what was happening in the story and so I didn't connect with the story or my character at all and that led to me.getting tired and/or bored with it.
Karazhan's atmosphere and music is what I immediately thought of when you mentioned WoW dungeon and raid music. But it basically ends after that.
Beautiful vid! You describe the differences between the games magnificently. Hit the nail on the head. I'm sorry that you had a falling out with your friend. :/
I know that feel about friends coming and going in games, I feel guilty for not being involved with WoW as much as I used to. I still have a collection of guild friends and I value WoW as a whole. I just wish I was around more with the. Big love from another Large Lad, keep having fun.
11:13 idk if someone else had mentioned it. But the question for the statue of Thaliak's water source is actually answered way back during Heavensward. If you ever played the Moogle Beast Tribe quests, one of the quests involves you finding a water-aspected crystal. That crystal you find is later used as the water source for the fountain you're rebuilding.
Ming biscuits was a very thoughtful thing to add and I VERY much appreciate it.
I stayed because you have a great voice! But overall good video, especially since I have a relatable experience from both games. Thought your input on each game's community and job/characters boosting was spot on.
First, I'd like to say how much I like this video. It's not the usual "WOW VET TRIES FFXIV AND IT LITERALLY CHANGES HIS LIFE!!!!" bandwagon-chasing; it's a calm, measured introspection on your experience with both games as well as an even-handed criticism of the downward trajectory of WoW as a whole. I'm going to sub to your channel, and I hope to see more of your work soon -- thought not to where it'd interfere with your enjoyment of the hobby. Too many content creators turn the game into their lives and the pressure that brings destroys the enthusiasm they had that made them worth watching in the first place. I'm sorry you and your friend parted ways, but I hope your enjoyment and fond memories overcome your feelings of loss.
To be Fair and/or Balanced, FFXIV definitely isn't without its sins, but YoshiP and the dev team seem infinitely more understanding and empathetic with their players than the folks at Blizzard, whose design philosophy boils down to "let's make content for Scarab Lords, by Scarab Lords" with a generous helping of "let's increase earnings by artificially drawing out content while offering just enough paid boosts and P2W mechanics" tossed in by the suits above. WoW used to be the game for casual folks escaping Everquest, and when they lost sight of that things only went downhill.
World of Warcraft is easily the most generic, amateurishly written big name property in the biz. WoW's storyline is a chain of Marvel movie trailers pinned together with duct tape and Family Guy-level pop culture references. WoW doesn't have characters, it has action figures the developers smash together while making "pshew" and "kshow" noises with their mouths that they then tell you to drop some Benjamins on the novels, comic books, and side-games so you can understand why this action figure is now a bad guy and why this one was a secret good guy all along and that genocide is good and cool and fine, actually.
Compared to World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy XIV is literature. It has well-defined characters and individual arcs, it brings attention to things other than war after war after war. It has the player be an actual character, forming relationships and bonds and actively making the world a better place for their presence beyond "CHAMPION, I NEED YOU TO COLLECT 10 BOAR LIVERS, AND THEN YOU MUST SLAY TITANIC OVERGOD KILL'THUNDER GOREAXE". The Warrior of Light is the hero of the story, while the player characters in WoW may as well not be there -- and in the cutscenes, isn't.
Square-Enix is a crapshow of a company, but the FFXIV crew has largely remained unaffected and is still miles above the breastmilk-stealing Cosby suite-renting sex-pests at Blizzard. Yes, the cash shop is a thing that exists and it sells items that, in all honesty, should be available in-game for free, but there isn't any P2W option beyond buying story and character boosts, and while I think they're pretty scummy, you're essentially paying to skip the exact thing you've already paid for -- like buying a three-course dinner and then hiring someone to eat it for you so you can get the after-dinner mint. Boosts exist primarily for players who want an alt on another server but don't want to start from scratch again, but that's a small niche indeed, and doing the content once on one character should unlock the content for others.
Thanks for the comment and the kind words! If you have any ideas on what you’d wanna see let me know, I honestly don’t know what to make next haha
@@LargeLadCharles Perhaps another video focusing on where WoW lost you and where FFXIV finally took hold of you? From there you could tell what you really want in a game now that you're older, wiser, and with less free time?
When we were kids we could afford to spend time grinding our proverbial genitalia against the grindstone in WoW for almost infitessimal rewards, but now we need games that respect our time better, that give us better value for time spent and have the decency to say, "You're done with the Content for now, you can stay and piddle around with stuff you put off or you can unsubscribe; we're here for you no matter what!"
