More and more well-known WoW faces are switching to the MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV or at least taking a brief look at it. Many new and exciting opinions about the game are coming to light. The streamer Pyromancer even says the game is like therapy for him.
Who is Pyromancer? Pyromancer is a 25-year-old Twitch streamer, primarily known for the MMORPG World of Warcraft. He currently has 67,000 followers on Twitch and averages 3,110 viewers at the same time (via sullygnome).
He has been active on Twitch since 2015 and originally gained fame through the MMORPG World of Warcraft, which he has increasingly gotten frustrated with. For some time now, Pyromancer has been active in Final Fantasy XIV and feels very comfortable there.
Where do the statements come from? On November 9th, the streamer released a video on YouTube, in which he talks about the positive aspects FFXIV has on him and his life.
Originally, it was about the delay of the Endwalker expansion and answering the question of whether he would play Endwalker at release. He answered with no and explained why not.
This explanation turned into a sincere love letter to Final Fantasy XIV, even though it has its flaws here and there.
“It’s crazy, but it’s a kind of therapy for me”
What does he say in the video? Pyromancer explains that he does not want to play Endwalker at release and may not even be able to. He is currently still in the story of Stormblood and even if he tried hard, he might not reach Endwalker in time, he says.
After that, he discusses the emotional side of the delay and MMORPG in general and explains that FFXIV trusts him, something he had lost before.
Here you can see the video yourself:
How does the game affect him? Pyromancer explains in the video that he is not an angry person by nature, but tends to lose control of his anger sometimes on certain topics.
Final Fantasy XIV helps him regain that control. He is thrilled about what the game brings out in him.
Through Final Fantasy XIV, I feel better about myself; it helps me control my anger better. It’s crazy, really. It’s a kind of therapy for me. […] The game actually teaches me to control my anger. It helps me not to be so hard on myself when I make mistakes. […] The game is really therapy and it works, really well.
Pyromancer in the video
He seems genuinely relieved in the video as he reads these lines about Final Fantasy XIV. He recommends all players and viewers to take another look at FFXIV if they feel they are an angry person, because he is not, Pyromancer says further.
The story and narratives in FFXIV help him cope better with himself. He seems genuinely enthusiastic while talking about it. He is surprised himself that a game could have such an effect on him.
But the developers do not only focus on the mental health of the players, as Pyromancer finds:
“You can immediately see that they [Square Enix] care about the players. The self-image of the players, the mental health of the players, and the players’ time is highly valued by the developers.”
What he says about the developers: This enormous effect can only be achieved in Final Fantasy XIV because the developers love the game as much as the players do. Pyromancer is convinced that Square Enix and especially Yoshi-P, one of the lead developers of the game, want nothing but the best for FFXIV and for Endwalker.
This feeling is entirely new for him as a WoW player. Why that is, he elaborates:
I’m a newer player, just to clarify that. But I can tell you that I have great trust in Square Enix and Yoshi-P. I have trust and confidence that they are executing this [Endwalker] in a way that is best for the players. And that is kind of creepy for me, because World of Warcraft and Blizzard have completely destroyed my trust in developers.
Pyromancer in the video
Then he goes into more detail about the delay of Endwalker, which he very much supports. However, he is sorry for all the players who took time off work for it.
He has different feelings about the delay from Square Enix than he did with his “old” MMORPG World of Warcraft because the developers at Square truly love their game:
If Blizzard were to do this expansion, I would be talking nonsense and mocking it. Because we have experienced in the past how little value a delay has at Blizzard. […] You all saw how disappointed Yoshi was about having to delay Endwalker. He loves the game, he loves the community. After A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, and Stormblood, I can really feel how much love they put into FFXIV.
Pyromancer in the video
“The entire start of Stormblood was extremely frustrating”
What are his problems with FFXIV? Even though the overall tone of the video is very positive, FFXIV is not perfect. Especially the expansion Stormblood was very challenging for Pyromancer at first.
He complained that the characters in Stormblood seem very bland at the beginning and only later gain real character traits and become interesting. This doesn’t make the addon or game bad, but it can be unnecessarily lengthy at some points.
“Stormblood is solid so far. It’s incredibly difficult to follow up on Heavensward, we all know that. But in direct comparison, we have dropped from 100 at Heavensward to about 30 at Stormblood in terms of story speed. It [the story] really starts slowly, to be honest. The entire start of Stormblood was extremely frustrating.”
However, he emphasizes that this beginning improves as players progress in Stormblood, and it is probably simply because Heavensward ended with so much energy that Stormblood can hardly follow that up.
What do you think about this? Do you share Pyromancer’s views and can you fully agree with what the streamer says? Do you perhaps also feel that FFXIV could be a kind of therapy for you? Feel free to leave us a comment here at MeinMMO.
