Are there really WOW players migrating to FF14 or is that "WOW refugee" term just banter?
- Thread starter Dreamboum
- Start date
Come on don't reduce all of us playing WoW as people who just can't let go..... I quit WoW for 8 years, still came back and had a blast these past 3 years. I love FFXIV but there's not a single MMO on the market which offers an end-game raiding experience that even comes close to WoW. You can blow through FFXIV's hardest raiding content in a single weekend on a semi-hardcore guild in FFXIV, but that same guild could spend a year and not finish the end-game content of WoW. Besides, mythic dungeons are also a reason enough to keep playing and enjoying WoW.
Besides, you're of course entitled to your opinion about the WoW zones, but even the most hardcore of BFA haters always agree on the fact that the zones themselves look great thanks to the WoW art team, and Bastion and Revendreth might be the best looking WoW zones. Ever.
I've hopped back and forth in the past few years, but largely stuck with WoW. I've tried many times to really get deep into FF14, but for as much as I've seen mention of 14 being like a 'single player' game, that's the opposite experience I found.
I've played WoW on-and-off since it's release in 2004, and I'd say all but maybe 2 of those years were entirely solo. Sure, I'll do a handful of random dungeons each time I get on a WoW binge, but I spend more time soloing old dungeons then doing new ones.
FF14 just about immediately required sitting in long ass queues to progress it's story, repeating that same process every handful of quests, on and on. Every single time I just kept thinking "I wish I could just solo this shit!". I was super excited for the trusts system in Shadowbringers, hoping it'd finally fix my problem, but it was only a band-aid. I like the story and characters a lot in FF14, but after a few quests into Shadowbringers, I finally hit my "I think I don't like this game." point.
I've found ESO a far better experience as my 'break from WoW' MMO. I find its artstyle and gameplay absolutely miserable, but it's a very soloable experience with a fairly rich world.
I've played WoW on-and-off since it's release in 2004, and I'd say all but maybe 2 of those years were entirely solo. Sure, I'll do a handful of random dungeons each time I get on a WoW binge, but I spend more time soloing old dungeons then doing new ones.
FF14 just about immediately required sitting in long ass queues to progress it's story, repeating that same process every handful of quests, on and on. Every single time I just kept thinking "I wish I could just solo this shit!". I was super excited for the trusts system in Shadowbringers, hoping it'd finally fix my problem, but it was only a band-aid. I like the story and characters a lot in FF14, but after a few quests into Shadowbringers, I finally hit my "I think I don't like this game." point.
I've found ESO a far better experience as my 'break from WoW' MMO. I find its artstyle and gameplay absolutely miserable, but it's a very soloable experience with a fairly rich world.
Getting revered in both Nazjatar and Mechagon was one of the WORST experiences I ever had in gaming in my life. What a shitshow
the thing about wow is that theres just a core fundamental aspect to its gameplay that allows me to never dislike it that i havent found in almost any other game, like its as if it was designed for me to receive dopamine just from performing basic actions
so even if ffxiv has a better story or graphics, like, in the end i could probably level another hundred characters to level 60 on wow classic in the exact same zones and never get upset about it
its probably just because it burrowed its way into my subconscious and laid eggs in my brain when i was 14 but the only reasons i ever am not playing wow is that i either have a need to devote time to a different game or other external circumstances like being kind of done with blizzard
so even if ffxiv has a better story or graphics, like, in the end i could probably level another hundred characters to level 60 on wow classic in the exact same zones and never get upset about it
its probably just because it burrowed its way into my subconscious and laid eggs in my brain when i was 14 but the only reasons i ever am not playing wow is that i either have a need to devote time to a different game or other external circumstances like being kind of done with blizzard
Of course there are people who switched off of MMOs, and it's not exclusive from WoW > FFXIV, there are probably FFXIV refugees that became unhappy with the game and moved elsewhere.
As for an example, Zepla HQ on youtube is an example of a longtime WoW player that switched to FFXIV permanently. There may not be a ton of them ("mass exodus" or whatever is something i've read in the thread and just seems disingenuous to the point) but to think that they don't actually exist is also just kind of foolish. Of course they exist.
