Sorry if this is the wrong thread for this, but I've got some questions about FFXIV in general.
Looking at the FFXIV site, it looks like they've changed all the names around for the races. Is there a reason? I mean, as long as I get to play a Mithra it's all cool but, I kind of liked the name Taru-Taru and Mithra...
・How do the jobs work? It looks like you start with a class and then evolve into a job? If that's the case, how do the Disciples of the Hand / Land work? Are they strictly non-combatants? And where the heck are thieves?!?!? ;.;
・How closely does this game resemble XI? It looks like they're taking a page from Guild Wars II with the FATE system - is there anything else that really makes it stand out from say WoW? Is the combat system similar to XI?
・Is this the right thread for these questions or is there another FFXIV thread?
I need to see if I can find some of my old screen grabs from my AlienGundam days on FFXI....
I'm gonna take a punch at answering this, although already answered, just because I've played all the games you mentioned well into endgame.
a. Races are changed just because it's a different gameworld, but you'll find a lot of old FFXI players will call them taru, mithra etc. and there were a lot of old FFXI Players in 1.0 (the old version before ARR).
b. They work like FFIV IIRC, you start as and level a class then at level 30-50 you can unlock the job of the class, which is essentially a more focused version of the class and has AF gear etc. One example is conjurer (healer) and gladiator (sword/shield) at 30 is the preq to unlock Paladin. With classes, you can mix and match skills from other classes, to make 'all rounders' to an extent, but with jobs you can take only five skills from two other classes that are preselected. SE touted it as class for solo, job for party play, but unless they've rebalanced it from 1.0, you'll probably find once you unlock a job at 50 you don't play classes ever again, solo or not.
Crafting and gathering classes are non-combat classes only, though with hamlets in 1.0, you could use them in instances alongside combat classes to make 'supplies'. It worked OK.
I don't know where THF or NIN is! But it's a class I really want too, they did a poll a while back and if I remember, people wanted a pet class first and a dual wield THF type class second. Seeing how they've added SMN/SCH both with pets for ARR, I'd expect it to come with the first expansion or something like that.
c. I'm biased in that I play this game with the same people I played XI with, so to an extent I feel like it's a lot like XI, but I suppose it's not that much alike. It used to be more like XI, with the first 'HNMs' got dropped into the game back in 1.0 but they've moved away from that significantly since then. I still think you'll find common areas with XI-XIV, but don't expect to be camping faf or running sky. Instanced dungeons look to be the way forward in XIV, but you have the Ifrit/garuda fights etc. which do remind me of the summon fights in XI or perhaps the CoP fights, in fact a lot of the content so far reminds me vaguely of CoP.
FATE are very much like guild wars 2, or a bit closer to RIFT if you ever played that. The battle system is closer to wow/GW2 blah blah etc. than FFXI, there is no gear switching or skillchains. Food makes a comeback, pots are utilised much more in XIV compared to XI. You still have the trinity of Tank, Healer, DPS and in the end of 1.0, you had XP parties that had roots in the XP parties from XI, but in comparison to the tightly controlled groups from XI, they were more or less carnage of pulling 5+ mobs and AoE like mad, much closer to merit parties in ToaU.
I think it stands out from WoW on its own merits, no idea really about ARR, because we've only played a BETA with content up to the 30s, but the old 1.0 was different enough and showed a direction that has roots in all the usual suspects, but I think if you're an old XI player, you'll appreciate the setting and the feel of it all. I'd say it's worth a shot if you can get a Phase 4 BETA key at least.
now I feel less special. (in fact you can craft all the hamlet gear Oo)
(It's a visual quality and hardware joke in one!)
