FFXIV is a mid average MMO. It doesnt do anything terribly wrong, but it doesnt do anything terribly well.
I would say the bad points in my opinion are:
- It can get very grindy.
- The community is very agressive (though i'm starting to think this is happening across the board on MMO's, but due to the grindy nature of the game people will expect you to know everything the first time you step in a dungeon, so be prepared for alot of out of the game studying).
- The global cooldown is slower than other MMO's. Its 2.5 seconds opposed to the 1 to 1.5 of other popular MMO's like WoW and SWTOR.
The good:
- You can level every class with one character. Changing classes is as easy as changing weapons and all features are there like gear sets.
- The game does not miss any major feature. Everything you would expect of an MMO today, FFXIV has. Dungeon finder, PVP, end game raiding, housing, crafting,etc.
- The graphics are pretty. Theres nothing like taking a stroll on costa del sol during the day and taking in the vistas.
I played it for a month at launch then stopped after getting to 50. Then i came back last january and leveled 6 more classes, but i recently left the game again.
Why? Well, the minus point that i talked about where you need to study the game outside the game was the straw that broke the camels back. I dont have fun studying games. I spent alot of time studying and quite honestly, i am sick of it. The player inside expect me to know the fast run when i first go into a dungeon. I just dont have the patience for it. Its too much work and too time consuming for too little reward. I prefer to invest my time on something i can enjoy without having to spend so much of my time to get to the questionably enjoyable part.
I guess what i'm trying to say is: I dont mind the game, but the people there ruin it for me. Also, my usual guild from other games was not interested in it, and the guilds i tried to join were all very childish, so i got put off.
