either i become a sprout or a dragonbornđ€
iâll announce on discord what i end up choosingđ
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âąTimestampsâą
00:00 my experience with MMORPGs
01:49 join me on my new adventure đ
02:40 which game iâll choose & your opinions
03:19 iâll still play WoW & GW2
04:43 Elder Scrolls Online
10:14 Final Fantasy XIV
15:18 decide with me & final thoughts
16:12 stay hydrated gamers
#FFXIV #ESO #newplayer
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I've played wow since vanilla, FF14 is pretty great. Its fun, decent combat, and a good story. Its a lot to get through but you can play it absolutely for free. I also played black mage first and loved it.
I've had a good time with both games, but my pick is definitely FFXIV. it's substantially more fun to watch imo and there's a ton of interesting side content avenues that open up to you as you progress through expansions as well as robust community events that other MMOs just don't offer in the same way.
100% ESO, never played it, but FF14 is just fkn cringe lol
ff14 starts off rough (the stort is still good it just gets so much better later on) but the pure amount of stuff u can do while getting thru arr and the worldbuilding make it a lot better. its combat system is my personal favourite and even as a new player early bosses and dungeons are a absolute blast. half of the expansions being available on free trial is also incredible. id definitely recommend being prepared for a more immersed experience when playing ffxiv overall. good luck choosing and looking forward to the streams!
GW2 main here… but I have to say that ESO is IMO the most underrated MMO released after 2010. The game is fully voice acted, can be played 1st or 3rd person, has awesome looking maps, detailed quests, and it fully supports gamepad controls by default. With that said, I think think ESO has two issues that draw off most other MMO players: 1) unorthodox fighting system and 2) horrible default interface settings.
The fighting system is very much like GW2 with dodge rolls and an added block button. It plays just like 'action camera mode' enabled in GW2. There is no tab target though and this becomes an issue when trying to pin point your attacks. This is especially true when fighting enemies bunched together. However, with more time playing, one will eventually get used to it and respect that ESO is going for something different.
The default interface settings is by far the most troublesome aspect of the game IMO. They tried to go for the classic and clean interface of the Elder Scroll series. No names or indicators on NPC's and players, no skill bar visible, no damage numbers, and so forth. It was very confusing to know which skills I had and if their cooldown was ready to use. I had to manually go into the settings and turn 'on'/'show' all of these options just to make the game more playable. I had to do this for each one of my toons too! Once I did however, the game became much more enjoyable and immersive. I was even able to get some of my other MMO buddies to play ESO too after they've also changed their interface settings. It's been about a year or so since I've last played ESO so I don't know if the developers added an easy option to change the interface settings.
i loved the part when you added ben chonkey cat
My say would be eso, plenty of build variety in each class/role, I espically love the fact any class can be healer dps or tank. My favourite content is cyrodil pvp (which to my belief is pretty simillar to WvW in gw2) where you fight over keeps, castles and the surronding resources using siege weapons
i would say play ESO its a great game. i have over 2k hours in ESO and never ever gonna regret it, so stay highdrated dude
eso is a really good game , huge world , huge zones , TONS OF players mega server so everyone is on 1 server
If I had to pick one of the two for long term, it would be FF14 without a doubt. ESO is a very immersive game and fun to jump into from time to time though, it does world exploration, open world design much much better than FF14, but it becomes repetitive and boring after a month or two. FF14 is a long term game, it does not give you dopamine bursts all the time but it has so so many great stories, characters, emotional moments that you easily fall in love with it, even if you're not into anime, "weeb" stuff. However if you are not looking for a long term game but rather want to jump into a new world for short periods of time I'd probably recommend ESO then. FF14 also has a better dev team and brighter future I'd say than ESO. ESO has one of the worst cash shops and if you're into collecting stuff, farming mounts/transmogs then you can't because almost everything is in the cash shop and not much to collect in-game.
In ESO actually most of the armor and weapon skins (called motifs in ESO) can be collected in game. But most of the mounts, pets and glowing weapon skins etc. are in the cash shop. Usually you can get the base game for pretty cheap if you want to try it out before buying the expansions, and if you do buy the expansions you only have to buy the latest one to get access to all previous expansions. To get access to the minor dlc's you'll have to buy them separately or get the ESO+ subscription.
