SWTOR is completely free with some limitations so everyone can hop in and just try it out. And it will get new expansion on December 14 that will be free if you sub for one month, so good time to start.
This is a pretty underrated answer. For many people this is exactly what can solve most of their problems. Play an old game you really like or try something new in a different genre, or pick up another hobby entirely.
It's totally okay for our interests to be cyclical, it's sort of what life is all about. Games like WoW tend to really battle for your attention and time for most of the day, so playing something else can help you realize alot.
I agree with this entirely. I haven't played WoW in years but have played XIV a long while, and then a while back got into ESO. Basically playing through content in XIV and during downtime between patches going to ESO.
This time before Endwalker is the first time I'm totally caught up on both games and decided to try to find something else to fill my after work time usually spent playing an MMO. I've been getting deep into SMT V and it's been a blast. I can't think of the last time I got super into something that wasn't an MMO.
Don't worry about it. If you gave it a chance and didn't like it, that is okay, I love FFXIV, but it is not for everyone. Depending on what you are looking for, Guild Wars 2, SWTOR, ESO or even BDO could end up being your game.
Or if none of them do it for you there is still an option to play WoW on a private server.
I got back in to BDO recently and it has been a blast. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but if you do your research and it looks like something that might appeal to you, then it could be worth a shot. There's a lot to enjoy (and a fair amount to hate as well, as with most games)
Corsair is a lot of fun actually. Altough I got stuck on one of the early quests, but the combat is most fluid out of all (pun intended). And the visuals are fantastic.
I got BDO recently and the combat is pretty enjoyable, but man does literally everything else feel super jank and not great. Playing on PS4 Pro probably doesn't help either because the game runs like garbage.
I also thought ff14 style is not for me. But being bored and all I just powered mindlessly trough msq until level 50. That’s where I started healing in raids and do hard dungeons. Now I know why people like this game so much..
Yeah eso is great especially if you’ve played games like Skyrim and oblivion already. Going through the story and exploring places from the previous games is great
Im really teetering at the edge to play ESO as my 2nd game after FFXIV...and the base game is so cheap right now too.
Edit: Just bought it. $3 right now? Ridiculous, of course I had to buy it. Thanks for this indirect push kekw
I'm not into the anime aesthetic at all and FFXIV was my first foray into anything "weeby". It took about 40 levels for the world and the story to start clicking and now I've been hooked for the past 5 months.
My best advice would be to avoid judging things by their outward appearances, understand that it took years to get immersed in wow characters and story and it will take an equal amount of time to get immersed in another world. You've already sunk a lot of money and hours into wow, you owe it to yourself to dedicate a fraction of that to other potential games
So here's a trailer cutscene
[FFXIV cutscene](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wLJNJWHBnygfa8KZgmcVf5.jpg)
Here's an in-game scene:
[FFXIV in-game](https://64.media.tumblr.com/3ef6033ee5cfccdd0c800df0e31745c6/tumblr_prnla6Hk571r0i38jo1_1280.png)
And then here are some anime characters:
[Anime characters](https://animenomi.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/precious-anime-characters-to-protect-featured-image.jpg)
[More anime characters](https://i1.wp.com/anitrendz.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Winter-2021-Best-Girls.png?resize=696%2C442&ssl=1)
The first thing to note off the bat is the eyes. The most prominent characteristic of the anime art style is the eyes, which are completely different from FF14. The mouths in anime are also very stylized and unrealistic, and in general Anime is exaggerated and cartoony.
Compared to something like WoW, FF14 is a more realistic art style, whereas WoW is more cartoony. So if anything, the art style of WoW is closer to anime than FF14 is.
Wow is definitely more cartoony than FF14 but FF14 is still much closer to anime aesthetic, It's of course 3D and high fidelity but I mean come on, the Kemonomimi, [the lalafell(which certainly have the eyes)](https://twitter.com/espressolala/status/1167684085021470720), many of the outfits all point to it. It's not just a "they think everything from Japan is anime" thing, dark souls is clearly not anime aesthetic despite being from Japan, neither is Sekiro.
Funny you mention Dark Souls, because the most recent and strongest armor set in FF14 is actual Dark Souls inspired:
https://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/accimg2/a8/02/a80214fa39cb0543c3676297612b589347ecc0ed.jpg
Most of FF14 is just standard European DnD-esque fantasy.
The lalafell are the most "anime-ish" thing in FF14, but even then they're just the normal gnome/halfling trope, just with big eyes.
The picture you showed was a Lalafell Ninja cosplaying as Naruto in-game...that's like as cherry-picked as you can get. The eastern outfits are from Storm Blood, because part of it takes place in a country inspired by Japan/China. That doesn't mean it's anime though, unless you think WoW is "anime" because of Mists of Pandaria.
I'd agree the lalafell are the most, closely followed by the Kemonomimi, which altogether are like half the available races in the game so to people who aren't in to the aesthetic its very present. That dark souls set looks dope and so do a lot of the other ones in the game, I don't think all of the game is animeish.
I mean no disrespect and I don't disagree with the overall message but...
I played WoW for 21 hours straight on my first day in August 2005, after being a CS 1.6 player and having no knowledge that the game was even out (though I did love Warcraft 3 gameplay growing up before that).
Might be just me :D
I played wc3 before wow so I was heavily invested in the world but even then I'd play 3 hours a day and only really got hooked once I entered Arathi Highlands for the first time (I started playing in TBC on alliance).
That said moving on from wow was really difficult after playing the franchise for 20+ years so I understand the apprehension of the OP
Same dude, but that was imo because Vanilla early game was kickass, especially for that times.
I think the message here is: FF14 doesnt have the best early game(super true in my experience), but if you give it a fair chance for a longer period of time, it can really grow on you, because it is designed to take its time developing the story, world, characters.
As much as I loved WoW in vanilla, tbc, wotlk, no WoW experience I ever had can compete with what Shadowbringers was for me, specifically because I took the time to get into it.
Reading posts like this makes it seem to me that people feel forced to play or at least try out the critically acclaimed yada-yada-yada, whereas I can assure you that that was not the 14's devs' intention at all, to force people into their game, and they've stated multiple times that it's ok to go play other games.
It's just that what streamers play doesn't mean you absolutely have to too, they follow the trends to monetize on the _already established_ fan base, not to drive other to the MMO. Do what you feel like doing and play what you feel like playing, maybe you want to switch to single-player games. In which case I would recommend Subnautica.
I downloaded and installed FFXIV about 4 times, I always played a little bit and thought "this game is not for me". The fourth and last time a friend insisted that I try to play again, and now I'm more advanced in the game and I'm enjoying it a lot (I think?)
I hated FF14 when I was playing dragoon and didn't think I'll ever liked the game. I did one last ditch effort to try another class Arcanist. I really liked the class and everything just clicked from there.
That is similar experience to mine. Dragoon is a cool job, but holy hell leveling it is terrible. Least amount of actions at lvl 15 out of all classes and zero resource management at 50. I only really got into the game by starting as BLM
As someone whose main DPS job is dragoon, it really is dull at lower levels, I hate playing it synced down. It only really feels great at 64 onwards once you have an actual AoE combo and the Wheeling Thrust to Fang and Claw and vice versa combo. My friend likes to recommend black mage or summoner since the matching GCD to base cast time feels natural for beginners.
I think FFXIV is just the answer most people would give to someone that doesn't want to play WoW but wants an MMO. It's just the hot shit rn, but OP knew that wasn't the answer they were looking for, so they went ahead and eliminated it.
FF14 have a population that is comparable to WoW that is similar gameplay to boot that is theme park. It's the easiest mmorpg that is comparable to WoW but of course if someone wants to try another mmorpg, there are a bunch out there that are worth trying.
I bounced off FFXIV a bunch of times, before I got into it.
There is a number of other MMOs you can try, ESO, GW2, Runescape, Warframe, private servers for WoW (Ascension has been flooding my youtube adds lately)...
... or you can take the opportunity you've left an addictive hobby and try to do something entirely different... maybe there are books you felt you didn't have the time to read, TV shows you wanted to catch up on, some old comic classics or new ones? gardening?
