FF11 Vs. WoW

[Antidrall]

Now, I know that the majority of people posting on this thread will be FF11 fans. I personally haven't played FF11 (mostly because new things, the inability to jump, and the possibility of there being a lack of killable furries scare me) and have been snorting world of warcrack for the past few years. I want to hear some arguments about which one is the superior MMO. I can not take part in this due to the fact I haven't tried, or even seen gameplay footage of FF11. I hope to get my hands on a copy of FF11 someday, to experience and gain experience in this little bro to the biggest MMO to date. But until then, I'll listen to your arguments for, and against these two titanic franchises.

[Che]

They're both very different.

FF11 was older, first of all. It also was very centered towards working together with other people (it was nearly impossible to solo anything near your level when the game first came out, and still was pretty hard until you were max level with endgame gear). It was very PVE based.

Warcraft was more solo-oriented, and although you still had to group with people to obtain the endgame items, you could solo your way to max level. It's very casual-friendly. You could log in and do a bunch of things by yourself if you wanted, without the hassle of waiting on other people to log in and invite you to their party. They also focused a lot on the PVP aspect of the game, as it's much more fluid and fast-paced than FFXI.

I seriously couldn't imagine playing FFXI again, unless I had a group of at least 6 people to play it with (the standard party).

In WoW, you can obtain a tier below end-game gear by doing really easy quests, soloing, etc, and it's a much more enjoyable experience when you don't have a guild/linkshell to play with.

That being said, I liked them both for different reasons. I had some very, very fun times in both of the games. But the real joy of MMOs comes from the experiences you have with the other players you meet.

[Pendulous]

After losing two levels in the hour or so I played FF11, I decided that going backwards in time wasn't the right choice for me.

[Andromeda]

I personally believe that FFXI is better than WoW, but that is me. I can openly admit that FFXI is not for everyone. It takes time to do things in the game, but I believe that the time you put in is rewarded with accomplishments. Things are not easy in FFXI so when you complete something you feel a great sense of accomplishment. You have to work together with others and show that teamwork was the way to succeed. FFXI is like any other FF game out there you will be going around with a party because that is the tradition of FF. You aren't a lone hero saving the world. You are with your friends saving the world. So it is not really surprising the emphasis parties are placed on for the game.

That said SE has made significant changes to the game to accommodate those that want to play alone. I've been in the place that Che talks about where there is no one available and you can't find a party. However, I also believe that I'm playing a MMO because of the community. I'm not playing a single player RPG. So playing alone, at least to me, sort of defeats the purpose of creating an MMO and playing it to begin with. It is understandable frustrating not finding a party. My black mage can't level in parties now because no one wanted them at my level and I really wanted to level black mage. But there is still plenty fun to be found in the game.

For being a PS2 first and fore most and from before WoW came out it is very beautiful game to stroll through. I do find it to be more visually appealing than the style that WoW went for. There are some amazing sights in the game. All of the world is connected together through a vast and deep story that continues to surprise me. And many claim the Chains of Promathia story line to possibly the best story for any FF game let alone the best story in FFXI. I haven't had the chance to know if it is true or not because it is very challenging and requires solid teamwork.

And the best feature for the game that makes it probably the most player friendly I think for any MMO is that all jobs are available to every character and can be changed whenever you want. You don't need 10 characters to play and try out all of the jobs in the game. You just need to visit your moogle and get changed and go back out and have fun. It means that if you feel that playing White Mage is a mistake for you, you haven't lost the time on the character. You're character has gain some experience as a White Mage and can switch out to something else and can net the benefits of the skills that they have already gain. It's very welcoming to experimenting and finding out what job suits you.

Plus with 20 jobs to pick from and most of the classic jobs that everyone is familiar with from FF games. There is a lot to try. I find the Dancer job to very unique and enjoyable job that is unlike anything else I've played. And hey its FF it has everything that you love about FF, moogles, Cid, airships, chocobos, tonberries, cactaurs and even some Nobuo which people have been missing out on since he left Square Enix.

[loaf]

Even though I am way way way better in WoW then I am in FFXI. Also I have played WoW way way longer and agree that I had a ton of fun for awhile. I think FFXI is a better MMO. It had a better multiplayer experience I think. More friendly players also, plus the challenge was better imo.

[Trodorne]

ok so lets break this down into a few sections.

Community:

Final Fantasy XI. Square Enix focused on bringing people together based on any nation you resided from. which brought other cultures together and focused a gameplay design to keep people together as working by yourself would only mean death. now there has been the same trend in japanese school systems and work places which teaches people to work together as a whole. its that same incorperation that if you try to be an individual you would die. but those who do play into it will find they get many friends very fast. with an unrestricted amount of groups you can join via: Linkshells. a single person could be tagged in a vast social network within a game.

World Of Warcraft, though different in aspect. friendships earned in this game is not much harder. sometimes people will try to add you for no reason. and many friendships come and go. some do stay for the entire time. some can be based on guilds. but the one thing that can bring people together in this game is homeland defence. especially if another faction is attacking a main city. as this is more of an individual based game, long lasting friendships are that much harder to come by.

