Author's Note: It's worth noting that this article is several years old to the point where it's not too relevant anymore to either game (since this posting seems get frequent traffic off of Google). I'd be interested though, in hearing how FFXI has changed since I originally posted this.
I don't think I really ever made it clear why I quit Final Fantasy XI. As many people know, I bought and tried FFXI shorty after it was released in the US. Played it for about 2 months, before I got sick of it and quit. In short: It started to bore the hell out of me. Not comprehensive by all means, but just in case anyone is interested in hearing my two cents, a comparison between FFXI and World of Warcaft, and why I'm sticking with WoW.
Gameplay:
I never did, still don't, and likely never will ever have the time and patience it takes to play Final Fantasy XI up to the higher levels. Despite both being MMORPGs, FFXI and WoW actually differ greatly in play style. This becomes evident very early on. Leveling is very slow, and I can't emphasize that enough. Leveling in FFXI has to be one of the most painful experiences. Ever. If you have the time, patience, and mentality to spend hours just grinding on things then kudos to you, but overall it's a pretty boring experience especially since the combat is relatively repetitive.
FFXI is geared almost exclusively towards group play. You can solo up to level 10, and maybe up to level 15, but past that all soloing activity stops cold turkey. A group is basically required in order to do any of the quests. Finding a group to party with is another painful procedure. I often only have time to play in one or two hour chunks, I don't know about anyone else, but spending those one or two hours finding a group just so I can do one quest isn't my idea of fun. Even then, the quests really didn't offer that great of a reward or experience.
Some people like to solo, some people like to group, some people like to do both! One of the most significant aspects of WoW is that you can choose how you want to play, thus appealing to a much broader range of players. Want to play alone? All good, most of the normal quests can be completed under an hour. Want to group? There are plenty of elite quests designed for a full group of players. The duration for most of these are around 2 hours. Want more? For higher level players (level 60), there are raid instances, designed for a group up to 40 players. The quests for the most part are well written, and offer a nice chunk of experience and usually a nice cash/item reward so that it feels worthwhile. Lots of bad Blizzard puns...LOTS. You absolutely can't miss those.
The death penalty in Warcraft is a lot less frustrating than just about all other MMORPGs, no deleveling, no experience penalty. When you die, you appear in ghost form at the closest graveyard, and must run back to your body. You can also resurrect at the graveyard, but with a much heavier equipment penalty (which will ultimately cost you some cash, but no experience will be lost). The game doesn't feel like it's punishing you!
Graphics:
It's hard to compare the graphics between the two games because they are each styled pretty differently. FFXI is more anime-ish and realistic, while WoW has a cartoony feel. I would have to say that the FFXI graphics in general are better textured and are smoother. The character models are also a bit better than the models in WoW, though they seemed to lack variety. Not enough facial customization :(
Graphical comparisons with WoW against other MMORPGs has been a popular discussion. It really does depend on your personal taste I suppose. WoW has a lower polygon count than other MMORPGs, which contributes to its cartoony feel. Some people don't like that, but I personally think that it adds a lot of character, since it's appropriate to how the Warcraft RTS games look and feel. Anyone who has ever played a Warcraft game knows this...It's hard to judge style by screenshots alone. Most of the beauty is in the way the world is designed, the level of detail, the uniqueness that each zone has, and how lively each area is. FFXI just seemed to be missing much of that.
From the beginning, I just felt that Azeroth was more immersible than Vana'diel. Both worlds are fascinating, but Warcraft has 10 years of backstory and history under its belt. From the savanna like barrens, the jungle like Stranglethorn Vale, to the throne room of Lordaeron, it's all there. (shame on you all who haven't at least read about Warcraft history on the page. I mean, you should at LEAST KNOW WHO ARTHAS IS D:).
Tidbits:
Several things severely annoyed me about FFXI, the first and most notable one being the ass interface. It just sucks...and it sucks hard. Annoying to use, limited, unintuitive, and hard to customize. It feels like it was designed for use on a Playstation controller, which it most likely was, so it didn't seem to be optimized much at all for those of us who have the privilege of playing with a mouse. The WoW interface on the other hand is intuitive and very easy to use and customize. Virtually no learning curve. And, with the upcoming content patch, it will be even better (finally adding additional bars into the interface so I don't have to download Cosmos).
Another important thing: It's impossible to ALT+TAB out of FFXI, minimize it, or otherwise without automatically being disconnected from the game, and sent to the stupid Playonline menus. This pisses me off so fucking much. Being able to check things online while playing really isn't too much, especially for an MMORPG. I don't have all that much free time, so on many occasions, when I do play, I have the game running in the background while I read lecture slides, so I can occasionally bring the game into focus to check on auction and chat with friends. I mean, at least allow me to run it windowed, or god forbid minimized so I can look up quest stuff in Firefox....
Oh yeah, you can jump in WoW. YOU CAN JUMP! Jump over people's heads, jump off of the Stonewrought Dam and Freewind Post (to your death). Why can't you jump in FFXI? That's important... In FFXI, you had to pay an additional $1 a month per extra character. WoW allows you 10 per server. It really_really_is nice to have alternative characters, especially if you want a taste of the different classes or are trying to keep on equal levels with friends.
