15 Years of WoW vs 1 Year of FFXIV

[@nahhfam7678]

After the opening cutscene and arriving in Limsa for my first ever mmo, there was a guy standing in front of the first intro quest. He ran up to me and offered me an item, just a cookie with the message "extra xp when eat" he waved goodbye and went back to the same spot to wait for next new player. 50 levels later i decided to pay it forward, bought some cookies and went to the spot to do the same thing for the next batch of new players.

[@ATemplarIGuess]

Thats extremely wholesome

[@adjwindu70]

I do this with minions. I get them in mor Dorhna then give them to brand new players in uldah

[@nahhfam7678]

@@adjwindu70 you the real MVP

[@rainxp1318]

Your pfp is fucking with me

[@nahhfam7678]

@@rainxp1318 I'm not an XQC guy, I'm just too stubborn to change the profile picture I had before him.

[@joshuayung5158]

I think for whatever reason 14 and it's community is much more cognizant with regards to casual players. As a sprout, I duty findered into the Garuda main storyline fight. Not wanting to hold the team up, I skipped the cutscene and got ready to tank, figuring I'd watch it at an inn. The white mage had noticed the message saying we had someone in the group experiencing this mission for the first time, and knowing that said cutscene was fairly long, asked if there were new players here. I told them I was new and while I was interested in the story, I also didn't want to waste people's time. At which point the entire group of randoms chimed in to tell me that it's etiquette in the game to let people watch the raid cutscenes, and anyone who wanted to rush in without waiting for the group deserved whatever they got. So that was pretty nice.

[@UnreasonableOpinions]

That is exactly the opposite attitude of every MMO I've played, and sounds like a major drawcard.

[@TheGokki]

Please always watch your cutscenes, you only need to do that once. There's an option to autoskip cutscenes that you've already watched.

[@TheDeathwhish]

That's true because Final Fantasy is about epic moments. I really loved the story segments because it felt like me and my friends were saving the world and this would show in the cinematics

[@emonymousemo5342]

I guess we pay it forward for everyone waiting for us when we're new too. Those people wait for me, so I should wait for new people as well. It's not that common anyway since I think the system might have algo that matched new people with a group of new peoples too, so it's okay.

[@joshuayung5158]

@@TheGokki I'm very much a cutscene watcher but sometimes there's a self-imposed pressure to not be the "slow one", especially since you have ample opportunity to experience the cutscenes in an inn, outside of the co-op group experience. Even though that is an option, it is definitely better to see it in the active story context so I'm glad the community tends the way it does.

[@nogitsune4452]

Fun fact, one of my close friends legit was sad to lose her sprout next to her name. "Now people will expect me to know what I'm doing, nooooo!" She's adorable.

[@st6x]

this is PRECISELY how i felt when i lost mine upon arriving at lakeland x'D i don't have sprout privileges i can't screw up no more!!!

[@spamcatcher1034]

i think she might be able to put it back on with the command "/nastatus on"?

[@st6x]

@turlytuft LOL i mean to be fair that was everyone when tower at paradigm's breach first dropped. by twelve the building. the BUILDING.

[@st6x]

@turlytuft i Cannot wait for lahabrea raid, please squeenix give my trash son closure

[@marajango]

I have over 2000 hours playtime and can relate so much

[@HippoMustache]

14 is actually the only game I've ever felt comfortable enough to play roles other than DPS. When you're a sprout healer or tank, wipes don't get you yelled at, they typically get you advice. 3 years in as a White Mage main, nothing makes me smile like helping a sprout through Haukke Manor for the first time, or to clear their first Nidhogg. In 14, everyone is paying the patience and kindness forward because we've all been there.

[@rudy1999]

Final Fantasy has no Blood Death Knight. Enough for me to not play it =]

[@avasen9912]

@@rudy1999 FF have it,the dark knight,he uses blood spells and he is a tank

[@87channels]

Um actually it's called "Bukakeke Manor"

[@rudy1999]

@@avasen9912 Thanks

[@benjaminfast5496]

I get this so much! I never liked the pressure of being a healer in most games. I played as a White Mage in this game and the first time I went through a dungeon one person died. I revived him ASAP and we won, but I felt so bad. They all said I did an amazing job and voted me their "player commendations." It was so rewarding that I continued to main as a healer. I rarely had perfect runs without any deaths, but players were always super encouraging. I think the Tanks and Healers both feel a lot of pressure, but also get a lot of support from the community because everyone understands the pressure they're under. I don't play it anymore due to the monthly subscription, but at some point I'd love to get back to it when I can afford it.

[@astaroththedaeva9717]

Having recently started Final Fantasy 14, I was absolutely BAFFLED by the kindness of the community. I was new, learning to tank. Not only did some random guy give me pointers DURING the entire dungeon he found me in, but also added me as a friend, and sent me links to various useful bits of info regarding tanking, enmity, tinctures and other such stuff I needed to know. He offered also to induct me into his Free Company if I ever needed a crew, but if not, I was welcome to call him up whenever he was online to give me pointers or even teach me difficult content. And this kindness didn't stop with him. I had just finished Heavensward and figured I would work on some glamour to try and be pretty while making my way through Stormblood. Ya know, get my whole style nailed down. Some girl saw me dicking about with my glamour, told me she though some jeans would make the outfit look even better, and gifted me a set of jeans (which I later found out came from ENDGAME CONTENT). Just out of the blue. Like, bro, I have not had a SINGLE bad encounter with the community and it is incredible.

[@katiekaliber]

Communities in casual content are overall amazing in ff, when you get into the more demanding side of endgame raiding it does change a bit and if you join raiding groups you will run into a few assholes tbh, and if you start parsing it gets even worse but overall the community is pretty chill. Been playing for 3 years now and the good def outways the bad but all communities have a big bunch of salty bitches lmfao. Ff is no exception.

[@elgatochurro]

I tend to recommend pieces as well. I do sometimes wonder if it'll come off as bad though Like snobbish

[@Iisho]

I complimented someone's chocobo boarding and they gave me an extra they had lol It's super cool, looks like a phoenix :P

[@johnathanswope6419]

​@elgatochurro I have a friend of mine that also likes to give advice, especially new players, but to prevent seeming rude, he usually asks if they'd like advice.

[@elgatochurro]

@@johnathanswope6419 I find many in 14 using controller and this fake a minute to type anything back

[@ironbutterfly6835]

My first thirty minutes playing FF14 after 14 years of wow, I was given Gil, food, gear and a puppy dog! Literally strangers walked up and offered gifts. Now that I’m 80 I also hang out in stArting zones and pay back!! It feels great!

[@sammicopor]

I didn't have quite the same experience but someone randomly gave me a hug & someone amusingly kept casting holy in the gladiators guild in ul'dah

[@Aridow]

Same, when I first started I was out in the woods doing a quest and some random person says, hi your new? and gave me pets and gil. I was like okay, thank you.

[@briezevaa3253]

I'm a sprout along with 2 other friends and we entered a dungeon that is notoriously difficult. But we wanted to unlock it to get the minion drop. We got in and a random tank joined us.... and we wiped twice before even getting to the first boss. Then we wiped 2 more times on the first boss. I fully expected the tank to leave but he stuck with us, gave us some advice and made a small plan. And we killed the first boss and managed to complete the dungeon without dying again. I remember being SO surprised that he stayed and was even nice about the whole thing. You best believe we all gave him a commendation before we left

[@ghasterra8950]

was it the aurum vale?

[@briezevaa3253]

@@ghasterra8950 yeah it was

[@aidamou]

@@briezevaa3253 I knew it! That was pretty much exactly how mine and my two friends first in Aurum Vale was like. I remember the ninja who joined our team and they were so patient with us and explained everything so well about what I (the tank) should watch out for and how my white mage friend can keep everyone safe without panicking. I hope that ninja out there is still kicking ass and having a fantastic time with Endwalker💙

[@jobRobbemond]

That is a wonderful story! Aurum Vale somehow brings out the best in people. On my first time, as a tank, we wiped before the first boss twice and the chat was full of friendly advice and encouragement from the others. I felt so reassured that they weren't angry or upset with me, and that confidence has stuck with me ever since. People went out of their way to make jokes to help lighten the tension and their advice was genuinely helpful. To all the homies and homiettes helping sprouts clear Aurum Vale: we salute you! o7

[@mifdsam]

@@jobRobbemond And you get to eat the yummy yummy fruits

[@barbarica3257]

"The WOW player base seems always ready to attack their own game, even while loving it. The FFXIV Community is always trying to defend their game, even if it doesn't need it." That perfectly defines everything.

[@Gustav_Kuriga]

They don't love it though...

[@warmanreaper]

@@Gustav_Kuriga You wouldn't know unless you played. If you had a family and watched your family do unhealthy habits for years, would you sit there and be happy with your family or want help? then when you get them help they tell you they dont need help and steal your $$$. That's what WoW's current content cycle is.

[@Gustav_Kuriga]

@@warmanreaper An addiction doesn't mean you love something, it means your brain has a pathway that makes you need it. It literally reroutes your brain to release dopamine, making you "feel good" briefly, even if you don't really want to continue doing that thing. That same pathway also makes them go into withdrawal if they don't get that release, leading to depression or even physical symptoms that can make them desperate to get that high again. Perhaps learn what an addiction does before going on about something you don't understand the mechanics of.

[@motherpigeon1582]

If ff14 had decent pvp I would love to try it.

[@KumaNicol]

@@Gustav_Kuriga I like how you just tried to speak for every single subbed player in all of WoW. You have no idea what 99.9% of the people you just spoke for truly feel about WoW, I guarantee you. Fun fact, it works both ways, you say just cause you are addicted to something doesn't mean you love it, that's true. I dislike where WoW is atm and am not subbed, but I absolutely 100% DO love that game, and doubt I ever won't. It will hold a special place with me for a long time to come, and I hope it can recover, and compete equally with FF, unlike the bandwagoner's riding the hate train.

[@riverstyx1973]

This morning on Christmas Eve, I saw something that made me really think about the differences between the FFXIV community and WoW's. Around six people in an FC were holding an impromptu Christmas concert in Limsa with the in-game musical instruments. They were *very* good, and everyone just sat around politely and listened, cheering/applauding between songs and generally having a good time. It struck me that if this happened in WoW, there would almost certainly be a group of assholes spamming AOEs or loud emotes to ruin it. It was a tiny thing, but it was one of the more wholesome things I've witnessed in a video game.

[@chrisbutler6614]

Just watched a concert for over 3 hours in ul dah. Bands name was meowy. Amazing.

[@threeballmonte2003]

I also noticed the community is MUCH friendlier to new players. Haven’t tanked a dungeon yet where someone was toxic about my tanking. Little suggestions, tips and tricks. Healer’s always let me know if the pulls are too big, or too small but in a friendly way. MOST DPS wait for me to pull too because they’re not so impatient. Much better vibes.

