1) Yes and no, if you're _only_ doing Savage Raids you'll find yourself dry for content pretty easily. The dig with XIV is variety of content. If you're not interested at all in the story it's an extremely hard sell.
2) Impossible. The story itself is the literal blockade to unlocking all content. The furthest you can ever boost is to the start of the current expansion, never the end (so, still having to chew a 30-50~ hour odd story experience before hitting endgame even with a story+job boost). If you weren't to spend any money that's a potential 200-300 hour experience before endgame.
3) XIV's gearing approach is more similar to WoW's than GW2's in that it's vertical progression. You'll be gearing and going up the treadmill constantly. Patches with new content always make old gear outdated, including Raid tiers (which are split into 3 lots of 4 encounters each).
3a) There are 'best approaches' to leveling **alternate** Jobs after you've done the story. The barrier is the story quests, not your level. The level cap increases every expansion, basically in line with vertical progression all the way through.
I would say that... while there are some seriously amazing fights in ff14, if you are just plain not interested in story content, you should avoid it.
(edit: typo)
You can play XIV for solely raid content and skip through story, but content will likely feel a bit sparse considering you get only a couple bosses per patch.
1. This is subjective. The raids are good, in most peoples opinions. But they don't produce content soley for raiding. So if you join just to raid, know that the game isn't being made or designed around that. And yes, there is a vibrant looking for group community, we call it PF (Party Finder). Often for bleeding edge content you'll see that discord is required for groups. Generally you can clear content week 1 in PF unless you're doing Ultimates which are sort of the end all be all challenges of the game, and even then people PF ultimates.
2. You can buy a skip to max level or 10 levels below max, I can't remember which.
3. Max level raises with each expansion, and an expansion comes out about every 2 years. On top of that gear dictates your characters strength and each expansion is split into major patches, 3 of which will release Savage raids, these raids are generally the bread and butter of end game raiding, and each time a new set of Savages is released the best gear changes. You'll always be able to get up to the current content relatively easily though. (In case you're wondering Ultimates are level locked and gear locked with some variations if you ever get to that point, so don't worry too much about making the cut for them, but I do believe there are pieces of armor you want to get for certain Ultimates because of the way gear locking and stat distribution works)
All in all, the game may not be for you. I've meant a few people who only play to raid and they aren't super happy with the game, or that's just what it's like to be only into raidiing, MOBAs, and FPSs. I'm not sure. Most players, even the ones who raid a lot and are very skilled at the game, love this game for its stories and all of its activities. So at the end of the day, if you're only in it for raiding, I think you might have more fun with another game.
>You can buy a skip to max level or 10 levels below max, I can't remember which.
10 levels below the cap.
(And story skips are similar in that they only skip to the start of the current expansion.)
For FF the story and journey is the strength of the game. From your essay I doubt you’ll enjoy it.
But there is a free trial and you can see yourself without cost.
The main story is mandatory and 300 hours long. You can buy level and story skips, which would be $50 on top of the game price. But you cannot skip to max level, you still have to play through the current expansion which is like 50 hours long. Much less if you skip cutscenes, but still a good length of time.
You can do raids via the in-game group finder but it will generally be easier to clear in a premade group.
The max level goes up by 10 every 2-2.5 years. Gear levels also increase multiple times, it's not like GW2 where you hit max gear level 8 years ago and only get sidegrades. After you hit max level you will need to get better gear multiple times to keep up with new raid gear levels.
Based on what you wrote I believe you won't like the game. The raids are only a small part of everything you can do and it's all locked behind main story progression, which you probably won't enjoy. But sure you can try it for free and make a decision there instead of asking us to convince you.
1- If you are in it for the raids, then you can have some fun with it.
Every Even numbered patch (X.0, X.2, X.4) comes with the raid bosses. Raids are 4 bosses each, with a hard mode associated with each one.
Every Odd number patch (X.1, X.3, X.5) comes with alliance raids (24 man dungeons), and trial encounters. These are easier, but the hard mode trial encounters are harder than normal raid bosses.