Comments (31)
You stated you were interested in knowing if FFXI has changed. You can solo more now than you use to beable to. They give more experience for easy prey stuff. Also depending on the job combination you can do it regardless. My friend leveled Dragoon/Bluemage up to 75 with no partying. I have done it so far up to level 41. They have a lot more jobs now with some of the new expansion packs. I think the jobs total 20 now.
They do have the option now in the config of FFXI to have it windowed so you can go back to your browser or other stuff easily. They have added plenty of more mobs, areas, etc with the newer expansion packs. I really can't stress how much they have added.
You mention how FFXI charges you a buck for each new character. It is cause you don't need more characters since you can switch jobs anytime you want without any experience loss. As far as things I could lose when I die I think I like losing experience more than losing equipment or money. Experience is easy enough to get back. You have to have a good penalty when you die if you want people not to die.
I think my biggest problem was on the idea of going from FFXI to WoW was that WoW is easier. I don't look for easier I look for harder and more challenging. I think both games probably have their perks to them but too many people returned to FFXI after 6 months on WoW cause they were bored so I couldn't bring myself to go to WoW. I also don't want to create a new character everytime I want to try a new job. I like being able to just unlock the job and then use it.
Oh they also added the ability to raise and race chocobos to FFXI which for those who love chocobos is a big bonus. They also now have the ability to warp from your home town to different outposts (with a gil fee) so that is good for transportation too.
That is just my 2 cents on the topic.
 Really good you will say: Yes and NO. I explain, I like this option for one reason; you are able to be great level fast because it takes less than 5 minutes to do a 6 party members in many areas.
But don't be foolish, Square Enix don't gives nothing for nothing. You will need to level up your Combat skills to your real level if you always use the Level Sync. Why? you will ask... sure it's the question! Look, it's normal but we have to know... when you fight as a level 22 in a party level 14, you will not have the Combat skills of a level 22 but like a level 14. And if we think a little about it, that means you can't have the same accuracy (for exemple) than your real level character.
So you will reach the maximum points allowed for this Combat skill soon enough to let it at the same point without being able to gain more. But your Level will continue to level up. If we do a short resume... you will have a Level 40 with Combat skills of a level 14. It's ok because you will be stronger than a level 14, in fact you are only a weak level 40, it's now the time to level up your Combat skills against mobs higher than your Combat skills are (in this exemple: its mobs level 14 to 40).
Always try for higher mobs, it will level up you faster! You will say, hey you need to fight two times for the same results as one fight without Level Sync. Yes and No lol... It was so long to have a party without this option, it's my opinion, it's better to gain experience points now and fast, after you play without Level Sync to upgrade all your Combat skills and do money with you killing mobs. And you will not always be level 40 in a level 14 party, if you want you can go in a level 40 area and do a party with other level 40 and higher, that will help you to catch your lost Combat skills of the past.
Now it's time for you to make your own strategy. With a new FFXI !! the one without the pain of finding a party :D
1. The user interface:
This aspect of the game was a major point of contention; I am picky about my interface. The UI felt as if they had severely gimped the PC version for the sake of the folks playing on a console (well it basically was). Slow and rigid.
Almost every aspect of the WoW interface can be customized via a UI addon (literally, everything). The macroing and keybinding systems are also very flexible. I have every spell and item that I commonly use keyed to my n52te so that I rarely have to click anything.
2. PlayOnline:
It was cumbersome, slow, pointless and greatly delayed the time it took to get into the actual game. This is how you get into WoW: click the icon on your desktop, login, select your character and play. The chatrooms and the playonline email are pointless.
3. End game:
WoW end-game content is instance. Instances are sub-areas (separate zones on a separate server) where you and your party/raid are able to interact with content privately, without outside interference. Every raid instance is on a one week timer to prevent players from farming bosses multiple times within a short span (each group is essentially assigned a raid id).
IIRC all FFXI bosses were world bosses....ugh.
Hello.
I have played both games; Wow for the first 15 months (and every December since Burning Crusade) and FFXI (for a month every December as well). I have now converted to FFXI wholly as I cannot even stand to look at the WoW interface anymore.
FFX has become eaiser to solo and with the aforementioned level sync folks can find parties and work SO MUCH more eaisly. This feature alone has made FFXI practically a new game. With the introduction of reraise earrings and empress bands gaining xp is even eaiser. Don't me wrong, FFXI is still a harder and MUCH DEEPER game than WoW (my wife and in-laws can play WoW), and is a better game for it.
The MAIN reason I left WoW and switched to FFXI comes down to one thing...the players. I have never seen such an overall rude, impatient, and immature group of people than on WoW...so many Bliz kids to deal with. I have yet to met a person on FFXI that was rude or inconsiderate...no joke. People will go out of their way to help you SO MUCH MORE OFTEN in FFXI. I have real-life friends on WoW, but I had to leave them in the end. They told me to just add people to my ignore list and leave general and trade chats. Doesn't that defeat the purpose?