As for an example, Zepla HQ on youtube is an example of a longtime WoW player that switched to FFXIV permanently. There may not be a ton of them ("mass exodus" or whatever is something i've read in the thread and just seems disingenuous to the point) but to think that they don't actually exist is also just kind of foolish. Of course they exist.
You don't unlock dungeons until level 15, and you need to progress in the story far enough to do so, which is hours of (dry) story content. Also, queues are only "long ass queues" if you are playing DPS.
Okay so the caveat to what makes XIV so good is that it actually starts getting great around the first expansion, and in my opinion has currently hit its high point with the latest expansion. If you didn't know that going in, shame on whomever recommended it to you or talked about it.
Also, for some of the gripes like the capital cities being a pain to navigate, those cities were in the game when the PS3 was supported, so they had to be instanced. From the 2nd expansion onward (I believe), they dropped ps3 support and the big towns are all on one map and are designed better.
Yes, I'm aware. According to Steam, I've put 700 hours into FF14, which feels fucking impossible and frankly scares me, but I'm no stranger to the game, is the point. I'd say 10 hours or so of an MMO to get to the story-locked dungeon quests may as well be 'almost immediately'.
And yes, I also only play DPS, (in WoW, too! I've never played a healer or tank, and I refuse to play either just to progress a story that should be solo anyway!) so I'm very aware of the miserable queues.
I only play FF14, but my WoW sub is open just in case.
I realize that is incredibly dumb but I only see a 50/50 chance of myself sticking with 14
I didn't say there was anything wrong with that, I just felt like you should have specified that you played DPS and the queue times were due to that, without that context it's only half-right. I have played a tank the entirety of my time in FFXIV and I've never run into that issue.
Its funny I would go back to WoW for a bit to check it out but I logged in last time it was a free weekend and my account must have been hacked during the past 5 years because everything was gone from my bank /characters. Probably for the best when I think about it.
I love FFXIV but I miss the open worldness of WoW, just being able to actually explore was one of the things I enjoyed the most about WoW.
"WoW refugee" was only something I heard during the launch of Shadowbringers and before WoW Classic released.
My in-game partner came to XIV from years of playing WoW, though. I played WoW casually from vanilla to Lich King, but there was like 10 years between when I stopped playing WoW and picked up XIV.
My in-game partner came to XIV from years of playing WoW, though. I played WoW casually from vanilla to Lich King, but there was like 10 years between when I stopped playing WoW and picked up XIV.
It's just that I realized that weekly hardcore raiding is a waste of time mostly so I enjoy FFXIV approach way more. I mean nothing wrong with being able to do the newest content in a week and then just grind your equipment up and be done. Lots of other things to do or other games to play which is why I like FFXIVs team approach way more - they don't even want you to have to play the game all the time. There are other things in life too. I just remember the amount of wasted time (and I was a beta player too) for endgame raids and not even getting something great out of it. Yes working out fights can be fun, but WoW is just another league in regards to a waste of time nowadays for that.
I mean WoW held me and lots of other friends hostage too, but I realized by playing FFXIV that...it's really outdated in many things and the community is horrible in comparison. Not like I didn't enjoy lots of other things back in the day, but later on it was just going through the motions without even having a great story behind it.
I've seen both. People leave and stay and people who leave for a bit and come back. I think the overall interest in WoW has waned since WoTLK and those glory days have long since passed so of course these players are going off to play other things but I don't believe it's always FFXIV.
Myself I left WoW in cata and got into console gaming and haven't picked up MMOs since Shadowbringers came out and had a ton of hype. Got sucked in again and have been loving it and love that the game doesn't ask me to make playing the game a lifestyle choice in comparison to how much time WoW asked of me.
in my experience though the people that "threaten" to leave a game never do. And so many players have the time investment in the game that it feels as if all that playtime was for naught if they stop. MMOs are a hard game to transition to and from with.