That attitude is refreshing, and does more to keep customers than every "CHAMPION! YOU MUST COLLECT 500 MOTES OF TITAN-FORGED FEL-CORRUPTED GRUNDLE GREASE TO EMPOWER YOUR NIPPLE RING OF THROGMOR'GAR!" chore in WoW.
Correct for the Most Part, except that your character is but a mindless husk with no personality and the "do it all" hero, Doesnt matter if to defeat the villian or to hunt some rabbits
this is my first time watching your video and my first impression is, wow! that voice! so mesmerized by your voice 😍
Those G-poses at the end were precious.
"Welcome, and well met..." *sobbing intensifies*
Nice video! Sadly... Well... I wouldn't say that it is sad, the game, the community and the story shoved me away of the game, there was so many issues, so many... Things... That in the end drove me away from wow. When I left the game, my guildmates asked me why, and I told them that I rather remember wow at a game that I liked over hating it and I still believe, it was the right choice for me.
This video was really nice. Especialy the end. The music in the end parts of shadowbringers is so delightfull.
And sorry about what happened between you and your friend.
All i really can say is to remember, remember they were once a friend who cared.
When I began my journey back from 2013 I was convinced by a dear friend to join 14, my first mmo. I was in awe and knew this was special just in the week alone. Years went by and my love for 14 just felt like a page of life with friends and Allie’s just exploring and playing hero, but reality is a cruel teacher, I lost my dad just before the pandemic and now after three months just starting to recover after moms passing, leaving me with my sis in our childhood home. As much as I want to hop back on 14, my heart rn is not in a place of comfort, I can’t neglect what we have left and ik how it feels to lose. I hope you recover well
I enjoy watching these types of videos. Even having never gotten that far into WoW, the different perspectives are interesting to hear
Best part in music in FF14 is that it do not simply "exist" or "good" or "catchy" - it is part of a whole, of story and game. There is always a leifmotif and/or a reference to something that happened before, for example theme of pretty much every location and all combat music from Stormblood have a reference to Stormblood trailer, which is essentially the expansion's main tune; and all those tracks still sound completely different. Alex Moukala did amazing video about leitmotifs in Final Fantasy XIV and how deep they can lead, I recommend watching it, beware of spoilers though. Also his reaction videos - he does a very good job explaining inner workings and what was actually referenced.
It relied too much on them Sometimes
When I think about the community, I always thing of a time I went to Limsa and saw people in say explaining for half an hour how to play Scholar to someone who bought a job potion or something. I think a good addition to the game would be similar to the Dreamfitting function they added a while back in having an area where the you get explained the job and how it works, as well as just running around and trying it out. It lets you know exactly what you're getting.
The last bit reminds me of how I lost my dad almost a year ago. One of my sisters and I got him to try it out, and while we didn't spend as much time playing together as I would have liked, I do have good memories and think about them all the time, while also thinking about the things he never got to see or try, which was very depressing for at least a month, but now it makes me want to try producing videos where I could explain things in a way even he would understand easily.
As a "die-hard" FF14 fan I can definitely understand the ARR complaints. It was made fairly quickly for the relaunch and you can definitely feel it. Rushed zones, lot of gear that doesn't look all that great, and a definite slog for a lot of the story. Heavensward and onward are fantastic though, which is why the free trial is brilliant; let players get through the worst and have a proper taste of what's to come for free, and they'll be far more likely to continue than someone subbing to start in ARR. I know that much from personal experience, ARR originally drove me away because I didn't want to pay for something that wasn't fun, which is what also kept me from playing past level 10 in wow. Only went back to 14 because I really wanted to see if it would get as good as people were saying a few years later and didn't want to waste the sub money when I got bored 3 hours later of ARR.
I also agree with the evaluation of the 14 community in general. In nearly 4k hours I've had maybe 3 encounters with problematic players, period.
In terms of store I love that 14 is so seperate from the cash shop. You have to actually go to the site, it's not some button hovering in your UI always trying to catch your eye, and the one store option is something asked for by the community; the ability to try on gear before buying them in the shop. In terms of missing the story you can use the New Game + feature to replay any job quests for classes you boost.
