After 3 months

After 3 months of playing, I've decided to cancel FFXIV sub for now. Although I feel like I should have quit after 1.5 months of playing already, since I rarely log in after 1.5 month of playing after Coil 4 clear. Paying for 3 months is really just for minion and mount.

I may come back after 2.1 for warrior changes, but I highly doubt I'm going to stay for long due to the overall direction of this game.

If anything I'm pretty disappointed with this game overall. But maybe that's because my expectation is pretty high to begin with. Below are 3 major reasons why I don't like this game.

1. Lack of immersion.

If I'm going to list my top 10 most memorable moment in FFXI, crawler's nest map quest and rank 5 quest in Fei'Yin is probably on the list. Quite frankly finishing a Mythic isn't on top for some reason.

I remember my first time doing Fei'Yin rank 5 quest, I was at lv 50ish, went to town and /shout. Then I made a party walk through Beaucedine Glacier for clear.

It was a lonnnnnng journey. On the way all I can see are towers, elementals, tigers and gobs :) Everything are just....white, endless snow and white everywhere.

"So cold" one of my party member said that in /p chat.

This mission was done years ago, but for some reason I still remember it, remember the long journey years ago where I spent hours walking and travelling just to save the world. And so does majority of CoP quests when there was a cap.

In short, doing quests in FFXI has a sense of immersion, and I feel like I'm having an adventure in the world.

In ARR the first time I went to Coerthas, it was a 2 min bird ride north to 1 town, another 2 min bird ride west to another town, or 2 min ride south to another town......while I ride birds travelling to next town, there are FATE in the middle with hundreds of player in between. In ARR Sagolii desert worth half a map with fucking camp in the middle and 2 min bird ride to get out of it. In FFXI altepa worth 2 whole maps and tons of caves.

There are no long half an hour walk in a map, there are no "OMG I'M LOST WHERE SHOULD I GO" moment. If I'm in a desert or snowy field, I want to feel helpless, and not knowing the direction very well, not just happy bird ride for a min and get out. I don't want to see fucking towns after towns because you're just not supposed to see that many tourists attractions in such places in real life.

The way they design ARR maps, tried really hard to put tourists attractions on maps one after another, and really fast travels to please players, only to kill the sense of immersion while doing so. Because the world no longer feels like a real world, you're not supposed to run into town after another after 2 min in a remote area isn't it?

Sure, ARR maps are pretty to look at, on the same time it feels like a sample room, it's only purpose is to look pretty and not actually a place to live.

The NPCs all have their personal issue players have to deal with, and each can be done in less than 10min, when I really need to go out and save the world, it's all in instances.

Click on duty finder.

DING!

TELEPORT IN!


BOMBOMBOM all the way while watching that countdown and boss dead.(Or wipe then spend 30 sec to walk back, or wipe over and over and exit until time's up)

There are no sit in town and recruit a team of heros, there are no LONG walk to the bad guy's lair, there are no "OMG I'M LOST" moment, and I don't feel cold/helpless in a dungeon. All there is is a fucking countdown and mobs to kill.

While I think instances aren't bad in an MMO, it provide thrills that isn't doable in an open world dungeon, but in ARR EVERYTHING is instance. Like, everything >.>

In 1.23 there are instances and there are open world dungeons, in ARR it's instance ONLY, with instant teleport after you get in. That made the entire game feel more like a LAN game and not a RPG.

2. Terrible endgame.

Ok so, lv 1 to cap experience isn't that great, maybe endgame is better? Since SE said endgame will be their main focus. Sadly I'm wrong again. lv 1 to cap experience isn't great but tolerable, so what if this game is instance pew pew pew all the way with little to no exploration! I can still enjoy LAN game right! Sadly endgame experience is even worse than lv 1~cap content.

It's tons of grind with little to no reward. 

I spent hours to grind DL when I hit cap so I can do Titan, only having to toss them when I got my Allagan/AF2. Thus I feel absolutely no sense of satisfaction when I got my DL. It's just something I'd have to toss after next tier of gears.

