FF14 first impression/initial experience as a GW2 veteran.

[DaniTheHero]

This isn't supposed to be an actual rant, nor am i intending to offend anyone who plays either game.
I felt like i should share my experience as a new player in this now increasingly popular MMORPG.


Note this is going to be VERY long.



First i'll tell about why i chose to be playing GW2 up until now to reflect on my latest experience with FF14.
I am not trying to sell the game to you, nor to "take away players" from here, as i barely play GW2 myself now.

I have been playing GW2 for a very long time, and although i have been taking breaks from time to time (as GW2 is known to having content droughts between Living world/Expansion periods) i always come back to it eventually.

GW2 has many things going for it.:

It has a completely free Base game with no time limit, so you can get any friend to try it out and not be restricted to pretty much any content from the Original/Vanilla game pre expansions other than some Spam avoidance and trading/mail system restrictions to avoid botting.

If you decide to pay, you get the entire game, including previous expansions at the price of one, with no monthly subscription, i repeat no monthly subbing.
You pay once, and hop on whenever you want, FOREVER.
No need to cancel every time you take a break and pay again when you return and if you play long term, no large stacked up sum. Just play when you want.

GW2 has no gear chase/treadmill. From the release of the game, the highest tier of gear has been something called "Ascended" and it always remains relevant as the best Tier of gear even a decade later. Meaning even if you take long breaks, you don't need to chase a new ceiling just to enjoy new content properly, and you can hop rightinto it as the same End game character you were before.
The only time that you'll need to get new gear, is if you want a different sort of build for your character, so you'll need a different set of ascended gear for those stats (This can be negated by Legendary armor, that has the same stats as ascended but you can change it's stats whenever you want. This however requires a huge grind to get).

The game has no Mana/Stamina system, nor do you use potions to even heal yourself.
Your attacking is only depended on your cooldown managements and your healing depends on your global class heal (That is by default your 6 key) that varies between classes. No annoying potion usage and purchase management. There is food, but it's used for self buffing.
This system complimented the game well, as the game, at least initially didn't have the concept of holy Trinity. Everyone mostly did everything, or more specifically, everyone was DPS who was capable, and accepted to heal themselves.
Later on as end game raids were introduced more properly, some sub-classes have emerged to sort of fill that old gap, Druid being an old school healer sort, and Chronomancer being a more traditional tank among others, but the mentality of everyone technically being DPS still exists. Some just serve side roles, such as DPS's that can also do useful Squad/party buffs.

The game has a dodge/roll system sort of like in Dark souls, that is limited by a cooldown. This makes the gameplay more mobile and dynamic, and instead of just standing still most of the combat,you dodge and rotate a lot to avoid damage that isn't just enemy AOE.

The combat is very fluid and action-y. Fast. You are constantly on the move, and at times even 'Spamming' moves as cooldowns are short and most classes don't really have more than 5ish damage dealing attacks, unless you weapon swap mid fight. There isn't really a time when you aren't attacking.

Mounts are fairly a new concept in GW2, but instead of having many of them, there's only one of each "type" of mount that serves a purpose(One for dashing, one for jumping, one for flying and so on), and you can change it's appearance with paid skins if you wish to do so.

Questing, although sort of only existing in the base game, is managed through heart areas, meaning you reach an area where the certain quest exists, and you are meant to to tasks around this same area to complete it. There's no fetch quests, no backtracking, no unneeded walls of text just for killing 3 rats.

in GW2 there is no "EXP" grind from killing mobs. You level up near exclusively from doing world events, quests on the map and map exploration. As you you reach the level cap in the base game, the EXP you gain in the expansion zones is used for gaining different sort of mini abilities, passive buffs or unlocking sort of mechanics or merchants that exist in these new zones. No boring hours of fighting the same batch of mobs to level, at ANY point of the game.

Structured PVP works well in theory, the action combat, the fairly decent balancing and the fact that most classes can technically do anything works well. SPVP is also separate from the "main"/PVE game. You can hop into SPVP from level 2, and inside there, gear doesn't matter, you are max level and all your abilities are unlocked. The only thing that counts is your skill as a player, your teammates performance and of course what you pick for your SPVP 'build' (The builds are instantly changable in SPVP). Sadly SPVP and WvW(World vs World) is mostly abandoned by the devs for quite a long time, so you won't really be experiencing anything new there after a while.

Voice acting. Almost everything is voiced. Story missions, the NPC talking around you, world events and so on.

