TERA vs. Final Fantasy XIV

dreamer05

Has anyone played both extensively? I played FF a couple years ago and have a 40 white mage, but I remember there being way too much going on at times, although the new astrologian class intrigues me. I just started TERA last night and got to level 5 on a mystic. I know they are very different play-styles, but both seem to have decent populations and be popular right now.
I always main healers, and I hate solo questing. Looking for opinions from people who have played both.

noodles6966

I have max characters on both games,but overall I think FFXIV is a better game. Unfortunately, solo questing is a part of the MMORPG landscape now.If you like to main heal,then FFXIV is your game I feel. The Scholar class in FFXIV is the best main heal job in the game. Some people like the astrologist class,but as of right now it is nerfed beyond belief,so not a good main heal option right now. Another reason why I would pick FFXIV is the crafting. probably the best crafting mechanics in mmorpgs today. The crafting in Tera is horrible. If you like the action combat,then Tera is a good option. If you like the Holy Trinity(Tank,DPS,Healer) type of combat and mechanics you can't do better than FFXIV. There is a lot to do in FFXIV,it can be overwhelming at times,It just depends on what you like. Hope this helps.

dreamer05

It definitely does. I was under the impression that the scholar class was more damage mitigation than healing? TERA is free so hypothetically I could do both, but I want to hear from people who have done both. What worries me most about FF is if I remember correctly, most of the game revolves around linear questing?  I'm sure a lot has changed.

acidblood

Didn't play Tera much beyond beta so I can't really comment on it, but if you can get through the story (sorry, lots of solo questing, but you only have to do it once as you can play all classes on one character) then FFXIV is very good (for a traditional MMO: trinity, tab-target, loot based), and has a lot to do (it will consume your life if you let it, but 1-3 hours of dailies / weeklies is enough to make good progress).

The healer options in FFXIV are:
- White Mage: Traditional healer with strong direct heals, HoTs and a few good utility heals as of levels 50-60. Also does good AoE DPS at appropriate times My personal favorite as it is (relatively) simple yet powerful.

- Scholar: Not as strong with direct heals as WHM and only has one HoT via a pet on a cooldown, but can prevent a lot of damage via shields. The pet makes Scholar the most complex healer to play, but it is arguably the most powerful in skilled hands. Also does good damage (inc. AoE) over time.

- Astrologian: Similar to WHM at lower levels but with a random buff mechanic via drawing cards. The buffs are powerful, but being random it can feel gimped if you don't get the cards you want / need at the right times (somewhat improved with the latest patch). Has the option to do HoTs or shields, so it plays well with other healers in Raids, but overall it feels like it's missing something.

acidblood

dreamer05 said:

It definitely does. I was under the impression that the scholar class was more damage mitigation than healing? TERA is free so hypothetically I could do both, but I want to hear from people who have done both. What worries me most about FF is if I remember correctly, most of the game revolves around linear questing?  I'm sure a lot has changed.

A lot has changed, both with patches and the expansion... but it depends how much you hate questing. Questing is still very much there, and going strong, with basically everything having a required quest / story around it. Personally I don't mind this, as it adds a lot of lore and interesting characters to the world, but if all you want to do is grind end-game for the phat loots I suspect it will only frustrate you in getting there. Realistically, and assuming you do play for a length of time (i.e. get to level cap and do end-game dungeons / raids / crafting / level other classes), questing is only about 15-20% of the game.

dreamer05

Do you have to solo to max level? Or are there at least grouping/dungeons along the way to help you level? Solo questing as a healer is very frustrating.

Ghavrigg

dreamer05 said:

Do you have to solo to max level? Or are there at least grouping/dungeons along the way to help you level? Solo questing as a healer is very frustrating.

If you're talking XIV, a lot of the first time through will be soloed as you progress through the main story, but it is broken up with dungeon runs scattered throughout, plus you can do FATE's with others as you travel around. 

But this game gives you enough dps and survivability as a healer that the questing isn't gonna be overly frustrating. Best to level up Conjurer to level 6 for Cleric Stance (don't need to start as Conjurer, can switch later temporarily) which can be used across all healers to reverse your stats so you do less healing and more damage while the buff is active. Makes soloing much easier, and you'll likely be using it quite often when healing isn't too stressful.

Also keep in mind, people above are giving you info on 3 healing classes, but you only get the choice of 2 initially. Astrologian can't be unlocked until 50+ and into the Heavensward expansion. 

Also they've streamlined the 1-50 a bit, so since you hate questing, the main story is enough to take you to at least 50 and you don't need to bother with any of the side quests for the most part if you don't want to and can still level fast. That being said, there are some side quests that unlock dungeons starting at 20/a certain part of the main story. You can also miss out on gear upgrades, pets, and other crap. Also can't dye gear without a side quest, or unlock other stuff. Best bet is to read up on what quests unlock what if you really don't wanna do them all.

PS: I kinda went into this as if you've never really played much before, but I didn't notice you hit level 40 and already knew the basics. 

Wizardry

Soling at least early on did not feel any different from one class to another in FFXIV.Part of the reason i stopped playing,i don't like that Potency idea or the limited class choices when compared to FFXI.

For most gamer's,never played FFXI,they likely see FFXIV as an amazing game,much better than Wow which it is trying to mimic.

I did not like Terra's UI,that was pretty much the only reason i stopped playing that game.TERA is f2p though so it is easy to try that game for yourself.

sdeleon515

dreamer05 said:

Do you have to solo to max level? Or are there at least grouping/dungeons along the way to help you level? Solo questing as a healer is very frustrating.

So I went back to FF just to see if I'd enjoy it and I think my problem of FF vs. Tera is that it is hugely storyline driven; maybe I don't want to do a dungeon, maybe I want to explore, maybe I want to craft? I think this is really my only thing with FF that actually makes me regret the decision a bit more, that you're in a rock and a hard place as far as being forced to do content to further progress.

And while the game progression is much easier, it honestly was never hard in 2.0 to lvl versus 1.0 but its the case where as a community and needing/relying on a community it can be a pain at times. Never done a dungeon? Yeah, after a 2 year hiatus on my end I do get annoyed hearing the "wtf don't you know what to do already, your lvl 50+?!?!"...Well maybe it's because I had that 50 job lvl as early as 1.0 so yeah...

While Tera is more simplistic in terms of lacking a huge, diverse game whether it's crafting or fields and airship development, it's simplicity does mean that your general direction in the game is easier and that you're not always trying to play along with the pack as far as doing a dungeon or a raid. I think that's what I'm hating that being a crafter primarily means I HAVE TO do content in the game even if I just dont plain wish to do so. It is a huge general weakness of a lot of games and it is annoying too really. Crafting never seems to be ever useful in tons of the mmo's the way devs or players wish and the EU/NA community is much more asinine when saying "oh heay I haven't played in almost two years and forgot a tons". I've had ppl just leave the duty as a result and it's really annoying and I know it's just not me that experiences this stuff. 

IF I could go back the past month, I might have tried my best to occupy my freetime with some other game instead of getting the expansion and renewing my character or I might have gone back to tera and treated as a nice niche social treatment for me to talk to old friends and just see what I've missed since the year. 

I think if I had to choose, if my Chinese/Japanese was better, I'd just do dragon's dogma online but ugh I hate Capcom for that one....