What’s The Best Subscription-Only MMO?
328 words.
What’s the best subscription-only MMO out there right now? If you could only pick one to maintain, which one would it be? (By the way, the possible answers are: WoW, EVE, WildStar, ESO, or FFXIV.)
This is pretty easy for me to answer, actually: Final Fantasy XIV. Hands down. No need to even talk about it. It’s beautiful, it’s fun, there’s a lot to do, it’s updated often, it does every MMO mechanic (that matters) exactly right, and it’s cheaper than the others at $12/month. The only down side is that replayability is low if you ever want to make a second character. (You don’t need to, though, since you can play any class.)
Somewhere in Final Fantasy XIV.
In second place I would probably put WoW. It’s more expensive but it’s hard to beat the sheer magnitude of content available. For me, though, the lack of modern MMO features gets on my nerves and the gameplay gets repetitive after a month or so.
WildStar and ESO are both great games, too, but only for a limited time. Each one becomes repetitive quickly, so there’s no need to keep a subscription going all the time unless you have friends that play it.
EVE? Come on. Do I even have to say? That game is just not fun. It’s barely even a “game.” It’s more of a point-and-click adventure. The only reason to subscribe now is if you somehow got invested in the game years ago and built up tons of skills to the point that now you have to subscribe because you can no longer learn any skills in under 6 months.
This is not to say that I wouldn’t subscribe to WoW, EVE, WildStar, or ESO ever. I just would only do it for an occasional month here or there. What I’m saying is that FFXIV is the best one to stay subscribed to all the time. At least for me. Opinions may vary, of course. :)
Archived Comments
Ikralla 2014-08-29T15:44:31Z
As a WoWer, I’m slightly biased towards it, especially as I never played any of the others. My father plays EVE, and it looks… complicated. Like, he has entire spreadsheets and databases and stuff. Not my cup of tea.
That being said, I’m contemplating giving Final Fantasy 14 a go, especially as a) I got paid today, and b) I hear they’re bringing Triple Triad from FF8 into it!
I spent SO MANY HOURS playing that damn card game. Such fun.
One to spend all my time with though? I’d probably stick with what I know! :D
Jaedia 2014-08-29T16:01:18Z I think I have to agree. Though I’ve invested years into Warcraft at this point, I think about returning and just have to ask myself, “Why? What would you do?” Which puts me off quickly enough. And I liked WildStar.. but same issues as WoW. The grind doesn’t feel worth it. I haven’t been near EVE, and ESO I can’t afford, but FFXIV was fun when I payed it. I feel it suffers from the same issues as WoW and WildStar but it’s gorgeous and has an amazing soundtrack, and with regular updates it’s not so bad.
Aywren 2014-08-29T16:29:23Z
I agree with FFXIV.
It’s the first game I’ve subbed to in many years. I never thought I’d go back to paying a sub, but and I discovered I don’t mind it. I like that there’s no cash shop shenanigans constantly going on in FFXIV. If the devs make something, I have the same access to it as everyone else because I pay the same as everyone else. I guess I’m kinda burned on F2P games shoving their cash shop items in my face all the time.
When ESO and Wildstar rolled around, I wasn’t as interested in them because I knew I’d only play one subbed game at a time. I tried the beta for both, found them lacking what I enjoyed when compared to FFXIV, and decided to stick around Eorzea instead of moving on to newer games.
I haven’t regretted that choice as FFXIV continues to surprise and delight me with new releases that come far more often than more oldskool sub games ever provided. I’m content with where I am and still have a lot to explore in FFXIV!
UltrViolet 2014-08-29T17:49:16Z I’ve always been super impressed with FFXIV updates, both major and minor. Somehow they always seemed to nail the worst problems with surprisingly effective fixes. I’m not subscribed at the moment, but I will probably start it up again soon. There’s a lot of new stuff that I haven’t seen yet.
UltrViolet 2014-08-30T00:18:35Z Oops, I stand corrected. It’s 12.99/month for 1 character per world, 14.99/month for whatever the normal limit is.
The Mystical Mesmer 2014-08-30T04:33:55Z I’d have to agree with Final Fantasy 14 if you’re an MMO bittervet - ahem - veteran who hasn’t had the pleasure of romping around on a Chocobo in quite some time. The amount of tiered content out there is quite attractive, the world is brilliant (love the range and fluidity of character animations) and the combat is smooth albeit borderline laconic for those of us accustomed to a 1.5s GCD or instagib telegraphs. In fact, I’m buying the game right now and will be subbing at the Entry level after a month. I’ll let you know how it goes.
The Mystical Mesmer 2014-08-30T04:36:01Z Pfffft. I meant lethargic, not laconic.
UltrViolet 2014-08-30T14:35:57Z
FFXIV is actually the first Final Fantasy game I’ve ever played heh. I guess people who have played every other version might be sick of it by now, but it’s all new (and a bit weird :) to me.
True about the slower combat.. mostly I don’t mind but sometimes it can get frustrating when you’re waiting on cooldowns.
Ping-Ponging My Way To Nightmare Tide | Endgame Viable 2014-10-23T17:42:17Z […] of FFXIV, an upcoming expansion and nailing consistently high-quality content every quarter reaffirms my belief that FFXIV is the best subscription game to have right now, if you have to pick just […]
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