[@dozzers1228]

holy fk u weebs are different breed

[@Georgia221LaLa]

@@fsgjafgja Emerald dream US? DUDE that is the most toxic competitive server where people have waited long time periods to witness someones downfall. Maybe you didn't exist on ED in MoP or even times afterwards. Players that have been there years are still trolls at heart who love a good display of conflict. The good thing is that no one will take a loss, so WPVP goes on. But literally ED was rppvp the last server with real WPvP on it and was known for that and the playerbase. It's never going to count as a rp server to anyone who has seen it just a few years ago. Only rp'ing i saw was people griefing rp'ers. You can't be talkin about Emerald Dream US as if its the positive light that shines on the good of the wow community. It's still toxic, it's still a warzone. We still see Andrew#1 which needs to be stopped. We got WSB so you can't claim it as a RP server when there is so much WPVP happening. tsk tsk. Any realm would have been more accurate. I've never been cheap shot so hard anywhere else ever but on ED US.

[@Georgia221LaLa]

@@threeballmonte2003 Let them know if you might have some minor trouble tanking. When you let the group know they are way less likely to hold anything against you at all. I had a tank in timewalks that never did a cata dungeon. I was heals, i told him the fights and even when we wiped where it was a bit ridiculous, we did overcome a lot of things and I vouched for him when someone tried to kick him. If the kick passed id have kicked the person who did it. We had a nice time and learned new things with a tank that didn't know any fights because he let us know that before we got into the dungeon. DPS usually will just start pulling and expect you to be behind them and take aggro. It's just a thing, i guess it means speed up a bit if anything. It is not the same type of experience as it was years ago where I would bubble hearth out of dungeons to avoid the repair bill and then have to defend my actions. Let people who pulled things after being told not to just die. Thick skin isn't as important in dungeons as it was thats for sure.

[@jimi_jams]

I'm a long time veteran of WoW, I have recently dipped my toe into FFXIV, and one thing that really stands out to me in FFXIV is that every city feels so alive, due to how the game makes players go back to the various cities for their story, a constant bustle of players at varying stages of their games. If it's not the current expansion city, or your faction's capital city, it's lifeless in WoW.

[@rekipstar]

Pray Return to the Waking Sands

[@weberman173]

tbf, SOME citys are more lifeless then others, mostly the "secondary" citys in an expansion. Like how idlyshire is far more lifeless then Ishgard, Or how Kugane is far more active then Rhalgars Reach. Or how.. oddly enough. the Crystarium is less active(not quite dead tho) then Eulmore. With the exception of eulmore it may be connected with the primary hub having a Market board and the secondary city dosnt And in eulmores case its because its where you exchange stuff for Endgame gear, you augment exarcic gear, you buy and augment Cryptlurker gear, you exchange tokens for Eden Savage Gear. its where you get your endgame gear basicaly

[@Leroset]

@@weberman173 TBF they kind of put different things in the secondary cities that keep them relevant to a minority of the player base. Idyllshire has the Wondrous Tales turn-in & lvl 60 gear exchange. The Crystarium has crafter & gatherer quests & turn-ins for lvl 70+. Rhalgr’s Reach is pretty much dead though lol.

[@SgtPriad]

Did you notice the dynamic crowd noises when there is many people around in FFXIV

[@mynameischris378]

@@SgtPriad I absolutely love that. I remember when I joined a crowd to try and fight a rare boss that spawned in the Tempest, and there were so many people the dynamic crowd noise appeared. Moaning Lalafell and all

[@PlatinumWoW]

As a person that only plays WoW this was super interesting, like FFXIV is some weird parallel universe. Deeply wish WoW focused more on it's storytelling because it has such an awesome universe filled with potential.

[@jessecox]

Thank you!

[@Amplifymagic]

Instead we get cartoon villain tier Sylvanas and the Jailer paired with covenants we absolutely do not care about.

[@liviejb]

Imagine what a WoW + FFXIV mmo baby would look like. I would love to see what kind of story they’d come up with together 🤩

[@ZeranZeran]

I love Wow but I can't tolerate Blizzard anymore. WoW has become horribly designed, and like you said, they dont even care about or focus on the story anymore themselves. The fans care more about the integrity of the game than Blizzard! I've been playing FF14 for 4 days casually and really enjoying it. Feels like starting WoW for the first time in the early 2000s.

[@DarinRWagner]

This is interesting. I would also apply the things said here about FFXIV to Elder Scrolls Online as well.

[@themouselady275]

FFXIV will forever hold a special place in my heart. I initially tried the game out 2 separate times about 3 years ago with an old IRL friend who had a lot of experience in the game, and they kinda ruined the "sprout experience" for me even though they were just trying to be helpful. They had me skip cutscenes to get caught up quicker, and since I had no clue what was going on in the story, I lost interest both times and stopped playing. About a month ago, I gave the game another shot and I'm absolutely in love with it now. I started over on a new character, and of course read all the text now, and watch all the cutscenes and love the story. But the major thing that makes this game so special to me is because from all the reading you have to do in the game, it made me fall in love with reading. I struggled with reading comprehension and didn't have the ability to retain what I read very often. This game changed that for me, improved my reading comprehension and genuinely gave me the ability to find joy in reading and immersing myself in the game/world. Not to mention all of the wholesome players who are incredibly patient, kind, and helpful. I've played ESO, BDO, and a little bit of WoW but nothing compares to FFXIV to me. If you took the time to read this, thank you

[@frostdillicus]

Any FFXIV player that tells you to skip cutscenes is pretty much missing the point of the game.

[@MrLightlike78]

It's awesome that it helped you with reading comprehension. That was final fantasy 8 for me. I was so enthralled by the cgi intro cutscene that I just had to know what was going on. Years later, 14 is teaching me old English words, that upon first glance look like a misspelling only for me to look it up and go "oooooohhh"

[@rcane6842]

My first experience of FFXIV will be in a few hours (still downloading). Looking forward to what you've experienced! Especially the immersion!

[@MrLightlike78]

@@rcane6842 ohh here we go again! Godspeed new friend- I wish you many emotions over your playthrough!

[@lilypad4703]

Literally same here

[@onlylettersand0to9]

WoW's overarching story: In order to defeat the greatest threat Azeroth has ever known, the Alliance and the Horde will have to unite to...never mind, they're fighting each other again.

[@xMetixYT]

Tbh that's how the real life is. You see a dangerous enemy, you unite with your enemy to beat them. After the great danger is defeated it's every man for himself and it's not like you will be best friends with your previous enemy, you no longer have a common goal and the differences are too great to stay united.

[@regiorage4002]

@@xMetixYT Germany, Japan and Italy were the greatest threat and are now quite friendly with their previous enemies. There are others that may still hold grudges against each other but manage to coexist. So I wouldn't say that's how real life is, there will surely be situations that fit there but I would say there are more that don't.

[@onlylettersand0to9]

@@xMetixYT "you no longer have a common goal " That's the thing, though. The war goes on even when they have a common goal.

[@knicknevin9975]

@@xMetixYT Normally one party or the other falters and is destroyed though. The unending conflict just rings false because sooner or later one side would win and the other side would be the target of a 'bring me 10 dwarf heads' quest.

[@darthmarth87]

@@regiorage4002 I'm really grateful that Japan doesn't hold the US nuking them against us tbh (or do they?)

[@LilChristo5]

I have to say the biggest difference for me between WoW and FFXIV, is that FFXIV respects your time far more, I work full time, i do not have time to play during the week. When I was playing WoW that was stressful as you are always feel like you are feeling behind, whereas, it is the complete opposite for FFXIV. I play Saturday and Sunday, achieve what I want, then do not feel like i NEED to play during the week.

[@dragonspirit996]

Same! When I was playing WoW as a higher tier raider I felt like I literally needed to dedicate my life to the game to keep up, and I just didn't have the time for it with school. With FF14 I'm now doing Savage raiding with a wonderful team, and not only are the things needed to keep up only weekly, the smaller group size in raiding I find helps you make closer connections with you team than groups of 25 or more in WoW raids.

[@duhulsfant2979]

cool

[@duhulsfant2979]

cool

[@sidereon9793]

I'll always remember the time I was struggling with a dungeon in ffxiv and one of the more experienced members of my party straight up made me gear after the fight. Literally the best I could've had equipped for that level. I had never even met that person before. Since then I started leveling different crafters so that one day hopefully I'll be able to do the same for another struggling sprout

[@Yunaelle96]

Haha I do that regularly to sprouts and give them some gils it's a good thing that you do it ! Share the good vibes !

[@Wormswoods]

Had that happen to me as well, random player just stopped me and gave me HQ crafted rings, since I couldn't afford to buy any. I have since changed characters, moved servers, but i still keep that old toon, and those two rings, even if I'll never play her again.

[@ThatOneCloudGuy]

That's so wholesome but it really rubs off on you

[@lemonmart7793]

Had the same exact thing happen! Just the absolute sweetest ☺️ saw me healing my little heart out and were like sweety no, not in that hat

[@gabbyb9418]

See, this is the way to make people feel like part of a community. The circle of life continues. Old player gives new player items, items make new player feel like a part of the community, new player becomes old player who gives new players good items. And WoW: old player yells at new player and tells them "kys u dum noob", new player feels terrible, now new player has zero incentive to be nice when they become an old player. It used to astonish me when, on reddit and facebook groups, veteran WoW players were bragging about bullying people so bad they uninstall the game and delete their account. Like, they were 100% proud of this. Why? I have no fucking clue. But they loved it. Now I'm not surprised, it makes perfect sense. I can't stand the people who are left playing the game.

[@pandorawolf8239]

It was fun once, during my early days of final fantasy during heavensward when i just started. A guy was badmouthing me in an full party. He got kicked by the group and the rest taught me the fight. Still remember that moment clearly. And honestly it was refreshing. And it breeds good will as it makes you want to help the next sprout as well through actions like these.

[@ThatOneVideoGamer]

Great video Jesse! We've talked so much about this, it's great to see it all come together.

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

I hope you can invite Zepla HP to your content material.

[@kaihedgie1747]

Didn't know you were even lookin' at this game.

[@dickthebirthdayboy2132]

Jirard, do you plan to play FFXIV? Not to complete, because that would be a nightmare, but just to experience and give your own impression?

[@dylansample5782]

I need a Beard Bros XIV video.

[@crystyxn]

@@kaihedgie1747 does he have to tell u?

[@JoCat]

what a great thing to listen to while doing dailies

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Nice to see you here!

