MMO Friday Fight Round 7: World of Warcraft Vs. Final Fantasy XIV

Welcome back to the MMO Friday Fight. This week, we have a battle for the ages. We are bringing two of the most popular MMOs of all time into the ring to duke it out for the championship belt. In one corner, we have World of Warcraft, the giant that everyone has been trying to kill for 20 years. In the other corner, we have Final Fantasy XIV,  the underdog that got knocked down, dusted itself off, and came back stronger than ever. 

World of Warcraft

Many people consider World of Warcraft to be the true king of MMOs. Although haters want to claim that WoW was only successful because of its marketing campaign, that isn’t the sole reason for its success. WoW’s marketing only worked because it is a well-crafted MMO. The marketing brought the masses, but it was the gameplay that kept them coming back day after day, year after year.

World of Warcraft was better than any other MMO of the era. It looked better. It played better. It just felt better. And even if those statements are subjective, it is hard to deny that millions of players believe them. 

Final Fantasy XIV

FFXIV is a lesson in humility. When it originally launched, it was a horrible mess. Instead of trying to continue on, Square Enix fell on its sword and admitted defeat. Then, under the direction of Naoki Yoshida, aka Yoshi-P, FFXIV was rebuilt from the ground up.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn was the success that Square Enix expected all along. With the hubris of a huge corporation quelled by the humility shown by Yoshi-P, FFXIV has continued to evolve, pulling in new players to this day. Now over a decade old, FFXIV is one of the most beloved MMORPGs.

My Take

I tried playing WoW. Really, I did. I played for a couple of months and then moved on, never looking back. I just didn’t see the charm that other people experienced.

I’ve never been a WoW hater, but it just didn’t click with me. I was a little surprised I didn’t like it. I was a big RTS fan back then, and I spent more hours than I want to admit playing Warcraft 1-3. I was hyped about an MMO that would be based on the same franchise, but that wasn’t enough to keep me playing.

FFXIV has the exact opposite story. I was never a fan of the Final Fantasy franchise. I only tried playing a single installment (I don’t even recall which one it was), and I barely got started before I knew it wasn’t for me. 

I wasn’t the least bit interested in trying FFXIV: A Realm Reborn. Other than just a general awareness of FFXI and FFXIV’s initial failure, I didn’t know anything about the MMO. I was content playing DDO, but I begrudgingly tried it when a few guildies kept pestering me. I’m glad they did. I instantly fell in love with the Dragoon, and FFXIV became my MMO of choice for the next few years. 

So yeah, WoW doesn’t hold a candle to Final Fantasy XIV. It’s a first-round knockout for me.