Then what'd happen after full IL90? Wait until 2.2 for next tier of gears right. In the end that killed my sense of satisfaction for getting IL90 too.

Further more, the game difficulty decreases greatly as the time progress. I helped a FCmate another day for Titan clear, we were using DF with premade DF setup, with most players DF randoms, and Titan still melt with an inferior 2 tank 4 DPS 2 healer DF setup with no LB used.

1 month ago if I try titan HM with DF, it's very hard to win with 4 DPS setup and LB must be used if party want any chance to break heart. Now it's easy as fuck due to general population getting better gears.

This vertical gear progression thing means the game only gets easier if you wait.

My FC coil teams spend 2~3hrs a day and a couple of days a week wiping in T5 practice Twintania win, I often ask myself should I join progression team and raid everyday for a T5 win, when it's probably going to be much easier in 2.2 with AF3 gears. Since at this point of time, joining a static group is the only way to beat T5 as PUG is unlikely to beat it.

Why spend a couple of hours to play a game everyday for a win, when in 2.2 PUG can probably beat it?

You know, the time I can spend on something better, such as playing another game, learn a new skill, write a novel, instead of doing coil 2~3hr a night for a T5 win when everyone and their mother probably can PUG it or carry ppl through in 2.2 or 2.3.

Further more, Yoshi-P directly said he want every casual player not to feel "left behind", thus all that mythology cap and stuff. Basically, he wants every casual player stand on same ground as hardcore. Mythology cap is there to delay player progression, I can kind of see after 2.2 or 2.3 you can obtain mythology much faster to "catch up", and they may even remove cap.

If every casual player can stand on same ground as hardcore, what's the point to play the game hardcore?

The entire endgame in ARR is designed to slow down player progress, so ppl don't get everything after 1 month and quit, so they can make more money from the players. That's why there's coil weekly reset, mythology cap, and unreasonable gap of difficulty and gear requirement between T1~4 and T5(or gap between Garuda and Titan)

But my ideal endgame, should be designed to reward players for their effort, not a tool to slow down player progress and make money from sub. If a player work hard for a goal, he should be rewarded greatly. If a player work kinda hard but not very hard, then he should get less reward. Otherwise there's no point to work hard at all, because there are no incentive. Endgame reward should be an epic accomplishment, something to exciting to talk about, not "ohhh I'll just wait" or something everyone and their mother can do it after a few months.

Then I may as well don't do endgame and quit, if there are no incentive. There are no incentive for me to grind full IL90 when IL90+ coming in 2.2 probably. There are no incentive for me to wipe in T5 when ppl probably won't wipe anymore in 6 months or 1 year, and I can get IL90 without touching T5 anyways. There are simply just no incentive nor motivation for me to waste my time and do any endgame content since my free time can be used somewhere else.

Further more, the entire endgame difficulty is based on your ability to dodge red circle and gear gap. If your team can "Do A when boss do B", you'd win if your gear is on right tier. If you can't or gear not on par you won't win.

That makes the game feel like an action game that needs gear, but not like an RPG where you need to use character skill and strategic thinking to win.

3. General lack of class complexity

When there are no talent tree, all gears have same stat, and the game tries very hard to prevent players from trying new things via skill limitation, you get 100 DRG, MNK, BRD running around in town that all play the same. One main reason why I can play XI for YEARS is because I like to try different build/play style on COR, and it takes quite a while to collect right gear for doing so. The game doesn't exactly tell the player each job potential. I remember long time ago when my LSmate said he soloed an IT mob on RNG, I was shocked(I was new at that time and didn't know XI very well), because I didn't know RNG can solo very well. Then he told me he used sleep bolt and sleep kill sleep kill.

Things like THF RNG using sleep/acid bolt, sword req build, KC melee TP gain, SAM archery build, XI doesn't exactly tell what players can do on each job, players must go out and explore the possibility via various gear sets. I often see ppl come up with very smart ideas about playing a job on forums.