[@elends2302]

Love you, Jo

[@FiendMatadorSlayerOfNoobs]

You better main Paladin or you are a traitor to the Sword & Shield, my dUuUuUde. :P

[@FeoAsilion]

@@FiendMatadorSlayerOfNoobs Frankly I reckon a bard would suit Jo better :P

[@TheLuminous01]

Ugh I love mmorpgs but I loathe dailies. When I do dailies seriously I usually unsub not long after

[@EtcEtcEtcFilms]

Jesses enthusiasm in his new videos are palpable. As a long time viewer, I’m so glad! Nice goin Cox.

[@HyTricksyy]

I have never played either of these games but I watched the whole thing because the passion in Jesse's voice kept me here.

[@jjkurtz03]

I'm so glad to see Jesse finally start to find his niche again after the tragic loss of TB (long live the emperor). I know this affected Jesse in ways we probably won't ever understand considering how close the two of them were, but I honestly feel like I'm seeing Jesse come back to life and really finding his passion again lately. It does my heart good to see my boy doing so well lately. Keep it up Jesse!

[@masterplusmargarita]

I ran a dungeon yesterday in FFXIV, one of my first runs ever runs as a healer (Scholar, specifically, so I was in a slightly higher level dungeon than you'd usually be when trying out a role for the first time). I was paired up with a tank who'd not gone through the dungeon before and two DPS who clearly knew what they were doing. We wiped once because I messed up my MP management (read: I forgot to press Lucid Dreaming) and didn't have enough to heal up the tank, one time when the tank pulled way too many enemies, and another time when the tank didn't know a mechanic on a boss that resulted in him dying. At no point did the DPS get annoyed or upset at us, they just kindly laughed it off and were posting supportive messages in chat when we got through the bits that had given us trouble ("EZ!" "Good job!" "We got this!", that type of stuff). After we finished off the final boss both the tank and I apologized for not doing great and one of the DPS just said "np everyone is new at some point". Just a really pleasant and wholesome experience, and one that's pretty unthinkable in most other MMOs I've tried.

[@megaflamer]

I started FFXIV thinking id be a badass dragoon, then I realized I could make my own items so picked up the carpentry skill, quickly running out of materials I picked up the lumberjack profession. I have now spent more time peacefully chopping trees than anything else in the game, it relaxes me, for some reason.

[@ignitedrowlets5776]

the crafting in the game is solidly designed, I took on the weaving class myself.

[@megaflamer]

@@ignitedrowlets5776 I'll get around to finishing the main quest....eventually. Yes, very nicely designed crafting system

[@lonelytaru]

I found myself from being a combat player to simply hanging out in chats while crafting and sharing mats with others.. I once created a crafting linkshell and we all would gather and craft in random spots together. Good times

[@AlleluiaElizabeth]

You know, some of the arcade games in the gold saucer (the actual machines you walk up to and click to use) are based on the FF14 1.0 gathering minigames. You used to have to time the swing of your pick or choose the spot your axe hit the tree trunk and it impacted what you'd get.

[@Gengkiskan]

Same, I was focusing on being a Summoner, but stumbled across a chocobo barding that I'd really wanted but I have to be an armorer to make it, and I can't buy it as a free trial player. I'm a level 50 armorer now, hahah.

[@TheSlammurai]

"Fashion is the true endgame" is a meme in FFXIV for a reason.

[@perchipy7900]

@Sergio Marc Fashionframe best Frame! :D

[@Self-replicating_whatnot]

@Sergio Marc They must be doing something right. Both flourish, while competitors that lean on endgame grind for gear to make your numbers more numbery suffer.

[@demonminer8093]

@Sergio Marc dont forget fashionhunter in monster hunter! i will not have my people forgotten!

[@Kserijaro]

BEacuse ff14 doesn't have an end game. It has very weak "game game' too.

[@Hwyadylaw]

Also getting the fixed-wing jet-powered dragon mount

[@Timmah73]

Man after years of WoW I can honestly laugh at how bad a "Sprout" type system would be. Imagine being a tank who has never seen a dungeon in WoW and you have a "newbie" tag on your name. You'd get an immediate "omg fucking sprout this isn't happening" rage quits. Meanwhile trying FF14 starting this week I was so nervous tanking dungeons I had zero clue about. Only to be met with people showing which way to go and giving me commendations in the end. It's really hard to wrap my head around such positivity after 15 years of WoW.

[@remarus]

I've been scarred by so many years of WoW's toxicity in dungeons and raids that even though I have multiple 80s at this point of every role in XIV, I've done nearly every type of content with all of them and can count on one hand the bad experiences I've had, and I know how to play them all to a decent degree... I still get anxious about hitting that queue button solo. I know it's going to be fine, but WoW legit probably gave me PTSD over it considering the pure rush of anxiety I get before clicking 'Join'.

[@laertesindeed]

@Timmah73 I actually don't know what you are talking about. If you are a tank that has never seen a dungeon in WoW... then obviously you are doing it in normal or heroic which are the most forgiving ever. You'll have people helping you, and you can do many things wrong and still finish the content. If, instead..... you decided to go into a mythic+ version of a dungeon on a timed lockout...and had no idea what you were doing, that would be an unethical behavior choice by you. Those higher difficulties are intended for people who care enough to look up a dungeon first. And let's be honest, there are such difficulty modes in FF14 as well....where there would be understandable anger and frustration with your unethical behavior. There seems to be quite a bit of apples and oranges comparison here..... it's not fair to compare the most casual of difficulty modes in 14 to the upper middle or progression-based difficulties in WoW.

[@unixtreme]

Same i leveled 1-70 as a healer and I got tons of support and commendations... Now I am leveling a ninja but the community made me immediately love healing.

[@unixtreme]

@@laertesindeed no, the first time I tanked in Cata I was getting shit in normal dungeons for not knowing the way and so on. You can delude yourself as much as you want but the wow community is toxic, and I know because after being part of it one becomes part of the problem.

[@kiretan8599]

@@laertesindeed even savage farm parties im ff14 people are forgiving, sure you may get some toxicity from other people every now and then but generally the players are very encouraging and have a “we got this” mindset and this is coming from someone raiding through party finder, people understand that not every run is perfect.

[@roberttompkins8070]

The community is the biggest difference for me. I played WoW back in the day as a Paladin healer I can remember making a mistake and just getting "shouted" and cussed down into a hole, getting threatened by random strangers etc. In FFXIV I went into a dungeon as a healer made a mistake and we wiped and I instantly flinched waiting to be shouted at and cussed out. Instead the party was just like, our bad it is a complicated fight and you haven't done it before, we should have explained it to you. They explained it to me the next go around we did better, the third time we beat it and it was good. The only time I remember anyone getting upset is on an extreme Titan fight when we were wiping a lot. Even then you could tell people were frustrated but it never devolved into name calling and threats.

[@rooscanbulat6107]

yeah sometimes people get frustrated. I even got frustrated because I felt like I was a terrible healer and we were stuck in dungeon for like. 30 to 40 minutes because of the boss of that fight. I felt like they would vote me out or something but even though they were cussing and kept explaining what to do as a healer, they never kicked me out and were actually cheering me on after we finally beat it. they even gave me commodations. I felt so happy that they didnt kick me out and stuck with me till the end even though I could tell they were frustrated. they never blaimed me directly for it which was very nice as well.

[@GiddyGoons]

Yeah I'm a new player I'm playing warrior and it's really nice that people don't mind me being inexperienced.

[@elgatochurro]

That was my first extreme experience, I thought it was msq, it took 56 minutes to get in... And we failed each and every fight with a mentor eventually giving us guidance on who should do what. I never failed so often in ff14 and was hating the experience... Now I know it may have been less my fault but still. We finally had one last chance, where we would be too far out of time to compete it should we fail this time and we did it! Ive had the extreme Shiva gloves and boots of healing on most of my healer glams since as a mark of pride... Also I just LOVE how they look in gun metal black

[@boutch1993]

I can't understand people bashing. It's a game, after all

[@elgatochurro]

@@boutch1993 last I suffered it... Happened a good bit when I was learning tank. Has a very difficult donation in post arr, the lighthouse. This was very difficult when I was a healer as a tank though? I was being yelled at by the healer about how bad I was until they quit mix dungeon. While in learning a new role I was open to feed back but seeing that there was nothing I could do for that person actually have me confidence I was doing a goods job

[@TheFriendlyFoxyChannel]

As someone who has also played WoW and FFXIV, I can say that FFXIV is more my style of MMO. In WoW, I always felt like I was being told "You have to do this in order to progress" and having to memorise spreadsheets to do one raid boss. In FFXIV, it's more like "You don't have to do this, but it's there if you want to try it" and the bosses that need a spreadsheet are mostly savage/extreme versions of the boss fights (the "fanfic" versions as Jessie put it). I just find FFXIV so much more relaxing to play. I never feel pushed to do anything, and I can walk away from it for a week or more, but still come back and feel like I haven't missed anything or have fallen behind.

[@Pretentiousindie91]

Thanks for the review man! I’m getting into ff14 atm and I’m just in heavensward. Appreciate this for future knowledge! :)

[@Scopatone]

I agree, I actually think the difficulty between the 2 are equal because there are plenty of bosses in WoW that are just braindead fights or ones with very simple mechanics. Both games have involved bosses but 14 has a much better combat system so it's more fun to actually play. So many WoW fights are just buff up and press 1-3 buttons over and over but in 14, at least as a DPS, you've got 10+ buttons to be pressing constantly and 2 resources to manage plus your OGCDs to weave in. It's just so much more rewarding and it feels like you're actually playing the game rather than click and wait

[@dudeguybro]

@@Pretentiousindie91 Great expansion dude. I just finished it

[@TinselTown93]

?????? you are literally forced to do a MSQ to do anything in the game, never have i ever had to memorize a "spread sheet", i dont know where youre getting that from.

[@TheFriendlyFoxyChannel]

@@TinselTown93 At least I enjoyed the MSQ. Engagement =/= Fun. Also, it's called hyperbole mate. It's more like you have to memorise an entire wiki page... just for the trash mobs

[@dortirwub471]

Been a WoW hard-core player for around 10 years at this point. Best way to put it - I never read WoW quests. I just used the minimap, went there, done. Just got into FFXIV free trial and man, I want to read the quests. It breaks my heart seeing what WoW has become. It's like seeing your childhood friend spiral into a drug addiction and end up homeless under a bridge.

[@EmreSahinGural]

It is not about the game, it is about the community. You are pushed to not read quests and rush everything because otherwise you will be behind everyone and they will judge you for your slightly lower ilvl/dps etc. The game itself doesn't tell you to skip everything and not enjoy and just rush to best gear, be top dps, do highest keys. It is the community and the way the community play the game and sheeps that follow it blindly forgetting why they started playing games in the first place.

[@nikosantos1172]

it was always trash, your nostalgia glasses are on

[@mr.palmer6778]

@@nikosantos1172 mmhmm...Still the best pvp game

[@shelledalan497]

maybe the wife of that childhood friend cheated on him and thats why he's such a mess.