In regards to the interface...it was created on a console first so, of course the interface seems a bit more clunky than the WoW interface, which was designed for the PC initially. This is one reason why you won't see Bliz port WoW to a console. After a short period of learnring, I find the interface actually faster as I can use muscle memory to always find the right screen without even waiting for a window to fully open. A mouse in a prerequisite for WoW, for FFXI I can use just the keyboard or a gamepad. Heck, the only reason I need the keybooard is to type.
To each their own, but after 4 years Bliz has only added 2 new races and 1 new class. Add to this the immature population and it was too much (or too little) for me.
Joe
For all the experience square-enix has, I have never been so dissapointed in a game. Honestly it think i had more fun playing runscape than FF11. 3 words that have become synononmous with shit. (PLAY-ONLINE-VIEWER) It is not even a good concept! I look at FF4,5,7,10,12 and i see fantastic games with intense graphics within a world that one can immerse oneself. I played FF11 for 6 months, since paid for it...and not only is it STILL hard to solo the 40 minutes it takes just to walk to where the quest is is laughable. Dont even get me started on trying to cancel my account. I deleted all my ids all chars the stupid tetra master and u know what. THe bastards billed me full price again...
With that being said,
I am now playing wow. I have a 65 blood elf rogue and you know what. It rocks. Again the fully customiable UI and did i mention addons? WOW brings a whole new meaning to eng game content. I just got WOTLK and cant wait till im strong enough to do the Nexus.
The only think blizzard needs is better t-shirts
very nice
I have to disagree with people who say WoW has a lot of end game content, well... it has before but WOTLK is just crap. I've played WoW for 4 years, and they have really gone downhill with WoW.
The heroics are very very easy (the 5 man instances), if you have half a brain cell you can do any of them as soon as you hit level 80.
The so called 'end-game content' is 4 raid instances, each one with 1 week reset, and they are all so so easy, with the exception of Sartharion hard mode (3 drakes).
There is:
Naxx: Easy as hell, and this is just old content that they have tuned for 10/25 man. It's so easy it's mind numbingly boring, and this place as the best items in the game at the moment, way to reward dedicatione h?
Vault of Archavon: the Wintergrasp instance that opens after you have won a Wintergrasp battle, which are all shit, they lag up so much all you do is stand there because simply you can't cast anything, the server just can't handle the sheer amount of players. The instance is one easy boss that no guilds ever raid any more, simply because it's so easy you can do it in a PuG.
Malygos: Slightly harder than naxx but still too easy.
Sartharion: The 'normal' mode fight is the easiest thing i have ever done in this game, let me give you an example.. there is this dragon, you hit it, you heal tank, tank takes dragon, another tank takes blazes, there is walls, move out of the walls, repeat, dead.
The only challenge left in WOTLK atm are the hard modes, and at the moment there is only one of them in the game, and most guilds have done that.
If you're very casual and you're happy with 2 days a week (4 hours each) raiding then end game content is for you, otherwise avoid this crap until ulduar is out.
I played FF11 for 1 month and couldnt stand it. My favorite thing to do in a mmo is explore, and FFs enviroment is simply boring! Not to mention the fast travel system, the OP warps were the only way to get around until i got my friends to run me thru the quests to get my pass, and i got my chocobo later.
The solo aspect was still non existent, after 10 i couldnt do anything alone. I stopped playing about 3 months ago, so i doubt that has changed any.
The thing i hated most, however, was the leveling aspect. In ff, you must kill the same monster for hours to level, while in wow, you do entertaining quests to rack up experience and get better gear. I liked the few quests i was able to do in ff, but the game didnt focus on them enough.
Lastly, back to the point of exploration, in wow you can get tons of different mounts and even flying ones! The only variety in ffs mounts is color, and that doesnt show the players uniqeness.
I am a new player to wow, and i was to ff, and so far, in my opinion, wow is better by far.
Wow is for those who can't handle difficulty. FFXI is for masochists. I've played both; I might play some more FFXI. It may be a bitch, but the reward is that much more tasty.
It's just too easy to do everything. I find myself wondering what's the point, if it's so easy. Plus, partying sucks, and I'd rather play a game that has fun partying. If I wanted to solo, I'd play a game without other players.
That being said, I always do have a tendency to try whatever additions they add to WoW.
Played WoW, since about two years ago, on and off, last time i played was when WOTLK came out, for about a month, and not even that much, it got boring lvling. Yeah, sure they have quests you can do much more easily, but...they're all the same, go get me 10 of these things...oh, and 5 of these and from mobs that will only drop them like after you kill a 100 of them. Yay, and then off to the next town...to do more of the same...yay? 71 Warlock on this is the most i got.
FFXI, been playing it since it came out for PS2, but...it got boring too, i didn't know, but the ppl in this game are much nicer, i figured that out when i started playing WoW...umm, but yeah, finding ppl for parties sucks sometimes, but there are more things you can do solo now, like go into the past to do some campaigns, and the lvl sync does help with parties. 75 blm/35whm, and a buncha other jobs lvled too, not much, but i tried them on my char.
I will say I have played both games, and each game has it's own perks, however both games are so different from each other. It really depends on what type of gamer you are. Let me mention that I am a female, not that it matters but I'm a hardcore gamer. I began playing FFXI before WoW and I took a few breaks here and there with it. At first I thought it was insane with everything that you can do, I was thinking to myself that it would never be possible to master the game, but I found out that thats what makes it so realistic and NOT boring.