Most of the content encourages, almost demands cooperative play. Soloing is almost never recommended, sometimes may not even be possible. For people that play MMORPGs, for the actual MMO aspect rather than playing it as a singleplayer RPG that sometimes have real people walking around you, this is very nice.

Of course i can go on praising the game for a long time, but the elephant in the room is:

The biggest issue with the game is that due to lack of funding from NCSoft, and generally the huge loss of capital for being one of the only MMORPGs without monthly subbing, content gets added less often. And periods of content droughts are common. if you are a veteran player that plays a lot you run out things to do, unless you grind for fashion or Legendary equipment.
However as a new player, you still have A LOT of content to go through for months or even years before you reach that drought yourself.

A lot of the content, or pretty much all of it that isn't Raids or fractals(End game dungeons), can be summed up to "zerging". A huge amount of players stacking together spamming something until it dies. Can be fun when it's new content, but gets old REAL quick if repeated. Raids and Fractals do require a more old school approach though.




Now let's actually dive into my FF14 experience.


I've obviously known about this game for a long time, as FF14 pretty much is ( or was?) a direct competitor to GW2, but i never researched or bothered with it as i was content with GW2 and the idea of paying sub didn't appeal to me.
However after many many years in GW2, the recent Exodus of WoW players to FF14 and me dying inside from the anticipation for Ashes of creation, i have decided to finally try FF14.
The game stated to give a 30 day trial that is mostly not limited, which didn't sound bad at all.
I haven't done much research still, and decided to just sign up, install and hop on.

I was first greeted by a.. confusing server selection. As i'm European, Light or Chaos seemed to be the relevant options and Light, was highlighted for some reason, so i assumed it meant i'd have better ping there so i chose it. Inside the server i also needed to pick a World and most were already full apparently. I picked one of the open ones, Lich.

I was then greeted by a fairly robust character creator which was nice, however apparently most of the choices do have some sort of influence on different ingame stats, though upon googling the differences, they are pretty much negligible (I wonder if some people pick things they don't like, but have favorable stats for the job they want in order to minmax here. A bit of a shame if this is a thing).

I was then presented with 8 classes that seemed fairly traditional in nature.
I usually play Strong DPS melee dudes, but i wasn't exactly sure what each job does from the ingame descriptions so I have decided to research a tiny bit and learned that 2 of the melee ones are more focused on tanking, the other two are more DPS oriented.
I have decided to go for the Lancer, as not having an actual weapon and using my fists didn't appeal to me.
Upon further research i have learned there are a lot of more classes to unlock in the game, either by "upgrading" the current classes, or complete new ones you can switch into at around level 50.

The opening of the game was a terrible slog. A lot of conversations and wall of texts of things i don't care about (yet?), no voice acting, seemingly outdated animations and no combat involved.
You're then treated to a lot and i mean A LOT of text walls, dull fetch quests, backtracking, and once again none not even the main quest ones are voiced.

The game, also assumes you have never played an MMORPG, or any video game before.
I appreciate the effort to make this accessible for pretty much everyone, but as someone who isn't playing a video game for literally the first time, this was excruciating.

I was itching for some combat to actually experience the gameplay, and i assume that at some point i could have ignored most of these and go outside to fight, but i didn't want to miss vital information that i may need by not doing these starter quests.

Eventually i was finally sent out to kill some mobs ( Kill some squirls! yey ! ).
And the moment i hit my first enemy, it struck me.
GCD 2.5sec. The combat is very, very very slow.
Even with more moves unlocked later on, every move you make, gives you a near 3 second delay before you can do another move. This was devastating. I could feel literally my brain counting down the miliseconds of the delay between me chaining even something as basic as ability 1 and ability 2.
There's also no real way to avoid damage, enemies completely lock on you so unless you are ranged, you might as well seem to be standing still.
I assume later in the game, enemies will have AOE's that you will need to move away from, but still, this seems awfully static.

It seems that a lot of aspects of the game are slow upon further research. Traveling, moving around the map and although they are mounts, they seem to be restricted in a lot of ways.

I also have learned that as a free player, i can't even party anyone ( unless a paid player invites me himself) or add anyone to my friendlist. Why? What if i wanted to team up with other free players that are trying the game with me?

