Getting the MMO itch again - which is the best theme park MMO right now?

[Seagal]

Started getting an itch for an MMO a couple weeks ago, and the itch has only been growing, so I'm thinking about subbing for a couple months on one of them.

Anyone who has recently played (latest expansion) some of the bigger name theme parks have an opinion on them, and which is the most healthy an active right now?

I'll note some areas of importance for me -

- Accessibility in the Dungeons / Raids

- Interesting group PvP

- Story content

- Old content that can be solo'd for mounts, pets / minions, transmog / glamour

- Reduced ability bloat

- Transmog / Glamour that includes attractive and or sexy items

- Community that is more positive than toxic and a game that is policed well

I'm considering Final Fantasy XIV (don't have Endwalker, but would pre-order Dawntrail), WoW Retail (don't have Dragonflight, but would pre-order The War Within), WoW Classic, and then finally Star Wars: The Old Republic. Open to other suggestions also.

Now, obviously, with major expansions coming up for both WoW and FFXIV, the answer right now might not be the same later in the year. Dawntrail could be a total dud and so could The War Within, but lets ignore that for now.

I'm also aware that this being the FFXIV board is likely to be more in favor of FFXIV, and that's fine, but please try and remain as unbiased as possible when talking about the games.

I have significant hours logged on all three, but as mentioned I have not played the current expansions at all.

Thanks to anyone who's willing to provide some input or opinions on the games and help me in my decision on which MMO to sub to.

[Zeithri]

This is the best themepark MMO if you've played the other Final Fantasy games.

We got Gilgamesh, Omega, Leviathan, Exdeath, Kefka, Chaos, Shinryu, Knights of the Round, Sephiroth cosplayers, Tidus Cosplayers and more.

So for a THEME PARK, this is perfect.

Now as for the other stuff...


- Accessibility in the Dungeons / Raids
Very acccessible.

- Interesting group PvP
PvP is atrocious. The worst I've ever experienced in an MMO.
Every time they make it better, they make it worse.

- Story content
Also atrocious. It has moments where it gets really good.
And then it dives headfirst into mediocrity or lunacy.
You have no input, yours is a Fate to stand and Nod at people and go do it like the dumb muscle you are.

- Old content that can be solo'd for mounts, pets / minions, transmog / glamour
Yes

- Reduced ability bloat
They reduce, then they add, then next time they cut half, and you go " Well they just ruined my class.. "

- Transmog / Glamour that includes attractive and or sexy items
I have a glam that I'm very fond of that I glam all the time.
It looks like my avatar. So in short; Yes.

- Community that is more positive than toxic and a game that is policed well
Absolutely. You can find a few bad elitist here and there but for the most part.
Most are very welcomming.

[Seagal]

Thanks for the info, Sunny.

I think I remember hearing something a while back about someone claiming they were banned for trying to help a Black Mage by telling them that they shouldn't be spamming nothing but Blizzard. I had no idea how true that was at the time, or if it was even the whole story.

Anyways, I'm not concerned at all that I'll have problems in FFXIV, since I never did before. I don't make it a habit, nor do I care how or what anyone does in the game or how well they perform. There will always be another dungeon or raid.

And thanks again for all the replies, everyone. I'm subbed and playing SWTOR right now and enjoying it. I will be subbing to FFXIV at some point soon and hope to enjoy that one again also.

However, I am starting to think that WoW is probably not for me anymore and it's best to leave that one alone.

[Sunny]

Originally posted by Seagal:

I think I remember hearing something a while back about someone claiming they were banned for trying to help a Black Mage by telling them that they shouldn't be spamming nothing but Blizzard.

Entirely possible, but it wasn't about WHAT they said, it was about HOW they said it. It totally matters here.

As far as WoW goes, I'm not sure about that. I would recommend withholding judgment until The War Within or whatever the next expansion is -- I've been reading about some things they're planning on implementing (an equivalent to FFXIV's Duty Support, for example) with the expansion, and it sounds like they're really working on improving casual-play-with-friends.

If that really ends up being the case, they may end up redeeming themselves enough to make it worth playing again. That is a GOOD thing to focus your development on for fun for the players.

[Seagal]

Oh, nice. Then it sounds like I'll have to give it a more in-depth look when we have a release date for The War Within.

Appreciate the info, Sunny.

[Sunny]

No problem. I'm a systems and development nerd. ^^ I love talking about this stuff pretty much more than anything except D&D or chickens.

(or grandkids, but nobody online wants to hear about them. nobody.)

[Chashmodai]

Originally posted by Seagal:

I think I remember hearing something a while back about someone claiming they were banned for trying to help a Black Mage by telling them that they shouldn't be spamming nothing but Blizzard. I had no idea how true that was at the time, or if it was even the whole story.

Definitely not the whole story. If you offer constructive criticism in a respectful manner, you will not have any issues with moderation. In addition, most players will appreciate it too, especially if you ask if you can give some tips beforehand.

Now, if you tell someone to stop spamming Blizzard and to quit the game, along with a bunch of slurs.. You might end up in the Mordion Gaol.

[Topper mcnabb]

[/quote]I'm not sure what all that means. I guess I would need to hear some examples of what would actually get you banned or silenced (do they even silence in this game or just straight bans?).[/quote]

[/quote]I guess having people feel like they're walking on egg shells or using third-party apps to talk because they're afraid of bans is a negative of aggressive policing, but I still think I'm in favor of it. If no one is afraid of the punishment or repercussions then the behavior will never stop and it will negatively impact other players. [/quote]

The toxic positivity aspect is that the community can act like a hivemind at times preaching that they're the best community in online gaming, but do an 180 if they feel injured, lets assume you're a streamer, you say something positive about the game, they all flock to you and praise how nice and educated you are because you are validating them. But later you make a critic, a valid one, then the community pulls their pitchforks and witch hunt you in a very twitter esque scene. I suppose you could call it faux positivity aswell, The community wearing a veneer of positivity, but able to act like entitled kids sometimes, this is mostly at cesspolls like reddit, twitch and twitter as in game rules also apply to them, in game is smooth sailing in terms of harrassment of any sorts.
Unfortunately this may or may not lead you to distancing from the player community as a whole as many do isolate themselves into small guilds and in game chat groups(called linkshells).