So, I stopped for a while, my boyfriend picked up WoW cause he wanted to try it out, so he invited me to join him. Let me say that WoW was very very very easy compared to FFXI and FFXI has more interaction with other people. In WoW people weren't as friendly, and don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but to me it took away that meaning of A Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. I feel that you should interact with people in online play, I mean thats what we buy it for right?
In the end, It depends on if your looking for a challenge (FFXI) or if you are looking for something easy to solo at all parts of the game (WoW). It depends on your style and what you look for in a game.
I stuck with FFXI just because it was more appealing to me than WoW, I feel as if I can accomplish more. With all the expansions and updates I feel it keeps getting better and better.
FFXI is not a "challenge" as many people seem to claim. It just takes up more of your time. Don't be fooled. :/
That aside, FFXI plays slow and sometimes it's hard to even find a party. That's what it was like a couple months ago when I played. That being said the community in FFXI seems to be a lot better; however, fucktards are still present, as they probably are everywhere.
On my 13th birthday I got FFXI and played until this year on and off (I am now 18). It was a good experience, my first MMO. Would I suggest it to anyone? Depends on the play style they are after. If they have some time on their hands and don't mind taking things slow then perhaps FFXI is the game for them. Although it wasn't the game for me, but healing on that game was ridiculously fun and I now have a love for healing classes. Go White Mage!
Also with FFXI one character can be all jobs! And subjob combinations! Everyone used cookie-cutter job/subs though, so it became less about uniqueness and more about being the best. Got tiring really fast. (Fuck /Ninja. Shit sucked so much to get everything and level, ANYWAY).
I started playing WoW a bit before Burning Crusade came out and to be honest it's very fun. Fast. You don't need to wait around for a party. If you don't have much time on yours hands this is your MMO. You don't have to invest too much time at once like with FFXI, it is usually distributed all around.
In WoW you can make as many characters as you want. There's a limit to how many characters you can make on all servers (I think it's something like 50), but if you're reaching that limit (seriously reaching it) you better think twice.
All in all they are both good in their own ways, but FFXI gets too damn boring sometimes. At least with WoW you can always be doing something, usually. Battlegrounds, start a new character if you desire, etc... with FFXI there is only one thing, all the time until the level cap:
LFG. And you FFXI players KNOW what I'm talking about.
PS. Forgive spelling errors I have no desire to proof read this.
The three previous posts before mine seem to sum up my feelings for both games. I've played ffxi since november of 2004. I quit for 13 months once and I started a new character. From those two characters I reached a lvl 52 rdm and a lvl 69 blm. I spend most of my time playing enjoyin the social aspect of the game. I never seem to find the time to much on there though. Level sync is definately nice, but joining parties can still be a pain, and there isn't much to while waiting. Level sync's "skill loss" is a real let-down, especially for summoner, since it's so hard to get up in the first place, also at lower levels summoners isn't nearly as good. Summoner is the job I've wanted to level up obviously, it's only 35 though. FFXI takes time and lots of it. It also takes alot of patience and I believe it'll eat more out of your real life than WoW. I felt it had a deeper storyline, if not as much history, when compared to WoW.
I played WoW for three months. Three posts previous to this "Played WoW, since about two", gave a good intake on how I felt about the game. You can indeed solo on it, and it isn't too much grinding. However, it gets repetive. Most of the quests are the same idea, and that becomes boring after a while. With ffxi, I might be grinding, but I'm in a party and communicating with people more. That doesn't stay the same. I can't say too much on WoW, because I only reached level 30 and got into the teens on a couple other characters.
If I did join WoW again, I think a good solution for my boredom with it, would be to create a "social guild" myself, as I was never able to find one. I've been considering joining it again, because I just dont' have the time or patience for ffxi anymore, regardless for the rewards. I might've quit sooner, but I just have too many friends in it. I might want to switch to WoW only because i need a good long break from ffxi, with some new experiences. I don't know, but I can't continue ffxi as I am.
Another comparision. With ffxi one character can be every class, and you can create a ton of characters on WoW for not extra charge. The difference is, your one character on ffxi will become alot more personalized, sort of a virtual extension of yourself. More so than with multiple characters on WoW. That's how I felt anyways. Also with ffxi you can combine those classes into hundreds of different possibilites, although players might criticize you for not "optimizing" your choices. On Wow, you basically only get to pick from 3 different trees. Sure you can mix them, but mixing 3 options of the same class isn't as versatile as mixing 20 classes. Of course alot of the classes overlap and just aren't useful as sub jobs, but its still a bigger system in that sense. And you can always mix those classes whenever you want, as long as you visit a moogle. With WoW you have to pay gold to re-talent, if I remember correctly. That's not saying that WoW's class system isn't good, it just doesn't seem to be able to be expanded on as much as ffxi's.
