When players hear MMO, they most likely think of Blizzard's World of Warcraft. Thanks to this acclaimed MMO, players and their friends can go on adventures and be heroes in their own stories. And while a lot of other MMOs appeared on the market, more players still compare them with Blizzard's hit IP. After all, it's WOW that popularized third person, click-based, hotkey-focused gameplay. Moreover, thanks to its subscription-based model with regular expansions, it seems WOW will maintain the top MMO spot in the charts.
That is, until Final Fantasy 14 came along. This Square Enix IP, with its current iteration actually the second version of FF 14, allows Final Fantasy fans to forge their own Final Fantasy story. Thanks to existing and iconic Final Fantasy elements, Square Enix managed to transform its hit fantasy RPG series into a full-blown MMO. In fact, others consider FF 14 much better than World of Warcraft. Which MMO prevails, though?
10 FF 14 Wins: Consistency Is Key
True to its parentage, FF 14 focused on weaving a central narrative and gameplay developments across regular patches and major expansions. Moreover, its colorful cast of heroes, villains, and other characters helped weave together a plot that remains consistent throughout the game's patches, updates, and expansions.
As such, FF 14 effectively makes use of all existing plot elements - be it major characters, major events, major items, and major plot hooks. Moreover, frequent patches add new story content, new dungeons, and new adjustments to gameplay - making everything feel consistent. True to the storytelling prowess of Square Enix, FF 14 feels like playing a separate Final Fantasy game per expansion.
9 Warcraft Does It Better: Building Upon Itself
All WoW expansions take place after Warcraft 3, effectively making World of Warcraft both an MMO and a sequel. However, unlike other MMOs, WoW's expansions remain both standalone and interrelated. Hardcore fans will be able to weave together World of Warcraft's overarching story with lore all around Azeroth. However, those who want a pretty chill experience can enjoy the main story as presented in that particular expansion.
While its overall canon leaves much to be desired, WoW never follows the stereotypical "new expansion, new threat, same solution" format. Instead, each new feature they present in the expansion ties into the main storyline properly and sets the stage to new expansions by offering just enough story hooks.
8 FF 14 Wins: Trademark Job System
Thanks to its signature Job System, FF 14 easily integrates the franchise's wealth of class options into gameplay. As such, players can find themselves choosing one of 20 Class options that slowly transition into 10 Job types. Gladiators become Paladins, Thaumaturges become Black Mages, and Conjurers may become White Mages.
Each of these Class and Job types brings unique skills, abilities, and class options that can further diversify gameplay. Moreover, the clear division of Class Roles into DPS (Physical or Magical), Healers, and Tanks make raid party organization much easier to accomplish. As such, FF 14 players get to use Classes with abilities similar to other RPGs but with a unique Final Fantasy spin.
7 Warcraft Does It Better: Familiar Classes, Kits
In World of Warcraft, players choose a Class depending on their particular Race - both of which have their unique sets of abilities, skills, and perks. Moreover, WoW doesn't complicate the game with rather peculiar class names unlike in other MMOs. Instead, WoW takes familiar class concepts and instead diversifies them with various kits. As such, a Cleric may specialize in Healing or Tanking roles, depending on their build.
Moreover, perhaps unique to WoW's setting would be "Hero" classes- the Death Knight and the Demon Hunter. These Hero classes have roles to play in the game's overarching plot, adding a new layer of thrill for WoW players.
6 FF 14 Wins: Subtly Final Fantasy
What perhaps makes FF 14 such a compelling material would be its faithfulness to the Final Fantasy brand. For instance, the game makes use of its Final Fantasy branding extremely efficiently. Instead of sticking to a specific design style, they instead ensured the integration of staple Final Fantasy elements with their unique visual spin.
As such, Final Fantasy fans will love FF 14 for its faithfulness to the brand. For instance, the game contains staple Final Fantasy classes such as the Red Mage, Black Mage, and White Mage. Moreover, the game also takes on the Moogle, the Chocobo, and Ivalice-esque art for its high fantasy setting, equipment, and weapons.
5 Warcraft Does It Better: Recognizable Style
Another element that sets WoW apart from its contemporaries is its recognizable art style. Granted, more MMOs today take on a more stylish and realistic take on character, creature, and environment design. However, WoW stays true to its visual design with bolder shapes and colors, as well as seemingly-hand-drawn textures, and even unique-looking spells. As a result, WoW remains as one of the more visually-unique MMOs today.
This style choice boosts the level of personalization players get with their characters. Thanks to the Transmogrification tool that alters equipment appearances, players can make unique looks that still hold signature Warcraft aesthetic. As such, players feel that their characters belong to both them and the actual game.
4 FF 14 Wins: Fast And Loose
Unlike conventional MMOs, FF 14 makes full use of its PC and console gaming options. In fact, others might argue its console experience serves more action-packed experiences. Whereas most PC MMOs rely on tedious hotkeys, controller-based FF 14 makes full use of triggers, arrow keys, and the full controller.
Moreover, it seems the game also built a lot of its gameplay with the controller in mind. As such, players feel like their movement actually matters in this MMO. Thanks to controller-oriented gameplay, staying stationary easily becomes fatal in raids. Moreover, active movement becomes encouraged based on the nature of combat.
3 Warcraft Does It Better: Bolder Is Better
Thanks to its veteran status, World of Warcraft remains in the position to try out newer and bolder attempts into diversifying its gameplay options. Granted, WoW stays within its point-and-click gameplay system. Like most MMOs after WoW, the game boasts hotkeys for spells, macro options for quick-casts, as well as various talent and skill tree options to diversify their characters.
However, WoW rises to the top in terms of gameplay thanks to its constant improvement to its gameplay systems. Unlike other MMOs, WoW has the resources to risk making massive changes to its gameplay in order to improve both game experience and player retention.
For instance, World of Warcraft slowly introduced level-scaling to mitigate over-leveling, while the newest Shadowlands expansion will reset levels back to 60 to make way for more game balancing changes.
2 FF 14 Wins: Genuinely Final Fantasy
Older FF 14 fans will remember that today's FF 14 is actually the game's second iteration. The first FF 14 (or 1.0) received extreme negative reception that Square Enix had to make an apology for making the game. In turn, they built the current game, FF 14: A Realm Reborn, with this critical reception in mind. Moreover, they didn't make the new FF 14 a standalone game, either. What's interesting is that they ended 1.0 with an in-game apocalypse and transitioned into A Realm Reborn. Talk about turning a defeat into a victory.
In A Realm Reborn, players find themselves on the planet Hydaelyn, specifically in the continent of Eorzea. They'll soon realize that they're actually heroes from a ruined past, one where the Calamity had struck Eorzea and the heroes were sent to the future and ensure no disaster of this scale happens again.
1 Warcraft Does It Better: A Lasting Legacy
The fact that games released after World of Warcraft's launch were touted as "WoW-killers" speak for the former's legacy in the market. True enough, more MMOs nowadays offer something vastly new that Blizzard's hit MMO can't easily match. However, fans may argue that modern MMO systems today owe a lot to WoW's designers.
Unlike most MMOs, WoW can boast its legacy as a point of attraction. After all, interested players can try out the Warcraft RTS titles to get a sense of the story before the MMO. Likewise, Warcraft has set a unique-enough story that's equal parts in-depth and light enough for lore-lovers and casuals to appreciate, respectively.