In XIV I pretty much just spam same rotation over and over and over, the game tells you all the possible skills you can use, with little left to explore. Rest is just "put buff up, put DoT up, 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4". I have a curing build in XI on COR, in XIV I can't even cast cure spell on BRD unlike 1.23. And there are no curing build gears for ARC anyways, as cure spells are terrible to cast unless you're a healer.


4. 2.1 doesn't excite me slightest. Majority of the new PVE content will be easier than coil with lower lv IL gears. Crystal tower is either going to be

1. 24 man raid that needs delve NM1~5+B lv of organization before skill update, or Einherjar T3 at l 75 era. If that's the case, nobody gonna do it for IL80 gears. Nobody gonna do content this hard for inferior gears when you can get mythology gears half asleep.

2. 24 man raid that's easier than coil T1~4 to provide IL80 gears for alternative jobs. If that's the case CT gonna be massive zerg fest with a few people every party half afk entire time.....doesn't sound epic nor exciting isn't it?

None of the new content sounds exciting due to being lower lv content than coil and pretty much facing same issue. If new content isn't exciting, then what's the point?

PVP also doesn't excite me slightest. Jobs in this game is clearly designed for PVE content, PVP skill really needs a large job overhaul if PVP going to be anything meaningful.

To say it in FTG style, PVP is only exciting if it's SF4, but from what I've heard, it's probably going to be MvC3, to please the casuals so everyone can have brainless fun, but nothing as epic as SF4. If PVP can have tournaments/leader-board, with incredible depth, complexity and job balance then maybe it's going to appeal serious players and be epic, otherwise it's going to be as lackluster like majority of the MMO PVP in the past, shallow, and it's there just for brainless fun.

Maybe ARR PVP is going to be SF4, maybe. But I highly doubt it as the game isn't focusing on PVP to begin with. And good PVP needs tons of work.

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Overall, I feel indifferent when I played ARR, which is probably one of the worst result if I'm going to play a game or read a novel. If I'm going to play a game, I want to experience fun, frustration, sadness, happiness, epic, helpless, passion, surprise...you know, emotion.

There are no sense of immersion for lv 1~50 content, no sense of emotion when exploring the world other then "oh this is pretty". I believe exploring the world needs more than "this is pretty". I need surprise, I need frustration, I need to feel helpless, I need thrill, that's when I feel like I'm truly living in another world.

There are no job complexity, thus no passion. There's nothing to try to be different from everyone else and live my own life.

There are no motivation in endgame, due to vertical gear progression and Yoshi-P's "every casual stand on same ground as hardcore" approach. Why work hard if your reward isn't epic? I'd rather work hard irl as real life always reward me better for hard work. If I'm going to play a video game and work as hard, it better to reward me like working hard irl.

In the end, ARR is just another video game title, that it exist to please players, but not a virtual world to live in.

I wish ARR followed 1.0s game direction, a game with thrill to explore, with open world dungeons, and you can change play style with different skill.

I wish ARR plays like a RPG but not like LAN action game. I wish I can wear all armors on WAR, if I wear heavy armor and set dmg- skills, I become a tank. If I wear leather armor and set DPS skills, I can play WAR as a DPS. If I wear cloth type of of armor and set evasion skills, I become an evasion tank. I dodge enemy attacks by having high evasion value and using evasion skills, not by running out of red circle in less than 0.5 sec.

That was supposed to be 1.0's main design, where players can wear whatever they want, play however they want with cross skills.  That is RPG, with depth and complexity. As it is now it's a LAN action game where you do B when boss do A, and you must execute B perfectly when boss do A or else you'll be in trouble. That is NOT RPG, it's an action game with gears and levels.

But I guess I can't really blame SE as majority of players seems to want action game with gears and levels, nobody want to live in another world anymore.

Good bye, ARR. Another MMO I played for 1.5 month and never leave anything in my heart. Like hollywood movie or 1 night-stand, been there, done that.