I must be weird because I don't think the ARR 2.0 quest lines were bad at all. I enjoyed them, heck I still enjoy going through them when I create alts today. Now the ARR patch quests that you are forced through are painful. Since they are no longer current they really feel like they drag as they extend the story line through what feels like meaningless time sink. That was fine in ARR when it was what was new, but they really need a revamp to streamline it. I have gotten people into ff14 and most have had the biggest issue pushing through those quest lines. It really feels like a slog when you get that close to what everyone says starts the great story line and then you hit a wall that you have to go slog through before actually getting there.
I started playing after the Endwalker server crisis. Been a big Fan ever since. 1300 hours since February and its fricking september now.
I really liked ARR as i went in open minded and blind. Story was a bit sluggish but was alright. Starts to pick up around the lvl 40 ish and from there its great.
Although i do have to say.... HEAVENSWARD.... my god that was just absolute Bliss for me to go trough. From start to finish, the Dragonsong war was just amazong to experience. I Cried multiple times wich is not something i do quickly. Especialy difficult to fight a Big story related Trial with tears in your eyes. (V3.3 for those who know)
Stormblood: uhm... pacing was all over the place. Got an intense Hate towards the main villain but the music is fantastic. The dungeon boss music was such a Banger when i heard it the first time. Got myself a Cottage in the Kugane housing district, great place :)
Shadowbringers: i don't have anything to say about it except that shadowbringers has been 100% of pure Joy to play. From Effed up villains and monsters to just emotional Damage and stunning area's and music. Specificly the final area And dungeon were just... "chefs kiss" the last time was i enjoyed a Game this much must have been FF14 heavensward and FF7 remake before that in 2021.
Endwalker: well i am halfway endwalker and sofar i absolutely Love it. Things escalate so hard, absolute banger music, tragic story but that 1 zone. And without any spoilers on what the zone includes. Mare lamentorum is just an absolute treat. The music is calming, the zone is absolutely beautifull and the story is intense as fuck as ALOT is at stake. Probably not as much as the rest of the expansion but i do not know that yet
And i just can't wait to go further into it.
7.0: i do not know how the developers hope to make the next expansion surpassing shadowbringers AND endwalker. IF they manage to make a 3rd expansion being an absolute overkill of Joy and emotions... well fuck, that would just be incredible if they pull it off. They're on a streak at the moment. Lets just hope 7.0 is gonna be amazing
11:35 is a mood. Feel those feelings, my dude.
E: As far as the Character boosts, when it comes to a new players, I'm of the mind that it's always preferable for someone to play through the MSQ in its entirety. Even if you skip the cutscenes, you can at least get a sense of where these characters come from and how they operate in the greater narrative. WoW could never. WoW *would* never. I think it's a testament of how the world in FF14 is built and I appreciate that.
On the music part, many of us in the 14 community joke about.... 'Paying for the banging OST, and getting a free game on the side'.. XD As for the community, same. I've had one or two bad actors, but they usually get taken down REAL fast.
One of my favorite, recent, bits of interaction was a healer in.. That 'Dead' place.. You know the one. Asking me, I was on warrior taht time.. "So, how much we going?" ".. Uuhhh.. fel cleave go brrr?"
"Green dps, gotcha. :D"
okay but... at the very end when you started to talk about the falling out with your old bestie,,, and the Amaurot music behind,,,,,,,,,, I did not wish to cry today omg 😭
You mostly mirrored my own feelings on both games (though I dropped it during the ending parts of BFA, so I can't say much of the Shadowlands story and gameplay) I had just kinda, lost my passion for the game, despite having played it for 10 years and enjoyed most of that time...
I can even sorta relate to the ending part, even if not directly, cuz my best friend who got me into the game, he originally started playing the game with his girlfriend at the time. But after they broke up, he's not really been playing the game much anymore.
I tried out the Free Trial of FF14 when I started hearing a bunch of stuff about it, and that was during a moment in time where the next content drop was the next expansion, the summer of 2021. It has issues, no game is a game without them, but I decided to just straight up buy the game while I was still in the Heavensward post-expansion quests simply because it felt like a crime to NOT give them money.
And now I cry everytime 2 specific songs from Shadowbringers and Endwalker play and can't look at a specific character without having my mouth shoot into a smile...
As someone who hasn't played WoW since vanilla, I really enjoyed this video! Your dulcet tones make it easy to listen to, and it's nice to hear these considered thoughts, rather than some of the more emotion-driven "wow bad ffxiv good" videos. I'm glad you're enjoying your time with FF14, and I hope you continue to do so!