Myself I left WoW in cata and got into console gaming and haven't picked up MMOs since Shadowbringers came out and had a ton of hype. Got sucked in again and have been loving it and love that the game doesn't ask me to make playing the game a lifestyle choice in comparison to how much time WoW asked of me.
in my experience though the people that "threaten" to leave a game never do. And so many players have the time investment in the game that it feels as if all that playtime was for naught if they stop. MMOs are a hard game to transition to and from with.
I have tried with each expansion but i just cant stand its UI and the world does not grab me. 15 years of WoW is hard to translate to really any MMO nowadays. Wildstar and SWTOR were the only other theme park MMO's that did it. The instanced zones, GCD differences, job system and honestly the vernacular being so different are what drive me away every time. I continue to hope it does well in the future but i dont think im leaving WoW anytime soon, the leveling experience for me is still too much fun. Now if Wildstar came back i would 100% jump the ship to play that again.
Not a fan of this take at all, generalizing everyone that plays still because you dont like where current WoW happens to be is not the way to look at it. Leveling is still a fun experience to me and raid design is still amazing for those with the time and friends to do so. Not to mention people play MMO's for different things, hell i know people who play WoW for pet battles exclusively since its not something they can find in another MMO.
Not a fan of this take at all, generalizing everyone that plays still because you dont like where current WoW happens to be is not the way to look at it. Leveling is still a fun experience to me and raid design is still amazing for those with the time and friends to do so. Not to mention people play MMO's for different things, hell i know people who play WoW for pet battles exclusively since its not something they can find in another MMO.
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This was super apparent when Classic launched, and a lot worse than I expected. I dipped on WoW before WOTLK came out and played FFXIV with the gf for close to a year before HW released. She loved the game and a big part of that was the super helpful and friendly community. I always preferred vanilla/TBC WoW so when Classic was announced she was interested but wanted to watch first before subbing and loool she dipped on that idea pretty quick after seeing the chats. Was like '05 Xbox Live all over again, basically never saw the same shit in FFXIV. Guessing it's because a lot of the Classic base is/was teenage goobers and anecdotally at least seems like the vast majority of players are male compared to FFXIV, which also bummed her out. Wasn't uncommon at all in FFXIV for me to be the only guy in the group when we'd run dungeons together.
Most glaring thing was asking in general chat where to find X since I wanted to play mostly blind, rather than alt-tabbing constantly to check Thotbot or w/e. Queue a dozen people instantly replying "lol google it" versus the homies in FFXIV who would assist and even offer to meet up and run over together. Legit like night and day.
I remember when I took a break from WoW, it's been over seven years since it started and every time I remember that I can't believe it's been so long.
For FFXIV? This is a strange critique considering the UI is entirely customizable with regards to what you want to show/not show, and where you want to place those things on the screen.
Yep happened to me, glad they're addressing this soon and will likely give the game another shot once it's done. Felt like dipping my toes back in after HW came out and everyone was hyping how good the story was but that 10-12h fetch quest rush from the end of ARR to HW 100% killed my drive. I actually got to the HW content and then dropped the game soon after. Absolutely terrible.
I have not used the default UI or action bars in WoW for YEARS. You can move stuff around sure but the UI is nowhere near as customizable as i would like.
If those same people are clearing Ultimate in a single weekend then they are not gonna take a year to beat Mythic in WoW let's not be crazy
These numbers are low for a reason.
WoW's raiding is a better experience overall (going through a cool ass place tackling bosses just feels better), but ultimates are hard as fuck and are typically the equivalent of a couple mythic wow bosses fused into one long fight with new mechanics happening nonstop.
It's silly to compare them as well. WoW typically lacks the amount of individual responsibilty FF14 fights have and it makes sense you cant design a boss ment for 20 the same way bosses ment for 8 can be played out. FF14 raid groups tend to be closer and have less split niches with'n the group it's just a different experience overall.
But hey to see a "semi-hard core" group clear an ultimate in 2 days playing maybe like 4-5 hours from scratch and then not be able to handle jaina is a year would be pretty weird.
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Ya, between the basic drag-n-drop HUD Layout screen and the more advanced macro-based stuff, I don't know how you can criticize the UI.
If you are already at HW, the "clean up" they are doing won't help you at all.
