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Mixed feelings - my thoughts.
Hello,
This isn't really a full review of FFXIV, it's more or less my thoughts/feelings about the game after playing a number of characters into their early 20's.
The game sends me mixed messages. At time's I've had a lot of fun, notably with the personal story, the world looks great. Plenty of eye candy (which isn't a bad thing)
On the other hand up the level 20 the game is ridiculously easy, especially the dungeons, to the point I would call them boring. Now I'm very aware (and so should you) that this probably doesn't represent end game (I would hope not!!) but the three first dungeons you are introduced to were all fairly similar, nothing overly hard about any of them. The loot system is a bit bland also.
My biggest problem with the dungeons is that they don't really require group cohesion - You apply in duty finder, when a group is put together (2 DPS, 1 tank, 1 healer) you enter the dungeon. Most the time no one in the group spoke, we simply didn't need to. The dungeons were so simple you didn't really need to communicate with eachother. I was hoping for more of a coordination feel to the dungeons.
Another frustrating aspect of this is that unless you are a healer, you can literally spend hours in the duty finder waiting to run a dungeon. In my opinion they should have introduced two healing classes early on in the game rather than one.
I've found many areas to be over-crowded with slow spawns where everyone is fighting for the one or two spawns in the area to complete quest, whoever tags the mob first gets the xp - this to me makes no sense and anyone who tags a mob and does 10% dmg or so should get partial credit at least - something like GW2 did.
Healing - this has gotta be my biggest complaint. Initially I rolled a conjurer (the cleric class of FFXIV) - I usually enjoy playing healers - not the case here. Aside from Everquest 1, this was the most boring, non-intuitive class I've ever played in any MMO. I literally floated from lvl 1-23 by using two skills over and over. In dungeons all I did was watch skill bars and press cure every few seconds. I was literally able to do school work while running a dungeon - it was very poorly done.
That said, I really enjoyed the Pug (monk) class.
Anyway, everyone has their own thoughts and feelings about the game- is it awful? No...the early release experience has been down right horrid at times because of server issues the game certainly isn't terrible.
Is it great? No, it's not great either - at times the combat is very slow and dull, quest are the same things you've been seeing for the past decade. I would give the game a 6/10 score...I was really hoping for more out of the group content but the dungeons and the quick instances are all pretty lame up to level 20, and there is literally no reason to repeat them.
Will I continue to play it? Probably - There is still two more classes I want to try, so I will probably give it a go and see how it feels.
Comments
To answer the remark in red: the system does allow you to get points towards monster kills needed for a quest without having to be the first one who hit the target. However, I believe you need to do a bit more than 10% of the damage to it; maybe 20 or 30%?.
I know this for a fact, because I've had on purpose "helped" soloers who had started to engage a quest mob so that I could get credit towards my quest too.
However, the person who does not do the first "tag" doesn't get item drop (quest counter he gets though if enough dmg) and gets less exp. The person who "tags" gets item drop and full exp.
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Edit: Also I suggest to not quit FFXIV before you've given the crafting aspect of the game a chance. With 8 crafting classes and 3 gathering classes, you are really missing a major part of the game if you don't give that a go.
Key levels for crafting classes: lv9 due to the skill combinations that open up at that level and lv15 for the cross-classing crafting abilities.
Originally, I thought this was common knowledge but judging from a lot of comments it's not.
The early content is supposed to be easy. The game is designed for mmo players AND final fantasy fans that have not necessarily ever played an MMO. That's what all the tutorials and fetching are all about. That's why it eases you into the game. For us mmo players, it does give a pretty bad first impression. So does the amount of cutscenes at the start. First 20 minutes you spend most of the time in them, but once you move out into the game they make up 1% of the content when you're actually playing.
Once you get to level 30 and start getting dungeon groups with these FF fans with no mmo experience you'll wish the dungeons were easier lol. Not saying the dungeons are hard, but with a tank that doesn't understand tanking it can be downright painful. I love that they made dungeons required for story progress but I can't help but think they are alienating their singleplayer FF fanbase.