I'll chime in here. Let me preface this by saying I started off on FFXI, tried WoW when it came out for the 10 day trial said hell no and went back to FFXI for another 3 years. For anyone that said FFXI is bland and Blah look at it this way, do you get the perks of a mansion in the bahamas when you are born? Not most of us, you get those spoils later down the road after hard work and effort. This is how FFXI is. Yes the terain is bland and borring for the most part. Until you hit your 50's and if you are a slow leveler like me that could be anywhere from 1 month to 3 years. Then you have access to a lot of places. Endgame reveals even more with zones like Sea and Sky which are both very pleasing to the eye. Yes FFXI is more for the hardcore gamers and polite adults rather than as I experienced last night in WoW the endless rambaling of adverbe use with the word "Anal" by more than likely 12 year olds. WoW is nice, fun and liesurely but it is and there is no way to argue this easy. Level 20 in my first week of playing. FFXI took me a month at least. As for interface again this is preferance, personally I think it is uncomfortable as hell to play games on a mouse and keyboard. So I absolutely LOVE the clean interface of FFXI, I Despise the WoW interface and the overabundance of skills and buttons that have to be clicked rather than use a menu system. As a matter of fact and no lie I found this site looking for a FFXI esque interface addon for WoW. Soloing is a lot more friendly these days with the addition of new jobs, areas, a increased ammount of exp for Easy Prey mobs and now "Fields of Valor" which is much like the "hunting" quests found in WoW. Again I reiterate WoW is fun and definately has it's perks. I like that after an hour of farming Ore i have more than enough gold to stack my gear to the max. In FFXI farming Gil is a straight up PitA although imo more rewarding for the gear it is speant on....eventually. WoW has a more colorfull and playful atmosphere and there are nooks and crannys that are really cool. Personal air travel to the zones is great and more amusing than airship travel in ffxi. The variety of weapons and aromor is alro refreshing as in ffxi you often look exactly like the person next to you and you are all competing for the same "Eliete" gear. There is however the ability of complete morons to be successfull in WoW simply by dumb luck and proper button mashing. They may not be great but they can get the job done. This does not fly in FFXI although those people exist they do not succeed and more often than not quit playing well before endgame and usually end up as one of the "FFXI SuCKs" flamers on some message board. Maybe my level is still low but one other thing that really irritates me is the always agro despite level mobs in wow. It is irritating trying to mine in a lvl 5 area while getting agro at lvl 20 by crap you can oneshot. One last note of difference between the two is the job system. This is the deciding factor for me and cannot be debunked by WoWers. The ability to blend any two of 20 jobs whenever you want and switch playstyle with the same character, money, access to areas and often same gear is immense. This is the reason I never liked WoW and have only now after 5 years of FFXI come back to it.
So why do I now play WoW?
Endgame is frustrating, HARD and really time consuming in FFXI.
It's a little old and rusty and many of my friends have gone as well.
PRIMARY REASON! I need something to entertain me until Christmas 2010 for FFXIV WOOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A little background about myself:
I have always been a hardcore gamer, and was into multi-player games since Diablo 2 series. I have played countless MMORPGs since childhood, from Ragnarok to RF Online, Lineage, Linege 2 to some crappy small budget Taiwan mmorpg and of course, FFXI and a bit of WOW (they were all public servers), and when I play, I mean I neglect all work, come home from school and play till night, and I only play 1 game at a time, since if ur really into 1 game, there is really no extra time for another. MMORPGs was a big thing in my life, but outside this category, there was Counter-Strike (I got so hardcore into this game, I represented HK to attend some national competitions, not CPL, but WCG, just to show how hardcore I really am)
for someone as hardcore as myself, I would have to say FFXI > WoW. Yes, FFXI is much more difficult, the party system is frustrating, earning money is a pain in the ass, it feels like u can only make so much to not go broke, and may need to farm for weeks to buy 1 piece of decent gear, but this is also where the satisfaction comes in.
Those people who complain these are all negative aspects of the game are simply people who dont have the time and persistence in playing and enjoying a game. There are always ways around these things, which is why in the FFXI community, the utility form your accomplishment is far beyond those in WoW. I personally make my own party everytime I party, at first I was looking for group, but eventually as it was inconvenient to wait for an undefinite time, I began making parties, eventually as I got used to it, I could form a party in less than 5mins (if im lucky) to 10mins (when im unlucky). The money system, I simply researched the market to find a low supply with decent demand (an item which is commonly used in high level craft, but since its for high level, those crafters will just buy the item instead) item to monopolize, and I have to say I was very rich before I hit lv40 (for those ffxi, I bought 2 haubergeons for investments in 2005).
About the Japanese community, I have made lots of Japanese frds in FFXi, and I have to say there is somewhat of a discrimination in the game between NA and JAP, but that is because NA people ruined the game system when FFXI was opened to NA. YES this is correct, JAP takes games very seriously, there are middle aged men, married couple playing this game, they treat it as part of their life, they hate it when people say "Its just a game", therefore everyone is very polite, very friendly and very compromising. (I used to play the JP verson before ENG came out). But when NA entered the server, they brought in Power Leveling (High lv ppl helping low lv ppl lv very fast), and account trading (disrupting the relationship of high lv characters to their actual skill), and because kids in NA r relativly impolite over the Internet, it is more accuate to say NA one the ones who caused JP to driscriminate against NA. Of course, as I have mentioned earlier, I almost made every party I was in, I had no trouble finding JP people, and I could easily communicate with NA, when we r grouped together, there were every any problem, because each one of us were focused on doing what we are set to do, therefore its not such a big deal. (JPs r very friendly if u get on their gd side)
Anyway, I guess I have to say FFXI is really really gd for those hardcore people who loves to level up, the importance of a close communityy, and likes the feeling of success and accomplishment after hours long of hardship.
