WoW vs. GW2 vs. FFXIV

[danasider]

Good breakdown. Though something like this can't be completely unbiased (for instance, you and I disagree on FFXIV art score, I think it should've been higher), the compare and contrast format still gives a nice breakdown of these three games without being fanboyish for either one.

I played WoW for a short time, because I couldn't get into it. Haven't touched GW2. Was a 3 or 4 year FFXI player, so I've given FFXIV a try and am pretty happy with it so far. I was a little disappointed with how easy everything got since XI (I liked really having to make sense of a quest myself instead of killing marked off monsters, also I liked NMs), I can appreciated how steam-lined the game has become in terms of its UI and leveling. I'm glad I don't have to grind out several hundred mobs in one or two areas per level. Guess I have WoW to thank for that what with the experience questing. FFXIV is pretty much FFXI meets WoW, I suppose. Hope FFXIV continues to impress and keep me on for a long time to come.

Oh, and my 2 cents on a few of your points. I think that penalizing FFXIV 1.5 points for showing where the monster will hit (for special attacks) is a bit much considering the combat is still very engaging. 2.5/5 makes it seem just plain bad, but I find myself having fun during combat (which is more than I can say for WoW even though I will chalk that up to my taste not fitting WoW's style, not so much that WoW was doing anything wrong...it was just boring).

Also, even though I can understand you point about FFXIVs multiple classes on one character diluting the freshness of re-rolling a character, there are two major counterpoints to that. For one, each race (and even sub-race, like highlander vs lowlander or whatever it is) has different starting stats so in the end when people are playing to get the ultimate character, they'll choose a specific race because it fits a certain job better even if that race can do all jobs. Also, going through the story and events for multiple classes/jobs with one character not only avoids redundancy by having to do the same starting quests for each class, but it also makes the character feel like a part of its world and story exploring Eorzea. It feels more organic that simply re-rolling a character and possibly starting the game in the same zone as before with the same quests and same storyline to mull through all over again.