[@drudle]

It's funny because I'm the opposite. In WoW, I normally want to read what I'm doing and why most times. In FFXIV I just get so frustrated that I'm just ping-ponging between teleport points and the infinite amount of cutscenes that I give up. I'm like, "Okay, I've killed 8 mobs between two quests between these 30 minutes of cutscenes. Skip skip skip skip."

[@AKImeru]

The Primals don't 'play' the FF14 soundtrack. They MAKE it.

[@anydaynow01]

Yep Soken is such a genius when in comes to pulling moisture from my eyeballs!

[@Plenoge]

@@anydaynow01 The way he sang La Hee just... it was like I was in Rak'tika Greatwood all over again. Legend.

[@KotRFFXIV]

@@Plenoge 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@senselesseldritch]

My favorite thing about my first experience in FFXIV is when I finally reached Ul’dah, I was roughly level 20, and I wasn’t very experienced. The first time I walked in the gate, HUNDREDS of people likes the road on both sides. I discovered it was a communist hosted event mounting the death of the writer of Berserk. There were also breast cancer marches, and other stuff like that. I absolutely fell in love with the community at that point. All of the wonderful people I met as a sprout, I will never forget.

[@sheltearsaltspear2663]

ah yeah. I remember lining the streets in my dark knight gear for the vigil in Ul'dah. there wasn't really an organized thing for it so much as people just kinda started placing down their bonfires and pulling out their greatswords if you didnt have a bonfire there might have been a person offering them to anyone who wanted to take part. the way people come together in 14 is kinda astounding. there was also a more recent vigil for a characters voice actor. it took place in front of that characters home

[@star20alpha]

@@sheltearsaltspear2663 RIP Stephen Critchlow, VA of Count Edmont de Fortemps. Vigil was held outside Fortemps Manor.

[@auradelpotro5574]

I was there! People were making fireplaces and telling people were to unlock Dark Knight. People tried to be trolls and everyone bowed silence out of respect. It was quite the event, we stood for hours…. I wasn’t even a fan of berserk, but it was important; so I supported the community

[@ascii_9727]

I think you mean a community hosted event and not a communist hosted event. That mistype made me laugh for a moment lmao

[@senselesseldritch]

@@ascii_9727 I definitely meant community hosted event lol

[@xander9460]

What sold me? Walking into the starting town on my just made character. Seeing a huge crowd... Around musicians! Playing live music! I just sat there listening to various performers playing all kinds of songs!

[@BoxFaery]

You started in Limsa, huh?

[@jabronibasher]

there was a japanese band of 9 catgirls in gridania the other day and it was wonderful

[@BoxFaery]

@@jabronibasher were they in the amphitheatre? Cos its kinda the perfect place

[@jabronibasher]

@@BoxFaery no it was at the steps next to the main aetherite where most people are. I dont think it was planned

[@koala8768]

bro u talkin about final fantasy?

[@spehsmehreen1773]

Dude, Jesse, I found your channel when I was like 13 through your Cata videos. I have to say, I haven't been a loyal subscriber, I've gone and come back a number of times. But these video essays you're doing actually rock. I love it. It reminds me so much of the video essays TB would do once in a while on a subject he felt strongly on. Maybe you see this comment, maybe you don't, but please keep going.

[@RaawHax]

Shit dude, been here for a decade too

[@Belinxi]

+1 and rest in peace TB. Still miss having someone to ask and answer WTF is...?

[@itmeJP]

I think this video was very informational and that the author, Jesse Cox, is an incredible human being.

[@Darkhorde]

I dont think so.

[@Jinny-Wa]

I see Itme on FFXIV forums from time to time. Itme is a lalafel

[@MaxiusTheGod]

@@Jinny-Wa Scandalous. Cancel this man.

[@ChenWei91]

Jesse Cox performed open heart surgery and donated one of his kidneys to my dog. A truly wonderful human being.

[@Nadaters]

I just gave up on wow after the 9.1 news, been playing ff14 free trial and am in heavensward

[@velkanzi]

I am looking for to starting FFXIV. The story, and "the slow start" is exactly why I am excited to play it. That and being able to do all the jobs on one character. I absolutely do not want to rush to endgame.

[@Uiruriru]

This is the way

[@Rukabuk]

Calling WoW an MMORPG and FF14 a RPGMMO is so strikingly and simply accurate.

[@A_Father_]

Yeah that really hits it home.

[@dale7326]

At the end of the day they are MMOs with different approach. You also have OSRS and sandbox mmo. Ppl have been saying like the mmo is dying (though mmo itself is not really a genre itself to begin with but the part that mmo lose their position in the gaming market is true)

[@ponderingForever]

I always said to my mates to remember these titles origins. One starting as an RTS about 2 player factions fighting, the other as a retro turn-based JRPG. Both trying the MMORPG genre with these origins at the core / design pillars really affects a lot. "MMO" is such a loose term with BRs having 100s of players in a session now, same way RPG usually means stat progression making titles like Destiny 2 also have the same genre stamped on it yet use it completely differently. It's pretty wild.

[@ninetailedfox579121]

@@dale7326 People saying MMOs are dying have no idea what they are talking about. Sure WoW isn't as big as it used to be, but MMOs are still popular enough that 3 huge MMOs (FFXIV, WoW, and RuneScape) can all coexist with no real issues. And have for the past decade.

[@1un4cy]

What's the diff? The gearing is almost identical. How people go about getting the gear is pretty identical. Actually doing rpg stuff in either game is pretty much the same. Seen people RP more in WoW for the RP servers.

[@Sianostrakarenrenren]

WoW: Cold, hostile, nobody wants to explain anything, edgelords sit in the main sitting idle all day FF14: Immediately get adopted by a bunny amazon who will give you all the gear you need and emote spam you with praise as you learn, dude in a chocobo suit idles dancing at a casino counter

[@dreamer6737]

😂😂😂😂

[@narmale]

wow used to be like this... back in vanilla and BC... most of us more caring people left at cata or panda -.-

[@tyrantking2322]

Yea that sounds like what I've been experiencing for the past 2 months

[@rickflash448]

I've played FFXIV for about a month now, I've have only seen 1 person being toxic and it was to sprouts in an alliance raid roulette. He IMMEDEATLY got shutdown by the other players in the group. Said players then explained what needed to be done and moved on. It was great.

[@masterpain7742]

@@rickflash448 boohoo wow is too to xic for me I didn't know the internet was always toxic save me ff14 daddy's the internet is so cruel to me thats why ff14 doesn't have pvp because it's too toxic womp womp fuqing dweeb

[@magpie9491]

One of my favorite things ffxiv does is, later on in the story, some dialogue from the characters may change depending on your job. I mained a white mage and I remember when Alisae was scolding me saying " you're a healer arent you? Get over here and help us!" When a character was downed in a cutscene. I was floored, because my bf was playing at the same time and he did not get that interaction. I wished for that sort if thing so often in WoW. When ffxiv did it, I knew right then, I'd never leave this game.

[@Achridian]

If anyone is here thinking about getting into FFXIV, remember that you don’t have to just power through the plot. You’re here to have fun. If you get burnt out, join an FC, level some alternate jobs, start gathering and crafting. There’s so many ways to have fun outside of MSQ, and it’s so worthwhile to interact with them. I took almost a week break midway through playing Stormblood while still playing the game because I got really into fishing and crafting for a bit. Follow the fun, cause there’s plenty outside the main story. Happy questing!

[@CharNatorn]

Can't join an fc with free trial :(

[@Aquana01]

​@@CharNatornhere a tip: buy the game if you like it. also, subscribe only when you want to play the game

[@CharNatorn]

@@Aquana01 I'm gonna buy it when I beat heavensward because I don't have much money

[@hilken]

I agree, I remember that one day I just started the first quest of the leatherworkers out of curiosity (the friend that got me into FFXIV told me that he knew players that only did crafting and nothing else because the crafting system was that goos) and next thing I knew I had spent three hours and a half crafting, it was really fun. That said, I think it would be better if new players first goal is to reach the story quest lvl 20 so that they can get a chocobo as soon as possible so that they can travel faster.

[@Vzzdak]

WoW trained people to level ASAP for access to the latest new content. This leads to people power levelling through RPGMMOs and missing the bulk of content. Even so, FFXIV people treat gathering and crafting as a chore, not realizing that, if you level these alongside your main (within about five levels), that each runs parallel to the main story, and you can craft all the HC gear that you need, for yourself and selling.

[@ZeplaHQ]

This was the one of the best, most rational comparisons of both games I've ever seen! I am blown away by the work you put into this. Honestly, thank you for putting this out there! I think our experiences have been really similar, having both spent a good chunk of our lives playing WoW, & now finding FF14 to be fun and refreshing experience. I know it's not for everyone - most valuable art doesn't suit all tastes, and the same is true in gaming. But I am happy to hear you've had such a good time so far.:)

[@DekiTree]

Well said 👍

[@jessecox]

I’d be lying if I said your videos and guides didn’t help make the transition easier. Thank YOU for all the hard work!

[@Blitzkrieger17]

I dunno.. His pun game could use a lil work, im like, "WoW, he isn't even trying!"

[@joshstraub6972]

trueee

[@adamdahlin6025]

For real Zepla, I came from WoW a few months back and basically only watched your videos as they were very informative and helpful. I was actually waiting for your response vid when I saw all my favorite WoW content creators starting to play FF14. You do great work.

[@staomruel]

Just started FFXIV today, made it to lvl 14 and logged out. Itching to play again.

[@theffaclan2]

Started two weeks ago and have been grinding with my friend every time we have free time! So fun and so much to do

[@badtiming2208]

I'm a Lalafell, and I highly approve of the free headpats I get.

[@med_rage]

Hahaha, I was afk for a while playing ff14 and I come back to see I got 3 hugs from 3 different people

[@13BadassMetal]

I have too. I can't help myself. 😅

[@Dorvin55]

Yay giving headpats!!

[@elgatochurro]

You got blush on your hotbar? It's a great response

[@dappershinx9234]

​@@elgatochurroI use stagger lol

[@hickumu]

Speaking to music, one of the coolest things I ever learned about FFXIV was how some of the fights - Ravana is the one that immediately comes to mind - are actually kind of synced *to* the music and it can serve as an audio cue of where you're at in the fight. So during the line "Red bloometh the rose of conviction" in "Unbending Steel", Ravana will actually use his attack "Rose of Conviction"

[@Arrusoh]

One of the biggest things that killed wow for me was anxiety. I am not good at the game and that constant judging killed me. It made my too anxious to do dungeons at all. When wow introduced dungeons you had to do to complete the story I basically had to spend an hour getting myself in the right mental state. And basically reasearching every little thing about the dungeon. It was hell for me. Meanwhile in FFXIV I love doing dungeons. And there was one time I screwed up massively and the party was nice. I don't think I can go back to WOW at all after this

[@sasharettren9174]

Yeah I usually tank, but I FAILED miserably when first healed we wiped 4 times my hotbar was a mess I almost Uninstalled the game , but I got urged and given advice and we made it through. Now I'm a lot better at it if I had tried healing in wow I would probably never touch another mmo again.