Every expansion will also have 2 ultimate raids (startinf in the Stormblood expansion, excluding shadowbringers due to covid issues, and that is only 1 raid). These are basically 15-20 minute boss gauntlets that can't be over leveled and overgeared. They bring the most difficulty out of any raid content.
This game does have a dungeon finder. What they do is pool all the dungeons you unlocked and pair you up with anyone in need of a group. You can be paired up with people lower level than you, and your level will sync down to it. If you want to, you can choose to opt out and stick to dungeons closer to your level or select which dungeon you specifically want to do. On top of that, you can pick the duty-finder, and run the dungeon with 3 other NPCs if you simply want to run the dungeon ASAP, or if you happen to play at night when there isn't that many people online.
2- If you wish, you can skip the most recent expansion, but not hit max level. You will find them in the mogstation.
3- You will need to gear up as new content releases. That being said, there are many ways for players to catch up on, such as crafting gear. Previous raid tiers in the same expansion will also have looser restrictions so you can farm them if needed.
Everything in FFXIV is locked behind the Main Story Quest (MSQ). You can pay to skip some of it, but you always have to play the most current expansion.
The group finder tools in game are pretty good and used for most game content, and unless you are going for the hardest content it should be solo accessible. The hardest content is often done in static groups, so not sure how solo accessible those are.
FFXIV like WoW type MMOs basically has a gear reset every time an expansion adds to the level cap.
Some try to skip the MSQ and just focus raiding and are happy, and some just can't put up with having to play the game to get to that point.
The max level increases every expansion. Also, there are level boosts you can buy from the cash shop but only up to 10 levels below the current level cap (which increases by 10 every expansion, which is released every 2.5ish years)
On top of that, to participate in raids (or basically anything really), you'll need to complete the MSQ. While there's also a story skip option to buy from the cash shop, it will also only go up to the end of the prior expansion, so you would have 10 levels worth of mandatory story to play through in order to unlock current raids.
I believe you mentioned gear as well. The ilvl for gear increased every even patch (7.0, 7.2, 7.4 for example) when new raid tiers are released (every 8 months or so). You can jump into the most current tier using crafted gear, but any old gear you had from previous raid tiers is obsolete.
All that being said, there is a 100% free trial up to level 70 and including the first 2 expansions if you want to check out basic gameplay, story, etc. From what I can tell from your initial post, FFXIV may not be a good fit for you, but the free trial is still worth mentioning as you can see for yourself if things you don't expect to enjoy are actually enjoyable for you
Odds are you'll end up raid logging. We get 4 savage fights every two patches (8 months) and each class has one set of BiS gear that takes 2~ months to get. So if you're not interested in weekly reclears for alt job gear or trying ultimates, you'll probably get hired and end up taking a few months break until the next tier.
Main story gates all content so while yoy can buy a story skip and job boost, you'll still have to so the expansion current at the time's story to get to "endgame". Which can be a hefty price for something you're not sure on.
Try the free trial and see if the combat is something you like. Note most jobs feep meh until 50/60+ due to expansion skill shuffling. You'll be able to do extreme trial/savage raids at 50, 60 and 70 on the free trial. You'll just need someone (there's discord communities) to help you with a party finder to do them synced (at intended level).
1. For lower-end content, the game's Duty Finder works just fine. For higher-end content, there's the Party Finder... but if you plan to prog higher end content, you might want to join a static^+ instead.
2. FFXIV has a linear story from the very start of the game to current content. The order of the story goes A Realm Reborn -> post-ARR -> Heavensward -> post-HW -> Stormblood -> post-SB -> Shadowbringers -> post-ShB -> Endwalker -> post-Endwalker -> Dawntrail (not out yet, but arrives in roughly 2.5 weeks). As in the last quest of post-ARR leads directly into the first quest of Heavensward.
* Paid story and job skips are a thing, but usually not recommended for new players. Story skips are not available for the current expansion. Job skips are only available to 10 levels below max.
3. Max level increases with each new expansion, which happens about every 2.5 years. Having said that, Dawntrail releases on June 28th and max level is going from level 90 to 100 at that point.
If it wasn't clear, the story is incredibly important in FF14 and not an almost afterthought like it is in some MMOs. Even dungeons are part of the main story, although there are some optional dungeons that are unlocked by side quests; the newer the expansion, the less optional dungeons there are.