As for WoW, is gd for those who likes to solo, dont like wait and go through a set of painful obstacles to kill 1 end-game boss, an overall easy environment to accomplish things.
I have been playing FFXI for six years now and let me just say that i know what it is to be frustrated by a level grind. It took me years to get my first job to 75 because i am a casual player. You may be wondering why i stuck with the game. I stuck with the game because i made friends playing, strangers, people who i have never meet or may never meet in person but friends.
FFXI is an MMORPG, what does that stand for... Massive Multiplayer Online Role playing Game. If you don't want party with other people... GO PLAY OBLIVION, because you can do all the stuff you can do in an MMO experience all the things that you can in an MMO except person to person interaction.
So what does FFXI have to offer besides the "Grind" it offers you a chance to play with other individuals in situations where you need to put your trust in them and be trusted in return. You trust everybody in your party to do their job and they trust you to do yours. The sever death penalty when you die reinforces the need for player to work together and to form strategies and communicate. This results in a much tighter community than most MMO's. The people you meet in FFXI will usually go out of their way to help you if you ask them. Thats why a form of pvp such as WOW's does not exist in the game because it tears the community apart Rather than bring it together.
Money in FFXI can also be a grind since you don't get a ton of it from quests and that another reason people quite. The economy of FFXI is based on the community as well. Lower lever player take the time to farm Items from monsters that they sell for money. Higher level players buy the items that lower level player farm so that they have money. Then the Higher level players craft it into armor that lower level players need to level. Its all tied together and is a fairly realistic simulation of an actual economy. Being a part of that is an experience in and of its self.
People have issues with being bored with this game, saying the world is too small, that the only thing quests and missions require you to do is run around. Yeah, it is boring if your level 75 friends walks you through everything and does everything for you. The world is much bigger and much more dangerous when you and your low level friends decide to do something by yourself. When no one is there to get past the high level monsters and get to your objective safely it is much more of an adventure. High level players who "walk" lower levels players through everything do a disservice to the lower level players because they take the fun out of it. If you think the world is small try taking you level 10 warrior to jueno from sandoria by yourself and see how long it takes to get you there safely. Thats part of the adventure thats, thats part of an rpg.
FFXI is multi-platform multi-cultural and can be enjoyed with many different kinds of Internet connections. This game is optimised for dial-up and having played on dial-up for 2 year let me just say it works great. This is the reason for the zones, similar character models and many other things that FFXI get ragged on. The interface lets you control the game the way you need to regardless of what platform you are playing on. Since it is a multi cultural game there is always someone to play with. In fact events such as Besieged and event that requires players all over the world to defend a city, which happen randomly at anytime of the day, would not be possible if the Japanese players were not there to cover for the NA players while they where asleep.
There are tons of stuff to do in end game too. The "grind" to 75 is only have of the game, you haven't experienced what the game has to offer until you done things like sky, sea, dynamis, assualts ect. Plus once you get to your highest level you can go back, without creating a new character and level another job to 75. The ability to change your job and subjob gives you many more hours of play time even after you think you have done all there is to do. If you don't think FFXI's end game is epic enough, go look up bosses such as Absolute Virtue and Pandemonium Ward.
The game is a constantly changing environment nothing is static. It is not the same game as in 2003 when it was first launched. Systems such as Fields of Valor, level sync, exp bonus rings, job adjustment world maintenance have streamlined the exp process made exploration easier and fixed allot (not all of but most of) the issues many people have had in this game. You can go from level 1 to 10 in a matter of hours now not months. Does this take the challenge out of it? It is up to you. You don't have to used the rings do the quests and take advantage of any of it. You play the game you want to.
So if you play FFXI you do it because you are part of a community. Your presence in the world weither you like it or not does effect others. My advice is pick up the game play it for a few months, get into an good social LS and start making friends. A couple of tips to help you succeed in this game keep you shell equipped even when you dont' need something. Say hi when you enter and by when you leave. Be friendly and be considerate of others. It is rude to get in LS log into when you need help. Its a two way street they help you you help them. It is a game but it is also a social network. If you make friends you won't feel isolated, it won't be boring and it won't be a grind.
So if you think that this is too "intense" for you than maybe WOW would be a better game. The truth is i don't know because after 6 years of playing this one I haven't done all there is to do or wanted to do. There is alot more to this game than meets the eye.
Theres nothing hard about FFXI endgame.Its a piece of piss to kill all the endgame HNMs after you have wasted half a day camping them against 5 other shells if you dont claim.Cant think of anything more boring than waiting for another 'window' to open just incase it pops.
I don't get why it's fun to wait around for world boss spawns, versus being able to schedule very specific times to do end game content. I never did enjoy doing any of the WoW world bosses, spawn camping against mulitple other guilds for a very slim chance at being able to tag it....