The story with your friend hurt; if I were in your position, I don't know if I'd still be able to enjoy these games, being reminded of them. But I'm glad that that's not the case for you, and that these games can still give you positive feelings too!
Around 10:40--where you struggle to remember dungeon and raid themes? 100%, as someone who had played since stress test beta way back in early '04, there are very few dungeon themes that truly stick out in your memory without having that "Ah! I recognize that!" moment if it's played for you. The only one that pops to mind is the brief but frenetic and grandiose piece you got as you first stepped into Shadowfang Keep in vanilla(War:Prelude if I recall correctly), a wonderful, empowering piece you hear a handful of times later in the game, but it comes and goes in only 50 or so seconds. Beyond that, even the stuff I can remember from Ahn'Qiraj and Naxxramas, or even Tempest Keep and Black Temple--it's all kind of a blur. It's very lovely ambience, they suited things well, but that's just it--it is made to fade into the background and set the stage for wherever you are. Shalandris Isle in Ghostlands will never fail to bring me to tears and give me chills every time I hear it, but it is just one among a few tracks that stick out in my memory clearly after all this time away from the game.
XIV doesn't slouch in that either--the zone themes are equally lovely and memorable(Thanalan's BGM is for me today what Elwynn and Durotar were for me back then), but WoW's soundtrack seems to almost entirely focus upon environmental and background pieces. You don't get many "Assault on New Avalon" style tracks. XIV flipped the script on me and kept throwing one memorable melody after another at me, and it boggles my mind how Soken and his team continue crank out music on such a level, at such a pace. I don't know if it's a difference in Eastern vs Western game development styles, but XIV has massively prioritized and focused upon the music side since its inception, to the point that the fanbase often jokes "Wow, this great soundtrack also comes with a free game".
I found this by chance, and though I’ve never played WOW and only a FF player for the last couple years - the end is what really got me. I’ve had the same circumstance, and still have been dealing with the grief of that loss and even some of the memories from the good times we had prior to that. But hearing your focus on the positives, and what the new meaning of the game holds for you despite that person no longer being there is very reassuring in a way.
I’m deeply sorry for the loss of your friend, it’s a pain I know very well and empathize with, but it’s immensely better that you can carry on despite that and continue to forge good and better memories for yourself. Take care and enjoy your ventures in Eorzea 💛
Same as you 15 years of WOW, started FF in 2019, took breaks during ARR(the recent updates to it are such an improvement hope they keep improving it ) but after HW I was hooked. I also feel they should give us more abilities in start(lvl50 should have current lvl 60 amount of abilities). As for WOW my opinion is that first time since BC I will not start the expansion from launch and might give it a shot in 10.2 if they keep their "promises that they made from LISTENING" and making me do 20 hours a week of chores, which for me is not content, to do couple hours of things I like to do. However I do not blame anyone who tries it but my advice is be careful, I have been fooled to many times by Blizzard and recent 3/4 expansion drained mine and my whole guilds nostalgic love for the game.
RP player still not tried RP in FF. Oh boi you are in the candy shop, enjoy yourself. Btw new adventure plate update is awesome.
Sorry for long rant, great video though
P.S: Sorry about your friend hope in the end you guys work it out
The devs talked about this briefly in an Interview a while ago and since the storycontent got so vast over the years and with 6.1 beeing the start of a new story they want to make it so that people can start the story there so there might be an overhaul of the basecombat in the early levels. I would like to see more early gameplay like SMN or MNK with the core rotation being unlicked somewhen during lvl 30-50
@@zirilan3398 well, but 6.1 is more of a... start of a buffer between stories? Likely it will influence what happens next, but devs said something along the lines of - "You will not get any hints about 7.0 story until 6.5. patch.
Albeit i'm not sure if 6.5 would be an actual endwalker patch, or a prepatch for a 7.0
This was a great comparison video. I played FF11 then went to FF14 when it launched. My wife and I went to WoW and we picked the Warlords expansion to try it out. Everyone said that was a bad time to start. But we did anyways, it wasn't bad. I thank you though for talking about the story as I thought I was going crazy because I actually started leveling a char up without boosts because I felt I was missing so much of WoW's story. As I got higher though, it felt like I was missing so much and now it makes sense as to why. Read different books, play different games just to understand where the story is fully going seems so crazy to have to do. I did enjoy my time in WoW with my wife as we played in Shadowlands but the story just seemed lacking along with the community. So we went back to FF.