FFXIV has a free trial where you get access to the base game and the first two expansions for free with only some minor limitations when playing.
So I would definitely recommend you either buy the ESO base game to start, or get the FFXIV free trial. I play both games and they are both great mmo's, they both have their unique strengths. FFXIV has a really good main story and characters, but ESO has a very fascinating and immersive world to explore and is fully voice acted.
Having a single character that does all of your jobs/classes is the single best feature that FFXIV has over many other MMOs. It sucks having to do tutorial sections, no matter how quick they might be, on alts just to try out new classes. In GW2, I hate that I have to do map completion and the story (not strictly, but it bothers me that it's still there) on other characters. I just want to get attached to my single character, who is going on this journey. Changing classes on the fly with my character is a game changer.
As to my suggestion, I definitely recommend playing FFXIV. I have tried ESO, but ultimately, it felt VERY lacking.
14 might be the most streamable of the two games because people love to reexperience the story through new lenses but that's the thing with it; if you want to actually play you might just hop onto ESO. While ESO didn't personally grab me because I just couldn't handle the: "you can be a cloth wearing rogue spellcasting healer who shoots greatswords with his bow, go anywhere do anything!"; Final Fantasy is a lot of teleporting from place to place talking to people and watching conversations for 10 minutes before teleporting to the next conversation. After 2 hours you kill a boss and go back to talking.
I've not played ESO since launch, so I can't comment on it.
But FF14 on the other hand, I have a bit of experience with. The people telling you the first 40 hours are boring are 100% right.
The game's opening section, "A Realm Reborn" was like watching paint dry until the post game when you start the tower quest line.
It picks up when you get into heavenward though. So keep that in mind. Its well worth it if you've have the patience to sit through hundreds of hours of story.
The cons(If you wanna call it that), is as an MMO FF14 is actually kind of weak. It's a single player game first, MMO second.
The way he described how he wants to play in FF14. Yep, Its BLM angle right there.
To pick up on your point that FFXIV has a mandatory subscription, and ESO doesn't, the trial version of FFXIV is so good that it is arguably better than ESO before you opt in to their optional subscription. Did you know that the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV has a free trial, and includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward and Stormblood expansions up to level 70 with no restrictions on playtime? Sign up, and enjoy Eorzea today!
i tried to get into ESO but just didn't gel with it. FFXIV, however, is great even if ARR is a rough start but the story gets to be so good. also, black mage is THE hardest job in the game. the cash shop for FFXIV is all mounts, minions, emotes, housing items, glamour, previous event items, special dyes, and boosts (pretty standard for non P2W MMOs). even though there's all those items on the shop, there are so many more that can be gained through doing game content (all the cool glowy weapons and armor are collected from high end content).
obviously my bias is FFXIV, not to mention the community is SUPER welcoming to new players (sprouts). not to mention the free trial is unlimited and you can lvl all jobs up to 70 and play all of Stormblood, you just can't trade, use the market board, join a free company (guild), or a few other things on the trail.
I have only ever played ESO and FF14. Instead of sharing my opinions about each I will let you know why FF14 is what I choose to play now. The social systems are superior, no predatory cash shop, better graphics, better class system, varied and interesting story, and an unwavering respect for the players. I would love to see you in FF14!
ESO could be great with a few tweaks… Has many great elements, like the world map and its locations, the lore, the whole "everyone is voice" aspect of it, the graphics looks pretty good, character creation isnt horrible if it wasnt all tha samey… But the monetization is absolutely stupid, and the combat is terrible, not just the normal attack weaving, but the general structure and mechanics…
FFXIV has pretty bad start for current standards, even if it was better than any other mmo for standards over 10 years ago. Also has a update structure problem, meaning, we always know what we are getting… But the polish and love from the developers, story, and general game direction take every other current existing MMO to school, that includes both GW2 and WoW… Both of which i played extensively for years. You know the expression, "greater than the sum of its parts". All 3, ESO, GW2 and WoW do many things better than FF14, but cumulatively, they aint better than FF14.
I can absolutely highly recommend Final Fantasy XIV, especially since you state loving Kingdom Hearts yourself. I think they share a lot of general themes overall and it is, indeed, a very Japanese form of storytelling c:
For the story it's most certainly the big thing that connects us all and it's my favourite RPG (not just MMO) out of all I've ever played, and many fondly call it an RPGMMO, instead of MMORPG because the story and RPG elements are so prevalent.
