(10-30-2013, 11:59 AM)BlessedSilence Wrote: I feel this is in the mindset of the Eastern way of MMOs (lots I have played is all about the grind) and not so much on the Western front.
I was having a discussion about this last night in fact. I was complaining that the end game is totally locked off from you if you don't do arbitrary story quests, a system I am not okay with. I am totally indifferent to the main story and would be fine with FATE grinding my face into a gory mess if it got me to 50 and I could then do what I perceive is 'the fun stuff'.
"Well K'dath, you whiny ass, just play a different game then if you hate the story so much."
But that's not my point. I like the game. I don't like that there is only ONE way to do things and that you are locked out of most of the content if you do not complete the story.
I compared it to WoW and GW2, the only still running MMOs I've played for more than 30 days, which have variable ways to get to level cap to cover various types of appeal. Don't like this faction/story/questline? There's another area you can go to! Don't like questing? Dungeons! Pvp! You can also grind, if that's what you like to do! You can level in WoW 1-90 without ever killing a single mob and it has been done. With GW2 it's the same thing, they reward you for being part of the world passively, exploring the world isn't just '300xp here and there' it's a full blow, legitimate way to reach the end game. Climb that mountain and poke the flag on the top, it's just as efficient as questing. (I leveled to 80 only doing exploring and whatever dynamic events pop'd up between vistas. It was the most fun I ever had leveling in anything.)
HOWEVER you get to 80/90 you can then proceed to, you know, DO end level stuff. There's no 'Well, you didn't do this long quest chain in Krasarang Wilds, so no Siege of Org for you until you finish it!' It's done. You have made it to the end. Enjoy your end game! We will have something new for you to do in a few months and you can start all over.
To which I was told: "It's because of cultural differences. Westerners want instant gratification."
That statement kind frustrated me, because I felt like it immediately equated my frustration to, uh, this. I suppose it is true though! Complaining about the right to do content you haven't 'earned' the right to do in the context of the story isn't too dissimilar to whining about gear requirements. But it just makes me feel like this game is too married to the 'traditional' FF model with the MMO endgame tacked on at the end. If I wanted to play FFXII... I'd play FFXII! I want to partner up with people I meet and kill things and not have to be concerned about poorly written tripe the story if I don't feel it's necessary for my enjoyment.
Final Fantasy 14 is comparatively a young game, it'll improve, and that's fine. WoW is almost a decade old and is a titan among men who eats other AAA MMOs for snacks. Guild Wars, as a franchise, is nearly as old and covers a unique niche with its F2P model. FF14 shouldn't TRY to be those games or shamelessly copy them. It's important to have your own identity... but linearity shouldn't be it.
Just... my rambling thoughts on the matter.
Please read all the above with a soothing, British accented monotone.