It's true, I think some people just bounce back and forth though.
Here's my GNBro Cat
Here's my GNBro Cat
Holy hyperbole Batman. As if the intro levels to WoW are an exciting romp lol :P
To be fair Shadowlands is about to level squish the game straight in half and you just need to play through bfa to hit 50 before shadowlands
Shadowlands Leveling Changes & Level Squish
The Shadowlands expansion introduces major changes to leveling. Find out why leveling changes were made, what's planned, and how to prepare!
www.wowhead.com
I really really enjoy the story for FF14 but something like this can never happen for it due to how it's structured. Honestly rushing to end game is just going to lead to frustration in FF14, they set it up so end game resets every 6 months for a reason, they want people to jump in without falling behind.
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Cat looks regal OP.
I got back into FF14 due to quarantine and I got to say, the last time I really got into an MMORPG was Star Wars Galaxies.
I got back into FF14 due to quarantine and I got to say, the last time I really got into an MMORPG was Star Wars Galaxies.
That's only if you consider "end game" to be the good part of a game. It's taken me 9 months to get to max level, and I've enjoyed just about every moment of it. The best part of FF14 is the story. People who don't care for that probably won't stick around long.
Extremely minimalist, Bartender4 for my action bars made pretty small since everything is mapped to my KB in the bottom middle stacked like a cube. I also use it to hide the rest of the UI such as the micro menu. I use Shadowed Unit Frames for its real simple look and customizability. Bagnon for my inventory management creating a single easily sorted window for everything i have on my person. Also Tidy plates because its awesome.
All of this is doable in 14 with fiddling around with the options except for how nice Tiddy plates is (god I wish I had this for summoner)
There are ui mods for ff14 lifebars and stuff but not officially supported
i always feel weird because i genuinely have never wanted to change from the default UI in an mmo
the most i ever get is like bag organizing UI
the most i ever get is like bag organizing UI
Really? One of my biggest pet peeves is like the entire aesthetic of the UI. The menu on the bottom right with its inventory display can be removed? Can i change the minimap so its not a circle or atleast remove the time from the top right so the map can fill in that gap? I dont really wanna just make things small, there are a lot i just want to get rid of and map to a keybind. OH also remove the experience bar? I am really needy with my UI since i typically live in these games.
Edit:Reading this after i wrote it made it sound like a list of demands. Not my intention, i just am very particular. Its not the be all end all for an MMO for me since i was able to get past SWTOR's and Warhammer Online back in the day but it does hurt a bit.
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End game can have a lot of buttons so being able to organise them and catorgorize them so your eyes can spend less time traveling and more time focusing on what is important goes a long way
yeah maybe the thing to note is that ive never done content that demanded that much of you
i assume if i pvp'd more in particular i would need a better UI since it tends to demand that you have a good grasp on all your tools and all your cooldowns
And due to roulettes and the tome systems and lower level exp bonus incentives keeps players in the content.|To be fair Shadowlands is about to level squish the game straight in half and you just need to play through bfa to hit 50 before shadowlands
Shadowlands Leveling Changes & Level Squish
The Shadowlands expansion introduces major changes to leveling. Find out why leveling changes were made, what's planned, and how to prepare!
I really really enjoy the story for FF14 but something like this can never happen for it due to how it's structured. Honestly rushing to end game is just going to lead to frustration in FF14, they set it up so end game resets every 6 months for a reason, they want people to jump in without falling behind.
I dunno if I like the WoW method to be honest.
Would probably be rerolling a new toon with the gf. Sounds like flight is going to be implemented into the base game too? That sounds pretty neat, would speed it up even more.
GitHub - rien-doll/minimal-ui: Minimal UI mod for FFXIV
Minimal UI mod for FFXIV. Contribute to rien-doll/minimal-ui development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
This super clips things down, but a lot of stuff can be moved normally/turned off.
Not the same thing, the issue is specially for people coming from wow is the mentality is that end game is all that maters and "mashing through story" is common so having to do all this routine stuff feels restrictive for people expecting to tackle it like rushing to end game in wow