As for starting as a Black Mage.. I will not dissuade you, however be aware that it is known for being difficult and hard to level, along with its rotation completely changing every 5-10 levels of leveling instead of slowly teaching you more and adding more to your rotation over time. Aside from this it's a pretty immobile class, but if it's played right (at max level) it technically has the highest damage potential – but is the least played caster for a reason.
But I can do nothing but respect a man's ambition.. for a giant hat xD
Although I will point out, other magical ranged can technically also wear giant hats like those (assuming you're not looking at a job-specific one)
Free trial lets you get all jobs released with or before Stormblood to level 70 with pretty minor restrictions and is completely unlimited in terms of how long you want to play on it – but once you pay once you have to pay every month you wish to play. So take advantage for as long as you want – it's what it's there for after all!
Circling back to the story.. Yeah.. ARR, aka the base game, is.. heavy.. If you enjoy worldbuilding then I hear some DO enjoy it, but it is a lot of setup to make you invested in this world and it can be a slog. I have ADHD, and it was hard to get through for me, but I promise you.. The expansions make up for it tenfold and use that setup amazingly to make you feel so deeply about the world and its characters that I can promise you.. This game will make you cry for so many reasons, and every tear is so well-earned and worth every bit of frustration that ARR sets.
The cashshop is present but it doesn't really offer anything supremely exclusive. The outfits are exclusive, sure, but you can find pieces in the game with a similar aesthetic for most of them if you don't have the money or don't want to spend it. Most of the gear you'll want to use you will find in the game, both as normal dungeon drops and as things like savage raid drops. There is plenty of cool gear to fit almost any aesthetic you want – you just need to find them c:
As for the 'advantages' you can buy, like job skips and story skips.. Just don't. I know it's tempting, but it will put you into a world where you know nothing but now you have to deal with 36 new buttons on a bar and you can't tell what you're supposed to be doing. I know you said you would, I just want to reiterate that taking your time is most definitely the smartest move you can do for your own enjoyment in the future – even if the starting experience is hard. If you need help, I'm certain randoms will be happy to help, whether they're in your chat or just in game.
Another thing you didn't mention is the community – overall it's by far the most accepting and loving MMO community I've ever been a part of. Sprouts are given a lot of leeway and most of us older players simply ADORE sprouts and helping them with things – frankly it's one of my favourite things to spend my day helping someone learn, or giving them a little minion as a welcome to the game. We have our bad apples, don't get me wrong, but they are few and far between – and when they do show up, you'll usually get others supporting you if you're truly not the one in the wrong. If you are in the wrong but are civil about it then it usually just leads to a small discussion and becomes a moment for your elders to teach the ways of this game and how it differs from your other experiences.
I don't know the high-level scene of GW2, so I can't compare the two as I would like to here, but I experienced a WoW refugee who came over to FFXIV a few years ago and was a tank, while I was healing in that dungeon. We both had a friend with us. He was very angry with me and accused me of buying my account because.. I didn't keep him at 100% hp at all times. In WoW, he would be correct, that would be a bad healer, but in FFXIV.. Keeping him at 100% hp at all times WOULD MAKE ME A BAD HEALER. WoW has bursts of big damage that you have to be sure the tank lives through – FFXIV has very predictable damage, so it's not uncommon for a healer to let the tank fall to 50%, or even down to 20% during a pull before they stop DPSing and begin healing – we're maximizing the DPS to take the enemies out faster so the tank takes less damage overall which is our job – keeping the party alive, not just to heal.
I do excuse the novel, but I wanted to address what seemed to be your main points for the FF section at least, and I do hope you take a journey through Eorzea with us – I can promise you, we're waiting with baited breath for another little sprout to nurture and show the wonders of this world c:
My vote is FF14 because of the insane soundtrack, it's brilliant.
FF XIV story is Yeah lets go on an adventure kill some mobs for loot and money to omfg how did that even happen? đą
I'm a long time FF14 player if you need anyone to show you the ropes I'd love to help
FFXIV!! It's a great game despite if the story is slow in the beginning. I would love to help out!