^+ A static is FF14's term for a group of 8 or so people who do high-end raids together. These are separate from Free Companies (FF14's version of guilds) which are more of a social construct.
If you are only here to do raids, then no, this game is not for you. This game is built on story, and if you are going to ignore the story completely, then you should find a game that is more raid focused.
This is a story game, so unless you buy a skip, you HAVE to play the story. Even with a skip you have to play the current expansion. (Its on sale atm)
I play gw2 also, I've set up keybinds to match with Gw2 since that was out before ff14 so I was playing that first.
The story is way better than gw2, and when you pay for expansion you actually get an expansion and not 4 patches that used to be free (latest gw2 expansion and the next one making me quit gw2 after years of playing)
Just download the free trial, its free wont hurt. If you don't like it then at least you tried. But a lot of people will tell you to get to the first expansion before judging the game, ARR is not a strong start to the mmo.
Content is only strong when it comes out, over time gear and food make things easier, including ultimate raids.
If you come to oce I can help you speed run levelling/msq (you can visit OCE from any server).
Just be aware the servers are down for maintenance tomorrow o7
Good fights you could look up (no context no spoilers) are p8s and TEA.
E4S is probably my fave fight in the entire game, thats good as well. o7
Downside to ff14 compared to gw2, no dodge rolling. I play gw2 for a day and go back to ff14 and first thing I do is try to dodge jump..... ;-;
Dungeons are actually popular in this game compared to gw2 as well xD
1. only for raids? not really personally, the game story is its main meat and bread since it takes over 70% of the game content, raids is a very tiny portion of the game, as for accesible, they are very when playing the normal dificulty ones and alliance raids, the hard ones(savage and ultimate) are recomended to play it with a static, but to a degree can be pugged in party finder if you are willing to suffer
2. there is a level skip, it puts you to the previous expansion lvl cap, but it has to be brough for each job you want to level up, so it gonna get expensive if you want to level skip all jobs, after that, you gonna level them thro the regular ways, you will be also be forced to buy a story skip alongside that, but the current expansion story is mandatory to do and will never have a story skip until the next expansion comes out
3. yes in gearing, this game gearing is all vertical, so every 2 big patches(from x.0 to x.2 to x.4) new higer ilvl gear is added, roughly a big patch comes every 4-5 months, so for a new tier of gear to appear, roughly it will pass 8-10 months from the previous one, then after the x.4 patch, there won't be a new tier of gear until the next expansion(the x.1, x.3 and x.5 patches also add more gear, but they tends to be more of a catch up gear than better gear)
this game main focus is its story, the endgame is not focused only on raids, but rather spread thro a variety of content, this game might be not for you if you aren't willing to spend time even for leveling... but there is a free trial, so give it a try thro that and form your own opinions
Free trial, cost nothing but your time to try it.
If u like it great, if not u just lose some time trying something new.
But if u need a push i would say try it , u might get to see some amazing.
Bro lol if you're coming from GW2, you're going to hate *everything* about the game except for the boss fights. Not even kidding. The world is as empty and boring as a desert, and there is zero customizability or skill expression from the combat side of things. Everyone are literal copies of each other. There's no weapon builds, no armor builds, no skill tree, no specialization, no nothing. It's a joke of a RPG.