... This trial verison for FFXI is like 15 hours wtf lol. I used to play WoW but they made it too easy and gay. So im trying this game out... Is there a class or whatever that summons stuff? Idk if its my computer but yea 15 hours for a trial ah..
To the person above me - The game has been out for, what? almost 7 years? So yeah, a lot of stuff its downloading :P I, too, am updating the trial and stuff as we speak. WIsh I had done it earlier so I couldve taken advantage of the ultimate collection on Steam for 11 bucks ( if it turns out I like it ) xD .
Played the game when it first came out, but at the time I was a hardcore EQ 1 gamer and after all the time I had spent on my characters on there , I really didnt want to start all over on FFXI, no matter how much I love FF =s
But, here I am, about to give it a go..again. Mainly because I have seen the community, know it to be a TON better than the WoW community ( which I ended up playing for the past 5 years because all of my friends migrated there from EQ and it fit my casual playstyle since RL had interfered with the hardcore gaming that I used to do ) I played on and off over the years, and ALWAYS met genuinely cool people every time I played. Think I am here to just do what I want, with no real set goals in mind, to pass the time away until FFXIV comes out =D
To the person above me,
yea I am downloading FF11 as i type this cause i just bought it off of steam too lol. I've played ff11 before but i want to start playing it again (and im very excited for ff14) but i play wow also and since i last played ff11, which was about 2 years ago, i liked it for the most part but wow has been better for me. im very interested in seeing the changes in ff11 and me and my brother are going to start playing together and maybe a few friends. but i will say i did love the community on ff a lot better. people on wow are very rude and really dont help much.
Gah, spam bots are starting to break through the CAPTCHAs again :/. Hmm I guess I should do a proper post/response to this entire threat since it still gets read and discussed.
FFXI has changed ten fold since then its alot better in my oppinion. I play both WoW and FFXI WoW is nice but a lil to cartoonish for me. I soloed 13 jobs to 75 max merit solo on FFXI withing 6 months of 3-4 hours a day max.
i think the main difference is not the game itself but the people who play them. I think the majority of the people who played ffxi liked console rpgs such as final fantasy and oher square enix games. The players who play wow are, well.. 12 year olds.
why dont you ffxi babies wait for fourteen to come out so you can restart 5+ years of grinding and gear gathering, wow has so much more diversity and the people that says wow is easy well it easy until you try and down the hardmode version of the latest raids. Wow has a great player vs player system, great leveling system and great raids. OH AND YOU ALWAYS GET LOOT! I watch my friend grind up for a month for a key item to make an attempt at a boss or something, after he killed it with his group it dropped absolutely nothing! NOTHING! a waste of my time and other peoples in my opinion. And if you call that not being "easy" the eff that, I call that being unfair to the players.
Oh yeah, wow is smart where they make the game more viable for more players even retards and 12 year old kids, but with that wow is raking in more money than ffxi can ever imagine and therefore result in more patches, better expansions and better overall game experience for the everyone.
...pretty much. Until you have defeated all of the heroic mode content, you cant really say anything about WoW being completely on easy-mode. WoW is a lot more accessible than most other games and I don't understand why people are so offended by that. The top level gear is and always will be a royal pain in the ass to get, but for everyone else getting to a decently geared point is reasonable.
It's also worth noting that WoW and FFXI were designed with fairly different demographics in mind. Many aspects of each game reflect that
...stupid iPhone keypad
Tried FF11 this week, my main gripe with this game and this carries onto FF14 [also have it installed] is the UI and the controls. I have played console games since the NES and quite a few were Square games so I am not anti-console or anything. However for a game released on the PC you would expect to be able to fully remap your Keys. I can live with the oddities such as - key to open the Menu up...But being forced to use WASD to move around as your only alternate to arrow keys ? Ugh thats nasty. I use Space to move backwards in all PC games I play and in 11 that is hardcoded for Say. That is something I cant get used to. At all. And the lack of hotbars is a glaring ommision aswell.
This game as everyone knows is a PS2 port so that explains the horrid UI yet it doesnt excuse it. FF11 has been out for 7 years now, that is PLENTY of time to have made the game user-friendly. And FF14 suffers from many of the same control and UI issues FF11 has...So in my short time playing FF11 I was mostly frustrated. Due to habit hitting space bar to back up and instead getting stuck trying to /say something...That is just not fun to me - or to thousands of other players out there with unique control setups.
So WoW wins hands down for me and many other players. Though I havnt played that in a few years I do have a good opinion of it as it was geared to making the playing experience nice for you from the getgo [hint- allowing us to use keys that we are used to which = much more enjoyable than fighting the controls]. Btw I am playing Everquest 2 right now and while its only slighter more "challenging" than WoW is it is just as fun, has as many quests, has pvp now and *gasp* it is equally as customizable as WoW is.