Regarding the bans, their ToS is poorly worded since it was changed to be more punitive back in 2017-18, which generated a lot of unsafety on what is allowed or prohibited, people have reported being banned for saying "♥♥♥♥ yes" when receiving a loot they were after in a dungeon, and others due to using image macros in game which were normal practice in the early ARR and HW days, I specifically recall a player named "chad thundercock" being issued a name change by the GM because his name was deemed offensive, so these reports led the community to move to discord in fears of losing their account while in game communications became the most insipid and bland milk toast you can think of.

They have a warning and ban system aswell as a ban appeal and a ban decay, if the infraction isn't serious a GM will teleport you into jail and talk to you and issue a mandatory name change or warn you that something is a no no, if they deem it serious or you're a recurrent, you get teleported to jail and issued a ban ranging from 3 days to 2 weeks, any longer than this is turned into a perma ban, but back in Shadowbringers they made a ban decay system which will in a time ranging from 6 months to a year and something delete your infraction records.

As a rule people assume that any foul language is ban worthy so you won't hear people saying stuff like "♥♥♥♥", "♥♥♥♥" and the sorts in game, the bright side is: there is no in game harrassment or verbal abuse.

The downside is that there are foul players who threaten to report you for things like not carrying them in dungeons or suggesting that they should learn their classes if they're doing content Y or X(which is by itself a reportable offensive under sandbagging).

IMO personally, I dislike that this makes in game chat dead mostly, but if you're not aiming to play it like a CoD lobby you won't ever get trouble with GMs, it is still sad that it generates a looming fear at players from even giving feedback to others as they may seem this as harrassment and report you(if you're talking politely you won't get in trouble, but is still tiresome dealing with these tantrums), so people just turn apathetic about it and keep quiet.

My issues with this is that bots and cheaters never seem to get banned, but a funny char name may get you a GM visit in a matter of minutes.

[Topper mcnabb]

Originally posted by Chashmodai:

Originally posted by Seagal:

I think I remember hearing something a while back about someone claiming they were banned for trying to help a Black Mage by telling them that they shouldn't be spamming nothing but Blizzard. I had no idea how true that was at the time, or if it was even the whole story.

Definitely not the whole story. If you offer constructive criticism in a respectful manner, you will not have any issues with moderation. In addition, most players will appreciate it too, especially if you ask if you can give some tips beforehand.

Now, if you tell someone to stop spamming Blizzard and to quit the game, along with a bunch of slurs.. You might end up in the Mordion Gaol.

This reminds me of the infamous Cactuar healer who used to dump a huge macro telling how he will not heal dps pulling, tanks doing multiple packs or people going too fast because he as a healer dictate the speed and retaliating against him with a kick will result in him reporting everyone for harrassment against his play style.
I kid you not this person was real!
I've had the displeasure to end in a dungeon with this dude once, nopped out of there the moment I saw the macro spam.

[Sunny]

Originally posted by Topper mcnabb:

I kid you not this person was real!
I've had the displeasure to end in a dungeon with this dude once, nopped out of there the moment I saw the macro spam.

Why on earth did you not report him for that BS? If your recollection is accurate you could have reported him on the macro alone, lol. Admitting to breaking the Code of Conduct in a macro is absolutely actionable. The reason people usually don't get nailed for the refusing to heal thing is because *they don't admit it*. If you got a guy macro-ing his guilt, report him!!!!! If a tank says 'YPYT' and then follows through by letting you die, report him!

There's fewer things that are more cut and dry to the GMs than outright acknowledgment in chat of how you're breaking the rules. You can't say 'oh, I just missed it' or 'oh, my internet died' if you say 'I am breaking the rules in this macro.'

A macro like that falls directly under lethargic play, compelling a playstyle, AND obstructionism.

[Topper mcnabb]

Originally posted by Sunny:

Originally posted by Topper mcnabb:

I kid you not this person was real!
I've had the displeasure to end in a dungeon with this dude once, nopped out of there the moment I saw the macro spam.

Why on earth did you not report him for that BS? If your recollection is accurate you could have reported him on the macro alone, lol. Admitting to breaking the Code of Conduct in a macro is absolutely actionable. The reason people usually don't get nailed for the refusing to heal thing is because *they don't admit it*. If you got a guy macro-ing his guilt, report him!!!!!

I did, I always do, a lot of people did, but I have zero info if he ever got banned for this lunacy, what I do know is that people managed to chase him out from Cactuar into another DC, I haven't seen this walking meme in 4 years now.

edit: oh this was before they added sandbagging into the rules.

[Sunny]

Originally posted by Topper mcnabb:

I did, I always do, a lot of people did, but I have zero info if he ever got banned for this lunacy, what I do know is that people managed to chase him out from Cactuar into another DC, I haven't seen this walking meme in 4 years now.

Yeah, they won't ever tell an individual player what disciplinary actions were taken on a report on another player for privacy reasons. But omg, what you're describing is in no way OK or allowed and will absolutely get somebody actioned.

Originally posted by Topper mcnabb:

edit: oh this was before they added sandbagging into the rules.

Ah-ha. Yeah, that explains it. He probably contributed to the overhaul of the Code of Conduct. =)