Final Fantasy XIV: Endgame Bonus

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I "finished" Final Fantasy XIV, but I've actually still been playing it.  My twitter friend and free-company mate (guildmate) in the game, Belghast, encouraged me to jump back on and try some of the content that unlocks at level 50.

Wow, there is a ton of content that unlocks at level 50.  When I wrote my wrap-up post I was at 84 hours of play time after leveling to 50 and completing the main story.  I'm now over 160 hours and I have yet to repeat content after hitting the level cap.  I haven't even had to run the same endgame dungeon twice.

Let's talk about content.  Final Fantasy XIV releases huge amounts of content on a regular basis.  In one of their recent "small" updates they patched in an entire mini-game center and new location in the game called the Gold Saucer... on top of adding new story quests and dungeons.

At this point, after 5 major patches, there is almost as much story after level 50 as there is leading up to level 50.  And there are many more dungeons at endgame than there are while leveling up.  It's a huge shift from a game like WoW where only a small handful of dungeons are meaningful at any given time.  In Final Fantasy XIV there is a level 50 version of every low level dungeon, unique level 50 dungeons, level 50 versions of every primal encounter, and a bunch of raid content.

Essentially, I'm sitting at over 160 hours played and the only time I had to repeat content was a few days when I was leveling through the 30-50 range.  I haven't repeated any content at level 50 yet.

I'm so glad that Belghast convinced me to come back and try endgame content in Final Fantasy XIV.  I've decided to subscribe to the game and actually pay for game time for awhile.  I haven't had a MMO click with me like this in a long time.  It'll be a good gaming home to put down roots for awhile, at least through the expansion that is due in June.

Now that I'm subscribed and committed, I'll most likely cut back my play time a bit.  I don't want to burn out on this MMO as fast as I typically do.  I would love to start getting more into the Final Fantasy spin-offs soon as well as anything else that comes out and grabs my attention.  For the foreseeable future, I'll be dabbling in Final Fantasy XIV while playing other games too.

As far as what I want to accomplish in game.  Well...

I want to try out the raids and see if they're fun for me.  I've never much enjoyed raiding in any MMO, but maybe this one will be different.

I'd also like to try leveling another class or two and eventually get around to crafting.  Now that I'm committed to this world for awhile I want to branch out and explore what it has to offer.

I also want to try to do more content with my Free Company.  They're great people and I have fun chatting with them.  Now that I'm max level I can help anyone running lower level dungeons and hopefully soon I'll be able to help with endgame raids too.

I mostly just want to own up to being wrong about my initial endgame impression of Final Fantasy XIV.  There's actually a lot of compelling content after hitting level 50.  Enough to actually get me to subscribe to a MMO for the first time in over 4 years.  Good job Final Fantasy XIV.  I didn't think anything would convince me to subscribe to a MMO again.


Comments

  1. AywrenMarch 17, 2015 at 9:12 AM

    Certainly try the Crystal Tower raids - this is coming from someone who has never raided in a game, and doesn't have interest in traditional raiding. It's not the kind of raid you might imagine.

    Just make sure you have someone to walk you through the mechanics, or you check out a video ahead of time so you know what's going on. After practicing it a few times, these raids are probably some of my favorite end game content now, and I do run them repeatedly (because I like them). It's also a great way to start gearing up, and they tend to be a grouping favorite in my FC!

    Have fun! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. VoidMarch 17, 2015 at 9:33 AM

      My posts are written a little in advance, and this was where I was a week ago. I actually just started raiding two nights ago! I did all the Crystal Tower raids and they're super fun. I don't know if I'll get into the Bahamut raids since they seem a little more intense, but the Crystal Tower is perfect to run through the Duty Finder.

      Thanks for the tip!

      Delete
    2. KodraMarch 17, 2015 at 10:27 AM

      You should show up on Saturdays, when we are catching folks up with First Coil and working on some of the Extreme Primals. We've been 1 or 2 short each week so we could use more 50s still getting geared up.

      Delete
    3. VoidMarch 17, 2015 at 11:38 AM

      Sweet! I'll keep that in mind. A lot of it depends on what I have going on with my kids :)

      Delete
  2. ChestnutMarch 19, 2015 at 6:56 AM

    Welcome back to the game! I hope to run into you sometime soon! :) I play in Bel's FC, but split my time between that and WildStar. :)

    ReplyDelete

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