I’ve been playing XIV for a few months now. It’s a lot better than v1. No more lag, nice cutscenes with famous voice actors (JP voices), cleaner UI, beautiful scenery.
Some of the things I like over XI is how the battles require lots of movement to avoid enemy attacks. Makes dual-boxing impossible.
Equipment cannot be switched during battle so no need to have a separate equipment set for weaponskills. (The battle system already makes this unneccessary anyway).
Though I do have 2 sets of equipment for my PLD, HP focused and damage focused. HP for the more difficult battles like the extreme primals and damage-focused for the easier ones like Wanderer’s Palace.
Community-wise, like any other MMO, elitism can easily be found. Doing Praetorium the other day with some new players, as soon as we mentioned that we’re going to watch the long cutscenes, one player immediately left without saying a word. Fortunately, we managed to finished it smoothly with just one healer.
It’s possible to re-watch the cutscenes in the inn but the experience just doesn’t feel right. I can’t tell which cutscene started at which point of the mission. The cutscenes also add more intensity and meaning to the battles that follow.
Some of the battles here require lots of movement, making it very exciting. And it can also be very frustrating for others.
While it’s good to be able to finish Titan HM with one try, trying it several times with an average group and finishing it feels great too.
I had a classic comedic moment doing Titan HM as a BRD over the weekend. As I did repelling shot to avoid Weight of the Land (WotL), another player was standing behind me, out of my screen, also had the WotL appearing beneath him. I laughed at myself after seeing my character jump back and land on his WotL.
With the v2.2 update coming soon, players will get a small boost on their stats after every wipe, in small increments for up to like 50%. This gives me some mixed feelings.
On one hand, I will probably be able to finish the extreme primal trials with less difficulty.
But on the other hand, I will definitely miss the feeling of overcoming the hard battles with players who are committed to sticking with the current group to the very end.