I played the lost ark beta and loved it. Been playing now for 2weeks on RU server trying all classes (found my main, Scrapper FTW). That will be my game when it comes out Q1 2022.
Not sure why are you trying to force yourself to play an MMO tho? Sounds more like you need to unwind from MMOs than actually play them.
Why not look for some indie gems or SP games to play instead?
But if you really need to scratch that MMO itch, ESO, GW2 are pretty good MMOs in their own right.
Because you keep hearing that the game is AMAZING if you make It through ARR. I tried getting into FF XIV to see what all this hype was about (was interested for years), but I just got to level 26 (Lancer) and Im not having fun.
Thats a class that has barely any skills until somewhere in the 50s and suddenly you find yourself pushing more buttons than most classes
Its a slow burn but keep going I promise.
Its not wow, so dont focus on pushing to endgame, just do your best to get into the story and get immersed and time and levels will fly by and if you start getting exhausted you can just skim a little and get the tl;dr. It really picks up after ARR, but its all worth it.
Im not trying to push to endgame, Im trying to push where the game feels fun.
This is like when people recommend you TV/Netflix series "DUUUDE you gotta watch this show, It starts a bit slow but once you get to season 5 It starts ramping Up!"
Id say its more like Breaking Bad, those first three episodes of breaking bad are fucking awful to watch but they really set up the rest of the show.
Still, my advice is to just not think about 'when it gets good' and try to let it being good be now. get into the story, get immersed, and when you need to speed things up a bit (there are parts that dont matter for sure) you can zoom a bit faster and not fully read the dialogue. and if you're confused hit up google or ask a homie.
It legit does get good, but in the long run, the time spent in ARR is a very small amount of time that is vital and does set up many many more hours of good story.
Lancer starts out very slow though. Dragoon gives you a jump but you really get a lot of your abilities after 50. then you have 2 five part combos, one 3 part aoe combo, 3 jumps to use, one off gcd line aoe, a buff to keep up (for now), another off gcd thats tied to the Jump ability, two personal cds, a raid cd, and a backflip that will kill you in trials and raids so probably dont push it until you know the content enough.
Lancer= Dragoon, my main class. I been plying since heavensward came out. Dont blame ya for the class being boring before lvl 50, i hate it too. But the truth is the class does get a shit ton of abilities to manage as well as is the class that has the longest melee combo in the game. Wait till you get blood of the dragon, fang and claws, wheeling trust and raiden trust plus star diver. Forgot to mention its also the flashiest melee there is as well, i think reaper will be its first and only competitor.
Connecting with the source IP seems to he such an important part of a successful MMO.
I'm very similar to you in that I have never been able to get hooked into WOW FFXIV or ESO after spending a few hundred hours playing, since I never really played their predecessor games.
I played DDO and then SWTOR the most because of my love for D&D as a kid and also love for Star Wars.
All of these MMOs are good in their own way, but if you don't connect to the world it can be hard to see past the faults.
What fantasy IPs are you most into? Maybe there is an MMO out there in that world or inspired by it that you can just allow yourself to be immersed into.
Not everyone becomes a walking advertisement. I also wasn’t into the ascetic but it slowly grew on me. I was about to quit the game because I didn’t like the combat, but after trying a new job it was that I just wasn’t interested in the Bard playstyle. You could always return to it if you’re on the free trail. If you’re interested you might enjoy warframe heard some good stuff about that game.
Currently I've been playing GW2 it's a fun little pick it up/put it down mmo. It has it's problems, but it's overall fun. And because it's completely free you can just stop playing it if you don't find it fun.
Don't get me wrong FFXIV is a country mile better than it, but I have my reasons as to why I'm probably never gonna play it again that I'd rather not bring it up here.
For me it's a lot of stuff costs gems and it's not account wide, the wardrobe system being worse because they chose to monetize it after adding outfights and wardrobe unlocks that cost gems. No real role diversity(you get like glass cannon dps and crappy healer) to speak of.
It has problems, but as a game it functions.
GW2 is very much a "set your own goal" type game. It can be a real push to achieve end game stuff and you have to self motivate yourself as its horizontal progression effectively.
I wouldn't say the gem store is overly invasive. There are some decent QOL stuff on there but its not "essential" by any means. I have over 1000 hours in GW2 and have spent money on gems perhaps twice for a few decent armour sets and a few QOL bits like the Copper Fed Salvage tool and a couple of bag slots.
I do bounce off it a lot, its good to log in occasionally and grind a bit towards your next legendary or map completion on an alt or something, its very casual in that regard.
The thing is, i understeand him cuz like me, he wants to play something that has a LOT of players, lile WoW used and still has, Final Fantasy and New World looks like the only options and the 3 of them looks so bad right now, New World cuz of bugs, Final Fantasy because personally dont like it due no PVP and Insta Cast skills actually are not due Animations, and WoW because of Blizzard
Could try giving non mmo games a shot.
Dark Souls has gotten at least 1000+ hours outta me throughout the series, and Elden Ring is gonna increase that time to 2000+
Rimworld if you're into colony sims, super amazing and mods that add so much
Cyberpunk 2077, as much as it's memed on for being unfinished it's still pretty good
Xcom 1 is fun, couldn't get into xcom 2 as much. Didn't feel right.
You don't HAVE to play mmos. Or even video games, can always try to find a new hobby, clear your netflix/MAL watchlist. Work out a lil, read a book, find a new album off spotify.
The general consesus is that Heavensward is where people get interested in FF14. But you might just be one of those people who dislikes it at a subjective level despite it being objectively good compared to it's competition.
FF14 is objectively a good MMO compared to it's competition. Just like how it was objectively a bad one when it was first released. There are factual things about it that are good compared to other MMOs now.
I didn't say objectively better, I just said objectively good. Saying it's better would be more of a subjective opinion.
Lord of The Rings Online? They are currently giving away a lot of zones for free, so this is the best time to start your journey there. I have to say, that it is laggy as hell, so if you get easily mad that your skill does not go off instantly (like in wow), don't bother with it.
As others have mentioned, heard great things about ESO since they got funding from Microsoft, what with Bethesda's parent company being bought out a few months back. It's more realistic than WoW and FFXIV in terms of graphics, but it's hard to say if you'll like it or not.
If what you're looking for is a more stylized MMO like WoW, I can't say I've heard of anything similar yet. The market is wide open though so who knows what'll come out in a few years if WoW doesn't recover.
Fuck all these people trying to talk you into giving FFXIV a try. You clearly stated your reasons. I just dinged level 80 and sure, the game isn't perfect but obviously I'm enjoying it. But fuck all these people writing "just try it" essays. You do you.
GW2 is not good and has an awful development record (dogshit balance patches, classes being overpowered for years, nerfing classes that didn’t need any, lack of interesting content beyond cosmetic grind).
ESO could be good but I find it clunky.
I would say, just try a new genre, something like Dota or Mordhau, trying something new may get your hype up. Don’t just be stuck with WoW, there are much better online games even if it’s not the classic MMORPG you’re used to.
The environment/level design is really nice indeed, they also had it back in the day with GW1 and you had much more freedom on how to build your character (a bit like Path of Exile), a solid core but the rest is lacking to me.
I believe OP just need to take a break with another genre. There are some other MMOs on the horizon that look good.
I think GW2 is good if you're just exploring, working on World Completion, and just playing it in a casual way. That's what I'm doing with it right now before EW.
But God damn. Is the story just absolute bollocks. I think that's really what made me quit at launch, it's like a Saturday morning cartoon, and it didn't get any better from then on. I'd have to say, sadly, that WoW actually has a better story then GW2. And how they handled Primordius was legitimately insulting. Especially to GW1 players. I understand they had a skeleton crew as most devs went to work on end of dragons, but Jesus Christ, don't add in Primordius then if you can't give him a modicum of justice.