[@katherinejanke7837]

I had legitimate anxiety when it came to pugging dungeons. I would refuse to do them in wow unless it was with friends. I played wow for 6 years and switched to ff because some friends told me it was a more forgiving community. I’m not a great player but I enjoy it a lot. I don’t think I will ever go back

[@ForTheOmnissiah]

I made a comment regarding this exact problem. WoW is a fantastic game, but it's so old that the players now expect everyone in the game to know everything about it. Down to the last random boss in some random dungeon, and mistakes are NOT forgiven lightly. The success of WoW, having existed for so long, has made a playerbase of (mostly accidentally) elitists who think you're trolling if you make mistakes.

[@ItsNanna19]

On top of cooperative hunt trains, some people would stay back just to rez dead people. Sometimes, the conductor (or the person calling out the locations for the ranks) would remind everyone, and sometimes even wait, to look for dead people so we can rez them fast enough for the next rank. Same can be said for Eureka and Bozja which are instanced zones where dying means losing xp/mettle. There's also achievements for rezzing people that aren't in your party depending on how much you've done it.

[@Vexxa_]

im playing through ff14 alongside my sprout friend. i couldnt remember the mechanic for a boss, and she had to hype herself up to ask the tank because she came from wow and expected to get yelled at. she was flabbergasted when ppl didnt immediately leave after a wipe in a trial, too. whats up, wow community?

[@aslightidiot]

Hmm... is there a boss guide in FF14? If not, this could be why - in WoW, there is a guide to each boss in the adventure guide, so people can just look in there very quickly, and figure out what's going on, and even then most players have dbm, which basically tells them what is happening at a specific point. E.g. *insert mechanic* - *dodge, soak, run away*. This would mean a lack of exposure to asking how to do something, which can be scary. If there is one, then Idk, I have never had an Lfg shout at me for missing a mechanic, and I'm not in a very competitive guild - hardest fight I've actually done is Heroic tier.

[@aidamou]

@@aslightidiot oh that interesting! I never got up to raid level stuff in WoW, but the ease of access to a guides maybe be a contributing factor to why WoW players can be so hostile to failure or a lack of knowledge on on their players part. Where’s in FFXIV it designed with learning by doing in mind and rage quitters being penalised. Not saying that’s the whole reason for the higher level hostility, but that might be a part of it. TLDR the WoW would make a fascinating documentary lol

[@lordblazer]

@@aslightidiot There are boss guides in 14.. the difference is you're penalized for dropping. also people tend to have this thing called fun with the boss fights even when things aren't going right.

[@simj202]

@@aslightidiot at some point or another though, players will acclimatise themselves to boss mechanics, even if they're new to a dungeon. Later bosses have better designs put to them, like an animation of a wind-up punch, a cast bar that basically spells 'something bad is going to happen', so on and so forth. I personally find that most of the fun of being new to dungeons is figuring out what mechanics are going to fly out at me. Like the video said, combat in XIV is a dance, and learning my partner's repertoire is half the fun.

[@kedolan4992]

@@simj202 It's also a HUGE help that FF14 tends to reuse the same or similar warnings for mechanics. For instance, any time a boss has "look away" mechanic, they'll have the same big floating eye spell effect over them. The first few times you run into that, you'll probably get hit by the ability, but after a few more tries you'll realize "oh, that graphic means I need to face away from the boss", so when you see it again in later trials/raids/etc, you already know what the mechanic wants you to do. Though for the harder stuff they can mix it up by having multiple things going on at once, like in the fight against Diabolos where there's a stack marker that ALSO has a "look away" effect ON the marked player: you have to stack up, but then make sure you're facing away from the marked player, and they need to stay still so they don't accidentally walk in front of someone and get them hit with a fear.

[@surimonizarro9791]

I've played wow for 8 years now. I had gotten used to the community. It was a cold experience, and that has stuck to me as the mindset for all MMOs. That was until I finally picked up FFXIV not too long ago. To say I was blindsided by the people would be an understatement. In the starting zone, I met with the group of people who asked if I was new and then showered with tips, food, and just... I was not prepared for that, and it has not stopped. I continue to run into charming people throughout the world. I have met some rude ones too, but mainly cool people. It's so weird but a very welcome change

[@astaroththedaeva9717]

I had a woman watch me dick around with my glamour for like 30 minutes in the Gold Saucer, wait till I was visibly paying attention again. Then she gave me pointers on fashion, sent me a link to that Eorzea Catalogue for fashion, and gifted me an endgame piece of glamour gear because she thought it would look good with my outfit. Then she just waved goodbye, wished me a good day, and disappeared. I love this community dude.

[@verglare]

I found Mojomaker's healing to be satisfying and sufficient. Would recommend.

[@jessecox]

This guy gets it!

[@tristanmilner9511]

"Mojomaker"? Sounds familiar, where have I heard it before? OMFG! CATA!

[@Elzzaw]

Something I love about FFXIV is the crafting system feels like a game itself. With all the abilities, different recipes, materials and story elements you actually feel engaged and, dare I say, enjoy crafting for hours on end. Figuring out your best rotations for different things is satisfying as heck when you get it perfect.

[@zanniia7279]

The FF14 community is so nice. It's actually inspired me to just... be nice to other players. I'm used to being fairly selfish in games I play, but I've passed fates 15 levels under me and just decided "eh no harm in like 5 minutes" so I'll just go and help the people who are doing their fates.

[@SabbyNeko]

This video helped convince me to try the game with my partner. He's a Wowfugee and I'm just not tooled for MMOs. We've been playing for a year and are just about to beat Stormblood and have out wedding in a Free Company. I have all the armor and mounts from the Garo PVP event as well. Thanks for giving us the push Jesse!

[@ArakDBlade]

The way I see it, FF14 is more respectful of the player's time than WoW. As a working adult, that right there is the killing blow to WoW for me.

[@starwyvern010]

Exactly this. The dev team has often reminded players to take breaks and not force themselves to play daily between patches.

[@Leroset]

Exactly. I know that Blizzard doesn’t understand this, but I don’t WANT to spend all of my free time playing any one video game, even if it’s FFXIV. Heck, some days I don’t want to play anything at all in my free time. WOW penalizes me for this, whereas FFXIV doesn’t penalize me for this at all.

[@ArmageddonIndustries777]

Preach!! Say it louder for the people in the back!!! 👏👏👏👏

[@rudy1999]

WoW is free though if you farm gold for tokens. FF you always have to pay monthly.

[@virtue3]

@@rudy1999 you can play up to level 60 for free in FF. It's like half the game or so. Probably about 3-4 months of content.

[@Nobbel87]

This video was well worth the wait! What in the world was going on in that final cutscene thoughhhh

[@seniorderpface]

Slapstick sidequest chain known as Hildibrand.

[@NxtGenDragon]

Nobbel's FF 14 Lore Dive when? Haha just kidding

[@Outlaew]

Just one of the richest men in the world spinning his son at super speed

[@MoXfy_Milling]

Ah that would be the Hildibrand quest line... It's like that from start to finish, and it's amazing

[@inoob26]

Its the Hildibrand questline where the devs just creates a shitpost basically

[@neh1234]

Wait, I've just started this game and I've loved every second of the first 50 levels or so. Are you telling me it gets even better?!

[@dreamer6737]

Dude you have to play Shadowbringers and Endwalker! It’s SO good👌

[@jaym.g.5789]

I realize this is an old video, but thought I'd ask. Did it get better for you?

[@SabbyNeko]

Please, as someone who struggled to get through ARR and is glad he did, I need an update on your journey!

[@lokifrostpaw2976]

as someone who's doing the post-ARR (very long) questline, got sidetracked with crafting, gathering, and glams, I'd like to hear an update from all of you

[@KimKarniol]

​@@lokifrostpaw2976well for me, it took a while, taking short breaks between each completed expansion after Heavensward, but the experience has been fantastic. Initially approached it with just going through the story in mind and stuck comfortably to my niche as a Red Mage, but recently decided to hold off on going straight into Endwalker in order to backtrack and explore other content, get more into the familiarity of dailies, queuing, and some of the expansive side content like the Gaius Shadowbringers content. Have to say, each expansion has certainly felt better than the last, with the exception of Stormblood, which I felt was the weakest so far and was singularly carried by Zenos and Gozetsu (although being the worst of the best still means it's impressive). That said, each expansion really feels like an improvement upon the lessons learned from the last one, like the devs really paid attention and worked to hone their work to make sure everything was improved. Shadowbringers really shined in that respect for me, the pacing was perfect and all the quests were tied to the plot and worked to advance the narrative in some way, a big step up from the filler content of the previous two expansions and definitely an improvement from ARR. All in all, it's been a positive experience since starting out and I wish I hadn't slept on this game for so long. Although, gotta admit, what got me through the tedium of ARR was the knowledge that it was guaranteed to get better afterwards. If I didn't go in knowing that, I don't know if I would have managed to tough it out. Was satisfying to see later payoff in the expansions for initially tedious ARR filler content though.

[@Mobius_118]

I think one of the best parts of FFXIV's story is that the characters will also acknowledge all your other job classes instead of just the one you're playing as in that cutscene.

[@Koranthus]

Yeah i do appreciate when a certain NPC refers to my job title alongside his as like a bond thing.

[@elgatochurro]

It was funny I barely did anything as reaper and it came up with an option like "oh yeah, I totally know all about being a reaper"

[@seanfrance6518]

My favorite experience in XIV was a few months ago when my static and I put on a concert for the rest of our FC using the bard performance tools. There was no in-game reason to do this, no gear rewards or anything like that, we just did it for fun. This was at the height of the pandemic when people couldn't really go outside, so we had a ton of people show up. It's one of my most cherished memories, and there is absolutely nothing like it in WOW.

[@Midnightgamer00]

Don't even need to put in 40 hours to enjoy FFxiv. I found that once I dropped the WoW philosophy of leveling as quick as possible, I started to enjoy it a lot. I treated ARR (A realm reborn aka base game) as if it was end game since a lot of stuff that was in AAR still matter. The ability dye your armor, glamour (transmog), requirements to buy a house, and many more are only done through the base game. You still have to level up crafting from the very beginning, so I am leveling it up as I level my character. It would be much quicker if I rushed to max level first, but by taking it slow and not worrying about raiding asap I found that I enjoyed the game from the start. It is so different from WoW I can see why other WoW players wouldn't like it, but for me WoW became a job, and enjoying FFxiv as a game.