Swtor
Yea I definitely recommend FFXI
ESO is a solid game and the combat play, imo, is really good. Makes it feel like an actual fight.
FFXIV is just incredible. Early story is only boring once you get to the later story and realize how much it's improved. Honestly, the early story is decent and actually has been significantly improved in recent years where they removed a bunch of the fetch quests and now allow you to solo thru dungeons (with NPCs supporting you). Combat seems slow early on but as you level, you get complimentary skills to weave thru combat. By end game, combat is nonstop fun. The free trial is an amazing deal (base game and 1st two expansions) but downside is that they don't allow you to join guilds (Free Companies) or send tells/whispers – it was how they managed the cashbot issues that every MMO faces. Also – one thing that puts many people off is how convoluted it is just to set up your account/subscription. It's just not very intuitive (FFXI is even worse). Over all though, I think you'll love what FFXIV has – including at early levels. They roll out content at a decent pace as you level up and optional content shows up fairly early (e.g. Gold Saucer casino/min-game zone).
I have played all 4 MMOs (I might have a problem lol) and based on what you've said you enjoy about multiplayer communities, I would definitely recommend FFXIV of the two. The community tends to be friendlier and more up for random interactions – I had players walk up and give me a bunch of gil and food just because I was a sprout and then end up chatting and becoming friends. There are almost always bards in each major city playing music – some even put on concerts, like the Songbirds! There are also a few Free Companies that put on theater shows. It is definitely a game where the journey is just as important as the end game, if not more. Don't get me wrong, the end game content is great, but the story is breathtaking. It's had me in a chokehold for the last two years lol.
I haven't played ESO in a long time, but I did have fun playing while I did.
Ff14!!
Long time FF14 player. I have an interest in playing ESO, but my recommendation is to play FF14, not because it's my game, but because the general consensus is, it is #2 for a reason behind WoW. The story is great and the raids are also pretty good. Of course a lot of people talk about the story and stuff and it's one of a kind job system as key features, but a lot of high end raiders from other MMOs will also tell you that the Ultimates is also in a class of it's own. There is a reason why even the best WoW raiders, including world class raiders, come back and do the raid content. It's because there is nothing comparable to the Ultimates.
Being someone who played wow for 14+ years, but swapped over during Shadowlands to FFXIV, a few things I would point out ahead of time.
The biggest true negative about this game is the netcode full stop. You will encounter a lot of moments early on which feel janky or jarring because the communication between the player and the game is no where near as clean as it should be. Hitboxes on moving targets won't be synced with their models, the game updates information in ticks, which means sometimes you can get clipped by things you feel shouldn't have touched you, etc. Ontop of this, Hitboxes for attacks are determined at the end of a cast, which can be completely different from the animation for a hit. In wow, you're trained to dodge the big explosion, in XIV, the big explosion means literally nothing, and you're watching the castbar/hitbox, if you're inside a hitbox even if it deals its damage 3 seconds after a cast is finished, you'll still die to it. You feel the hitbox issue a lot when learning to tank initially, you need to keep in mind that the hitboxes will be ahead of the models, and when you use an ability, you're creating an AoE at the moment you press it, meaning the animation of your swing making contact with the models of the enemies means nothing, you're trying to overlap two invisible hitboxes between moving targets. Its not hard to adjust, but something to keep in mind.
As far as the story goes, I know a lot of people might disagree with me, but if you're not feeling the story before heavensward, I'd honestly just say go look up a 10 minute summary and skip. A lot of the payoffs later on are down to Character relationships, or major ideas like the Crystal Tower, or how the magic system works, or how Primals work. Big, core concepts which you could have someone explain pretty quickly. A lot of people burn out on the first 30 hours of story, and if you feel you're hitting that wall, its more important to just carry on then drop the game. Plus, something XIV is really good for is they have a massive NG+ menu where you can pick chapters from the story to go back and play through, so you can always go back and revisit things you skipped later on if you're more invested and willing to see them. Personally I skipped all the Job Quests because when leveling Alts, I want to just play the game, not take 20 minute story breaks every few levels. Going back and visiting them when I'm in the mood for a few hours of story that I can binge from start to finish has been a lot better for me personally. o/
A big element which throws a lot of people off in XIV is this game has vary little end game gear Progression. You can hit Full Pre-Raid BIS in about 4 hours once you're at max level, and be ready to jump into raids. This is 100% be design, and honestly something I really love about XIV. This game isn't trying to waste your time by putting time wasting roadblocks in your way. If you want to raid, you can be ready to raid and jump in. When you're raiding, if you're with a consistent group of players, everyone will be Full BiS after killing each boss 8 times or less. Coming from WoW where you could spend 5 months farming one raid waiting on RNG drops, to me this is an amazing change. The way I try to explain it is XIV focuses on Branching Gameplay, you have separate bubbles like Blue mage, Deep dungeons, Ultimate raiding, etc which is independent from other systems, so the idea isn't to keep you raiding endlessly, you raid until you've had your fill then go explore something else within the game.