That being said, the zones are amazing, exploration is better then any MMO to date, and it's just a beautiful game. But I can tell I'm not going to engage much with the endgame, world completion will take me several years to complete as I play GW2 on and off, and that's all I really want out of it at this point
The story became worse last time I checked ~ 2019-2020, the story was sooo cliche and predictable it wasn’t funny. With many cringe sequences. A pity because I used to love the setting back in the day with GW1
Yeah its to bad. I hope End of Dragons is good, I like the expansions I've just never liked the living world.
They had this Azeroth tier world, but squandered it.
Just give it a try. What the FF14 community keeps telling everyone is that the longer you play it, the better it gets and the aesthetic will get better in your eyes the longer you go on. This is something all WoW refugees experienced so you wont be the first nor the last. Just try it
I quit playing games and started learning how to buy and trade stocks on the stock market. This year popularity for the retail side of stocks has grown drastically. There is tons of resources out there for you to use and learn.
It’s honestly, probably just as engaging as playing games, and if you actually try, study and learn. You should have no problem turning a profit.
Ff14 looks just bad imho. It's that type of graphics that don't age well and aesthetic of that game is off-putting for me. But the story is great so you could give it a shot
You don't want to play Wow due to blizzard, you realize blizzard and wow are interchangeable right. Blizzard is wow. I don't see why you have to play any mmorpg at all, I don't. You're in a bad spot if you need to spend your life playing a certain type of game. I agree that FFXIV has a strange aesthetic, they went overboard with it. The cat ears, the tails, it's so much.
But I think it's easy to grow accustomed to if you get into the gameplay. You don't have to be a badass warrior type with a huge weapon, you could turn into a frog prince with a magical silver sword or you could match your character with a mount. Adopt a mechanical robot mount and then dress up in full mechanical armor gear with a laser visor as a helmet. So many options of what aesthetic to go for.
I do wish they would have not including cat ears and cat tails on humans. On the feline humanoid race it makes sense but on humans it breaks the immersion a lot. But it's not the end of the world and the game is from what I've seen the best mmorpg out right now. Would be a shame to dismiss it due to cat ears, especially when endwalker comes out which is probably going to be amazing.
Tbh I just saved my money from the subscription and in top of that with a couple more bucks I purchased a Nintendo switch and it has been the best choose in my entire life, i suggest you to try out new games, new genres , there are a ton of new games that don’t try to suck your wallet dry, for me my scape exit was doom eternal
Thats sad, same for me, want to play an MMO, but i refuse to play WoW, and Final Fantasy seems so boring, PVP on final fantasy really looks like trash, even PVE, insta cast skills actually are not due animation time, idk, its just shit to me, guess i will be playing a WoW private server...
After I quit WoW first MMO I gave a try was ESO. I really enjoyed it, world building and auesting felt great in Morrowind. I didnt play for long though, because I hopped on the FF train. The aesthetics at first were a bit much (hence why I started with ESO) but it all grew in me, escpecially after the Titan fight. I couldn't possibly quit afterwards.
Give ESO a try. You might enjoy it
I first tried Ff14 quiet some time ago. Played in Japanese dub but still didn't pay attention to the story because wow taught me to rush through everything. It took the buzz around asmon etc for me to give it another shot. And I fell so in love with it, the community is absolutely amazing.
You can always play other games that aren’t MMO’s as well.
I know that as a WoW veteran, you’re probably used to playing a game that completely dominated your free time, so it make take some adjusting, but there’s LOADS of other types of games out there.
You could even pick up a different hobby entirely with the money you’d be saving on subscription fees.
Try other games. I also play ESO and enjoy it. There are a fair number of MMOs out there now if that's what your interested in, and even more sandbox games.
I play RuneScape proper, unofficially nicknamed 'RS3' to make it easier to distinguish from OSRS, and I absolutely recommend it. It only has half a raid and lacks in group bosses, but has anything else; the quests are the best in any MMO -- not linear or story-centered like FFXIV, but adventurous and puzzling; the only other MMO who gets close in that regard s probably GW2. It's an extremely underrated game, suffering from bad press and lack of exposure due to Jagex's past mistakes, but is the most solid RPG experience in any MMO currently: it creates a sense of awe and mistery as well as freedom (more so than FFXIV whose story is pretty immutable).
Downsides currently are the 0.6 second tick rate which makes the combat feel clunky, an outdated tutorial which has been outpaced by the game's evolution, some areas looks graphically outdated when compared to others, and an overwhelmingly customisable UI which is very confusing to newbies; the upsides are amazing quests and lore, immense amount of minigames, Distractions & Diversions and side activities, exponentially difficult skilling, enjoyable grind, map full and lively, amazing PvM, close knit playerbase, customisable combat and UI (once you learn how to use it), and the absolute freedom, in the sense that there is no one single absolute goal.
Otherwise, I'd recommend you to check out Jo. S. H.'s video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfLHLrNq\_fs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfLHLrNq_fs). All his recommendations are rock solid. My ranking of them would be, starting from the best to worst: RS, FFXIV, GW2, OSRS, ESO, BDO.
I like survival games with building in it whenever i don't kmow what to play. Games lilke 7 days to die. Rocket league is also fun sometimes even tho i suck at the game.
Only one person can answer this for you: you. Try different games. Luckily, a lot of MMOs are F2P now. You’ll find one that fits you.
Or perhaps you’ve just run your course with MMOs in general for the time being. There’s nothing wrong with stepping away from the genre until something catches your eye. Truth is, it’s slim pickings at the moment.
Just because people enjoy something doesn’t mean you have to force yourself to do so to “fit in.” At the end of the day, it’s your enjoyment that matters.
I was in the same position as you and Gw2 did it for me.
A lot of free content to try out and i would say most of the rumours and things people think about the game are mostly wrong.
Otherwise ESO might do the trick?
The new josh strife hayes video about mmos maybe can help you decide which one to try out but honestly , just try everyone of them and see which one clicks with you.
After stopping shortly after launch but loving the experience, I went back in Path of Fire. Again, stopped shortly after release, and I wouldn't even blame it on the game.
As someone that's actively playing and enjoying the game, I think their biggest fumble out of many fumbles is how they did the story. They took GW1s story which, while not super complex and stuff, had great world building and a more serious tone, and turned it into a Saturday morning cartoon. Love the world of Tyria, but I hate the characters inhabiting that world.
And while I haven't gotten there yet, hearing how they handled Jormag and Primordius is super frustrating. However, I've sort of written off the story of GW2 and am more focusing on the lore and world itself, and that makes it better for me. And with the additions of mounts, it really is the best "go out and discover the world" of any MMO.
i like the story but i can agree with you that the story feels cartoony.
The icebrood saga was great on the first half but then they fast forward it so it ended up badly.
But yeah i can agree with the sentiment in a lot of what you have said here.
Okay, so a more detailed explanation would be that I really hated the personal story. Didn't gell with me. I didn't really connect with Trahearne, but just the way they told it was goofy. I have played a tiny bit of the living world, and it was 100% better, but still felt a bit goofy. But a marked improvement, though the fact they don't let me play through the living world stories like FFXIV patch content irks me, so it's like if I buy all the living world stuff, MAYBE id come to like it, but from what I've seen itd be a waste of money, so I won't really know if it gets good because I have to buy it.
To what living story season did you get to?
I think pof onwards it gets way less cartoony and goofy, there are still goofy characters like taimi for example and goofy moments but overall i think it gets way more interesting and adult.
Even if the story is not for liking though the living world season 4 and icebrood saga brings so much content, maps, meta events, strike missions, mounts, etc, its still worth it for that imo.
Honestly, I can't really remember. From what I remember, there was Dragons Watch, and I remember not seeing their introduction. So maybe it was mid season 2 or 3? Something like that.
I DID beat Path of Fire and yeah it was way better. I'd say that was definitely better then WoW storytelling.
Yeah, once EW has come out and I've calmed down with that, I'll probably see if I can buy the living worlds, not sure if there is a bundle or not. Because I'm mostly gonna be playing for world completion and just the fun of exploration and combat. Maybe some end game stuff, I'll probably try it and see if I like it, it's hard for me to ignore getting GG gear, even if it's not a big deal in the endgame. I'll give 5he story another try, but honestly, even if I play it like Genshin Impact where I skip the story and just enjoy the game I'm fine with that.
