Except FFXIV hasn't seen nearly the massive expansion that WoW has. Heavensward will give some indications of things to come but I see them following WoW extrem

Except FFXIV hasn't seen nearly the massive expansion that WoW has. Heavensward will give some indications of things to come but I see them following WoW extremely closely, almost methodically. Some examples: - For the longest time in FFXI equipment was golden; not in WoW and not in FFXIV - "Gear Score" / "Average Item Level" - Instanced-only endgame content - Instant travel to every zone for all players who've been there before - All content is beaten before the end of a content cycle - No very high-end content which goes months or !years! without being taken down (Vrtra:~2yrs, AV:~4yrs, PW:~3yrs, etc.) - General fight mechanics and style (don't stand in the poo, tankbusters, buff-type mechanics); not really many new ideas at all - Flying mounts added in first expansion; unavailable in first-version areas, only in expansion areas - Character jumping in a FF-series game! Heresy! FFXIV is a WoW clone in just about every regard, it's just young. That's not necessarily a bad thing but it's quite hard to say there's much of anything being done differently. Regarding FFXIV relics and revisiting zones; relic quests will be nerfed into oblivion with the expansion, just like all previous relic chains were when subsequent content was released. WoW used to make you run around areas and talk to people for legendary weapons too[1], even some of the areas mentioned in this article like Silithus. Then the level cap went up and people had little use for those items anymore. This all boils down to MMOs lowering the entry bar by allowing new players to catch up with the most experienced players at a casual pace. You're never very far behind the bleeding edge, could be caught up in a month or two. Whether or not that's a good thing is opinion and perspective; FFXI required a very substantial commitment to compete in endgame and it definitely bordered on unhealthy obsession for many max-level players. That said, it'd be great to see some seriously difficult/"unbeatable" (preferably open-world) content, even if they use the old zones to make it happen world-boss-style. [1] http://www.wowhead.com/item=19019/thunderfury-blessed-blade-of-the-windseeker http://www.wowhead.com/item=19019/thunderfury-blessed-blade-...