I continued trying to grind ( As this seems to be the most efficient way to gain exp, and because i was tired of meaningless tasks and endless text from the side quests) to see if something speeds up, but no.
Upon even further research, late in the game there are some abilities that aren't restricted by the GCD that you can weave in, but the combat itself doesn't REALLY speed up.

I also noticed, although the character models, when zoomed looked quite nice and rather fan service-y. The graphics and the engine itself seemed awfully outdated.
Sure GW2 isn't the biggest looker anymore, and the engine is quite dated as well as the game IS from 2012, but FF14 being a newer game, a bigger IP in general, and having far more income brought in and funding put into the game, it's a bit disheartining that the game.. doesn't look good.

At this point i've done further research. How late game works, how gear works, how many things that MMO's do, work here. and the more i read, the more disappointed i started feeling.

Now after having all these first impression thoughts and after learning a bit about the future, i had one final thought lingering on my mind.
Even if this DOES get better later on, do i really want to be buying the game all it's expansions AND be paying 13$ a month for this?


When this realization caught on to me, i swiftly exited, uninstalled and after some thought, came here for this post.

[DaniTheHero]

Messaggio originale di Nintendo:

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

I didn't mean that i don't see a difference between the races, i meant that i can't tell a difference between characters of each race.
As in, all catgirls literally look identical, all tiny boios look exactly the same and all the humans look the same.
I assume this is due to the combination of the things i mentioned before, a lack of proportions custimization, the way colors work in the game in general (mostly really bland), and how all the armors i have seen, from new players to max level users hanging in the main city are lame and never really stand out or flashy.

You can only really tell people apart if you 100% zoom into their faces, and notice a different face tattoo or a different hair color.

It also doesn't help that other than like 1 race, everyone is fully humanoid.

I really didn't want to bring up GW2 again, but it's true. Unless someone is a completely new user, almost every person you see looks completely different, The armor sets vary drastically between most races, the many dyes and colors that contrast so much.
The races also vary completely, you have literal salads that have different colors, the loli like class is not humanoid,literal cat guys like the ones from FF14 and although Norn are just giant humans, it's quite easy to tell them apart.
All the sizes between all of them are noticable.

Even the character animations between the races differ. A Char warrior pressing 2 and a human warrior pressing 2 with a greatsword looks like an entirely different weapon skill.

That is because you cannot accept changes, you're playing FF14 while your mind is still at GW2, whatever you see here is FF14 not GW2. Remove your GW2 glasses and you will see the game as what it is.

Zoom in and zoom out camera is commonly used in game, you even nitpick at that saying you cannot see unless you zoom in, well of course, that's how it works since forever. I'm glad FF14 has that far camera zoom out, some games lock the camera too close so we cannot get tactical far few.

Regarding being stand out or flashy look that is because you have played GW2 for maybe years and you know it inside out. Sure I also don't know about other classes here, but since I play a Conjurer, I will know when someone is carrying more advanced weapons or just different or higher than mine. Gears also have unique look even though it's probably not linear like from smaller to bigger, but different.

Look at this, both are just lv 30-ish gears for conjurer/white mage.
https://i.imgur.com/EElSlqm.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/7c5jsSi.jpg
Look kinda plain and generic, right ?

This is lv 50 https://i.imgur.com/7XKayjK.jpg , it gets more mage-y look

This is lv 50 with higher Item Level and relic weapon (ff14 can have different item level even if it's the same char level) https://i.imgur.com/SWmcgQC.jpg
It has different red collar and more red on the chest

This is lv 50 with higher item level weapon (blue) and wearing a costume https://i.imgur.com/vBLVlhM.jpg

I don't know about other classes but I know a bit about hierarchy of gears from looks even though most of the times hard to tell coz ppl use costumes, dyed, or mixed. But if I play ALL classes , then I bet I will notice everyone's look outside of costume. We can play ALL CLASSES/JOBS with only ONE char. Main equipped weapon will decide your active class.

I just checked GW2 on youtube, and I also cannot differentiate races and the gears there, unless it's obvious like archer with BOW, or humanoid but with tail, but if I play it for years then yea I'll notice everything to detail at instant.

===

Just got another upgrade, it gets even more shinier now
https://i.imgur.com/LKoh4IC.jpg

How could you know this playing just one or two days lol. Comparing years of playtime in another game knowing every piece of gear there to FF14 in only 2 days wanting to know every piece of gear in ff14 with just a glance LOL,

You’re doing that exact thing i talked about.
You’re completely zoomed in into the character as if you’re taking a selfie.
If your character was standing among the crowd in a city, without even being fully zoomed out, but just enough fov to see more than a couple of people, literally nobody would tell you apart of the other small dudes.