[@tuggerjaegger2886]

i think i want to switch from WoW to FF14 after this video. the feeling of enjoying the game as a new player while not getting shunned at by experienced players because you clearly have a sprout icon next to your name makes me smile that this community is welcoming new players more easily.

[@dreamer6737]

We love sprouts 😍😍😍😍

[@Ella-dd3vz]

welcome to fourteen ☺️

[@tuggerjaegger2886]

@@Ella-dd3vz thank you😃

[@Mimikyuun]

Sprouts are very much adored by veteran players

[@totallynottrademarked5279]

Seeing sprouts means more people are coming into the game than leaving it. Which is good for any MMO. No one wants to play with a ever smaller group of salty addicted neckbeards.

[@JeanneFeisont]

Sprout here, I’m at level 40 now in a week, and I can confirm for sure that I haven’t seen an ounce of toxicity. Even when I felt like a dungeon nearly went sideways because I panicked and nearly fumbled my heals and failed to rez someone for like 45 seconds- No berating me, just GGs and accomodations from the others. It was pretty surreal.

[@Maria_Erias]

Most of the time, when you get wipes, you usually get extended bouts of fun-poking and humor. I had an ARR trial pop earlier where we wound up wiping twice before taking it down. (Chrysalis for those in the know.) The first attempt, everyone's quiet, the group runs headlong into a wipe after the transition. Second attempt, out comes the jokes about "ball fondling" and "here comes the succ". Made it through the transition back on the second attempt with me, one other DPS, and one tank still alive. We got the boss down to 1% but I was down now, the tank was down, and the last DPS was hitting him hard - made doubly great because the other DPS was a first-time sprout. Got the boss down to 0.1%...and died. We all had a good laugh, patted him on the back for the valiant attempt, then knocked it out third time, no problem. Afterwards, everyone was cheering him before hopping out. It was great, bunch of strangers laughing and joking with each other like they were a long-term static. And gotta say, that's pretty typical of the FF community from my experience over the last 4-5 years.

[@HikariKobayashi]

I'm in Stormblood now, and one of my favorite little camaraderie memories is when I was challenging Heavensward's main boss for the first time. I always let the chat window hover over the cutscenes, and I saw the chat suddenly get really excited because this was someone's first time at that boss. Note that I'm already excited because I'm slowly realizing which summon this boss is based on, and I've got people excited that someone is going to experience it for the first time (direct quote: "Turn the mjsic up!"). It was actually really fantastic.

[@thyrussendria8198]

​@@Maria_EriasI remember my first time doing Leviathan Extreme in ARR, i was still a fresh faced RDM kn Post-ARR. We wiped many, many times and at one point one of our healers had connection issues. Did we kick them? Get angry? No, we waited and tried to synchronize our dances at Leviathan

[@orang3096]

The fact that I can sit with 20 other people at a hub and listen to a player play smells like teen spirit on an electric guitar just amazes me.

[@99Plastics]

try going outside, will blow your mind even more lol

[@paulwilliams4156]

Fantastic vibe isn't it. I teleported into Gridania to find someone blasting out some ancient prog rock earlier, joined the crowd and forgot what I went there for.🤣

[@mr.palmer6778]

Yea did that 18yrs ago in wow.

[@wayfa13]

@@mr.palmer6778 want a badge?

[@scotty2642]

Yeah, I saw something very similar in Gridania one night. And everyone involved was a bunny girl dressed in school girl outfits. Decided to opt-out at that point.

[@Redths]

The takeaway with community, sprouts and wiping in dungeons I can personally attest to. I just started FF XIV last week and yesterday I went into a hellish dungeon that straight up murdered us several times at the last boss. As a newly minted healer (Scholar) - I was dreading the inevitable flaming and accusations coming my way. Not a word. We cheered each-other up and changed tactics. Became more engaged into the fight and then we succeeded. It was a refreshing taste of accomplishment and camaraderie. This has only been one of many such experiences.

[@roddyginger]

Toxicity in FFXIV rarely happens. I've been playing for about 7 or 8 years now and in my experience have probably 10 instances of playing with toxic people and as Jesse said, it's not tolerated and other community members try and shut that down pretty quick and the toxic players I have come across were nowhere near close to the level I'd have seen in other games. Besides the story the community really makes the whole experience that much better and I'm glad you decided to play FFXIV, the critically-acclaimed MMORPG by Square Enix, that now includes a free trial up to level 60, including the first expansion, Heavensward

[@RenAsterion]

I've been on all sides of the fence (all my battle jobs are level 65+) and I tell you, healing and tanking are stressful. Be sure to give a heads-up when you're a new healer or tank (or new to a job) and people tend to do their best to help you. You aren't going to be made fun of or flamed if you aren't doing as well as you want.

[@roetheboat1]

@@RenAsterion I've got two tanks, a healer, and multiple DPS to lvl 80 in FF14 and I think I've noticed a really interesting detail with boss mechanics in dungeons. It feels like DPS get targeted more often than not by boss mechanics. Obviously tanks keep the aggro, and thus get hit by tankbusters and boss autoattacks, but I noticed that attacks that drop DoT puddles, stack mechanics, etc tend to target DPS. Healers and Tanks DO get targeted by those on occasion, but for a tank all you really need to do is face the boss away from the group.

[@pofruin]

@@RenAsterion I personaly find that in dungeons that might be true but if you push your job to the limits DPS becomes more difficult to master. Im very comfortable with my WHM. And can tank any dungeon with my DRK. But feel rather bad when I go with MCH and we are slow...

[@Longlius]

It was Aurum Vale or Dzemael Darkhold wasn't it? Those two dungeons always get new people lol

[@StriderHoang]

Everyone’s favorite point about music is how is compliments story crescendos or climactic phase transitions. These moments of music just coming through right on cue for story is why we remember story moments so much even after hundreds of hours of new content. Like Tsukiyomi, her theme is good, but it’s gets INCREDIBLE when you phase transition and the music shifts in intensity to reflect the boss’ change in attitude.

[@adamsbja]

The one I like to cite as an example is that the scene at the end of Shadowbringers, "one more step", is epic on its own. The music, Who Brings Shadow, is amazing on its own. The two of them together fit perfectly, and the first time that guitar riff started up I flat-out cheered.

[@semiramisubw4864]

Damn Tsukiyomi made me nearly shed a tear back in SB tho

[@MaisieSqueak]

Imagine watching a certain British streamer, who once met Jesse, playing this for the first time and not playing the in game music. Instead he listens to Epidemic Sound playlists of carnival music, Salsa or steel bands... That's going to really set the mood when he comes back to the Waking Sands from Titan... Or the Red Banquet... No desire to feel anything... Just slog through it and judge everything he thinks is weeby.

[@grimnir8872]

Even fights that don't have big emotional connections have great musicL Sephirot is one of my favorites because it's like a DMC boss fight, and the music fits.

[@JRGomez81]

The 5.3 trial theme is one of my favorites, because it's not the bosses' theme, it's the players, the beat changes are all set around parts the player has to get through to get to the next phase of the boss and not what the boss is planning to do in that phase.

[@JerryScrewis]

I think one of the most important events that happens in FFXIV, and one of the few holiday events I try to never miss is the rising event. It happens once a year on the anniversary of the game's rebirth, a sort of "Phoenix rising from the ashes" kind of deal from whence it draws it's namesake. It serves as an opportunity for the devs to celebrate and thank the playerbase for sticking with them throughout these many adventures, and it really gives you a sense of just how much the devs care about their players and how much our continued support means to them. Easily one of the most heartwarming things in the game. There's also the fact that the devs put in a whole lot of extra work just for the players. Take the male viera for instance, the devs are doing all the extra work to make them playable on the side, in addition to their regular workload, just because they know how much it means to the players. I encourage people to consider this kind of thing if there's ever any doubt that the devs listen to and care about the playerbase.

[@TheDoddler]

The best thing for me that FFXIV does is that content never really dies. There's no need for an ARR classic because for all intents and purposes, it's all still there, waiting for you to do it. Other than some seasonal event glamours, you aren't missing out on stuff by taking some time away, it will all still be there when you're ready to give it another spin. Older end game raid content like coils, alexander, omega, years old stuff is still run regularly by players using minimum item level settings to get the near same experiences you'd get back in the day when they were new. You can get into this kind of raiding well in advance of the end game, even players with the free trial status can show up in sync'd coils and alexander parties. There's communities organized around this very idea of learning and playing old content. Sure you'd be doing it less for progression and rewards and more for the experience of doing it, but to me that feels like a just plain better relationship to have with the game, to be playing it because you're having a good time instead of feeling obligated.

[@ZDAWG39]

When i first hit max level in WoW starting in BFA the first thing I did was go fight the legendary Lich King… I 1 shot him and got invincible first try. It was most unsatisfying thing I’ve ever done in my life.

[@FaithlessProductions]

@Jay Bee That's how I feel about FFXIV raids. Every group I've played with is doing the raids for the sake of doing the raids, not getting gear. Obviously we want the gear to do more damage, but once everyone is BiS we keep running it because it's fun. After a while we all swap roles and spend the whole raid night screaming as we try and learn mechanics from a new perspective. We'll intentionally wipe the group for fun, or get a specific member killed as part of a running joke. People are there to have fun, and getting gear is a nice bonus for most players. We've done 24 tank runs of alliance raids for the memes, or DPS only synched runs of dungeons just as a challenge. No healer runs, 2 man runs, everything, just because we're there to have fun,

[@cattysplat]

@Jay Bee For someone who loves just playing WoW because I enjoy it, this attitude of the modern game absolutely murders the game's playerbase for me. I levelled 8 classes to 60 in classic with quests and real dungeon runs whilst the majority of the playerbase payed for boosts and just used their 60s for tradeskill mules, also they only raidlogged on their main, whilst I loved gearing them up in 5 man dungeons and casual raids. But the playerbase by the time AQ was out waiting for Nax was just dying so hard, could barely get a group together for anything and LFG chat devolved into trolling. For a game about playing together with other people and paying a monthly fee to ensure you play a lot of it, people sure do like not playing the game.

[@krika1119]

A good majority of the endgame of FF14 is just having fun. Hell, if you're experienced with Bard instruments, you can do a concert in one of the major cities in Eorzea. I found Gridania and Limsa Lominsa to be the most popular spots.

[@tjl9458]

I think it's that the basic RP elements are more fleshed out in FFXIV. At the bare minimum, there's a huge variety of emotes and facial expressions (plus you can use the two together). Then, there's player housing. That lets the players have a space of their own to customize be it for a free company or a house/apartment for a player. Lastly, there's the whole performance aspect you mentioned with Bard Instruments which has enabled groups such as the Songbirds (www.songbirdsffxiv.com/) who regularly go around the different data centres and play/dance. It's to the point where there's also groups such as A Stage Reborn (www.astagereborn.com/t/ffxiv/) that put on plays in-game.

