FFXI vs. WoW

I'm thinking of buying one of these but before I do I want to know more about them, billing, customizing, game play/ leveling ect. Everything that can be said about the games I want to know since I'll probably be playing which ever one I think wins out in the end...

WoW-
-you have to deal with jerks and getting ganked. If you die, your armor gets weaker and you have to get it repaired
-you have to create a new character if you want to try out different jobs, but you can create them on different servers.
-you can only do two crafts/hobbies
-you have to pay game money to learn new abilities.
-you get your mount at lvl 30 and you have to pay a buttload for it
-the graphics are brightly colored and cartoony
-some say leveling in this game is quicker, but you need more exp-hundreds of thousands versus 44,000 in FFXI. I personally think it's about the same rate.
-WoW level cap is 70.
-two sides, Horde vs. Alliance
-characters can speak
-you use your keyboard and mouse
-American game, not really any music except quiet repetitive noise.
-it costs $15/mo

FFXI-
-people are nice and mature. They are more willing to help because this game is more complex than WoW and it takes a certain level of intelligence to play. they're also more willing to work together because if you die, you lose experience points, but the exp. is easily regained.
-at level 18, you can do a quest to be able to change jobs and use a subjob. a subjob enhances your main job and makes you more powerful. you have to stay on the same server.
-your abilities automatically come with the job and the weapon you use.
-at lvl 30 you can do quests to unlock new jobs. there is a lot bigger job selection in ffxi than wow.
-you can get married.
-you can do as many crafts/hobbies as you like.
-at lvl 20, you can do a quest to get your chocobo license and you get to raise your own chocobo. they come in different colors and you get to name them.
-the graphics are more realistic and it has a more earthy palate. For example, my mithra (catgirl) character has decent proportions, whereas a blood elf on WoW would have giant boobs and a stick-thin waist.
-most mithra players are guys.
-level cap is 75
-there are both missions (for rank, money, key items) and quests (for fame, money, and item rewards)
-there aren't two sides battling each other, everyone are allies.
-you can get race-specific equipment (RSE) and job-specific equipment (artifact gear)
-character's can't speak save for grunting and gasping when in combat
-you can use a controller and your keyboard. the mouse is harder to use. I use an xbox360 controller and it works beautifully.
-Japanese game with a lot of Japanese players and a few German players.
-strong Japanese cultural influence including items (fans), food, and clothing
-beautiful music
-it costs $12.95/mo

I highly recommend FFXI. My character is Morwenna on the server Pandemonium. If you decide to get this game, I would be more than happy to help you with it. Also you can read more about it at FFXIclopedia.

*edited to add more

I've tried both and, in all honesty, the ONLY good thing I can say about WoW is it has pretty graphics. Character design is weak on most MMORPGs so they're about the same as far as FFXI vs WoW (though, once more, WoW > FFXI on graphics) but as far as things to do and the player base... FFXI is better and seems to take a more active role in listening to what the players want.

Recently there has been a slew of updates making the game much more fun to play.
Levels 1-10 no longer suck and can be done quite quickly.
After level 10, if you know people in game who are a higher level than you (or if a higher level wants to help out or just party at low levels)... they can "level sync" to your level. Now there's "treasure caskets" that appear randomly when a monster is killed to provide useful items like Potions & Ethers and even nifty Amour & Weapons from time to time.

The story lines in each expansion are quite entertaining. "Chains of Promatia" is quite probably the BEST story arc along with "Wings of the Goddess" being a close second. "Treasures of Aht Urghan" is pretty interesting too though, in my opinion, "Rise of the Zilart" is more entertaining... then again I've completed Zilart and am only 1/4th the way through ToAU.
There is ALWAYS something to do.
ALWAYS a goal to be done.
You can level 1-75, participate in missions for your Country, Zilart, CoP, ToAU, WotG.
Constantly added quests, items, armours/weapons, food.
You can pick a craft or several:
*Leathworking, Fishing, Alchemy, Goldsmithing, Smithing, Woodworking, Clothcraft, Bonecraft.
There's several hobbies: Chocobo Raising, Pankration (which is pretty much the FFXI version of pokemon: Take pictures of monsters on "soul plates" and use them to fight other monsters in the Colusseum), Clamming, Excavation, Gardening, Logging, Mining, etc.
There's additional jobs that can be unlocked through various quests once you reach level... 30 (i think).
Player vs Player is weak but still enjoyable... it's like PvP combined with football (kill players, find an specific stone, throw stone in hole-thingie).