I do want to comment on your friend though, I am not sure what happened but I you have to remember. They are still here, my mind went to worse case and they had passed on from this world. All you can do is extend an olive branch and hope they will take it. If they don't, then you have done all you can and shouldn't have regrets if you had done all you can. I wish you the best and thanks for the video.
tldr; Great vid, helped me understand WoW and your friends not dead. Just talk to them.
I had to literally stop the video to laugh myself to tears at "CEASELESS CRYING"! 🤣🤣🤣 Ahhh, the reactions to everyone who's finished MSQ will never fail to make me cackle and sob in solidarity.
I played FF14 way back in Heavensward for a bit but eventually got bored and didn't return for a while. During covid, near the end of Shadowbringers, I started playing with my girlfriend at the time. It was the first game of its type she'd ever played and she fell in love with it, and I fell in love playing it with her. We played through all of Endwalker together when it came out, and we raided together too, making a bunch of new really great friends.
Around a month or so ago, we broke up. And for a while, it really seemed impossible for me to play the game again. And still, when I think about the story and all the emotional moments we experienced together, it does make me think of her. I'm really lucky our mutual friends were so awesome and supportive, and the feeling that I'd be "alone" in my ongoing adventures has cleared up immensely. I even still raid with my ex, haha.
There's something really special about a game like FF14, that seems to bring the wholesomeness out in a lot of people. The story really rubs off on you. Endwalker's themes of despair and carrying on to find happiness anew genuinely inspired and drove me at times recently. Not many games I can say that about. And to share it with so many people is an incredibly heartening experience.
As I've made the foolish mistake of trying to cut contact with my best friend, I somewhat understand how you feel, although your circumstances are unique to mine own. If at all possible, I hope one day you can link back up and put this behind you. But if not, that's also fine. Great video btw, even if the topic is well-known, your personal flair gave it character :D
I know many people with amazing memories from wow and i think to myself: there will be time ff14 will die and rot, and doubtfully it will be allowed to cease in dignity, such is SE's curse.
But looking back on time spent in Eorzea and about: has your journey been good? Has it been worthwhile? These memories will stay with you, and shape you, even when you forget about them.
"Yours is a long road, my friend, and it stretches on to places beyond imagining. With your every step, these grand adventures shall grow more distant and faint. And there may come a day when you forget the faces and voices of those you have met along the way. On that day, I bid you remember this... That no matter how far your journey may take you, you stand where you stand by virtue of the road you walked to get there. For in times of hardship, when you fear you cannot go on... The joy you have known, the pain you have felt, the prayers you have whispered and answered-they shall ever be your strength and your comfort. This I hope-I believe, here at memory's end."
I guess when yoshi-P leaves is when xiv's gonna die out
Or in the words of a specific character.
Remember, remember we once lived.
If you have so many good memories from a game... don't you dare to forget them.
the last part...makes me so touch...same as you, no longer talk to the person i used to call my best friend....
Good comment on the buying boosts in each game - I agree that people are *way* less tempted to buy the job boosts in FFXIV since the story is so good. I guess in this case we would be talking even about each job's story quests for your alt jobs, and they are quite good as well (which ended in shadowbringers and became role quests, but even so...) i just simply dont desire to buy a boost nearly as much as i did in WoW for my main job especially.
Absolutely my point! I was daft enough to buy the Dark Knight boost and now will never be able to experience that story properly unless I make another character
@@LargeLadCharlesI'm not sure if the job quests are available as a part of New Game+ but you could check it out to see if it's there.
LOL you got me at mingebiscuits. I def have not seen that in a FF/WoW comparison video. Subscribed.
I played both games and both certainly have their appeal, I have more attachment toward XIV just because I feel more engaged with the world, but I the time I had with WoW was certainly an experience. I wish the best of luck for you as you continue your journey in both games.
I loved this!! I've never played WOW, so it was really nice seeing the difference of each MMO (and learning about WOW too!) put into a comprehensive video like this, and your voice is incredibly soothing!! It makes for the perfect video to chill to. Thank you so much for making this!! This was lovely!
The Flow section made me laugh out loud; that song NEVER fails to make me emotional. I have it set up in my character's apartment and every time I dip in there, I have to take a minute and just sit in the feels before doing what I was supposed to, haha!!