[@marcieconrad9413]

I always AFK or craft in these areas specifically to listen to the bards play songs. I love it.

[@miri5373]

@@tjl9458 jo i didnt know about A Stage Reborn yet, so thanks for that info

[@mcstronghuge]

The amount of recording that needed to be done for this is staggering. Nice work!

[@yummypancakes7768]

sounds like you know from some... personal experience denmomcstronghuge (estinien.mp4 is still one of my favorite ff14 meme videos)

[@TheDarkFable]

He did a lot of it on stream with fans. There’s even an entire stream where he just spitballs idea for the script with them ahahaha

[@__Hanasei__Levinus__]

@@yummypancakes7768 my god, thank you for making curious about this meme channel !! I'm so lucky again tonight WHEEEEE

[@linshannon4480]

My son recently introduced me to the game, after having played WoW with the family for a number of years. I've luxuriated in the breadth and depth of xiv's worldbuilding and been happily welcomed by the community. I think your comparison has been even-handed and well-considered. Thanks.

[@allurasgrace]

I've recently gotten my parents to start playing with me! They are constantly shocked by the different mindset, like it not being a huge deal if a party wipes once or twice or if a DPS pulls something by accident/prematurely. The WoW community had instilled a lot of anxiety about messing up (esp. bc my mom played a hunter in the height of "huntard" season, and my dad played pally). Neither of them ever got to do raids bc they were just too casual and are now intimidated by the Crystal Tower series, lol

[@linshannon4480]

@Sheila There is just a different mindset between the two games, and while there are aspects of WoW I still really enjoy, XXIV is o really more welcoming and inclusive.

[@Icedmindblow]

Yep, being a sprout was great. I remember it well when I started playing the game: what's that thing above my head? Oh no, now everyone's going to make fun of me etc. You know, classic WoW (and other mmorpgs) mindset. But no, just helpful hands, wherever I looked. I even had a helping hand from a random passer-by while farming mobs for sinews which were 6-7 levels stronger than me. Although I must say, the WoW community hasn't always been that toxic. Especially in Vanilla and TBC, players were pretty much like in FFXIV today, helpful and glad to have potentially new guild members joining the game. I also have some great memories during Naxx progression in Vanilla, where our guild would constantly clash against a horde guild we were battling for server first kills. We would PvP the hell out of eachother until EXACTLY 5 minutes before the raid would start, just to clean up the mess we made, /saluted and went our way. Although, overall, FFXIV made me smile way more in three years playing it than WoW ever did in 10+ years. AND THE MUSIC, I JUST CAN'T!! Do you know.... LAHEE?!

[@iEGeek]

I can tell you why I love the FFXIV community. It's always a group of players putting their heads together after every raid wipe to figure out what we did wrong and what we need to look out for the next fight. And we're telling each other who goes where and who does what, it's automatic. It gets you super frustrated to be wiped as you're a sliver of health away from completing the raid but people just come together cool headed and calm. You have players joking in between fights, during a fight, after a fight. You see camaraderie amongst absolute strangers and it's just nice that people really want to see each other enjoy the content. It doesn't take a lot to make the game enjoyable at all. You see a sprout in game and if they're new to it, they'll tell you. Immediately players will give pointers and run down of the raid or dungeon, what to expect in a boss fight. And if you're a new tank? Bam, the Healer will know what to do. It's just these little things that makes the game worth playing for me.

[@JSharpie]

The famous line you see in FF14 after a wipe "We Got This" If you didn't notice it, you will now!

[@AuspexAO]

It's so true. I love being a PLD in FFXIV, because it feels like you really get to help keep the morale up like a real Paladin would. It's so nice not to have negativity make a difficult fight into an unwinnable one (like it did in Wow too often).

[@TheSlowpokeIsAGamer]

Or somebody calling out their own mistakes. Which you wouldn't see in WoW, after a wipe people would just quietly drop or blame somebody else.

[@wrigglenight93]

Slowpoke is a Gamer when doing particularly difficult trials with sprouts, I try to always highlight something we did better than last time

[@Infnity1]

About the communicate. I am just a new one in the game, i was open a group under the title :"Farm X mount". About 15 mints i got a four random ppl. After a few trails, every one got the mount, but not me! unlucky. They stay with me like about one hour, only to help me to get the mount. Its was AMAZING.

[@Sanguinoir]

One of the greatest feature about FFXIV is that stories or whatever else coming in the future patches are not exposed to the players from mined data, simply put the content remain a surprise to the players.

[@primecreator5257]

Isn’t it up to the players not to seek/read them tho

[@volatiledinosaur8517]

@@primecreator5257 in practice, no. You have to idiot proof a lot of things you create because we are deeply flawed creatures at times.

[@MoonfeatherWildkin]

This is something I really want for WoW. It honestly ruins a lot of the mystery and fun when virtually all data models and story events are determined before the content even fucking releases.

[@Sanguinoir]

@@MoonfeatherWildkin @MoonfeatherWildkin Yes, I totally agree, unknowingly head diving into content creates the sense of satisfaction in exploring and eventually an honest review of the game by someone who invested and actually put effort into playing.

[@Word46]

Just saying Jesse, this new structured content is absolutely fantastic. Keep at it dude!

[@bindedshadow]

Agreed! I love it.

[@TheDarkFable]

Structured content doesn’t pay his bills sadly. Which is why he has a patreon *wink*

[@Sombody123]

I love when I see sprouts in FFXIV. It often means that the content ahead might become a struggle and with that; more interesting and fun. Especially when I'm a healer.

[@ThrottleFox]

YES! Things get exciting when theres a sprout or two!

[@KMCA779]

As a sprout white mage I appreciate having more experienced healers around, it takes a lot of pressure off me and lets me focus more on learning than just struggling... Although in light parties I swear if I get 1 more tank that tries to draw the entire damn dungeon I'm either going to cry or hire an assassin.

[@nicoleburns9652]

@@KMCA779 Your main enemy as a healer are the ones who don't understand you only have 10000mp.I can't spam cure 2 people!

[@KoNekoNoUta]

It get me tense up so much as healer, and put everything I learned from years of training to test only when tank forgot to turn up the tank stance :D

[@Hardalor]

I finally gave FF14 a chance earlier this year, BEFORE the mass migration from WoW... And I have to say the true BEST PART about the game is the callbacks to old games. Bosses from ALL OVER the franchise! That just makes me so happy!

[@osurac14vlb]

Hironuobu Sakaguchi, the man given credit for the creation of the series and who worked on many titles personally, said that 14 feels like a FF theme park, and I have to agree. As someone who loves the series, there are SO MANY REFERENCES, that dont hurt you if you dont see them, but if you do, you get hit in the feels left and right over and over.

[@davidpgh]

honestly hearing about hunt trains gave me chills for some reason. it's just so wholesome. having not played either one yet, I think I want to try ff14. I appreciate the video!

[@plumtucker9514]

made me think of the Champion trains of GW2, pretty much a hunt train, but after killing all the champions/elites of a zone they'd then bring the train to help in world events,and then they'd map shout where the zone's world boss would be, and clear that, then rinse repeat.

[@metalpunk696]

Hunt trains are so much fun. My friends and I love showing up on some ugly mount and trying to convince everyone else to use it too as we go from target to target. Its always a blast seeing a cloud of dhalmel mounts swarming the sky

[@tngdragon]

I have yet to try one... looks super fun though.

[@mynameischris378]

I really wanna experience a Hunt Train one day, but my main is on the Japanese Data Centre and the ones announcing the Train are either speaking Japanese or it happens when I'm not online. One day I'll experience one. Maybe when the Oceania DC gets released

[@pvtrowden]

If you still haven't tried FFXIV, just remember lvl 1-60 is free to play with no time limit as far as I remember. This translates to around at least 100 hours of free story and content.

[@OhNoTheFace]

I love that you ended with a Hildibrand cutscene, leaving any WoW players watching to be like, "What the fuck?" For any wondering, yes that questline is overly silly. That questline exists to be memey as hell. It's where the devs seem to get it out of their system. And it's hilarious

[@friegolit]

It is also with those questlines that the developers experimented with animations and facial movements, which gave it another important role, besides being Inspector Clouseau in Final Fantasy.

[@jameslynch2110]

That questline was prob one of the most funny things I've ever seen an mmo

[@GamingIncoming]

You are telling me that this is an actual quest cutscene from the game?? I assumed it was a fan made video. Amazing!!

[@aphelion4616]

You get some great rewards from those too though. That whole story in each expansion is meant to be your silly break from all the other serious shit xD

[@ChaosLightspeed]

@@GamingIncoming And you only saw a brief glimpse of it. That cutscene doesn't even begin to cover some of the silliness that is the HIldebrand Questline. There's usually a new Hildebrand adventure each Expansion, but they took a break for Shadowbringers.

[@tatsurose]

Jesse I just want you to know that I've been tempted by the idea of FFXIV for years but always heard that ARR was such a drag. Yet after watching this video my roommates and myself have started playing nonstop and we've been loving every bit of it. So thanks for converting us lol I'm so excited for the story to come.

[@MakoKitten]

I know it's been months, but hopefully you had a good time during ARR, and got past it, because I found that one to be the roughest of all the story in 14, it just keeps getting better as the story goes on.

[@voltmp4]

honestly i didnt have a problem with ARR Story, only post realm reborn and its quests. the end of post made it worth it though.

[@tatsurose]

@@MakoKitten I had it's rough patches but it never deterred me! I've just started Shadowbringers and I've been loving this game. Possibly one of the best stories I've seen in a game and I know I'm in for a special treat with this expansion.

[@Keira_Blackstone]

honestly for me, I watched more than one guide that warned me ARR was this huge drag and you had to just muddle through it to get to the rest of the game, but it remained my favorite expansion right up until I got to Shadowbringers. I dived really deep into all the little worldbuilding things all over the place there.

[@TEHSMISH]

its stunning just how wonderful the FXIV community is. It honestly makes playing other games hard because I miss the community, it genuinely feels like this is what MMOs were meant to be, a community of friends adventuring and having fun.

[@ivvy1221]

Also of note: This comment section is so wholesome. ♥ We love you, sprouts! Keep being heroes!

[@TheJamieellis]

Today's sprouts are tomorrows heroes.

[@Cute___E]

[@Slugmun]

As someone who tried WoW years ago and just couldn't get caught in it, and then recently started FFXIV because of videos and stuff you have put out, and have now spent 100+ hours in the game, I love this video. You did a great job of breaking down the two and explaining why certain types of people might enjoy each. Also, fucking incredible video! Thanks for this and all of your stuff!