Also, just from a PvE point of view, don't let anyone tell you not to play a class if you enjoy it. The TLDR is this is the most balanced MMO in the world. All DPS classes fall within 2 brackets of damage output, and they're all within less then 2% difference in total group output from each other within their given bracket. There is literally no right or wrong choice, just do what you find fun and don't be scared to change to try something else, the job system supports you swapping whenever you want to do anything you want. đ
As a former ESO player on PS4 and PS5 (about 1K on PS5 ), and a lot more on PS4. I started out playing ESO in 2016 and did a lot of content in that Mmo from questing to dungeon trifectas and trials. I ended up leaving ESO bit by bit starting in 2022 – I didnÂŽt feel happy playing it, and finally unsubscribed my ESO+.
I found my home in FFxiv. The community is just so helpful, and friendly. I love the story, the progression, the job quests. The overall feel of FFxiv makes me feel happy and part of something big, which I didnÂŽt in ESO.
The first part of the MSQ in FFxiv, was for me a kind of an tutorial, and then itÂŽs just kept on going and now 837hours later I am in Post Endwalker – what a ride.
I dont know if you have been checking out some of the sprouts streaming. I can just say if you have, you know you are in for a very enjoyable ride in FFxiv – itÂŽs a very special community.
So my vote is FFxiv all the way.
Thank You
The People who say "the first 30 hours of ff14 are a slog" really mean 'compared to the other expansions that come later.' Base 14 is still a low A, high B type game. It's just competing with S and S+ type expansions by comparison.
I play FFXIV and GW2 so I have no real opinion on ESO. While I could recommend FFXIV it would be from the perspective of I played this and this is a good game but as far as my preference to something I would actually watch made out of youtube content while I do watch some FFXIV stuff I would rather find out about stuff I do not play even if I never intend to play it like WoW I have watched content about the game in the interest in finding out what I am missing out on since you cannot play more than 2 MMOs at a time without going completely nuts and only if they are of the variety that do not require all of your time.
Since there are a lot of FFXIV votes and the FF community is famous for not pointing out flaws in their own game. I will warn you and say that the story will be praised a lot, which it should be, but the way you experience it can be incredibly yarring and dull
You are a GW2 player and are used to the quality of quests it offers. Even WoW that has pretty alright quest gameplay thanks to it combat.
But the FFXIV quests are in its own league of repetetive and dull.
If your chat ever tells you that the quests get better in heavensward and beyond, they do not mean the gameplay. Clicking on things, waiting for 5s animations of looking right and left, and reading novel-sized chatboxes is the gameplay throughout the entire game.
What they mean is the quality of the storytelling. Which is true. But can only be appreciated if you take the time to pay attention.
You mentioned 50h, that is only the core game of just main story. Each expansion is about 30-50h MSQ depending on your speed.
It's a big investment and I want you to be aware of that. Especially as a streamer. If you choose FFXIV, make it very clear right away that you're just testing the waters.
Some FF players have a tendency to be a bit cultish about newer streamers and their game and how it should be played and how good it is compared to other games and they will shower newer players in praise until you deviate from what they want you to do. Scare them off by doing exactly what YOU want to do. Don't let them bully you around.
As an ESO player, I highly recommend not playing ESO
FF14!
I wasn't able to play ESO for long enough, it just didn't keep me in. FFXIV I got sucked in for almost 6000 hours now, so that's my obvious choice. Being able to play any job you want on the spot and no cash shop bs are probably the big points.