EDIT: I just reached the end and I'm so sorry! Tbh, it is the worst kind of feeling - when you've invested so much time and passion into something with another person, and then very suddenly no longer having that person. When I first started playing FFXIV, it was like that for me too. I joined a good friend's FC, made some other friends in there, and very suddenly all kinds of craziness occurred and I wound up moving servers and losing contact with that FC. It really, really sucks and the game can feel incredibly empty going forward from there, but I can promise you - from personal experience - it doesn't stay this way. I genuinely hope that you're doing better these days, and that you've found a new direction for your passion and if it stills takes you to FFXIV, the community definitely always has a spot for you!
21:43 My heart was not prepared for that BGM... T_T
I agree with this a lot. I started playing WoW in Cataclysm and I've had both good and bad experiences throughout. Highlights would probably be helping people with TLPD, Aeonaxx, and of course the friendship moose mount runs. That said, I started FFXIV in 2019 and average PF mount runs are like the friendship LFGs. When I was learning SoS EX in ShB I went with a random group and only one of us had done it and were guiding us through it. It took us 9 hours for the clear, but there wasn't any toxicity. I've also done 6hr+ BLU clears for achievements/titles with zero toxicity. I've had *maybe* two rude people in all of the instances I've done. The same cannot be said about WoW. Ffs, I've gotten flack in BGs because I'm on an RP server. I have a lot of love for WoW, I met some of my best friends in that game... but I have a lot of love, if not more, for FFXIV. I recently got back into WoW because I'm cautiously optimistic about Dragonflight, but oof is it rough getting used to the community after being away.
Nice video. Here's an idea for your next video, the ways they can learn from each other.
FFXIV jobs feel good at high levels for the most part, but IMO the worse gameplay at lower levels is a bigger problem for this game than it is in wow. And that's because of how duties and level sync work in FFXIV. Although there are other ways, the most efficient and fun way to level alt jobs is by running the various daily duties and trials for the bonus xp rewards. And when the game selects a duty for you, it sticks you in a very low level dungeon like 60-75% of the time, meaning you don't even get the pleasure of using the new abilities you've earned from leveling up. Yes, you can go in and specify certain dungeons to queue for, but the way I play the game, I'm happy to just do 1 run daily of each type to get the XP and currency rewards, and then I can log out or go back to doing stuff on my main job. But it feels like I get punished for playing that way.
I understand SE does this to keep plenty of lifeblood flowing through older content, but since they're converting a lot of older content to be compatible with the trust system, that seems like a good opportunity to ease up on the intense pruning that level sync entails, or change duty finder to not put you any lower than -10 of your current level or something like that.
The larger point I'm making here is that leveling alts in wow *can* be fun, sometimes, when you're doing content you like with a decent group. But leveling alt jobs in FFXIV for me has been almost always a massive slog. And that's not to mention that if you're an altoholic, like I am in WoW, forget about it. Yes you can play every job on one character, and that's a wonderful feature. But what if I *want* a lalafel white mage and a hrothgar warrior? What if I want to roleplay or just generally get the experience of playing this game as 2 or more completely different characters? If I'm a player like that, FFXIV is unfortunately extremely inhospitable. I adore my WoL, but she's a SAM/MNK/DRK/MCH, and being a white mage just doesn't suit her at all. She's not a caster. That's just how it is. I've started multiple alts I intent to be my caster character, but I don't stick with it for obvious reasons. This game might as well only let you create one character per world because it clearly expects you to be dedicated to just one. And I just wish they were more flexible in that respect.
So in a nutshell: WoW is much friendlier to alts, and I wish FFXIV would take a page out of that book.
I have to say this is the first time I've seen a comment like this and gladly hold the opposite belief. I had a night elf hunter and a blood elf paladin and a pandarian monk in wow. I started in bc/wotlk Era so the "golden years" of wow. At the time I loved it. Had add on to tell me.what quest to do and how to efficiently grind levels. But I hated how boring it was. Dungeons were hit and miss. I was a solo player as I kept weird hours thanks to my job. But ff14 over the last...7 years I've been playing has been amazing. 3 different characters on 3 different worlds. And I've loved leveling each of them. Granted I've left the other 2 as memories and no longer play them for personal reason but even so, as an omni 90 I never once hated the leveling experience in 14. I enjoyed every dungeon run and being able to appreciate how my character grew from sastasha all the way to the latest dungeon. Seeing how at that time I was a fledgling adventure just getting my feet wet. Ff dungeons, for me, often turn into temporary chat rooms while we just zoom through content or talk to the sprout and answer questions. Wow dungeons felt like a competition between ninja loot and not wanting to get flamed I always felt I had to be 100% on. But again my opinion glad you have yours. 😊
I think a very important point that wasn't brought up in the store section is that in WoW there is a connection between your wallet and your gold, where as in FF there isn't. That is MASSIVE at least for me.