And what was already said. If you do a certain % of dmg you get credit for kills. My rule of thumb is go for mobs around 60% and I should get enough hits for credit.
I am about right there with you OP. I picked up this game while i was waiting for ESO and/or EQN/EQL; it is worth the 30 bucks to pick up bu it do not think i will be subscribing (as of yet).
Don't get me wrong the game is beautiful to look at but it is so generic and rinse with repeat game play /quests its almost mind numbing. The easy button was hit early on as well; the hard stuff is slightly tricky at best. I will play for the free month +7 days addition, and hold my full judgment till then. However i was expecting more from a FF title especially since it was a full reboot!!!!!!
The game starts really slow and easy, but the endgame is going to be group only and requiring skilled players who know what they are doing (see below the Garuda boss fight as an example - and no, that is not the hardmode version).
One note to the druid, as I am playing it also: you mentioned you have been using only 2 skills so far. I am using four full hotbars at the moment, and I do not even have all cross class skills yet.
[quote]In order to battle Garuda, reach level 44 and progress the main story missions to the quest "Lady of the Vortex."
Garuda is a two-phase fight that is heavily focused on positioning. The first thing you will notice when you enter the area are four rock pillars arranged in a square in the center of the room. These are vital to surviving some of Garuda's abilities, but also take damage on a hidden health bar if hit by any of her attacks or her minions. As these take damage, the pillars will get shorter. It is important to prevent this from happening as much as possible, as you will no longer be able to avoid being instantly killed. The specifics of keeping these alive will be covered in Garuda: Phase 1.
[b]Phase 1[/b]
Phase 1 - Garuda's Abilities:
Friction - (Instant) A ranged blast that will target a random player and damage the target and all nearby targets for ~500-900 damage. Also damages stone pillars
Downburst - (Instant) A frontal cleave which deal ~700-1100 damage to all targets in front of her.
Wicked Wheel - (Instant) A circular AoE that strikes all targets around Garuda for ~500-800 damage. Also damages stone pillars
Slipstream - A casted frontal column that deals extremely high (~1800+) damage and stuns the target. This does not have a ground indicator, but must still be dodged.
Mistral Song - Garuda will vanish and reappear on one side of the room, firing a blast of wind through the area. This ability is an instant kill for everyone, except maybe the tank, if you do not hide behind one of the pillars.
Aerial Blast - Garuda's signature ability. She will teleport to the center of the room and start casting this. The damage you take will depend on the number of rocks still alive at that point in the fight. This also signifies the start of Phase 2.
Phase 1 - Razer Plume's Abilities:
Featherlance - (Instant) A ranged strike which hits a random player for ~220 damage.
The ideal positioning for Garuda in phase one is where she is standing. The tank should face her away from the of the room to avoid hitting the group with Downburst or Slipstream. It is important to be as close to the edge as possible, as Wicked Wheel will damage the stone pillars if she is too close to the middle. The casters should position themselves either to the right or left side of the room and spread out a bit. The pillars cause many line-of-sight issues, so it is important for everyone to be on the same side.
Shortly after Garuda is pulled, she will start casting Friction on a random player. This is the reason you need to spread out and do not want to stand in the middle. Friction will deal damage to the target and anyone nearby, including the stone pillars. While the ranged are dealing with Friction, the tank will need to dance around to avoid Slipstream. While it does not have a ground indicator, it is extremely important to dodge, as it deals heavy damage and stuns. Watch for her cast bar, and either run to her side or through her to avoid being hit. Finally, the damage from Wicked Wheel is unavoidable for the tank and melee dps. If a ranged is getting hit, they should back up a bit.
Around 75%, Garuda will suddenly vanish. You should immediately run behind one of the pillars. She will reappear exactly where she was being tanked and will cast Mistral Song. This will blast through the area, killing anyone not hidden out of line-of-sight behind a pillar. Once the ability goes off, the tank should run in quickly, while melee stay back for a minute. If you run in too fast, you may get hit with Downburst or Slipstream before she is re-positioned.
