So, I’ve been thinking a lot about these two games lately. There are aspects I like from each of them, aspects I really dislike on both, and things I wish were available on each system. Most of the time I wish for the later; a marriage of the two to make a better MMO. I can’t really choose one over the other, nor will I say one is better than the other. They are different but both have aspects to them that the other could learn from the other.

Here is what I pretty much like and dislike from each game:

Final Fantasy XI
Pros:
Grouping – Yes, this IS a positive as well as a negative. I always LOL’ed when I read WoW guides and they always stressed having a DD, tank, a healer, and someone to maintain crowd control in a group situation. After playing FFXI for as long as I have, I couldn’t help but go, “orly?” because it just seemed so normal to me. Not to mention, you get to meet some cool people in these parties (not always, but sometimes).

Changing jobs – I really came to appreciate this feature after leveling, oh, 3 – 5 different characters… three of them being from just ONE race. Can you imagine the headache of doing the same quests three times over? Yeah. NOT fun. FFXI does away with this by letting you do only a select few quests over again, and letting you watch the CSes from an NPC if you really want to.

Cut Scenes – I’m amused by them and they make quests and missions entertaining for certain quests.

Every race has access to every job – There is no having to sweat over which race you want to play and whether or not it has the job you want to play. This can be troublesome if you like one race but find that they don’t have the job you really like.

Music – Even songs like the Tarutaru female character creation theme makes me smile and giggle. It sets the mood perfectly for characters and scenes so well, and I haven’t really found any other MMO that does that for me as well.

Cons:
Grouping – I hate when I have to party with 6 people, when people don’t want to go anywhere BUT x, y, or z zone, or when people feel they need a power leveler there.

Jobs – Sometimes I feel that the jobs are limiting. I know that this was originally released on the PS2, but I can’t help but feel like certain jobs should be able to do more. I was in love with how Thieves/Rogues/Assassins were in other games, but in FFXI? Playing it feels like sheer torture. I have been unable to get past level 7 on my own since I started FFXI. Yes, that’s sad and very pathetic. But its also one of the most annoying jobs for me to level… next to MNK.

Crafts – I know a lot of people like them, but after trying out WoW’s crafting system? The one for FFXI seems like a chore. At least things are spelled out in WoW and I don’t have to go ape shit when I lose x, y, or z items. Just whether or not I have enough space for them.

Conformity – C’mon. Out of a dozen potential leveling spots, people always congregate to one particular spot. No one would ever think about leveling off of Fomors or anywhere in the Aqueducts, but I found it was a really nice leveling spot when I took my BLU set through there. It may be out of the way, but it was nice because no one else was there. No competition = win.

World of Warcraft
Pros:
Grouping/Solo – Its easy for anyone to solo. Even priests (an equivalent to WHM) can be “made” to do more damage than they can healing, and yet still be able to heal pretty decently if called to do it.

Roaming leveling – No having to stay in one little camp all day long! You can move about and find targets to kill as they come.

Crafting – Mining was one of my favorite things to do. I was making money and having fun. Same goes with First Aid, Cooking, and Tailoring.

Rogues – I have always loved Assassin type classes. It goes along well with my original online handle, too!

Travel – Airships don’t take forever and a day. You can also use certain objects and spells to get people to you faster if they are roaming about. It also helped me get out of a sticky situation during the Thanksgiving holiday.

Effort and Rewards – I feel more rewarded for my efforts than I do in FFXI. Well, at least in terms of drops and what have you from mobs and other areas. On the other hand, I feel more satisfied getting my character to 75 on FFXI than if I had a level 70 character on WoW.

Cons:
Rudeness – I was prepared for this, but its still annoying the way people recruit you into guilds (blind invites), parties (again, blind invites), or who are just rude in general.

More Incompetence/Immaturity – Maybe its just me, but I felt I met more incompetent players on WoW than I ever would have on FFXI in a day. That’s really sad. It was especially frustrating when they didn’t know how to put together a sentence when asking for help. I mean… I expect it from EU players who might not be familiar with English and JP players who don’t know a lick of it, but other NA players? /sigh I’m just sorely glad that no one begged me to cyber them. I would have punched them in the face if they had done so.

Mobs – I’m spoiled rotten on FFXI and I know it… but it was just annoying to still get aggro despite me being higher level in a newb zone.

Races and Classes – I want to be a Blood Elf. I love them. I also want to try out Druid but I can’t unless I play another race. I’m not really into that, so instead I get poked at for making an army of Blood Elves (don’t ask how many I have).

Quests – They just aren’t as… interesting. Maybe I’ve yet to get to the meat of things, but so far it seems like the same to me. Probably the only fun one I encountered was while being in an instance and all of a sudden having a mob appear and bum rush me. I nearly pissed my pants and freaked out as I tried to get the mob secured on me and live. THAT was entertaining!

Music – Its boring and I often find myself playing FFXI music in the background!

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I know some of this seems skewed, but I found myself a little happy I couldn’t pay for WoW. It is REALLY addicting and fun. To the point I wouldn’t be able to concentrate because I knew I could get a lot done in a short span of time, and feel very satisfied. The same thing cannot be said about FFXI, and thus makes it easier for me to put it on the curb and not play it as often as I could with WoW.

As for terms of difficulty, if anyone says that WoW is easier, then you have another thing coming. What is easier is getting EXP and some rewards; what ISN’T easy is actually mastering your job. My friends have kept insisting I’m out of my fucking mind for beating myself up over not being able to main heal and tank at the same time on PLD in WoW. For you FFXI’ers this is a subjobless PLD we are talking about here. No /WAR at all. The only tools available to me are things similar to Flash, Cover, and Cure spells. You try to hold hate and main cure like that with two other players who are incapable of healing and often have pets with them. I’ve tried and tried so many times, and I’m surprised I was able to keep my friends alive in certain instances… but it was still frustrating as hell. It made me both appreciate and feel frustrated over something like this; something that is clearly taken advantage of in FFXI when you can subjob other jobs to help you gain skills that other jobs have.

Would I choose one game over the other? No. Not really. Do I have more fun on the game than the other? It depends on what I’m doing. A lot of this is very dependent on what I’m looking for at the time, and both FFXI and WoW are unable to satisfy all my needs at once. Does that mean I’ll continue to play both games? Yes. Until I’m driven mad and am forced to pick one game over the other. Lets hope it doesn’t get to that point!