So the FF mmo problem comes down to that for most people - controls. controls. controls. and the UI. Im sure there is a good game inside of 11 and 14 and its a shame most people wont be able to see it since Square has gone out of their way to make it a "Epic" boss fight from Lvl 1 in the form of "fighting the controls'. And most players will opt of that using the "unsub from game" button to slay the Epic boss.
well i played both wow and ffxi and i think wow is the better game by far. i mean the game does not end. plus to get all the achievement is a real task. so by no means it is easier in the end. one thing i hate about ffxi was the slow lvling lack of gear in the early levels. i think people are friendly in both game you just got to know how to ask for thing
I've played both for 3 years... I've also played Ultima Online for 3 years, and a lot of other Free-to-Pay (yes, Pay) Korean MMO's, my favorite being Atlantica Online.
[FFXI]
FF11 is a great Online RPG. Took a while to get used to, to understand even the simplest of things, and forever to get to point A, to Point-B. Once that awefull (and it truely was) learning curve was past, I began to do outpost quests, Leveled WHM and BLM to suitable level to speed up the transportation, and learned to 'work-the-AH' by supplying high-demand, low-level goods. All of that to say that it is possible to get there.
I loved the game in general, but eventually the long leveling times, added to how long it took to get a party (except on my WHM), started taking it's toll. Finally the level-sync was the last stray. At first it looks like a good system, but later I found nobody wanted to do a real leveling party anymore... All Qufim level-Sync'ed and too often Power-Level'ed (which I hated with a passion.
It has been said, but the community makes FFXI enjoyable... the trick is to find your niche into it. If you can get a dozen people (friends) or a guild in your playing hours, you're golden. If not, you rot on the sidelines. It takes more to do anything in FF11, but in my opinion, as long as it was do-able, I was fine with it. I hated being forced to group for some silly quests tho, especially the ones that only benefit yourself; I dont like as a person, forcing 5 people to do stuff that wont benefit them in anyway to help me, especially if it takes 2-3 hours.
The only thing FF11 needed IMHO was silly little things, such as ONE AH (instead of 3-4), no death penalty (takes already long enough to level), and a total revamp of the subjob system.. but that's just me.
[WoW]
I love being able to play at times of my choosing and not anybody elses. When Friends/guildmates are ON, great ! We go do some dongeons togetter, and have a blast. If I'm alone, I can quest, grind reputation, explore new areas (without having to stay hidden all the time), Raise a few Craftskills points... "You can do these in FFXI as well" yeah true, but I dont need 5 other people to get my flying license, or unlock such-n-such zone, keeping the "group-times" to really fun stuff.
[Conclusion]
The fact is (and it may happen one day) that both game are fun, and could learn from their counterparts is some areas or others. Imagine being able to switch class in town in WoW, or being able to unlock your Genkais/Airship license alone in FFXI (as a newb, obviously).
I know FFXI was getting casual-friendly a lot last year before I quit, too bad it wasn't from when I started in 2005. Time-restricted Newbies nowadays are bound to like FFXI a whole lot more today than back then... I whish my friends and I would've been newbies in 2010 instead :-)
I strongly suggest you play both, dont make any quick calls or listen to other people. Both games have much to offer you if you give them the chance.
-- Francois424, aka Samuriko (FFXI-Valefor and FFXIV-Bodhum) and Desmonda (WoW-Farstriders)
Greetings from Turkey/Germany! :D
And before I start writting my opinion, I need to say that my english sucks xD
ukay, so here we go!
I started playing FFXI when I was 13/14... (my character almost has the same birthday as me hehe) and at first I was really confused, because I've never played a MMORPG before. but before I started I already applied for linkshell I found in the internet, so it was easier for me to find the way outside of San d'Oria and so on.
Well I was never bored when I started playing FFXI, because I always had something to do! and because of my age, I never had much time to play it so I just lvled anyway haha.
I really started loving the game when I first went to Valkurm Dunes. It was cool to level with other people and meet so many new friends from all over the world x) (I think we europeans meet more friends from other countries, because we are between japanese time and NA time + players from france, spain, UK and netherlands are also playing in your time zone).
When I was dicussing about FFXI with other friends, I found out that many of my friends loved it because of the community-based gameplay. You could have said that you spent 13€/month for just chatting ^-^
And I've never heard that anyone from WoW said, that they haven't got the same hard missions as FFXI got (CoP!!! Haha I think I was one of the minority who got Sea before lvl 75, and never got Sky... q:)
But now it changed completly. Level Cap is 90 now and will be up to 99 (CRAAAAP!!), and Abyssea is like 20 hours from low lvl to 90.
Well I played WoW not for a long timel, because the community part was missing. I was bored because you've never seen anyone who liked talking to you... and that was saaaaid. (; ;)
I also watched my cousins playing it and they are high lvl in WoW... idk, but I was kinda bored because of the regional server.
Ukaaay I think I've written enough! Add me if you want in MSN (Ivalice93@hotmail.de) :D
(I'll start playing FFXIV when it will be released for PS3.. so I guess 2040 hihi)
happy new year/Frohes neues Jahr/Mutlu yillar everyone! :D
Ive played both Wow and FFXI. I am currently playing FFXI and I am still in love with it after all these years. It was the first mmo i played. You all say having to get in parties to level is a pain but honestly the parties I was in and people i met years ago when i first started are the best memories i have of this game. It's an MMO for a reason. Group interaction.
My time with Wow was different. At first i thought it was quite intersting.but after a while of doing mindless kill 5 enemies quests i quit
Post new comment