Also, i still think all the sets you sent look fairly dull. But I suppose that’s my personal taste.

[123]

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

You’re doing that exact thing i talked about.
You’re completely zoomed in into the character as if you’re taking a selfie.
If your character was standing among the crowd in a city, without even being fully zoomed out, but just enough fov to see more than a couple of people, literally nobody would tell you apart of the other small dudes.

Also, i still think all the sets you sent look fairly dull. But I suppose that’s my personal taste.

I am doing a SCREENSHOT ! Of course I would have to ZOOM IN to SHOW IT DUH...The point is, it does get better and flashy from lower level to higher level.

That is my response to THIS post of yours saying from new to max level never really stand out which you are totally wrong because from new to higher level does get better in looks

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

i have seen, from new players to max level users hanging in the main city are lame and never really stand out or flashy.

Regarding you like it or not, that I don't care, the problem lies more in you than the game.

But you're probably not totally wrong because when i check GW2 on youtube, my feeling is exactly like you, nothing really stands out to me I don't even care about that game. It's unknown territory, something I don't care about. So in a way, you're not totally wrong.

see ? yea I totally get your point.
https://i.imgur.com/5b58d1r.jpg

The more I see the more I'm getting your point
https://i.imgur.com/AFRmZDK.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/lU7EbWz.jpg

[DaniTheHero]

Messaggio originale di Nintendo:

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

You’re doing that exact thing i talked about.
You’re completely zoomed in into the character as if you’re taking a selfie.
If your character was standing among the crowd in a city, without even being fully zoomed out, but just enough fov to see more than a couple of people, literally nobody would tell you apart of the other small dudes.

Also, i still think all the sets you sent look fairly dull. But I suppose that’s my personal taste.

I am doing a SCREENSHOT ! Of course I would have to ZOOM IN to SHOW IT DUH...The point is, it does get better and flashy from lower level to higher level.

That is my response to THIS post of yours saying from new to max level never really stand out which you are totally wrong because from new to higher level does get better in looks

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

i have seen, from new players to max level users hanging in the main city are lame and never really stand out or flashy.

Regarding you like it or not, that I don't care, the problem lies more in you than the game.

But you're probably not totally wrong because when i check GW2 on youtube, my feeling is exactly like you, nothing really stands out to me I don't even care about that game. It's unknown territory, something I don't care about. So in a way, you're not totally wrong.

see ? yea I totally get your point.
https://i.imgur.com/5b58d1r.jpg

So your example is a low res low quality screen shot of people stacked on the same spot?
Common man don’t strawman.

I

[123]

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

Messaggio originale di Nintendo:

I am doing a SCREENSHOT ! Of course I would have to ZOOM IN to SHOW IT DUH...The point is, it does get better and flashy from lower level to higher level.

That is my response to THIS post of yours saying from new to max level never really stand out which you are totally wrong because from new to higher level does get better in looks
Regarding you like it or not, that I don't care, the problem lies more in you than the game.

But you're probably not totally wrong because when i check GW2 on youtube, my feeling is exactly like you, nothing really stands out to me I don't even care about that game. It's unknown territory, something I don't care about. So in a way, you're not totally wrong.

see ? yea I totally get your point.
https://i.imgur.com/5b58d1r.jpg

So your example is a low res low quality screen shot of people stacked on the same spot?
Common man don’t strawman.

I

Doesn't matter
https://i.imgur.com/lU7EbWz.jpg
nothing catches my eyes, I see things I don't care about, same as you. So again, you are NOT wrong ! 👍

I still see nothing I should see
https://cdn.kincir.com/1/production/media/2018/oktober/5-alasan-kenapa-lo-mesti-mainin-guild-wars-2/guild-wars-2-chara-700x700.jpg

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/images/thumb/8/83/Krytan_weapons_concept_art.png/1200px-Krytan_weapons_concept_art.png

{COLLEGAMENTO RIMOSSO}https://www.gamersdecide.com/sites/default/files/styles/news_images/public/screenhunter_84_4.jpg

https://d3b4yo2b5lbfy.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/79be0Expansion-Slot-1-1920x1080.jpg

[LeftPaw]

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

Messaggio originale di Nintendo:

That is because you cannot accept changes, you're playing FF14 while your mind is still at GW2, whatever you see here is FF14 not GW2. Remove your GW2 glasses and you will see the game as what it is.