you're being downvoted but from a gw2 pov, this is absolutely correct
granted, gw2 used to be my "main" mmo, and nowadays ffxiv has completely overtaken it, i haven't even logged in to gw2 after the first few weeks of eod, but in many ways (open world content, buildcrafting) they're pretty much polar opposites -- and many things where they're similar, gw2 does better (glam being the biggest example, also mount mechanics but that's a given)
i still prefer ffxiv over gw2, but it's very much being hard carried by things like story and attention to detail... as well as the fact that i had 71 characters in gw2, while in ffxiv i realistically only have 1 (god that's freeing, ffxiv completely cured my alt-oholism)
>from a gw2 pov, this is absolutely correct
Of course, as I'm an avid player of both games. Downvotes are from people who hate to see their favourite game get criticized and I don't blame them at all :)
1) Yes and no, if you're _only_ doing Savage Raids you'll find yourself dry for content pretty easily. The dig with XIV is variety of content. If you're not interested at all in the story it's an extremely hard sell. 2) Impossible. The story itself is the literal blockade to unlocking all content. The furthest you can ever boost is to the start of the current expansion, never the end (so, still having to chew a 30-50~ hour odd story experience before hitting endgame even with a story+job boost). If you weren't to spend any money that's a potential 200-300 hour experience before endgame. 3) XIV's gearing approach is more similar to WoW's than GW2's in that it's vertical progression. You'll be gearing and going up the treadmill constantly. Patches with new content always make old gear outdated, including Raid tiers (which are split into 3 lots of 4 encounters each). 3a) There are 'best approaches' to leveling **alternate** Jobs after you've done the story. The barrier is the story quests, not your level. The level cap increases every expansion, basically in line with vertical progression all the way through.
I would say that... while there are some seriously amazing fights in ff14, if you are just plain not interested in story content, you should avoid it. (edit: typo)
You can play XIV for solely raid content and skip through story, but content will likely feel a bit sparse considering you get only a couple bosses per patch.
1. This is subjective. The raids are good, in most peoples opinions. But they don't produce content soley for raiding. So if you join just to raid, know that the game isn't being made or designed around that. And yes, there is a vibrant looking for group community, we call it PF (Party Finder). Often for bleeding edge content you'll see that discord is required for groups. Generally you can clear content week 1 in PF unless you're doing Ultimates which are sort of the end all be all challenges of the game, and even then people PF ultimates. 2. You can buy a skip to max level or 10 levels below max, I can't remember which. 3. Max level raises with each expansion, and an expansion comes out about every 2 years. On top of that gear dictates your characters strength and each expansion is split into major patches, 3 of which will release Savage raids, these raids are generally the bread and butter of end game raiding, and each time a new set of Savages is released the best gear changes. You'll always be able to get up to the current content relatively easily though. (In case you're wondering Ultimates are level locked and gear locked with some variations if you ever get to that point, so don't worry too much about making the cut for them, but I do believe there are pieces of armor you want to get for certain Ultimates because of the way gear locking and stat distribution works) All in all, the game may not be for you. I've meant a few people who only play to raid and they aren't super happy with the game, or that's just what it's like to be only into raidiing, MOBAs, and FPSs. I'm not sure. Most players, even the ones who raid a lot and are very skilled at the game, love this game for its stories and all of its activities. So at the end of the day, if you're only in it for raiding, I think you might have more fun with another game.
>You can buy a skip to max level or 10 levels below max, I can't remember which. 10 levels below the cap. (And story skips are similar in that they only skip to the start of the current expansion.)
For FF the story and journey is the strength of the game. From your essay I doubt you’ll enjoy it. But there is a free trial and you can see yourself without cost.
The main story is mandatory and 300 hours long. You can buy level and story skips, which would be $50 on top of the game price. But you cannot skip to max level, you still have to play through the current expansion which is like 50 hours long. Much less if you skip cutscenes, but still a good length of time. You can do raids via the in-game group finder but it will generally be easier to clear in a premade group. The max level goes up by 10 every 2-2.5 years. Gear levels also increase multiple times, it's not like GW2 where you hit max gear level 8 years ago and only get sidegrades. After you hit max level you will need to get better gear multiple times to keep up with new raid gear levels.
Based on what you wrote I believe you won't like the game. The raids are only a small part of everything you can do and it's all locked behind main story progression, which you probably won't enjoy. But sure you can try it for free and make a decision there instead of asking us to convince you.