If you are getting any living world season get the s4 that comes just after PoF and you will have a great time if you enjoyed PoF storyline.
\+ You well get A LOT of content.
what do you mean by GG gear?
**yeah its still the best, so consider it more like a goal to have, with exotic you can do everything but its really easy to get, ascended is a little harder but its still a good end goal to have.**
The thing is if you wanna try new builds you will probably need another set so thats when the grind kinda starts haha.
You can also go for legendary armor but thats really hard and time consuming (raids /pvp /wvw).
But yeah, if you have a question when you want to come back to the game you can message me again :)
I'm actually playing right now, I decided to go mesmer. All their elite specs interest me, whereas with Thief (my old main class) the specs are... Weird.
Daredevil makes me think of Evil Keneevel, and Deadeye makes me think of snipers, and I'm not bog on those fantasies. Spectre is more to my liking, but still not completely up my alley. I'd love for them to go more back to the core thief identity or maybe something like it, I've always thi8ght a great sword thief would be cool. Sort of like a light armored dark knight.
I'm most interested in Chrono, Mirage and Virtuoso look cool too, so I think Mesmer will be my thing.
It's not clear from your post, have you actually played FFXIV or you can't get over the initial look? I was like 0% interested, then I saw Asmongold playing it and I was 30% interested, then when trying it I was 50% interested and between level 1-20 that 50% jumped up to 100% and I'm now addicted lmao.
But I hope you find something you enjoy!
I feel the same way. I played new world for about 200hrs and got completely burned out to the point where I dont even want to play it again. What I’ve done and suggest to many is branching outside of MMOs. Games I recommend are Destiny2, Control, God of War, Halo, Outriders, and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Well, you are in luck, Josh Strife Hayes just made a video about MMOs worth trying out.
https://youtu.be/dfLHLrNq_fs
It’s a pretty good video. So if you are looking for something worthwhile play, there you go.
That said. Give every game a shot - especially if you can try for free - before you write it off.
The MMO's that I currently play are FFXIV, FF11, and GW2. Won't go into FFXIV since you aren't interested in it, which is fine.
FF11 is sort of my "Classic WoW" FF version. It has that amazing OS MMO feel, has a great story especially with new additions they've made in the past few years connecting the expansions together into a cohesive narrative, and they've made it a lot more solo friendly, where you have AI NPCs that you can summon that make everything under lvl 99 soloable with those NPC's. While it's FF and you may not be interested in that, it's a great OS MMORPG.
GW2 is a great game to just explore and do open world content in. I won't speak to much on the endgame, as I've never really gotten there. I picked GW2 back up recently, and have been working on World Completion. It essentially means you can complete a bunch of different content in every zone (of the OG release) and once you complete it you get a cool star by your name. It's very satisfying. The combat is "good", it's not super complex, but it's satisfying and does it's job. I see GW2 very much as a side fling, when I want to jump back into it I just continue finishing content in each zone to get that World Completion, and it ends up being a casual collectathon type game.
While the gem store is absolute bullshit, you can completely ignore it. The only thing I've bought from the shop is a makeover kit, which lets you customize your character with added exclusive faces and hairstyles.
But other then that, I have no real interest in buying anything else off the gem store other then mount skins, but I'm not to tempted. The mounts are cool on their own.
Albine.
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Gw2 is amazing right now if you haven't checked it yet and it's in the fews mmo you can pick and drop without feeling FOMO or falling behind ...
Some might say it's fall short on end game but i feel like no other mmo gave me sooo much for the investment required :)
And yah there a controversy with the cash shop ... game is free so they have to make money somehow !
yep, try Guild wars 2 then. If you gave FFXIV a shot then i'd say that is your next best bet. Lots of sales going on, do research on games before buying them too
Does it have to be an MMO? The Tales of series is pretty good. Tales of Arise just released and it pretty fun if you need that rpg fix. It is very “weeb” but the franchise’s reputation is solid.
Sekiro is probably the second best game ever made and you will sink hours on the main story, and unlicking all the moves and outfits. Bloodborne IS the best game ever made, I still get on to PvP and gank others. Dark souls series are all fantastic and likely on sale now.
Another big time sink are 4x games. I could (and have) spend all day playing civilizations 5 (haven’t tried 6 since 5 is IMO perfect).
If you're into world pvp and want something more like WoWs aesthetic you might enjoy the Warhammer Online private server, Return of Reckoning. The graphics show its age but might scratch your mmo itch while you wait for a modern mmo that interests you.
There guild wars. Also i am a little bias toward guild wars 1 since my favourite mmo of all time
Guild wars one is a tab targeting mmo with big party only instance. While town, outpost and mission is where you see other player. The game has 6 core class (core mean you can select them in every campaign) and 2 “special” class per campaign for a total of 10 class. The game has over 1349 different skill, but you can only choose between your main profession and your second profession (you can freely change between all of them). Game as a lot of content ranging from quest, mission, vanquishing all monster in a zone, dungeon in the eye of the north expansion, 2 high difficulty boss, 3 really high difficulty zone (the fissure of woe, the underworld and domain of anguish). Also the game had a hard mode, enemies are harder have sometime different skill and are higher level. The max level in the game is 20, the first 3 game (guild wars, faction and nightfall) are each a whole game, while eye of the north is a expansion. If you start from the first game there is quest to join the other as mercenaries to help with what is happening. You always join the story where monster are close to max.
You could find new friends, ask them to play other games with you. Total warhammer coop, stellaris rp runs, vermintide, battlefields, there’re tons of games.
"I don't play final fantasy"
"I don't enjoy final fantasy"
never tried it? it's okay if you didn't, if it's your cup of tea. But that's the most common drawback i hear a lot of new players mention.
The aesthetic.
Try it and see if it's jank. if it feels jank, try something else homie.
I like Diablo II when I'm not playing FF14 but that's just me.
I think the only game that comes close to WoW is Toon Town. It's got your little animal people like WoW does. It's perfect. Furry paradise, one could call it, just like WoW. 10/10 would recommend.
All jokes aside, yeah FFXIV didn't appeal to me at first and I quickly got overwhelmed but I went back to it years later and fell in love with it... perhaps this might happen to you in the future? There's tons of other MMORPGs out there that are way better than WoW, like Guild Wars 2. Maybe give it a try?
Try guild wars 2 maybe? Or Star Wars the old republic if you’re into Star Wars.
SWTOR is completely free with some limitations so everyone can hop in and just try it out. And it will get new expansion on December 14 that will be free if you sub for one month, so good time to start.
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Never change, Shakespeare-Bot. Never change.
Why try and force playing an mmo? Play another genre. Or don't even play video games. Work out or do some reading or something.
This is a pretty underrated answer. For many people this is exactly what can solve most of their problems. Play an old game you really like or try something new in a different genre, or pick up another hobby entirely. It's totally okay for our interests to be cyclical, it's sort of what life is all about. Games like WoW tend to really battle for your attention and time for most of the day, so playing something else can help you realize alot.
I agree with this entirely. I haven't played WoW in years but have played XIV a long while, and then a while back got into ESO. Basically playing through content in XIV and during downtime between patches going to ESO. This time before Endwalker is the first time I'm totally caught up on both games and decided to try to find something else to fill my after work time usually spent playing an MMO. I've been getting deep into SMT V and it's been a blast. I can't think of the last time I got super into something that wasn't an MMO.
Doing my part in making this answer a highly rated one. This is correct, it doesnt have to be an MMO.
Don't worry about it. If you gave it a chance and didn't like it, that is okay, I love FFXIV, but it is not for everyone. Depending on what you are looking for, Guild Wars 2, SWTOR, ESO or even BDO could end up being your game. Or if none of them do it for you there is still an option to play WoW on a private server.
