I’ve been playing FFXIV since February 2019 now – and 95% was spent on a single character, my Miqo’te. At some point (probably 2022) I got nosy and started a Lalafell on Cerberus (same DC) and played him for a bit, Level 30 Summoner/Scholar and Level 30 Warrior, but have not really played him since.
Some time ago they changed how characters and realms work though, so with the cheaper subscription I can now have several characters on my main realm – so I deleted a Level 1 Viera I had made (and never logged in) at some point and remade her on my main realm (the Save Character thing is so handy!) and played a bit, in like 3 sessions. Pugilist to Level ~8, then Pugilist to Level ~14, and today Gladiator from 1-16 and Pugilist to 16.
All in all just like 2 hours, I think – but it just feels like a completely different game at those low levels.
I mean, most MMOs work like this that you start out as a complete noob, have mobs around you that aren’t even aggressive, you get a level up every couple minutes… and yet it feels even more different in FFXIV. I think it’s because if you get some bonus XP (even before the 30% XP earring), and so some quests, you really need to pay attention to not completely overlevel everything – much more than in WoW. I’m talking “do 1 quest, kill 5 mobs, new level” at Level 14, not at Level 2.
And on the other hand once you’re past 50 (or even after your earring expired at 70 or 80, as I don’t have the 90 one)… all I do is trying to minmax my leveling time – like 5 random duties here, three good dailies there, hand in some stuff for Crafting and Gathering (usually 2-3 per day, whatever is cheap) – and then the weekly chores like Deliveries and Wondrous Tails. But it feels pointless to go out in the world and just do all zone quests, you need to like 50 of them for a level (at least it feels that way) – even if you include FATEs.
Yeah, sometimes it’s nice to just start a new WoW character and also rush through levels, but I think the band is much narrower. It’s the same game, just quicker. You would still either chain run dungeons, or in my case blast through zones questing and doing World Quests.
I don’t know, it’s kinda weird. On the one hand it feels close enough and yet completely different, on the other hand it feels a little pointless, as I’m happy with my main, but I have no jobs under 50 left.
I think I’m just glad I don’t even like the looks of most FFXIV races, so I’m not even tempted to have many alts, or meaningful alts at all. I just wish I could do more things in one 4h block and less “I could spend 2h every day”, but I guess that’s the way it is if you don’t enjoy doing all the things that give good XP.