This was my mistake. You have to forget everything you know about your old mmo if you want to enjoy FF14
Why? Because FF14 is a RPG first with a mmo attachment.

[DaniTheHero]

There's two separate things here.

1) Does it look unique and can you tell people apart - mostly objective.
Also a lot (bad) Asian MMOs look the same if not better.
2)Do you like the way it looks - subjective

You may prefer the way FF14 looks, that's fine. But objectively it's far more samey. Without zooming in completely everyone looks identical.
While just the colors alone make people seem different in GW2, and the races are far more varied in appearance, and not a matter of what sort of tail or ears they have.

I'd take fair max graphics screenshots in Town squares at the same zoom level on both games if i could, but i'm not at my PC right now.

[DaniTheHero]

Wetnose i think your quote was broken hah.
But i saw the other thread, i'm glad the game finally clicked for you!

Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to get to that stage, and was it the actual gameplay that grew on you or was it just the story that made it all "worth it"?

[123]

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

There's two separate things here.

1) Does it look unique and can you tell people apart - mostly objective.
Also a lot (bad) Asian MMOs look the same if not better.
2)Do you like the way it looks - subjective

You may prefer the way FF14 looks, that's fine. But objectively it's far more samey and bland.

I'd take fair max graphics screenshots at the same zoom level on both games if i could, but i'm not at my PC right now.

Here's the thing, the more you play a game, and you know how hard a weapon to get, how much time you have to spend to farm mats for it or waiting for the drop to eventually procs, you'll know the value and see it much differently

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XA-YXIYtIQk/TGfBCqEXDWI/AAAAAAAAAgg/kxMEvynje0U/s1600/25795_102890969753503_100000978019320_22697_5735007_n.jpg

Look at this weapon, I bet you see nothing in it. But I know it for a fact, some ppl bought it for $1000, so yea I see that weapon as very standout, even more so because I played the game for a decade.

So yea I feel you, but the same when I see GW2 you're so proud about. it's just a random game out there for me and I dont care whatever is in it
----
You're free to express your opinion about a game but please use common sense, seeing something from max zoom out of course you cant see anything clearly, that is the law of nature. You dont need to nitpick to the point of something ridiculous like that, just to name one.

[DaniTheHero]

Messaggio originale di Nintendo:

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

There's two separate things here.

1) Does it look unique and can you tell people apart - mostly objective.
Also a lot (bad) Asian MMOs look the same if not better.
2)Do you like the way it looks - subjective

You may prefer the way FF14 looks, that's fine. But objectively it's far more samey and bland.

I'd take fair max graphics screenshots at the same zoom level on both games if i could, but i'm not at my PC right now.

Here's the thing, the more you play a game, and you know how hard a weapon to get, how much time you have to spend to farm mats for it or waiting for the drop to eventually procs, you'll know the value and see it much differently

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XA-YXIYtIQk/TGfBCqEXDWI/AAAAAAAAAgg/kxMEvynje0U/s1600/25795_102890969753503_100000978019320_22697_5735007_n.jpg

Look at this weapon, I bet you see nothing in it. But I know it for a fact, some ppl bought it for $1000, so yea I see that weapon as very standout, even more so because I played the game for a decade.

The weapon looks nice, it's flashy in colors and looks powerful, i bet it has some particle or sparkles to it ingame, seem akin to the legendary weapons in GW2.
I have seen nothing of the sort yet in FF14, or maybe it's only this noticeable when you're zoomed in someone and you know what it is to begin with.

Is there a cap with someone using it? preferablly not a selfie?

[123]

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

Messaggio originale di Nintendo:

Here's the thing, the more you play a game, and you know how hard a weapon to get, how much time you have to spend to farm mats for it or waiting for the drop to eventually procs, you'll know the value and see it much differently

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_XA-YXIYtIQk/TGfBCqEXDWI/AAAAAAAAAgg/kxMEvynje0U/s1600/25795_102890969753503_100000978019320_22697_5735007_n.jpg

Look at this weapon, I bet you see nothing in it. But I know it for a fact, some ppl bought it for $1000, so yea I see that weapon as very standout, even more so because I played the game for a decade.