[@grazthumraze2296]

The FFXIV community is great, I just finished up my Anima weapon for my Dark Knight and the completion achievement was said in the global/local chat and a player nearby went over to me and did celebratory emotes, cheering me and clapping. They even praised the completion in the local chat. Just little things like that are what I think makes FFXIVs community amazing.

[@itsBouncer615]

I know this video is a little older, but I still find it super interesting. I just started playing 14 a few days ago and I have never been more shocked to find such a supportive community. This is my first real MMORPG so a lot of it is still new to me. But I have not once yet found a player that was toxic or unwilling to help because I’m still a sprout. It makes me want to play the game even more, so I can pay it forward in the future

[@deekorbel5259]

Welcome! I played WoW for years. I had a lot of fun but it became too toxic. Enjoy the story!

[@m.a.dmatt6689]

ffxiv's music alone is what keeps me coming back. It is literally god-tier

[@nenybuns]

Some days I only queue specific dungeons just to enjoy the music and hum along :)

[@starwyvern010]

Absolutely. It was running into some of the music from it on KZbin that caused me to try it out. It hit something deep in my heart and brought me to tears and I knew I had to experience whatever game that was from.

[@IWantToStayAtYourHouse]

Whats even crazier is some of music was composed while the composer was fighting cancer in hospital. Thank god he is cancer free now. Their dedication to the craft is admirable

[@m.a.dmatt6689]

@@IWantToStayAtYourHouse To The Edge, literally some of his best work

[@ObscuredByTime]

Wow's music is much more complex, so it's gotta hurt for Blizz to know FF14 has it beat (which it does).

[@Asmodelta]

I can't believe I never thought about this.. but the sprout system is the best example one can give in terms of how different the communities of the two games are. I'd be extremely anxious if such a thing existed in WoW, as I remember trying to blend in the best as possible whenever doing some content for the first time, yet in FFXIV I'm actually GLAD when I get the "returning player" icon telling people that I might be a little bit rusty.

[@ironeleven]

God, i remember having to link fake achievements to get my foot in the door raiding in WoW and it was terrifying.

[@Slow-Galarian-Poke]

Lol isn’t that kind of just one game being toxic and the other not

[@Dovahnuke]

There is a newcomer chat with newcomer icons in WoW now. I think it's been there since SL pre patch but no one uses them. I've signed up to the veteran thing where you can join the newcomer chat and help them but I rarely ever see it being active at all.

[@CrispBaker]

WoW does have a newbie channel now, and to be honest FFXIV's novice network has a lot of problems. The brilliant part of FFXIV is the big incentives they give if you have new players on the team, as well as the commendation system. It looks like Blizzard's at least learned from the first part with how Mythic+ gives extra valor if someone is pushing a key for the first time.

[@ShneekeyTheLost]

@@Dovahnuke It was quite active when I tried the free trial. Including at least one moderator on at all times which would warn and then kick people who misbehaved.

[@KalanArkais]

Your streams convinced me to try FFXIV's free trial this past December and I've been having a great time with the game ever since. I hope this video convinces a few people to try the game and fall for it too!

[@theChezzly]

Will never forget going through Heavensward and getting to a certain emotional cutscene after a dungeon, and one of the people from the run sat outside the instance purely to get my reaction and help console me after the heartbreaking moment. The combination of great storytelling, exciting dungeon and delightful personal interaction will stay with me even after I eventually move on from the game, which likely won’t be soon! See y’all in Endwalker!!

[@13BadassMetal]

XIV hits me in the feels regularly.

[@superwomble9631]

Just did that dungeon and man, that hurt

[@924252chongsir]

We talking about the Vault dungeon....? 👀

[@ChainedFei]

That's what HE would've done... right?

[@notoriousscoundrels]

The vault comes for us all

[@Arxces]

their focus is SQUARELY on storytelling XD

[@ObscuredByTime]

I see what you did there, Enix.

[@ImMcSparky]

I know it's been a minute Jesse but I just wanted to say about the whole flight thing. Flight is unlocked immediately upon completion of the base game story and ALL MOUNTS FLY. The going around and collecting the "wind current" things is just in the latest expansions area. So as long as you complete the base game; A Realm Reborn, you have access to flight on any mount

[@obviouslykaleb7998]

you're going to have to unlock it for each zone afterward, though, which is usually as easy as like 30 minutes of enjoyable side-quests and maybe a few dungeons. it gets rather tedious right around stormblood and the first few areas of heavensward, though. still, it's awesome to have flying for expeditious travel across the area that you were previously forced to wander in, even if it was only for mere minutes. not giving us flying immediately helps you grasp the feel and scale of the areas, even if it's given on a silver platter immediately after they're done showing it off.

[@frogery]

FFXIV to me is like an RPG that i can pay 15 bucks once every few months to see the next part of the story and fight some cool bosses, and when i'm caught up i'll level while watching something on the side until my sub runs out. i was never an MMO person but this game works for me.

[@YukihyoShiraki]

My theory for why the XIV community is generally better is in large part due to its roots in FFXI which was an mmo designed in isolation from wow and whose core game design focused on forcing playera to work together in order to accomplish everything, from leveling to even figuring out how to get what quests and how to complete them(FFXIclopedia)

[@sakuyaizayoi1945]

You could have said "Scaled-Human", but you chose "Horny-Human" and I respect you for that.

[@MaisieSqueak]

AHH yes ... The American assumption that everything from Japan is sexual.

[@wrigglenight93]

Sarah White or maybe they have horns

[@Loispealz34]

@@MaisieSqueak i mean... Au'ra quite literaly have horns. and considering the sheer amount of 2b legging male aura users, and female aura's wearing literaly nothing at all at all times... It might be accurate

[@AgrioTheMoo]

@@MaisieSqueak Erm... Auri (and Miqote) dominate the ERP scene

[@Varichan]

@@MaisieSqueak In cultured circles we call this a "pun"

[@krug7777]

What a great review this was, both to watch it take shape and to see the final result. You can tell this was genuinely a work of passion. No clickbaity title, no shocked "O face" on the thumbnail, just honesty, integrity, and due diligence. As someone who is also a 15 year veteran of WoW and also only started playing XIV a few months before Shadowbringers, I hope both games can learn from each other's strengths and failings and become even better. I'd love to see WoW have a "reborn" moment of their own while staying true to their identity.

[@luckystar0133]

As a 17 year WoW veteran and someone who has now played about a month of FFXIV, the part about community is SPOT on. Jarring is EXACTLY the right word for how it is. Everyone I met was INSANELY nice and understanding which is a polar opposite of playing with pugs in WoW.

[@mastersparkeeone]

I felt like I could have just been an NPC in dungeons and raids in wow.

[@Dude_Its_Michael]

Started my FFXIV journey because I saw the samurai class, and saw I had to get to lvl 50 to be it. When I finally got my Samurai I realized I was hooked on the story! I now play like 8 different classes, i still love my samurai but thats no longer why i play.

[@austinbeatty7378]

Heya, I don't ever make comments, but as a long-time viewer and recent FF14 inductee, I want to say that the joy in this video is so noticable and appreciated. I dunno if it's just the game itself and the positivity rubbing off a bit, but please follow through with making and enjoying anything else that helps you feel this way. You deserve to create and explore content you love, and those who enjoy it will be along for the ride. Well done Cox, keep it going!!

[@GmodPlusWoW]

I really do hope that this video gets the exposure it deserves. Jesse spent a lot of time and effort putting it together, after all. Also, I feel like the Jobs system is a better way to do classes in an MMO. Rather than grinding up a whole new character in order to try out a different class, you can just switch classes on the fly. Saves a lot of time, IMHO. Though with that said, I feel like a good middle-ground would be to have a "party palette", where you make a character for each job/class, and you switch to that character when you want to play as a certain class. Each class would level up accordingly, but you'd also gain party XP, so you could boost party members who've been "in the bleachers". Either that, or have the player field multiple characters at once, controlling one of them while the other 2/3/4 are AI-driven.

[@dosbilliam]

That second idea does sort of appear in game with the Squadron Command missions, where you run a dungeon with 3 AI teammates you've recruited through the Grand Company Squadron feature. The AI's kind of terrible at addition enemies and not standing in fire, but it's a good way to go through dungeons without waiting for queues to pop while getting all of that tasty dungeon XP. :D

[@ChipotleKanetsu]

That’s basically old school FF haha

[@whitehawk3638]

This feels like a REALLY spot on video. I found myself nodding along to many of the things you've said throughout the video. Well done.

[@pumpkintime362]

I started playing 14 3 weeks ago. As soon as I asked the community standing at the crystal for help, multiple people messaged me asking what I needed help with and envited me to their free company. I'm still with that free company and we just got a house!

[@gl3110]

I don't know who it was but I remember hearing someone say a while ago that "ffxiv respects your time" is a core design philosophy of the dev team. and that was enough to pique my interest in the game. I like mmos but don't have the time or inclination to spend like 60% of my free time playing them. So I've downloaded it to give it a go and see if it works for me, so far I'm enjoying it.

[@owohscorner]

Honestly, FF 14 is just a Final Fantasy game that happens to be an mmo. Amazing story telling, relatable and sympathetic characters, amazing soundtrack, that nostalgic Final Fantasy comedy. Now you just have friends you can play with and experience the story with.

[@Aerophina]

I thought the story sucked

[@pearperapare]

@@Aerophina You're definitely in the minority with that opinion. Anyone I've ever known who played the game at least to the fight with Garuda agreed that the story was the best part, and for many people it's the main reason they keep coming back.

[@owohscorner]

@@pearperapare Now now, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I like to see 14 as a rpg first, we go through trauma and development. Even though we're the warriors of light, we are far from mary sue, cuz we lose just as much as we win. We've even lost "Love interests" and close friends, but we keep pushing through adversity and somehow edge out a win.

[@Aerophina]

@@pearperapare so whats so immersive about being the “god hero chosen savior warrior of light all that is good and holy” ?? I literally hated the story because its so cliche.

[@Aerophina]

@@pearperapare the game doesn’t warrant the cult mentality you’re giving it, i didnt drink the coolaid 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@SaigaTenshi]

If you reach "The Twinning", if you say you are new and ask what to do, im sure your party will say "turn the music up". Its perfect

[@supersmasher6]

this is exactly what happen every single time a first timer enter this dungeon :D

[@Road_to_Dawn]

Have experienced this myself, can confirm xD

[@thatfuzzypotato1877]

My FFXIV experience first time EVER tanking in that game: Me: admits its my first time tanking ever player: hey I main tank, want some advice? Me: absolutely player: very politely gives said advice party: finishes dungeon that I managed not to get killed party: all 3 gave me the commendation for that duneon.