It's not something I mentioned for the simple reason that FF14 doesn't have that, and therefore I can't really 'compare' anything. However, on reflection I definitely should have mentioned it at least a little just to say how much I dislike it and think it's bad for the game.
@@LargeLadCharles thanks for response. The WoW token has been a problem for so long. I feel no one talks about it or forgets it. Thank you for your input.
Awesome video, love the tone and pacing of it, and I agree with most points (except the stuff about ARR gear; I still think that looks superior to anything in WoW, even endgame gear). This really resonates with me, and I hope to see more content from you! The only thing I lament about FF is that Omega (EU) doesn't really have adventure-style RP hubs in the same way Argent Dawn EU did. The billboard nightclub "RP" stuff is... yeah, not my style.
Also joined FF with two real-life friends, and there was also a falling out where one of them outright said that the other two of us were "wastes of time", and decided to become attached to some psycho manipulator who dropped him like nothing later on. He hasn't responded to messages for seven months, ignored hundreds of olive branches we tried to reach out to him. It hurt, but (at least in our case) we couldn't keep holding out hope for this guy. If he comes back, he comes back. In the meantime, we met some new people and made some new connections that were worth their weight in gold. These things happen, man, and there are always more fish in the sea, as cynical as that sounds... Hope you're doing alright and recovering from the loss, king. 👑
tl;dr-
Great video, we came from the same section of the WoW community. Had a similar experience of friendship loss after joining FF, trust me when I say things will get better. Also, subbed. B^)
I know this is an "old" video but I wanted to comment. Your conclusion hit home 100%. Had a best friend I made in the game to the point where we called each other brother. Unfortunately, we no longer talk/play. Whenever I login or install WoW, that sadness you reference is quite real. I hope you're doing well! I appreciate your video so very much. Take wonderful care.
Really enjoyed your take in this comparison. Sorry to hear about the friend. On the note of job quests in ff14, the journals in the inns can also do job quests so you can still see the story there as well. Every person is different as you said. Wishing you the best and hope you keep enjoying it!
I'm happy that this vid did soo well for you man, we have left for you a legacy, do not squander it... :3
That end caught me off guard. Take care man.
I've played both WoW & FFXIV but I'm more of a FFXIV guy & played the game a lot more than I played wow.
Both games honestly have great things about them.
Personally, I dislike WoW. I don't harbor ill will toward the game or anyone who enjoys it, though.
I will say, though, that your take is one of the best I've heard about both. It's very obvious that both games are very important to you, and you crafted this video with affection toward both. Quality content.
Great video! I like how it seems your character is similar looking in both games. I was really into WoW lore even if it was sporadic but when I really started to wonder "wtf was that?" was around Legion ending. The fact that Illidan kinda leaves out without explaining or good reason, bugged dialogue and obviously the sword lol. Around BFA when I quit I was really hyped that Baine was gonna be important (I played a Tauren) but he literally don't do anything.
After everything in there plus the horrible gameplay loop and crap community I just dipped and been hooked on FF14 for a year now, love it to death, I was not new to the franchise but by Heavensward, especially after the final boss of the expansion (imo one of the best final bosses ever, not only on an MMO) I became a walking advertisement for the game.
You hit the nail on the head about FF boosts being for story-skippers, a very niche group. There is a second group though. The rare group of people who have maxed their characters, and are intentionally building up alts. In those cases, there are people who'll buy the boosts because they already know the story and how to play the job, and are just trying to get their alts closer up to their main characters.
Lovely video. I love seeing people's insight on the game whenever they play. (Sobbing is accurate X'D)
Also, just to add, I got a skip for my second character because it took months to get through the story once and doing again while still doing content on the other would be hell. I don't recommend a sprout do it at all.
Hi, Lominsan here. Except the occasional outlier, or the cold shoulder people in general give to people leveling up, I can confirm that the vast majority treat others warmly. Almost too warm, depending on who you ask.
Personally, I find the friendly vibes amazing. Especially the spontaneous parades they sometimes do for some reason. They somehow know when you're a mod user, and make extra sure you have a nice view of their endeavors. You don't get that often nowadays.
The theme playing at the end when you were talking about your friend. I fully understood the pain of it.