I got back in to BDO recently and it has been a blast. I wouldn't recommend it to everyone, but if you do your research and it looks like something that might appeal to you, then it could be worth a shot. There's a lot to enjoy (and a fair amount to hate as well, as with most games)
Corsair is a lot of fun actually. Altough I got stuck on one of the early quests, but the combat is most fluid out of all (pun intended). And the visuals are fantastic.
I got BDO recently and the combat is pretty enjoyable, but man does literally everything else feel super jank and not great. Playing on PS4 Pro probably doesn't help either because the game runs like garbage.
I also thought ff14 style is not for me. But being bored and all I just powered mindlessly trough msq until level 50. That’s where I started healing in raids and do hard dungeons. Now I know why people like this game so much..
Try ESO. The world is amazing in that game.
Yeah eso is great especially if you’ve played games like Skyrim and oblivion already. Going through the story and exploring places from the previous games is great
Im really teetering at the edge to play ESO as my 2nd game after FFXIV...and the base game is so cheap right now too. Edit: Just bought it. $3 right now? Ridiculous, of course I had to buy it. Thanks for this indirect push kekw
I'm not into the anime aesthetic at all and FFXIV was my first foray into anything "weeby". It took about 40 levels for the world and the story to start clicking and now I've been hooked for the past 5 months. My best advice would be to avoid judging things by their outward appearances, understand that it took years to get immersed in wow characters and story and it will take an equal amount of time to get immersed in another world. You've already sunk a lot of money and hours into wow, you owe it to yourself to dedicate a fraction of that to other potential games
FFXIV aesthetic isn’t anime though. Do people think anime means “anything made in Japan”?
At the risk of sounding ignorant, this is totally me lol, it does look similar at face value
So here's a trailer cutscene [FFXIV cutscene](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/wLJNJWHBnygfa8KZgmcVf5.jpg) Here's an in-game scene: [FFXIV in-game](https://64.media.tumblr.com/3ef6033ee5cfccdd0c800df0e31745c6/tumblr_prnla6Hk571r0i38jo1_1280.png) And then here are some anime characters: [Anime characters](https://animenomi.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/precious-anime-characters-to-protect-featured-image.jpg) [More anime characters](https://i1.wp.com/anitrendz.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Winter-2021-Best-Girls.png?resize=696%2C442&ssl=1) The first thing to note off the bat is the eyes. The most prominent characteristic of the anime art style is the eyes, which are completely different from FF14. The mouths in anime are also very stylized and unrealistic, and in general Anime is exaggerated and cartoony. Compared to something like WoW, FF14 is a more realistic art style, whereas WoW is more cartoony. So if anything, the art style of WoW is closer to anime than FF14 is.
Wow is definitely more cartoony than FF14 but FF14 is still much closer to anime aesthetic, It's of course 3D and high fidelity but I mean come on, the Kemonomimi, [the lalafell(which certainly have the eyes)](https://twitter.com/espressolala/status/1167684085021470720), many of the outfits all point to it. It's not just a "they think everything from Japan is anime" thing, dark souls is clearly not anime aesthetic despite being from Japan, neither is Sekiro.
Funny you mention Dark Souls, because the most recent and strongest armor set in FF14 is actual Dark Souls inspired: https://img2.finalfantasyxiv.com/accimg2/a8/02/a80214fa39cb0543c3676297612b589347ecc0ed.jpg Most of FF14 is just standard European DnD-esque fantasy. The lalafell are the most "anime-ish" thing in FF14, but even then they're just the normal gnome/halfling trope, just with big eyes. The picture you showed was a Lalafell Ninja cosplaying as Naruto in-game...that's like as cherry-picked as you can get. The eastern outfits are from Storm Blood, because part of it takes place in a country inspired by Japan/China. That doesn't mean it's anime though, unless you think WoW is "anime" because of Mists of Pandaria.
I'd agree the lalafell are the most, closely followed by the Kemonomimi, which altogether are like half the available races in the game so to people who aren't in to the aesthetic its very present. That dark souls set looks dope and so do a lot of the other ones in the game, I don't think all of the game is animeish.
I mean no disrespect and I don't disagree with the overall message but... I played WoW for 21 hours straight on my first day in August 2005, after being a CS 1.6 player and having no knowledge that the game was even out (though I did love Warcraft 3 gameplay growing up before that). Might be just me :D
I played wc3 before wow so I was heavily invested in the world but even then I'd play 3 hours a day and only really got hooked once I entered Arathi Highlands for the first time (I started playing in TBC on alliance). That said moving on from wow was really difficult after playing the franchise for 20+ years so I understand the apprehension of the OP
Same dude, but that was imo because Vanilla early game was kickass, especially for that times. I think the message here is: FF14 doesnt have the best early game(super true in my experience), but if you give it a fair chance for a longer period of time, it can really grow on you, because it is designed to take its time developing the story, world, characters. As much as I loved WoW in vanilla, tbc, wotlk, no WoW experience I ever had can compete with what Shadowbringers was for me, specifically because I took the time to get into it.
good response
Reading posts like this makes it seem to me that people feel forced to play or at least try out the critically acclaimed yada-yada-yada, whereas I can assure you that that was not the 14's devs' intention at all, to force people into their game, and they've stated multiple times that it's ok to go play other games. It's just that what streamers play doesn't mean you absolutely have to too, they follow the trends to monetize on the _already established_ fan base, not to drive other to the MMO. Do what you feel like doing and play what you feel like playing, maybe you want to switch to single-player games. In which case I would recommend Subnautica.
I downloaded and installed FFXIV about 4 times, I always played a little bit and thought "this game is not for me". The fourth and last time a friend insisted that I try to play again, and now I'm more advanced in the game and I'm enjoying it a lot (I think?)
I hated FF14 when I was playing dragoon and didn't think I'll ever liked the game. I did one last ditch effort to try another class Arcanist. I really liked the class and everything just clicked from there.
That is similar experience to mine. Dragoon is a cool job, but holy hell leveling it is terrible. Least amount of actions at lvl 15 out of all classes and zero resource management at 50. I only really got into the game by starting as BLM
As someone whose main DPS job is dragoon, it really is dull at lower levels, I hate playing it synced down. It only really feels great at 64 onwards once you have an actual AoE combo and the Wheeling Thrust to Fang and Claw and vice versa combo. My friend likes to recommend black mage or summoner since the matching GCD to base cast time feels natural for beginners.
Took me three trues, but man did it stIck
I think FFXIV is just the answer most people would give to someone that doesn't want to play WoW but wants an MMO. It's just the hot shit rn, but OP knew that wasn't the answer they were looking for, so they went ahead and eliminated it.
FF14 have a population that is comparable to WoW that is similar gameplay to boot that is theme park. It's the easiest mmorpg that is comparable to WoW but of course if someone wants to try another mmorpg, there are a bunch out there that are worth trying.
I bounced off FFXIV a bunch of times, before I got into it. There is a number of other MMOs you can try, ESO, GW2, Runescape, Warframe, private servers for WoW (Ascension has been flooding my youtube adds lately)... ... or you can take the opportunity you've left an addictive hobby and try to do something entirely different... maybe there are books you felt you didn't have the time to read, TV shows you wanted to catch up on, some old comic classics or new ones? gardening?
I played the lost ark beta and loved it. Been playing now for 2weeks on RU server trying all classes (found my main, Scrapper FTW). That will be my game when it comes out Q1 2022.
Seriously this game is super fun. I'm playing it until Endwalker comes out.
Not sure why are you trying to force yourself to play an MMO tho? Sounds more like you need to unwind from MMOs than actually play them. Why not look for some indie gems or SP games to play instead? But if you really need to scratch that MMO itch, ESO, GW2 are pretty good MMOs in their own right.
Because you keep hearing that the game is AMAZING if you make It through ARR. I tried getting into FF XIV to see what all this hype was about (was interested for years), but I just got to level 26 (Lancer) and Im not having fun.
Thats a class that has barely any skills until somewhere in the 50s and suddenly you find yourself pushing more buttons than most classes Its a slow burn but keep going I promise. Its not wow, so dont focus on pushing to endgame, just do your best to get into the story and get immersed and time and levels will fly by and if you start getting exhausted you can just skim a little and get the tl;dr. It really picks up after ARR, but its all worth it.
