The MMO genre is overflowing with titles vying for the attention of anyone willing to invest significant portions of their time in a single game. There are no doubt plenty of killer choices you can make based on what type of combat, endgame, and payment model you prefer, ensuring that you’ll almost certainly find one that fits you just right. I’ve been investing off and on in the genre for over two decades, with thousands of hours poured into everything from old, niche titles like Silkroad Online (which I just learned somehow still exists) to worldwide successes like World of Warcraft and Guild Wars.
In recent years, though, I find myself disappointed in various aspects of many popular MMOs, whether it’s an overwhelming focus on endgame raiding, too much PVP-centric content, or unfriendly communities that make me cringe when I even glance at the chat. None of that is a problem when I return to Final Fantasy XIV. I somehow feel at peace each time I load up Square Enix’s long-running MMO, and it’s becoming harder and harder for me to want to venture elsewhere.
Unlike most MMOs that I give up for good anytime I’m hit with a burnout phase, I’ve been consistently hopping in and out of FFXIV since its rerelease and rebranding as Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn in 2013. Each new expansion, including this year’s Dawntrail, brings me back into the fold. I never fail to have a good time with each revisit, whether it’s for just a few casual weeks or multiple months of daily playtime. It isn’t going away anytime soon either, as evidenced by the mobile version of it currently in development.
While I can pinpoint a ton of things about the game that keep me eager to jump back in, I’ve identified three key things that contributed the most to me continuing to choose this MMO over every other in 2024.
The community is simply delightful
Though there are plenty of friendly, helpful people in the best MMORPGs, the genre has an unfortunate tendency to attract elitists who are quick to make the experience less fun for casual players. For instance, I recently had a stint with the new free-to-play MMO Throne & Liberty. While I had a good time overall with its combat and world, I frequently encountered hardcore players who would instantly kick others from parties in the very first dungeon if they didn’t already know the boss mechanics. It was the first week for chrissakes!
As I’ve grown older, I just don’t have the patience for this kind of demand and negativity. Because of this, the biggest appeal of FFXIV for me is its stellar community, which has earned a much-deserved reputation as delightfully friendly. Every dungeon run is met with happy people who type “O/” into the chat to simulate a person waving, and there’s almost always a person or two who will tell everyone to have fun, joke around with the group a bit, or otherwise treat you precisely the way a good friend would in real life. Best of all, I’ve almost never experienced a group where someone gets mad over a wipe or becomes argumentative about someone not being perfect at their role. Instead, players are generally happy to explain mechanics, toss you a revive, or just give you a confidence boost with an uplifting, “That’s alright! We’ll get ’em this time.”
Beyond that, it can be utterly magical to spend a few hours in Limsa Laminsa, the exceedingly lively hub in which the overwhelming majority of players have chosen as the game’s primary congregation spot. It has become a crowded and eclectic location for hundreds of players to show off their fashion, have friendly conversations in chat, or even offer entertainment by playing one of many musical instruments. Hell, I’ve often seen full bands of Bards appear and put on concerts right in the middle of the city with dozens of players dancing together to the jams. And people don’t shy away from using a wide variety of emotes like hugging, laughing, high-fiving, and more with each other in passing, either, choosing to genuinely engage with one another in the social, cooperative way that MMOs were initially designed to facilitate.
As a matter of fact, if you’re reading this as a FFXIV player yourself, I’d like to thank you personally. You’re probably one of these super-nice folks, and the world needs more people like you. O/
One character to rule them all
I’ll just go ahead and say it: I loathe alts.
There were a few times during my hardcore World of Warcraft days when I’d get burned out with a class and want to try something new, so I’d outright delete an old character and start a new one to avoid having multiple characters to jump between (and because I was obsessively attached to my username at the time). I’m an extreme example of alt-hating, obviously, but it’s nevertheless true for many of us that having multiple characters can lead to feeling a lot less connected to a single one.
Luckily, FFXIV masterfully avoids this pitfall by making it so that your character can switch effortlessly between any job in the game with just a few buttons — at least provided you’ve obtained that job, which is almost always as easy as having a few conversations with some NPCs somewhere in the world.
As someone with a perpetual case of decision paralysis and a tendency to grow bored easily, I love that I can tank with the Gunbreaker job when I’d like some quick dungeon queues, or select the Machinist job when I’m out questing and want to burn down baddies just a bit faster. I can also dabble in other jobs like the Reaper or Black Mage when I feel like putting down the firearms and taking up something a bit more magical in nature. This efficient way of handling classes in the game ensures that I’m always attached to my character (and his name) and that his overall progression in the game is secure regardless of which role I feel like playing on any given day.
So much content, yet so little overwhelms
There’s a lot to do in FFXIV. I mean, like a whole lot. In addition to playing through the main story quests to level up and experience the story, you can also run tons of dungeons and raids, go out of your way collecting glamours for customizing your character’s unique style, invest in a staggering amount of non-combat jobs, engage in some PvP, or find dozens of other ways to pleasantly spend your time in this nostalgia-fueled world. It’s simply filled to the brim with quintessential Final Fantasy stuff to see and do, and since I’m a sucker for the way the game serves up endless fan service, I’m all about seeing as much of it as I can. Weirdly, though, this isn’t overwhelming.
Unlike most MMOs with many years’ worth of content to work through, something about FFXIV feels so relaxed. Sure, you have your hardcore raiders and people who take the game very seriously, but the majority of folks log in each day to just spend time with friends or embrace their favorite in-game activities. As such, there’s significantly less pressure to push endgame content here than I’m used to, meaning I don’t feel like I’m being left out of something important by focusing my energy on the aspects of the game that I find most enjoyable.
I mostly like running dungeons across multiple jobs for fun, collecting glamours (because I’m a fashion-first kind of player), and generally just taking in the experience of living within a vibrant, magical world for a few hours. Yeah, I’m down to raid once in a while — but it’s sure nice that it doesn’t feel like the central point of the game. And even when I do, I’m always thrilled that I’ll probably get paired up with some really nice pals who aren’t going to yell at me if I don’t understand a mechanic the first time I’ve visited the fight.
And because of that, I’m sticking with Final Fantasy XIV.
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