Gameplay/story/graphics:

World of Warcraft, this game is not the cutting edge of technology. in fact its far from it. most of the graphics look similar to that of Warcraft 3 with a horizontal view. the story is very deep and has a very rich background with tons of history to learn. the gameplay itself focuses on war, so individuals will not get as good of objects or fame as a full party does. but a single person can reach the ranks of the highest level on soloing alone. In the end where WoW has fallen short it makes up for in others.

XI: amazing world design as alot of detail has been put into weather, ground, oceans and just pure scenic areas. it really makes the world come alive on your screen. the main story seems to focus on you as the hero even though the gameplay conflicts with that story where it is a primary party base, more and more secrets are shown of the world of vanadiel, not much of the world is known outside of quests and main story. which leaves an err of mystery. With so many job classes going to a level of 75 or 80 and being able to change into a job class of your choosing on the same character can really open their imagination, plus with designing their own home. with a great design you forgive the fact that there are loading borders.

[Kaiden]

I played WoW for a while and loved it. Mostly for the community, I still talk to a lot of the guys/girls I played with. I have never found the same type of group in any other MMO, maybe cause I am passed the point of putting 15 hours a week into a game. It is just crazy to think I logged on to a game for 3-4 hours a night 4-5 times a week. I played that game way too much but it was awesome getting on and chatting with a bunch of guys I liked hanging out with. The people you play with make or break MMO's in my experience. No matter how good the game is you willl get bored of it, but if you enjoy the company you can keep playing just to hang out with them. So well people have their own opinions I think its always gonna come down to who you play with.

[Dan558]

I've tried FFXI TWICE, once when it was new and just this last summer. Both times only lasted about 2 months.

FFXI dosn't even come close to WoW in terms of gameplay. Character progression is insanely slow, it's far too heavily dependent on team-play after level 15 or so, travel is a real pain (I know it gets better with chocobos and Air-passes but still it's inferior to WoW). "Quests" are comparatively hidden compared to wow, also daily hunting guide quests are a sad substitute for the overwhelming number of quests in wow. I personally felt the atmosphere was stale (mostly depending on the cities i guess). Inventory is far too small with difficult ways to increase it and odd stacking rules. The only categories I would say it beats Wow in is graphics and the company/customer support FFXI is associated with. Possibly the ability to change jobs at will could also be a plus in its favor but when you have to go through the process of leveling them up again it becomes the same pain.

I played WoW on/off for the last five years. WoW has much more dynamic feel to the game with substantial amounts of ways to experience leveling and endgame material. Character customization is so far ahead of FFXI it's unbelievable. Colors are more vivid giving less of a listless feel while playing through its many environments. Famous and important NPCs are clearly present a well established (with few exceptions). Professions are much more rewarding and possibly less tedious. The community as a whole is much bigger giving plenty of social activities, but sadly that does mean on average there are more dicks I will admit. Blizzard unfortunately is a money hungry monster with terrible production schedules and false promises eventually making their proposed work underwhelming due to long waits and removed content. Blizzards customer support is full of bumbling fools (had my account wrongfully frozen for two months FOR REPORTING SOMEONE ELSE!) So that's usually where my off sessions from wow are. I havn't been signed up since May because of the lack of content added (until a couple days ago).

Overall though I will admit that WoW is probably an easier game and is definitely more for casual players than FFXI, but only because FFXI is so difficult and unforgiving in the way it was set up rather than actual difficulty of enemies I'm sure the people who suffered through all the most terrible parts of FFXI have a blast with some of the higher end stuff when all that painful leveling (Jobs and professions) and slow progress is out of the way.

Overall I would (maybe biasly) say that WoW is superior but FFXI is probably pretty great if you can put up with a little blandness.

[Moogle]

I've played FFXI for a year and a half before I had to
stop for financial reasons. I've played WoW for two
weeks and leveled to lvl 25 before stopping. Therefore,
I may be a little bit biased when I saw FFXI > WoW.


Though WoW does have the better graphics, and the
better solo play, to me that isn't what matters. In WoW,
I played all 25 levels of that game SOLO... it was painful,
especially after coming off of a fun social community of
FFXI. I like the teamwork aspect of FFXI, having to
depend on each other, really strengthens friendships.
which is why i feel really close with my buddies on FFXI.
We spent a lot of time questing and helping each other
with stuff. This is why I want to come back to it.

[Linus Li Lelouch]

Only reason I would say FFXI after playing both is because FFXI just seems more down to earth for me. The characters, the story, mini-quest, something about these gives me an emotional feel when I accomplished something great like achieving Rank 10 in a Nation, completing an Expansion, it just gives me a greater satisfactory feeling then I would get from playing WoW.

If your one of those players that like the dark side of things (underworld type stuff) then WoW will probably be your cup of tea, but if you prefer something a bit more natural feel to it then FFXI is probably your cup of Tea. Or you can be one of those players that feel action is more towards you then I would say go with WoW also, having more HP, doing more damage, just some off the wall type things is what WoW has going for it.