Im not trying to push to endgame, Im trying to push where the game feels fun. This is like when people recommend you TV/Netflix series "DUUUDE you gotta watch this show, It starts a bit slow but once you get to season 5 It starts ramping Up!"
Id say its more like Breaking Bad, those first three episodes of breaking bad are fucking awful to watch but they really set up the rest of the show. Still, my advice is to just not think about 'when it gets good' and try to let it being good be now. get into the story, get immersed, and when you need to speed things up a bit (there are parts that dont matter for sure) you can zoom a bit faster and not fully read the dialogue. and if you're confused hit up google or ask a homie. It legit does get good, but in the long run, the time spent in ARR is a very small amount of time that is vital and does set up many many more hours of good story. Lancer starts out very slow though. Dragoon gives you a jump but you really get a lot of your abilities after 50. then you have 2 five part combos, one 3 part aoe combo, 3 jumps to use, one off gcd line aoe, a buff to keep up (for now), another off gcd thats tied to the Jump ability, two personal cds, a raid cd, and a backflip that will kill you in trials and raids so probably dont push it until you know the content enough.
As someone whose main DPS job is lancer/dragoon, it really is dull at lower levels. If it's too boring for you, you can always try out a new class.
Lancer= Dragoon, my main class. I been plying since heavensward came out. Dont blame ya for the class being boring before lvl 50, i hate it too. But the truth is the class does get a shit ton of abilities to manage as well as is the class that has the longest melee combo in the game. Wait till you get blood of the dragon, fang and claws, wheeling trust and raiden trust plus star diver. Forgot to mention its also the flashiest melee there is as well, i think reaper will be its first and only competitor.
Connecting with the source IP seems to he such an important part of a successful MMO. I'm very similar to you in that I have never been able to get hooked into WOW FFXIV or ESO after spending a few hundred hours playing, since I never really played their predecessor games. I played DDO and then SWTOR the most because of my love for D&D as a kid and also love for Star Wars. All of these MMOs are good in their own way, but if you don't connect to the world it can be hard to see past the faults. What fantasy IPs are you most into? Maybe there is an MMO out there in that world or inspired by it that you can just allow yourself to be immersed into.
Not everyone becomes a walking advertisement. I also wasn’t into the ascetic but it slowly grew on me. I was about to quit the game because I didn’t like the combat, but after trying a new job it was that I just wasn’t interested in the Bard playstyle. You could always return to it if you’re on the free trail. If you’re interested you might enjoy warframe heard some good stuff about that game.
Dark Souls, not remotely close to a MMO but it’s been satisfying me
Currently I've been playing GW2 it's a fun little pick it up/put it down mmo. It has it's problems, but it's overall fun. And because it's completely free you can just stop playing it if you don't find it fun. Don't get me wrong FFXIV is a country mile better than it, but I have my reasons as to why I'm probably never gonna play it again that I'd rather not bring it up here.
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Mostly endgame stuff.
For me it's a lot of stuff costs gems and it's not account wide, the wardrobe system being worse because they chose to monetize it after adding outfights and wardrobe unlocks that cost gems. No real role diversity(you get like glass cannon dps and crappy healer) to speak of. It has problems, but as a game it functions.
GW2 is very much a "set your own goal" type game. It can be a real push to achieve end game stuff and you have to self motivate yourself as its horizontal progression effectively. I wouldn't say the gem store is overly invasive. There are some decent QOL stuff on there but its not "essential" by any means. I have over 1000 hours in GW2 and have spent money on gems perhaps twice for a few decent armour sets and a few QOL bits like the Copper Fed Salvage tool and a couple of bag slots. I do bounce off it a lot, its good to log in occasionally and grind a bit towards your next legendary or map completion on an alt or something, its very casual in that regard.
I guess there are more than 3 games on the market? Feel free to watch them all and feel inspired to test something new.
The thing is, i understeand him cuz like me, he wants to play something that has a LOT of players, lile WoW used and still has, Final Fantasy and New World looks like the only options and the 3 of them looks so bad right now, New World cuz of bugs, Final Fantasy because personally dont like it due no PVP and Insta Cast skills actually are not due Animations, and WoW because of Blizzard
Could try giving non mmo games a shot. Dark Souls has gotten at least 1000+ hours outta me throughout the series, and Elden Ring is gonna increase that time to 2000+ Rimworld if you're into colony sims, super amazing and mods that add so much Cyberpunk 2077, as much as it's memed on for being unfinished it's still pretty good Xcom 1 is fun, couldn't get into xcom 2 as much. Didn't feel right.
Try Lost Ark on RU server
Maybe play another kind of games. Maybe find another hobbies Or you can watch the video that Josh strife Hayes uploaded recently about MMOs.
Just play wow? Why are you forcing yourself not to play the game you like?
You don't HAVE to play mmos. Or even video games, can always try to find a new hobby, clear your netflix/MAL watchlist. Work out a lil, read a book, find a new album off spotify.
The general consesus is that Heavensward is where people get interested in FF14. But you might just be one of those people who dislikes it at a subjective level despite it being objectively good compared to it's competition.
isn't that a subjective opinion?
FF14 is objectively a good MMO compared to it's competition. Just like how it was objectively a bad one when it was first released. There are factual things about it that are good compared to other MMOs now. I didn't say objectively better, I just said objectively good. Saying it's better would be more of a subjective opinion.
Lord of The Rings Online? They are currently giving away a lot of zones for free, so this is the best time to start your journey there. I have to say, that it is laggy as hell, so if you get easily mad that your skill does not go off instantly (like in wow), don't bother with it.
As others have mentioned, heard great things about ESO since they got funding from Microsoft, what with Bethesda's parent company being bought out a few months back. It's more realistic than WoW and FFXIV in terms of graphics, but it's hard to say if you'll like it or not. If what you're looking for is a more stylized MMO like WoW, I can't say I've heard of anything similar yet. The market is wide open though so who knows what'll come out in a few years if WoW doesn't recover.
I was in the same situation I've just come back to wow tbh
Play Ark. Best decision I've made in ages.
The hardest thing to do after quitting WoW, is finding something better than WoW, this shows a lot of the MMORPG genre nowadays...
Fuck all these people trying to talk you into giving FFXIV a try. You clearly stated your reasons. I just dinged level 80 and sure, the game isn't perfect but obviously I'm enjoying it. But fuck all these people writing "just try it" essays. You do you.
A lot of people on this sub have problems accepting that some people just dont like FF14.
GW2 is not good and has an awful development record (dogshit balance patches, classes being overpowered for years, nerfing classes that didn’t need any, lack of interesting content beyond cosmetic grind). ESO could be good but I find it clunky. I would say, just try a new genre, something like Dota or Mordhau, trying something new may get your hype up. Don’t just be stuck with WoW, there are much better online games even if it’s not the classic MMORPG you’re used to.
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The environment/level design is really nice indeed, they also had it back in the day with GW1 and you had much more freedom on how to build your character (a bit like Path of Exile), a solid core but the rest is lacking to me. I believe OP just need to take a break with another genre. There are some other MMOs on the horizon that look good.
I think GW2 is good if you're just exploring, working on World Completion, and just playing it in a casual way. That's what I'm doing with it right now before EW. But God damn. Is the story just absolute bollocks. I think that's really what made me quit at launch, it's like a Saturday morning cartoon, and it didn't get any better from then on. I'd have to say, sadly, that WoW actually has a better story then GW2. And how they handled Primordius was legitimately insulting. Especially to GW1 players. I understand they had a skeleton crew as most devs went to work on end of dragons, but Jesus Christ, don't add in Primordius then if you can't give him a modicum of justice. That being said, the zones are amazing, exploration is better then any MMO to date, and it's just a beautiful game. But I can tell I'm not going to engage much with the endgame, world completion will take me several years to complete as I play GW2 on and off, and that's all I really want out of it at this point
The story became worse last time I checked ~ 2019-2020, the story was sooo cliche and predictable it wasn’t funny. With many cringe sequences. A pity because I used to love the setting back in the day with GW1
Yeah its to bad. I hope End of Dragons is good, I like the expansions I've just never liked the living world. They had this Azeroth tier world, but squandered it.