The weapon looks nice, it's flashy in colors and looks powerful, i bet it has some particle or sparkles to it ingame, seem akin to the legendary weapons in GW2.
I have seen nothing of the sort yet in FF14, or maybe it's only this noticeable when you're zoomed in someone and you know what it is to begin with.

Is there a cap with someone using it? preferablly not a selfie?

And you have tried FF14 for how many days ? one ? two ? and you think you've seen everything ? a simple googling using keyword ff14 endgame weapon will show you things you want to see
https://i.imgur.com/LdC8Hh2.jpg

[DaniTheHero]

Messaggio originale di Nintendo:

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

The weapon looks nice, it's flashy in colors and looks powerful, i bet it has some particle or sparkles to it ingame, seem akin to the legendary weapons in GW2.
I have seen nothing of the sort yet in FF14, or maybe it's only this noticeable when you're zoomed in someone and you know what it is to begin with.

Is there a cap with someone using it? preferablly not a selfie?

And you have tried FF14 for how many days ? one ? two ? and you think you've seen everything ? a simple googling using keyword ff14 endgame weapon will show you things you want to see
https://i.imgur.com/LdC8Hh2.jpg

Those look quite nice indeed, pretty much on par with GW2 legendaries.
Do weapons that don't require a limb or 1000$ also get to be somewhat unique and noticeable?

What about armor sets and colors/dyes?

Also for the record, Graphics themselves is one of the least of my complaints in any game ( although still part of it).
Combat, Presentation and pacing would be my main problems in FF14

[123]

Anyway, I'm done discussing this, you like it or not I don't actually care but please use common sense and not too nitpicking to the point being ridiculous

[DaniTheHero]

Messaggio originale di Nintendo:

Anyway, I'm done discussing this, you like it or not I don't actually care but please use common sense and not too nitpicking to the point being ridiculous

I actually edited my comment to make a bit more sense, but it's alright.
Thank you for the discussion :)

[LeftPaw]

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

Wetnose i think your quote was broken hah.
But i saw the other thread, i'm glad the game finally clicked for you!

Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to get to that stage, and was it the actual gameplay that grew on you or was it just the story that made it all "worth it"?

I would say of the top of my head after messing around trying to find the right class and race for my character, around 4 weeks to get to HW. I did make the mistake early on of doing every quest available though.
There were parts I was totally into and then periods of pretty drab stuff that I did sort of click through.
A couple of times I was ready to give up but then something good happened. At level 45 -50 things started to pick up and I could see the light at the other end of the tunnel, plus the story started to become familiar taking a solid form.
Watch out, the game teases you into thinking HW is about to happen but then drags you away.
Obviously the game play gets better as your skills progress and with you being able to mix things up and take on other crafting/class jobs kept thing interesting. It's the story that can wear you down. You want to push ahead but the game won't let you. Then you have the points in the game were the story breaks into song and it's sooo good.
Now I'm through and you ask me was it worth it.... Absolutely. When I broke through all the past grindy stuff was forgiven.

In a way because of the slow parts in the game, it , it's characters, the world, it's history and you yourself start to feel real. It becomes personal, and thus the charm of FF14 shines.

[DaniTheHero]

Messaggio originale di WetNose:

Messaggio originale di DaniTheHero:

Wetnose i think your quote was broken hah.
But i saw the other thread, i'm glad the game finally clicked for you!

Out of curiosity, how long did it take you to get to that stage, and was it the actual gameplay that grew on you or was it just the story that made it all "worth it"?

I would say of the top of my head after messing around trying to find the right class and race for my character, around 4 weeks to get to HW. I did make the mistake early on of doing every quest available though.
There were parts I was totally into and then periods of pretty drab stuff that I did sort of click through.
A couple of times I was ready to give up but then something good happened. At level 45 -50 things started to pick up and I could see the light at the other end of the tunnel, plus the story started to become familiar taking a solid form.
Watch out, the game teases you into thinking HW is about to happen but then drags you away.
Obviously the game play gets better as your skills progress and with you being able to mix things up and take on other crafting/class jobs kept thing interesting. It's the story that can wear you down. You want to push ahead but the game won't let you. Then you have the points in the game were the story breaks into song and it's sooo good.
Now I'm through and you ask me was it worth it.... Absolutely. When I broke through all the past grindy stuff was forgiven.

That sounds nice indeed. 4 weeks is a bit subjective as play time differs between people, do you know approximately how much time it took?

I tried giving it another chance, but i gave up again after every single MSQ dungeon had a 30+ minute queue.