I played FFXI for several years. My brother (younger by two years and just as much a video game enthusiast) played WOW for quite a while. The assessment that you can solo to level 60 in a month is very off. One, it is the worst kind of level grinding and requires an enormous time commitment to pull off solo. People may do it out of experimentation but it is far from the usual experience.
I quit FFXI because I simply did not like the way your role was pigeon-holed. If you liked to be a dual-wield WAR, then you were fine. If you liked to be a tanking NIN, then you were fine. If you liked to be everybody's punching bag non-conformist lonely BST, then you were fine. But nearly all the jobs required you to play the way the community expected you to play. WAR tanks? DD NINs? Melee/Caster RDMs? A partying DRG? This pigeon-holing of jobs would appear irrational considering the sheer number of job/subjob combinations. This is very characteristic of FFXI. This is extended to a lesser extent to race choice. But it is extended in a much greater manner to weapon-type and armor choice.
Unfortunately, it takes quite a bit away from conventional roleplaying. Roleplaying usually allows you to create the character and what their role is during play. You define who you are. Heroic Taru who overcomes the odds and is at the frontline with his MNK fists of doom, despite his size? It sounds fun and intriguing and challenging. Unfortunately, not only do you get scoffed at and criticized, but you can get outright ostracized as well. Dual Sword WAR/NIN? "Put on A- level Axes or party kick." It would be easy for a bitter BST to blame the FFXI community, but this pigeon-holing is more a direct result of the game being very challenging. In essence, the FFXI community through experience and testing has predefined the roles you may take before you even play because the game is very hard and unless you optimize, you don't get very far. Every once in a while, you get the non-conventional WAR/DRG tester who can prove through parsers that such a job choice is acceptable. But unless it's utterly proven to be better or comparable, your non-conformist, individual quirks are not welcome. That is a large blow to role-playing in general.
In comparison, WOW pigeon-holing comes nowhere near FFXI's level. This is a result of the game being easier. You don't have to be a great tank to protect your party through a dungeon. You don't have to optimize ACC and use the A weapon in order to get that DoT required for good exp. You don't have to have predefined party setups because of the greater prevalence in individual items such as healing aids. WOW is much more casual, much easier and as such, optimization is not an overriding concern. By contrast, FFXI's focus on optimization and limitations on the freedoms you may take are overbearing.
I did not migrate to WOW. Personally, I felt drained with the way role-playing and individuality was stifled in FFXI. An indirect result of the challenges the game presents is still a reality that I grew tired of. In the end, if you commit yourself to FFXI, you may end up loving it or end up being hated and hating it. WOW on the other hand allows you to commit to optimization to wonderful results and praise of the community but does not sacrifice the chance to be creative and individually unique. A common criticism levied by FFXI players at WOW is the low bar set for challenges and thus a perceived low sense of achievement. But if you ask WOW players, they have fun while achieving what they do achieve and they get to roleplay with much less restraint.
I believe in closing, the vast numbers that WOW has engenders the individuality and sense of roleplaying to a far greater degree than FFXI. The sheer number of people and how different and divergent their personalities may be, inevitably result in a community that is open to your individuality. It is a great strength combined with its easier level of gameplay that has converted a great number of people into role-players. I think despite theories to the contrary, these factors combined will keep WOW alive and exciting far more than it will stifle and grow stale among players. Even if you don't believe that, consider this fact: FFXI has reached out to PC users, PS2 and X-Box 360 users and WOW is limited to PC users. WOW still blows FFXI out of the water. FFXI will last, but its life will be nowhere near as sustained and popular as WOW.
P.S. I haven't played or posted in several months. I didn't give all my stuff away or say goodbye. I quit very coldly. I suppose the point of this post, the only post since I've quit was to get the feelings that led me to leave FFXI off my chest. But I'd also like to encourage players who have felt some of the feelings that I have felt, to give WOW a try. You might be pleasantly surprised.
Edited, Jan 20th 2007 12:17am by OneDumbGo