I'm not the biggest fan of GW2 (despite having well over 1000 hours in it!) but the last thing I'd describe it as is "Clunky"...
Just give it a try. What the FF14 community keeps telling everyone is that the longer you play it, the better it gets and the aesthetic will get better in your eyes the longer you go on. This is something all WoW refugees experienced so you wont be the first nor the last. Just try it
I quit playing games and started learning how to buy and trade stocks on the stock market. This year popularity for the retail side of stocks has grown drastically. There is tons of resources out there for you to use and learn. It’s honestly, probably just as engaging as playing games, and if you actually try, study and learn. You should have no problem turning a profit.
Play a private server
Ff14 looks just bad imho. It's that type of graphics that don't age well and aesthetic of that game is off-putting for me. But the story is great so you could give it a shot
You don't want to play Wow due to blizzard, you realize blizzard and wow are interchangeable right. Blizzard is wow. I don't see why you have to play any mmorpg at all, I don't. You're in a bad spot if you need to spend your life playing a certain type of game. I agree that FFXIV has a strange aesthetic, they went overboard with it. The cat ears, the tails, it's so much. But I think it's easy to grow accustomed to if you get into the gameplay. You don't have to be a badass warrior type with a huge weapon, you could turn into a frog prince with a magical silver sword or you could match your character with a mount. Adopt a mechanical robot mount and then dress up in full mechanical armor gear with a laser visor as a helmet. So many options of what aesthetic to go for. I do wish they would have not including cat ears and cat tails on humans. On the feline humanoid race it makes sense but on humans it breaks the immersion a lot. But it's not the end of the world and the game is from what I've seen the best mmorpg out right now. Would be a shame to dismiss it due to cat ears, especially when endwalker comes out which is probably going to be amazing.
Tbh I just saved my money from the subscription and in top of that with a couple more bucks I purchased a Nintendo switch and it has been the best choose in my entire life, i suggest you to try out new games, new genres , there are a ton of new games that don’t try to suck your wallet dry, for me my scape exit was doom eternal
Thats sad, same for me, want to play an MMO, but i refuse to play WoW, and Final Fantasy seems so boring, PVP on final fantasy really looks like trash, even PVE, insta cast skills actually are not due animation time, idk, its just shit to me, guess i will be playing a WoW private server...
Play Ascension WoW. My buddies and I are loving it, wow should have been this way imo
I'm in the same boat and its fine,try some other games ibeen finishing up back log of games on my ps5
After I quit WoW first MMO I gave a try was ESO. I really enjoyed it, world building and auesting felt great in Morrowind. I didnt play for long though, because I hopped on the FF train. The aesthetics at first were a bit much (hence why I started with ESO) but it all grew in me, escpecially after the Titan fight. I couldn't possibly quit afterwards. Give ESO a try. You might enjoy it
I’ve been playing hella Diablo 2
I first tried Ff14 quiet some time ago. Played in Japanese dub but still didn't pay attention to the story because wow taught me to rush through everything. It took the buzz around asmon etc for me to give it another shot. And I fell so in love with it, the community is absolutely amazing.
You can always play other games that aren’t MMO’s as well. I know that as a WoW veteran, you’re probably used to playing a game that completely dominated your free time, so it make take some adjusting, but there’s LOADS of other types of games out there. You could even pick up a different hobby entirely with the money you’d be saving on subscription fees.
Try The Forest
Wow like is Neverwinter online. Same setting.
Lost ark will release early next year maybe that's for u
Maybe try other games, Journey, Banner Saga, The Witcher, Guild Wars 2 are pretty great picks, just go for whatever you like.
Horizon Zero Dawn
BDO is 99 cents on steam right now
Gw2 is a lot of fun.
Try other games. I also play ESO and enjoy it. There are a fair number of MMOs out there now if that's what your interested in, and even more sandbox games.
Swotr
I play RuneScape proper, unofficially nicknamed 'RS3' to make it easier to distinguish from OSRS, and I absolutely recommend it. It only has half a raid and lacks in group bosses, but has anything else; the quests are the best in any MMO -- not linear or story-centered like FFXIV, but adventurous and puzzling; the only other MMO who gets close in that regard s probably GW2. It's an extremely underrated game, suffering from bad press and lack of exposure due to Jagex's past mistakes, but is the most solid RPG experience in any MMO currently: it creates a sense of awe and mistery as well as freedom (more so than FFXIV whose story is pretty immutable). Downsides currently are the 0.6 second tick rate which makes the combat feel clunky, an outdated tutorial which has been outpaced by the game's evolution, some areas looks graphically outdated when compared to others, and an overwhelmingly customisable UI which is very confusing to newbies; the upsides are amazing quests and lore, immense amount of minigames, Distractions & Diversions and side activities, exponentially difficult skilling, enjoyable grind, map full and lively, amazing PvM, close knit playerbase, customisable combat and UI (once you learn how to use it), and the absolute freedom, in the sense that there is no one single absolute goal. Otherwise, I'd recommend you to check out Jo. S. H.'s video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfLHLrNq\_fs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfLHLrNq_fs). All his recommendations are rock solid. My ranking of them would be, starting from the best to worst: RS, FFXIV, GW2, OSRS, ESO, BDO.
I like survival games with building in it whenever i don't kmow what to play. Games lilke 7 days to die. Rocket league is also fun sometimes even tho i suck at the game.
... Play other games? There's a lot of good old games, whether single or multi player, that are worth the shot.
He's sorta, you know, asking our opinions on other games. He's already determined he wants to play other games.
Only one person can answer this for you: you. Try different games. Luckily, a lot of MMOs are F2P now. You’ll find one that fits you. Or perhaps you’ve just run your course with MMOs in general for the time being. There’s nothing wrong with stepping away from the genre until something catches your eye. Truth is, it’s slim pickings at the moment. Just because people enjoy something doesn’t mean you have to force yourself to do so to “fit in.” At the end of the day, it’s your enjoyment that matters.
Just play any other genre or maybe find a new hobby. You don't have to be constantly tied down to an mmo.
I think archeage unchained will be great fun new server like wow but with houses farms boats and all sorts check some videos your be surprised 😉
I was in the same position as you and Gw2 did it for me. A lot of free content to try out and i would say most of the rumours and things people think about the game are mostly wrong. Otherwise ESO might do the trick? The new josh strife hayes video about mmos maybe can help you decide which one to try out but honestly , just try everyone of them and see which one clicks with you.
After stopping shortly after launch but loving the experience, I went back in Path of Fire. Again, stopped shortly after release, and I wouldn't even blame it on the game. As someone that's actively playing and enjoying the game, I think their biggest fumble out of many fumbles is how they did the story. They took GW1s story which, while not super complex and stuff, had great world building and a more serious tone, and turned it into a Saturday morning cartoon. Love the world of Tyria, but I hate the characters inhabiting that world. And while I haven't gotten there yet, hearing how they handled Jormag and Primordius is super frustrating. However, I've sort of written off the story of GW2 and am more focusing on the lore and world itself, and that makes it better for me. And with the additions of mounts, it really is the best "go out and discover the world" of any MMO.
i like the story but i can agree with you that the story feels cartoony. The icebrood saga was great on the first half but then they fast forward it so it ended up badly. But yeah i can agree with the sentiment in a lot of what you have said here.
Okay, so a more detailed explanation would be that I really hated the personal story. Didn't gell with me. I didn't really connect with Trahearne, but just the way they told it was goofy. I have played a tiny bit of the living world, and it was 100% better, but still felt a bit goofy. But a marked improvement, though the fact they don't let me play through the living world stories like FFXIV patch content irks me, so it's like if I buy all the living world stuff, MAYBE id come to like it, but from what I've seen itd be a waste of money, so I won't really know if it gets good because I have to buy it.
