The Twitch streamer Asmongold has been active in Final Fantasy XIV for several months and discusses the game from the perspective of a long-time WoW veteran. He believes that FFXIV has evolved the formula of WoW.
The situation in brief:
- In July 2021, the big WoW streamer Asmongold started with FFXIV and set out to reach the highest level in the MMORPG and master the hardest kind of content.
- Since then, he has regularly played the MMORPG on Twitch and is quite enthusiastic about the game. For example, he has had a lot of fun with the story of FFXIV.
- His FFXIV streams have been watched by so many people that Asmongold became the biggest streamer on Twitch in July.
The frequency of his streams has decreased since then, but he still comes back to the MMORPG from Square Enix time and again. In one such stream, he draws a comparison between FFXIV, WoW, and EverQuest.
This is what Asmongold said: In the stream, Asmongold noted that Final Fantasy XIV is a kind of “evolution” of WoW. It has evolved the MMORPG formula in the way that WoW did back then with EverQuest.
Final Fantasy has basically done what WoW did with EverQuest. […] WoW took all the annoying, time-wasting mechanics in EverQuest and removed them. And now Final Fantasy has taken all the annoying, time-wasting mechanics out of WoW and has removed them as well.
It has thus identified part of the gameplay mechanics as “problematic”, just as WoW did with EverQuest, and adjusted them accordingly.
FFXIV director says: Players have too little time
What’s behind this: Asmongold is right with his observation regarding time. Years ago, the director of FFXIV, Naoki Yoshida, commented that time is one of the most important resources for players that developers have to compete for.
The head of the MMORPG stated that players today have too little time. Therefore, he sees not only other MMORPGs as his competition, but also TV series, movies, and other forms of entertainment, Yoshida said.
The modern gamers are very busy – they need to split their limited time among the various types of entertainment that they consume besides gaming.
Naoki Yoshida
According to Yoshida, the lack of time is one of the main reasons why new MMORPGs have so many problems establishing themselves in the market. The content of FFXIV is therefore designed to “respect the players’ time”. It often comes in small, easily digestible chunks like dailies or dungeons, which help players with little time to keep up and not fall too far behind. Otherwise, it would only lead to frustration.
Of course, there is also content that requires a lot of grind, such as the “Relic” weapons, which differ in each expansion. But even this grind can be paced by the players as they see fit.
- Some burn through it in a short time,
- others take their time and farm over several weeks or even months.
In the end, however, they all receive their rewards, provided they complete the necessary tasks of course.
What do you think of Yoshida’s philosophy? Does his assessment regarding time resonate with you? How do you prefer to play your MMORPGs: slowly and steadily or do you prefer higher speed? Let us know in the comments.
Another major content creator from WoW has also started with FFXIV, and his first impression of it is rather mixed:
Streamer Preach on Final Fantasy XIV: The story is great, the gameplay is trash
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