As far as community-wise, both are relatively the same for the most part, this will obviously changed over the years as new and old players come and go, and it also seemed that a majority of the American people prefer WoW to FFXI since WoW is more fantasy like unlike XI in a way (gonna try and explain this). I see it as in XI the environment seems a bit more relaxing, and focuses mainly on doing something as an individual person with limited abilities instead of being an overpowered Death Knight (WoW) or something along those lines. FFXI does encourage players to come together as a family to accomplished a specific goal while WoW encourages mass chaos, and the ability to make a change for yourself (hence why you can solo damn near everything).

Someone mention that traveling in XI is a pain also, but this adds into the game being more down to earth, you can't just tame a Griffon and fly off to wherever you need to go, instead you can either walk to your destination or progress further into the game to where you can ride the airship, or taking a boat somewhere. I personally like being able to just walk someone, just something about traveling to Jeuno from Windurst with my Dragoon and Wyvern following is epic. Or if I want to take a short break, I can go to the coastline and sit down watching the tides come and go and the occasional Airship that passes over your head.

Some other post mention leveling, job changing and stuff of that nature, also a reason why I like FFXI. If I feel my calling is not as a Warrior, then I'll changed to Dark Knight, or if Dark Knight is getting plain, I'll switch to Black mage, or If i wanted to get up close and personal and do some ass kicking, I'll switch to Dragoon.

Overall I just bonded with XI more than WoW for it's sense of doing things for yourself and finding what you loved most about the game whether it's doing quest (which some quests has some epic cutscenes), saving some low lvl players from high lvl mobs they agro, or even just doing the expansion because the story telling is on epic proportion.

[Moogle]

Only reason I would say FFXI after playing both is because FFXI just seems more down to earth for me. The characters, the story, mini-quest, something about these gives me an emotional feel when I accomplished something great like achieving Rank 10 in a Nation, completing an Expansion, it just gives me a greater satisfactory feeling then I would get from playing WoW.

If your one of those players that like the dark side of things (underworld type stuff) then WoW will probably be your cup of tea, but if you prefer something a bit more natural feel to it then FFXI is probably your cup of Tea. Or you can be one of those players that feel action is more towards you then I would say go with WoW also, having more HP, doing more damage, just some off the wall type things is what WoW has going for it.

As far as community-wise, both are relatively the same for the most part, this will obviously changed over the years as new and old players come and go, and it also seemed that a majority of the American people prefer WoW to FFXI since WoW is more fantasy like unlike XI in a way (gonna try and explain this). I see it as in XI the environment seems a bit more relaxing, and focuses mainly on doing something as an individual person with limited abilities instead of being an overpowered Death Knight (WoW) or something along those lines. FFXI does encourage players to come together as a family to accomplished a specific goal while WoW encourages mass chaos, and the ability to make a change for yourself (hence why you can solo damn near everything).

Someone mention that traveling in XI is a pain also, but this adds into the game being more down to earth, you can't just tame a Griffon and fly off to wherever you need to go, instead you can either walk to your destination or progress further into the game to where you can ride the airship, or taking a boat somewhere. I personally like being able to just walk someone, just something about traveling to Jeuno from Windurst with my Dragoon and Wyvern following is epic. Or if I want to take a short break, I can go to the coastline and sit down watching the tides come and go and the occasional Airship that passes over your head.

Some other post mention leveling, job changing and stuff of that nature, also a reason why I like FFXI. If I feel my calling is not as a Warrior, then I'll changed to Dark Knight, or if Dark Knight is getting plain, I'll switch to Black mage, or If i wanted to get up close and personal and do some ass kicking, I'll switch to Dragoon.

Overall I just bonded with XI more than WoW for it's sense of doing things for yourself and finding what you loved most about the game whether it's doing quest (which some quests has some epic cutscenes), saving some low lvl players from high lvl mobs they agro, or even just doing the expansion because the story telling is on epic proportion.

Very well said. I agree. Just reading your post takes me
back and helps me remember just WHY i enjoyed playing
FFXI so much. I'm from Windurst too, taru RDM on
Gilgamesh back in the day. Sigh. Memories of the scenery.
There really is something about walking from windurst
to jeuno too. The danger of you and your newbie
group sneaking past high level monsters just to get to
jeuno for the first time. It's exhilarating. Going back and
forth on the boat between selbina and mhaura fishing,
and watching newbies get pwned by the monsters on the
boat. Gosh. I'd gladly get back into ffxi again if I could, just
for the social experience. Sadly I dont have much time to
just throw onto a game anymore.

[loaf]

I've played FFXI for a year and a half before I had to
stop for financial reasons. I've played WoW for two
weeks and leveled to lvl 25 before stopping. Therefore,
I may be a little bit biased when I saw FFXI > WoW.

Level 25? You barely got to experience a quarter of the game.

Level 25 in WoW compared to level 25 in FFXI is way different.

I still like FFXI over WoW.