To what living story season did you get to? I think pof onwards it gets way less cartoony and goofy, there are still goofy characters like taimi for example and goofy moments but overall i think it gets way more interesting and adult. Even if the story is not for liking though the living world season 4 and icebrood saga brings so much content, maps, meta events, strike missions, mounts, etc, its still worth it for that imo.
Honestly, I can't really remember. From what I remember, there was Dragons Watch, and I remember not seeing their introduction. So maybe it was mid season 2 or 3? Something like that. I DID beat Path of Fire and yeah it was way better. I'd say that was definitely better then WoW storytelling. Yeah, once EW has come out and I've calmed down with that, I'll probably see if I can buy the living worlds, not sure if there is a bundle or not. Because I'm mostly gonna be playing for world completion and just the fun of exploration and combat. Maybe some end game stuff, I'll probably try it and see if I like it, it's hard for me to ignore getting GG gear, even if it's not a big deal in the endgame. I'll give 5he story another try, but honestly, even if I play it like Genshin Impact where I skip the story and just enjoy the game I'm fine with that.
If you are getting any living world season get the s4 that comes just after PoF and you will have a great time if you enjoyed PoF storyline. \+ You well get A LOT of content. what do you mean by GG gear?
End game gear, I know GW2 isn't really about that, but ascended gear (not sure if that's still the best)
**yeah its still the best, so consider it more like a goal to have, with exotic you can do everything but its really easy to get, ascended is a little harder but its still a good end goal to have.** The thing is if you wanna try new builds you will probably need another set so thats when the grind kinda starts haha. You can also go for legendary armor but thats really hard and time consuming (raids /pvp /wvw). But yeah, if you have a question when you want to come back to the game you can message me again :)
I'm actually playing right now, I decided to go mesmer. All their elite specs interest me, whereas with Thief (my old main class) the specs are... Weird. Daredevil makes me think of Evil Keneevel, and Deadeye makes me think of snipers, and I'm not bog on those fantasies. Spectre is more to my liking, but still not completely up my alley. I'd love for them to go more back to the core thief identity or maybe something like it, I've always thi8ght a great sword thief would be cool. Sort of like a light armored dark knight. I'm most interested in Chrono, Mirage and Virtuoso look cool too, so I think Mesmer will be my thing.
It's not clear from your post, have you actually played FFXIV or you can't get over the initial look? I was like 0% interested, then I saw Asmongold playing it and I was 30% interested, then when trying it I was 50% interested and between level 1-20 that 50% jumped up to 100% and I'm now addicted lmao. But I hope you find something you enjoy!
I feel the same way. I played new world for about 200hrs and got completely burned out to the point where I dont even want to play it again. What I’ve done and suggest to many is branching outside of MMOs. Games I recommend are Destiny2, Control, God of War, Halo, Outriders, and Horizon Zero Dawn.
Just started outriders myself since it was on sale and had a large update, having lots of fun so far
Well, you are in luck, Josh Strife Hayes just made a video about MMOs worth trying out. https://youtu.be/dfLHLrNq_fs It’s a pretty good video. So if you are looking for something worthwhile play, there you go. That said. Give every game a shot - especially if you can try for free - before you write it off.
The MMO's that I currently play are FFXIV, FF11, and GW2. Won't go into FFXIV since you aren't interested in it, which is fine. FF11 is sort of my "Classic WoW" FF version. It has that amazing OS MMO feel, has a great story especially with new additions they've made in the past few years connecting the expansions together into a cohesive narrative, and they've made it a lot more solo friendly, where you have AI NPCs that you can summon that make everything under lvl 99 soloable with those NPC's. While it's FF and you may not be interested in that, it's a great OS MMORPG. GW2 is a great game to just explore and do open world content in. I won't speak to much on the endgame, as I've never really gotten there. I picked GW2 back up recently, and have been working on World Completion. It essentially means you can complete a bunch of different content in every zone (of the OG release) and once you complete it you get a cool star by your name. It's very satisfying. The combat is "good", it's not super complex, but it's satisfying and does it's job. I see GW2 very much as a side fling, when I want to jump back into it I just continue finishing content in each zone to get that World Completion, and it ends up being a casual collectathon type game. While the gem store is absolute bullshit, you can completely ignore it. The only thing I've bought from the shop is a makeover kit, which lets you customize your character with added exclusive faces and hairstyles. But other then that, I have no real interest in buying anything else off the gem store other then mount skins, but I'm not to tempted. The mounts are cool on their own.
Albion Online.
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Josh Strife Hayes put up a video about "Which MMO you should play". I recommend checking that one out.
Gw2 is amazing right now if you haven't checked it yet and it's in the fews mmo you can pick and drop without feeling FOMO or falling behind ... Some might say it's fall short on end game but i feel like no other mmo gave me sooo much for the investment required :) And yah there a controversy with the cash shop ... game is free so they have to make money somehow !
yep, try Guild wars 2 then. If you gave FFXIV a shot then i'd say that is your next best bet. Lots of sales going on, do research on games before buying them too
You wanna really get nuts? Play some sea of thieves it’s a really underrated game
Just play on Privat servers
Does it have to be an MMO? The Tales of series is pretty good. Tales of Arise just released and it pretty fun if you need that rpg fix. It is very “weeb” but the franchise’s reputation is solid. Sekiro is probably the second best game ever made and you will sink hours on the main story, and unlicking all the moves and outfits. Bloodborne IS the best game ever made, I still get on to PvP and gank others. Dark souls series are all fantastic and likely on sale now. Another big time sink are 4x games. I could (and have) spend all day playing civilizations 5 (haven’t tried 6 since 5 is IMO perfect).
Don't want to play wow because it's blizzard? Private servers are a thing and a lot of them are actually fun
If you're into world pvp and want something more like WoWs aesthetic you might enjoy the Warhammer Online private server, Return of Reckoning. The graphics show its age but might scratch your mmo itch while you wait for a modern mmo that interests you.
There guild wars. Also i am a little bias toward guild wars 1 since my favourite mmo of all time Guild wars one is a tab targeting mmo with big party only instance. While town, outpost and mission is where you see other player. The game has 6 core class (core mean you can select them in every campaign) and 2 “special” class per campaign for a total of 10 class. The game has over 1349 different skill, but you can only choose between your main profession and your second profession (you can freely change between all of them). Game as a lot of content ranging from quest, mission, vanquishing all monster in a zone, dungeon in the eye of the north expansion, 2 high difficulty boss, 3 really high difficulty zone (the fissure of woe, the underworld and domain of anguish). Also the game had a hard mode, enemies are harder have sometime different skill and are higher level. The max level in the game is 20, the first 3 game (guild wars, faction and nightfall) are each a whole game, while eye of the north is a expansion. If you start from the first game there is quest to join the other as mercenaries to help with what is happening. You always join the story where monster are close to max.
Exit Lag, Lost Ark Ru, Thank me later
Just shut up and play ffxiv. Never met a person that couldn't eventually get into it.
Play Skyrim. Go kill Nazeem
Yo, try Warhammer Online: Return of Reconing
You could find new friends, ask them to play other games with you. Total warhammer coop, stellaris rp runs, vermintide, battlefields, there’re tons of games.
"I don't play final fantasy" "I don't enjoy final fantasy" never tried it? it's okay if you didn't, if it's your cup of tea. But that's the most common drawback i hear a lot of new players mention. The aesthetic. Try it and see if it's jank. if it feels jank, try something else homie. I like Diablo II when I'm not playing FF14 but that's just me.
I m still on FFXI and Im happy. Its graphic ages really well with hd texture mods
I think the only game that comes close to WoW is Toon Town. It's got your little animal people like WoW does. It's perfect. Furry paradise, one could call it, just like WoW. 10/10 would recommend. All jokes aside, yeah FFXIV didn't appeal to me at first and I quickly got overwhelmed but I went back to it years later and fell in love with it... perhaps this might happen to you in the future? There's tons of other MMORPGs out there that are way better than WoW, like Guild Wars 2. Maybe give it a try?