Right after Mistral Song, she will emote "Countless feathers rain from the sky" and spawn a large number of Razer Plumes directly on top of her. If you are quick, you can AoE them before they get away. Blizzard II (BLM), Tri-Disaster (SMN), and Holy (WHM) are extremely helpful here if you can time them with the spawns. These Razer Plumes will attempt to kill the stone pillars, so any that survived are top priority to exterminate.
At 50% health, Garuda will vanish again. This is exactly like before, except that she will appear on the opposite side of the room. Otherwise, handle this exactly like before. Soon after Mistral Song, she will vanish again, this time appearing in the middle of the area and once again emote "Countless feathers rain from the sky." Rather than in a pile, however, the Razer Plumes will spawn around the edges of the area and need to be single targeted down quickly. The tank should move Garuda back to an edge to avoid cleaving anyone while the adds are cleaned up.
After a bit more time passes, Garuda will vanish once again and reappear in the middle of the room. This time, she will begin to cast her signature ability, Aerial Blast, dealing high damage to the entire party. The amount of damage will depend on how many rocks you kept alive. To help relieve some of the damage, everyone should stack on top of the tank behind a rock to ensure the tank's limit break does not get line-of-sighted or out-ranged. The casting of this ability concludes Phase 1.
Side-note: I believe you can stack on top of Garuda for Aerial Blast and do not need to line-of-sight it. This allows for faster healing and the tanks limit break to hit everyone, as well as being in position for Phase 2. This MAY be inaccurate if you take more damage from being closer to her, but in my kill we did not line-of-sight and did not appear to take extra damage. I'll update this guide later today when I get a chance to run it again.
[b]Phase 2[/b]
Phase 2 - Garuda's Abilities:
Friction - (Instant) A ranged blast that will target a random player and damage the target and all nearby targets for ~500-900 damage. Also damages stone pillars
Downburst - (Instant) A frontal cleave which deal ~700-1100 damage to all targets in front of her.
Wicked Wheel - (Instant) A circular AoE that strikes all targets around Garuda for ~500-800 damage. Also damages stone pillars
Slipstream - A casted frontal column that deals extremely high (~1800+) damage and stuns the target. This does not have a ground indicator, but must still be dodged.
Mistral Song - This ability functions slightly differently in Phase 2. Rather than reappearing at the edge of the room, she'll be in the middle of the room and fire a blast in the direction she is facing.
Eye of the Storm - Garuda casts this at the start of the second phase. This will create a whirlwind around the center of the room. You must stand in the center of the room to avoid the extremely high damage from the swirling wind. This will persist for the rest of the fight.
Mistral Shriek - This replaces Mistral Song. This will extremely high damage in a circular AoE around Garuda. Like Mistral Song, this is only used when she teleports to one side of the room.
Phase 2 - Razer Plume's Abilities:
Featherlance - (Instant) A ranged strike which hits a random player for ~220 damage.
In phase 2, Garuda loses access to Aerial Blast, but gains access to Eye of the Storm and Mistral Shriek. Not only that, Mistral Song will also function a bit differently. Everyone but the tank should stack in the center of the room to get healed up and avoid Eye of the Storm, which will be cast quickly. This will create a swirling vortex around the middle of the room, greatly limited the battlefield. If you step into this wind, you will likely die. This ability will stay in effect for the rest of the fight.
The other new ability, Mistral Shriek, is similar to Mistral Song. Before using it, she will teleport to one side of the room. Rather than shooting a beam through the middle, however, she will deal a large amount of damage in a large circle around herself. Move as far away from her as possible to avoid this ability.
Finally, she will no longer teleport to the side of the room to use Mistral Song. Instead, she will appear in the center of the room and cast it in the direction she is facing. It is extremely important to move behind her when this happens, as it hits for upwards of 2500 damage.
Other than these abilities, she is exactly the same as in phase 1, with a lot less space. She should be tanked close to one edge, allowing the casters to stand near the opposite edge and still have room to avoid Wicked Wheel and still be spread out for Friction. The tank will still need to dodge Slipstream, which becomes a little difficult as there isn't much room to maneuver. Finally, around 25%, she will emote again, summoning Razer Plumes. While there are no pillars to defend, these will still deal random damage to party members and should be killed quickly.