Once you hit 75 there's a crapload of things to do:
Level another job, fight Gods (sea, sky, Hyper Notorious Monsters), hobbies, crafting, etc.

And the CORRECT link to FFXIclopedia:
http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
^Pretty much has everything you could ever want to know

I've been playing FFXI on/off for four years now and I have no regrets in continuing to play this game religiously.

~Ravenwind (Seraph Server)
75 White Mage, 72 Black Mage
....16 Warrior, 29 Monk, 11 Red Mage, 26 Thief, 1 Paladin, 12 Dark Knight, 18 Beastmaster, 8 Bard, 38 Ranger, 10 Samurai, 14 Ninja, 11 Dragoon, 36 Summoner, 1 Blue Mage, 1 Dancer, 7 Scholar, 0 Puppetmaster, 0 Corsair





^Raised that chocobo from an egg to a chic to an adolescent to the full grown Black adult. The one I presently use, other than the Yellow Rentals, is Blue.

My stats are-Monk54/Warrior33/Dancer32/White Mage26/Paladin18/Ninja17/Thief15/Red Mage14/Black Mage14/Scholar11/Summoner11

Rank 5 San d'Oria

If you decide to play and join Pandemonium, I'll give you a linkshell pearl. Linkshells are guilds. Mine (called Thirteen) is very helpful and we do parties, missions, and quests together a lot. Also sometimes if someone is bored, they'll power-level you so you can get major exp without having to worry about dying.

I'm looking for FFXI for the 360... of coarse then I'll have to get a 360 and gold account but it should be worth it... That said, it will be a long time before I'm playing but is anyone on odin/ Cerberus/ Bahamut/ Ragnarok or Gilgamesh??

I'll probably be either Galka or Elvaan since I prefer malee fighting

Be sure to get the Vana'diel Collection 2008. Has the original and all four expansions (Zilart, Chains of Promatia, Treasures of Aht Urghan, and Wings of the Goddess) for around $19.99ish.

I'm on Seraph but my linkshell leader has a few friends on Odin... apparently Odin is one of/the largest Servers (so much so that people are allowed to transfer to other servers for free). I have a couple friends on Ramuh still... both Ramuh & Seraph are fairly small though.

As far as Race...
Race really doesn't matter beyond the initial 10-20 levels. There's plenty of Food with stat Effects and Armour with stat bonuses that compensate for any "racial benefit" you may hear about. Between those two and the player's knowledge & dedication... you can play any job with any race quite well.
However, for general all-around purposes (melee and magery) I'd personally recommend Elvaan as they simple have the best, in my opinion, all-around stats & what-not next to Hume.

...but who wants to be Human in a fantasy game anyways?

According to pricegrabber...
FFXI on Xbox 360 for $18.99 & free shipping
...is the cheapest as far as online stores go (excluding eBay... which I wouldn't trust due to bootlegs may or may not having the necessary Serial Keys).




Oh, and right now the Christmas aka "Starlight Celebration 2008" event is going on. It's a wee bit hectic but... thankfully FFXIclopedia has a great guide:
Starlight Celebration 2008 guide

Can get some nifty food items, fireworks, or armour that is completely/near completely useless but looks all seasonal.