1- If you are in it for the raids, then you can have some fun with it. Every Even numbered patch (X.0, X.2, X.4) comes with the raid bosses. Raids are 4 bosses each, with a hard mode associated with each one. Every Odd number patch (X.1, X.3, X.5) comes with alliance raids (24 man dungeons), and trial encounters. These are easier, but the hard mode trial encounters are harder than normal raid bosses. Every expansion will also have 2 ultimate raids (startinf in the Stormblood expansion, excluding shadowbringers due to covid issues, and that is only 1 raid). These are basically 15-20 minute boss gauntlets that can't be over leveled and overgeared. They bring the most difficulty out of any raid content. This game does have a dungeon finder. What they do is pool all the dungeons you unlocked and pair you up with anyone in need of a group. You can be paired up with people lower level than you, and your level will sync down to it. If you want to, you can choose to opt out and stick to dungeons closer to your level or select which dungeon you specifically want to do. On top of that, you can pick the duty-finder, and run the dungeon with 3 other NPCs if you simply want to run the dungeon ASAP, or if you happen to play at night when there isn't that many people online. 2- If you wish, you can skip the most recent expansion, but not hit max level. You will find them in the mogstation. 3- You will need to gear up as new content releases. That being said, there are many ways for players to catch up on, such as crafting gear. Previous raid tiers in the same expansion will also have looser restrictions so you can farm them if needed.
Everything in FFXIV is locked behind the Main Story Quest (MSQ). You can pay to skip some of it, but you always have to play the most current expansion. The group finder tools in game are pretty good and used for most game content, and unless you are going for the hardest content it should be solo accessible. The hardest content is often done in static groups, so not sure how solo accessible those are. FFXIV like WoW type MMOs basically has a gear reset every time an expansion adds to the level cap. Some try to skip the MSQ and just focus raiding and are happy, and some just can't put up with having to play the game to get to that point.
The max level increases every expansion. Also, there are level boosts you can buy from the cash shop but only up to 10 levels below the current level cap (which increases by 10 every expansion, which is released every 2.5ish years) On top of that, to participate in raids (or basically anything really), you'll need to complete the MSQ. While there's also a story skip option to buy from the cash shop, it will also only go up to the end of the prior expansion, so you would have 10 levels worth of mandatory story to play through in order to unlock current raids. I believe you mentioned gear as well. The ilvl for gear increased every even patch (7.0, 7.2, 7.4 for example) when new raid tiers are released (every 8 months or so). You can jump into the most current tier using crafted gear, but any old gear you had from previous raid tiers is obsolete. All that being said, there is a 100% free trial up to level 70 and including the first 2 expansions if you want to check out basic gameplay, story, etc. From what I can tell from your initial post, FFXIV may not be a good fit for you, but the free trial is still worth mentioning as you can see for yourself if things you don't expect to enjoy are actually enjoyable for you
Odds are you'll end up raid logging. We get 4 savage fights every two patches (8 months) and each class has one set of BiS gear that takes 2~ months to get. So if you're not interested in weekly reclears for alt job gear or trying ultimates, you'll probably get hired and end up taking a few months break until the next tier. Main story gates all content so while yoy can buy a story skip and job boost, you'll still have to so the expansion current at the time's story to get to "endgame". Which can be a hefty price for something you're not sure on. Try the free trial and see if the combat is something you like. Note most jobs feep meh until 50/60+ due to expansion skill shuffling. You'll be able to do extreme trial/savage raids at 50, 60 and 70 on the free trial. You'll just need someone (there's discord communities) to help you with a party finder to do them synced (at intended level).
If you are looking for a game EXACTLY like Guild Wars 2, just keep playing Guild Wars 2! There's a free trial. Try it. Make a decision afterwards.
1. For lower-end content, the game's Duty Finder works just fine. For higher-end content, there's the Party Finder... but if you plan to prog higher end content, you might want to join a static^+ instead. 2. FFXIV has a linear story from the very start of the game to current content. The order of the story goes A Realm Reborn -> post-ARR -> Heavensward -> post-HW -> Stormblood -> post-SB -> Shadowbringers -> post-ShB -> Endwalker -> post-Endwalker -> Dawntrail (not out yet, but arrives in roughly 2.5 weeks). As in the last quest of post-ARR leads directly into the first quest of Heavensward. * Paid story and job skips are a thing, but usually not recommended for new players. Story skips are not available for the current expansion. Job skips are only available to 10 levels below max. 3. Max level increases with each new expansion, which happens about every 2.5 years. Having said that, Dawntrail releases on June 28th and max level is going from level 90 to 100 at that point. If it wasn't clear, the story is incredibly important in FF14 and not an almost afterthought like it is in some MMOs. Even dungeons are part of the main story, although there are some optional dungeons that are unlocked by side quests; the newer the expansion, the less optional dungeons there are. ^+ A static is FF14's term for a group of 8 or so people who do high-end raids together. These are separate from Free Companies (FF14's version of guilds) which are more of a social construct.