About 7 year ago I started playing FFXIV hoined an FC that my sister and her wife were in. This FC started in FFXI, was remade in FFXIV 1.0 and then again in 2.0. Over time we became great friends with our FC mates as well as our neighbours in the lavender beds. Until our old FC returned to the game. He became the new leader again and things turned bad. He wanted us to start paying for being part of the FC even though we were all friends at the time, if anyone needed something we would just share anything we had in game. He and the neighbour's FC leader pretty much decided that they didn't want us doing any content together.
It quickly turned to actual arguments outside of the game and it broke both our FC as well as our neighbour's FC. We spend so much time playing together, from release of FFXIV 2.0 through a several expansions and now..... it's basically me and just one other guy I met way later who keep the FC alive. While I look back on these years I can't help but smile, while I also have a real sad feeling of the hurt caused by this.
I do apologize sincerely for what has happened between you and your friend. I did enjoy the video and I am certainly glad that you are going to focus on the positives. Take all the time you need to heal. I know I am a stranger but, in the rp sense, I am also your sister in Hydaelyn. Your fellow Warrior of Light. Take care of yourself first. But let the good experiences get you through these tough times.
Charles you really did a hell of a great job on this video. I honestly hope you can forge new friendships that are so strong again. I certainly did :)
I teared up just from him mentioning Ardbert… the scene with Seto is probably the first time I actually just full on cried during the msq story… the only other time I came close was with that random side quest with motoyas brooms and you gotta find the one she put memories of Yshtola in that was fukn sad…
You're a great creator! I hope you get more followers. So easy to listen to and with a great perspective.
I'm a console player and just have a dinky laptop so I've never played WoW. But I really hope that Dragonflight is good for all the WoW refugees. While I'm so glad to have you all here in Eorzea, it's clear that WoW has been so special for you all for many years. I cant imagine how I would feel if FFXIV just slowly got bad after playing it for nearly 10 years. I hope Dragonflight is good for you all and whether it is or isn't, we Eorzeans will be here to welcome you again if you return
I really enjoyed this comparison and I find myself agreeing with a lot of your points.
I do have one criticism, the popping noises when you have icons show up are super distracting.
BUT I LOVE DA POP
(No but thank you, I’ll make it quieter in future :D)
Thank your for your great video Charles! As someone who played WoW from the very beginning and had a fall-out with it after playing it for nearly a decade and now closing in on playing FFXIV for nearly 7 years, I appreciate your honest, respectful and heartfelt take here. Keep up the good work, and may your wishes all come true! ~
There's one big difference between WoW and FFXIV in in-game purchases is wow token.
I almost don't know what to spend my gil on. Keep getting refunded when buying house, which is also only 3 million gil. Since the wealth keep piling up, I even thinking just to spend it on gilded mikoshi mount. I can go gathering for a bit, craft food for raids. or just outright buy it. other than that I just have fun trying EX4.
wow payers need to buy wow token to raid. every failure has consequences in dollar.
Hugs and well wishes to you, buddy. At least you still have those memories and a lot of life ahead of you. Chin up and learn from what you can. I'm glad you're enjoying the game as much as I am after a nearly equal number of years in wow!
Also, if you're on the RP data center (Crystal), the rp community is only growing. Trick can be to find an fc with a theme and personality that jives well with yours. Lemme know if you'd like to reach out to more rp folks!
Imma just steer clear of RP, doesn’t really agree with me anymore, but thanks for the nice comment!
Crying at the mention of The Crown of Domination while showing the fucking Burger King Crown of Disappointment pretty much sums up my sentiment about the Shadowlands
Goldshire also feels like "home" to me. It's weird how it feels so safe and comforting.
It used to feel like home before I played on an RP server… I’ve seen things…
I am a wow refugee from a few years back (i joined at the end of stormblood) and personally i won't go back to WoW. However, I do hope the new expansion brings something back to the game for those that play. People should be able to enjoy the game of their choice and fet joy out of it
One good thing about an FFXIV boost, great for players who want to play on another server with friends, and have already completed the story of the game and the Job story.
Hadn’t thought of that, but if I were gonna do this I’d probably just buy a transfer instead :)
@@LargeLadCharles it really depends on what the person has going on. If I had a FC I really liked, and a house, I'd be really reticent to do a full server transfer without good reason to do so.
@@LargeLadCharles Its understandable, at least now with DC travel you can move to other data centres in your region without needing to get a transfer. Been a godsend for me in terms of being able to join in with community things since most of the communities I'm part of are on the other regional DC to my main.