gabryalservus157: My biggest gripe of some of the people recommending this game is the whole "ARR is slow, but it gets better if you stick with it". This implies in the mind of many that ARR is crap and you have to suffer through to get to the good bits. But time and time again I have seen new people (including when I first started) actually enjoy ARR as a good foundation of what is to come; if ARR is this good, how good is the rest that everyone goes crazy over. This mind set needs to change. It does not mean that ARR is perfect, but it is far from crap that is implied.
irisheartt: I think the misconception about ARR comes from back before 5.3 when the devs trimmed out a lot of the filler quests from the MSQ and also introduced flying to ARR zones.
I can only speak for myself, but when I played in 5.1 I nearly dropped the game during ARR, I really wasn't having a good time. But I've played through the entire MSQ on a couple of alts during EW, and ARR isn't that bad anymore.
opalmyst: If you're liking the "slow boring stuff" then hang on tight. The ride just gets better.
kaala7939: The advice I would give any new player is don't listen to other people when it comes to "the best expansion" it's something you honestly have to judge for yourself. In my experience I really liked ARR and I felt like Heavensward was overhyped, Not bad it's a good expansion just didn't feel THAT much better than ARR to me.
Lordoftheapes79: Final Fantasy being a JRPG is a misconception. FF is a place where East and West meet. It has and has always had, aspects of both.
adamslosslessmusiccollection: The reason I never played WoW (besides its graphics which are still horrible looking to me) is that your character is locked into one class and that’s it. I first started on FFXI, so the job system was the same on there as is FFXIV; however FFXI has WAY more job customization because you can sub a second job to your main job, like Warrior/Monk (sub jobs were half the level of your main job) and you could get stats, traits, and actions from that sub job. You could even be a Warrior/Ninja and dual wield 2 hand axes (even have two different types of axes!) and even use Ninja’s Ninjutsu spells for creating shadows so you could dodge attacks.
I WILL tell you this! Yoshi-P just recently stated that in 8.0 of FFXIV (after Dawntrail), he wants to make jobs more specialized and have their own identity. He stated that Dawntrail is setting that up right now with a lot of new attacks and abilities once you are Lv100.
cattysplat: The free trial is absolutely insane. I put in 1000 hours into the trial, levelling every job, doing every crafting job which was an adventure in itself, every raid and side quest. If you can deal with the limitations, it's a great time, the duty finder acts as your party finder and the novice network as your guild.
riftwalker9296: Been watching you almost since day one and seeing you enjoy the game just makes me happy.
Shiirow: The biggest issues I have with ARR are the players, they will color and warp your perception of the game before you have even gotten to play it and their biggest issue is most havent touched ARR since like 2012. So they know nothing of the improvements that have happened. They are telling about a version of the game that no longer exists. So they leave you searching for this mythical slog or slowness that doesnt exist, then your mind is rationalizing where it might be, then you in turn regurgitate the same thing to even newer players. Which begets a cycle that continues to perpetuate itself.
The best way to break it is just to take the game as it is, make up your own mind and ignore others perspectives. Id say the game doesnt get good after some arbitrary number of hours, its good from the outset, but gets better as you progress through it.
Keira_Blackstone: I'm certainly one of those weirdos that genuinely loves ARR. One of my hottest takes on the game is that I actually like it more than both Heavensward and Stormblood and that Gaius is probably still my favorite villain in the game. it lacks a lot of polish that the later stuff has for sure, but I just really like the world and story themes it's going for.
arcanadawn: I love that you took the time to address not only your, but a lot of people's misconceptions of this wonderful game. It's not everyone's cup of coffee, but that's ok. For those of us who enjoy it, we're really glad you're here with us!
On a side (caffieinated) note - did you see the Mtn Dew collab with FF14? What are your thoughts? Will you be going after the Mtn Zu mount?
May 20 2024