Christmas Trees in my Mog House along with a few other things:
https://i.servimg.com/u/f75/12/95/50/97/rav08111.jpg
https://i.servimg.com/u/f75/12/95/50/97/rav08112.jpg

Morwenna wrote:

WoW-
-you have to deal with jerks and getting ganked. If you die, your armor gets weaker and you have to get it repaired
-you have to create a new character if you want to try out different jobs, but you can create them on different servers.
-you can only do two crafts/hobbies
-you have to pay game money to learn new abilities.
-you get your mount at lvl 30 and you have to pay a buttload for it
-the graphics are brightly colored and cartoony
-some say leveling in this game is quicker, but you need more exp-hundreds of thousands versus 44,000 in FFXI. I personally think it's about the same rate.
-WoW level cap is 70.
-two sides, Horde vs. Alliance
-characters can speak
-you use your keyboard and mouse
-American game, not really any music except quiet repetitive noise.
-it costs $15/mo

I'll fix a few things here...

-There are different types of servers to start with. PvE, PvP, and RP-Pve and RP-PvP. You can only get ganked in contested areas on PvP servers, unless you choose to flag yourself for PvP on a PvE server.
-Your items take no durability loss for getting killed by another player.
-Having to pay Copper/Silver/Gold for new skills isn't a big deal.
-At level 30 the mounts cost 40 Gold which is cheap. This has been lowered considerably, as it used to require level 40 and 100 Gold.
-Level cap is now 80 with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

For screenshots-

My Paladin at current:



Pfft... Chocobos... I got a bangin' steampunkish Motorcycle:





Comes with an expandable sidecar, so a friend can ride along:



Got me a mothafuckin' Dragon to ride for a flying mount. Pretty sure it would eat a Chocobo:

I've gone with option 3 Perfect world!

That looks really similar to Guild Wars.

just because I'm addicted to PW and want to drive the point home on its awsomeness

PW-
- armor repair isn't a big deal as money is easy to come across, some people just leave their coin laying around and you can go scoop it up and selling things makes it just as easy to get even more money.

- you can open your own "catshop" to make some money

- you can get married. its expencive but I'm willing to bet someone is selling the bride/groom packs ingame for ingame coin

- you can try any craft they offer, just do the first quest of that craft and you'll get the book for it. they all open up for you at lvl 5 (I think, either 5 or 9). Plus, again with the money, if you don't like the craft you can sell its book for a good amount of coin (I sell them for 15'000 each and I'm selling for cheep)

- you have to pay ingame coin to learn new skills and spirit points but like I just said, money is everywhere if you look and the more you use your skills the more spirit points you get.

- some classes get their first mount at lvl 30 (elfs get it as soon as they get the coin to buy wings) which if you have the money you can buy ingame with ingame coin or you could buy gold or silver to get it from the cash shop but 99% of everything can be found ingame if you don't mind searching a little.

- if you do your quests you can lvl really quick and people are willing to help if they have the same quests or on bosses/call to duty ect. Making a squad will boost your exp and spirit as well as get your quest over faster

- level cap is between 108 and 180

- characters can speak

- you use your keyboard and mouse, I'm not sure if you can use a controller since I havent tried...

- the musics good "embiance" music but its not for everyone and if you just want the sound fx without music you can do that and just hear the nature/envirenment sounds

- there are 6 classes (Venomancer/Barbarian/blademaster/Wizard/Archer/Cleric) and 3 races (Human/elf/untamed-aka-werebeasts)

- you can start your own faction at lvl20 for 100'000 coin or join a faction at any lvl (anyone from here that joins I'll send you a faction invite )

- you can buy a makeover scroll and totaly change your character, seriously I've run across a super seyan and mr. popo and lots of other looks

-it costs $0.00/mo

It looks decent though if I ever switched I'd probably go with Guild Wars... and/or this.
Whatever blows your skirt up and rox your sox is all that matters.
Enjoy!


Random screenshot whoring:

Spoiler:

To be honest some of y'all need to come join my on WoW on Wildhammer server.

I need partners in crime for maximum griefage.

this is pretty much what I'm saying... I just have to change a few things...

Madelchai wrote:

To be honest some of y'all need to come join my on WoW PW on Wildhammer Lost City server.

I need partners in crime for maximum griefage. that I know from somewhere

yep

Oh, I just realized I havent updated my pic since I was lvl 15

heres a new one