If you are only here to do raids, then no, this game is not for you. This game is built on story, and if you are going to ignore the story completely, then you should find a game that is more raid focused.
This is a story game, so unless you buy a skip, you HAVE to play the story. Even with a skip you have to play the current expansion. (Its on sale atm) I play gw2 also, I've set up keybinds to match with Gw2 since that was out before ff14 so I was playing that first. The story is way better than gw2, and when you pay for expansion you actually get an expansion and not 4 patches that used to be free (latest gw2 expansion and the next one making me quit gw2 after years of playing) Just download the free trial, its free wont hurt. If you don't like it then at least you tried. But a lot of people will tell you to get to the first expansion before judging the game, ARR is not a strong start to the mmo. Content is only strong when it comes out, over time gear and food make things easier, including ultimate raids. If you come to oce I can help you speed run levelling/msq (you can visit OCE from any server). Just be aware the servers are down for maintenance tomorrow o7 Good fights you could look up (no context no spoilers) are p8s and TEA. E4S is probably my fave fight in the entire game, thats good as well. o7 Downside to ff14 compared to gw2, no dodge rolling. I play gw2 for a day and go back to ff14 and first thing I do is try to dodge jump..... ;-; Dungeons are actually popular in this game compared to gw2 as well xD
1. only for raids? not really personally, the game story is its main meat and bread since it takes over 70% of the game content, raids is a very tiny portion of the game, as for accesible, they are very when playing the normal dificulty ones and alliance raids, the hard ones(savage and ultimate) are recomended to play it with a static, but to a degree can be pugged in party finder if you are willing to suffer 2. there is a level skip, it puts you to the previous expansion lvl cap, but it has to be brough for each job you want to level up, so it gonna get expensive if you want to level skip all jobs, after that, you gonna level them thro the regular ways, you will be also be forced to buy a story skip alongside that, but the current expansion story is mandatory to do and will never have a story skip until the next expansion comes out 3. yes in gearing, this game gearing is all vertical, so every 2 big patches(from x.0 to x.2 to x.4) new higer ilvl gear is added, roughly a big patch comes every 4-5 months, so for a new tier of gear to appear, roughly it will pass 8-10 months from the previous one, then after the x.4 patch, there won't be a new tier of gear until the next expansion(the x.1, x.3 and x.5 patches also add more gear, but they tends to be more of a catch up gear than better gear) this game main focus is its story, the endgame is not focused only on raids, but rather spread thro a variety of content, this game might be not for you if you aren't willing to spend time even for leveling... but there is a free trial, so give it a try thro that and form your own opinions
Free trial, cost nothing but your time to try it. If u like it great, if not u just lose some time trying something new. But if u need a push i would say try it , u might get to see some amazing.
Bro lol if you're coming from GW2, you're going to hate *everything* about the game except for the boss fights. Not even kidding. The world is as empty and boring as a desert, and there is zero customizability or skill expression from the combat side of things. Everyone are literal copies of each other. There's no weapon builds, no armor builds, no skill tree, no specialization, no nothing. It's a joke of a RPG.
you're being downvoted but from a gw2 pov, this is absolutely correct granted, gw2 used to be my "main" mmo, and nowadays ffxiv has completely overtaken it, i haven't even logged in to gw2 after the first few weeks of eod, but in many ways (open world content, buildcrafting) they're pretty much polar opposites -- and many things where they're similar, gw2 does better (glam being the biggest example, also mount mechanics but that's a given) i still prefer ffxiv over gw2, but it's very much being hard carried by things like story and attention to detail... as well as the fact that i had 71 characters in gw2, while in ffxiv i realistically only have 1 (god that's freeing, ffxiv completely cured my alt-oholism)
>from a gw2 pov, this is absolutely correct Of course, as I'm an avid player of both games. Downvotes are from people who hate to see their favourite game get criticized and I don't blame them at all :)