Stay alert and you should have a kill.
[b]Summary[/b]
Phase 1: Tank
Tank Garuda where she starts, facing away from the center.
Watch her cast bar for Slipstream, and either move to the side or step through her to avoid it. There is no ground indicator. Deals heavy damage and stuns if you get hit.
Phase 1: Everyone
Do not stand near the rock pillars in the middle unless you are line-of-sighting Mistral Song. You need to keep them alive.
Stay spread out to avoid Friction hitting more than one player. Use either the left or right side of the room.
At 75%, Garuda will vanish and reappear at her spawn location, followed up with casting Mistral Song. You must hide behind a pillar to survive.
Right after Mistral Song, many Razer Plumes will spawn directly on top of her, AoE as many as you can and prioritize any survivors to save as many rocks as you can.
At 50%, she will vanish and reappear on the opposite side of her spawn. Line of sight Mistral Song again.
She will teleport to the middle and spawn more plumes from the edges of the room. These will likely need to be focused down, as they are too spread out for AoE.
Shortly after, she will teleport to the middle again, casting Aerial Blast. Stack on the tank and use the tank limit break. If enough rocks are alive, you will survive the blast.
Phase 2
Move to the center of the room after Aerial Blast. A vortex will form around the middle, which you will be fighting in for the remainder of the fight.
All the abilities from Phase 1 are used, except for Aerial Blast
Tank as close to the edge as possible to give everyone room to spread out.
When she vanishes and reappears in the middle of the area in this phase, move behind her to avoid Mistral Song.
When she teleports to the side of the room in Phase 2, move as far away from her as possible to avoid the circular AoE.
Kill the Razer Plumes, as they still can be damaging.[/quote]
Currently playing: EverQuest
Waiting for Pantheon: Rise of the Fallen
What you described are probably some of the easiest mechanics I have ever heard of for what sounds like endgame content. You can probably find mechanics of this level in a 5 man pug dungeon in Rift or even GW2. Really not that impressed.
To the OP, you are probably spot on when you feel that this game is simply just too easy. I don't even imagine endgame content is anything close to as hard as what you've probably already seen, assuming you are at least a well-versed raider from other games. This game is definitely more for the casual and/or new-to-the-genre demographic.
The first two dungeons are really easy and completely devoid of any tactics other then tank and spank. I can imagine it would be easy to lose hope quickly when experiencing this, I know I did. The third dungeon however completely alters the pace. Suddenly your confronted with not only much harder hitting enemies but all kinds of alternative mechanics needed to beat bosses (for example lure them into traps, kite certain mobs that explode to the boss, etc. From what i've heard the dungeons after that get progressively harder.
TLDR, the first two dungeons are snorefests but after that the difficulty quickly ramps up.
But that isn't endgame content. That is content for the main story line at level 44-46 or so.
My point stands exactly. Positioning bosses, kiting mechanics, "get out of fire" telegraphs, interrupt X cast are all so rudimentary that anyone with any sort of raid experience from any other game will find this extremely bland. Don't assume on "what you've heard," just go watch videos and see for yourself.
Compare http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcB_rvNhjYI
to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfFUWmlL2a4
All I can see in FFXIV's Titan encounter is literally dodge telegraphs on the ground and stay away from bombs. The tank looks like he could eat a sandwich with his free hand while tanking. In Rift's High Priest Arakhurn (which is also a fairly easy encounter, in my opinion) at least you have the Fire elemental mechanic (7:15 in the video) where one player has to consume every other players' burning debuff before it becomes a pulsing AoE too strong to heal through, particularly when the raid has to get out of line of sight and stack for the fire nova mechanic. Missing to consume one player's burn debuff essentially means a wipe. Not to mention the two-tank swapping on top of that. And that's just a 10-man instance; the 20-man raids are far more complex.
While I agree that FFXIV is gorgeous and well-polished, as per OP's first impressions (healing being a drag, combat being sluggish) the gameplay is simply disappointing. Bottom line is experienced, veteran, and hardcore players will find no challenge in FFXIV.