MMOs have a long lifespan and a lot of content, but they can often wax and wane in popularity over the years. Final Fantasy XIV is a long-running MMO, released over ten years ago. With a decade of content under its belt, is FFXIV worth playing in 2023? We answer that question in detail below!
Final Fantasy XIV gets better with every expansion
Final Fantasy XIV is famous for its change. After a disappointing initial release, the game was rebuilt from the ground up in Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn (ARR), the foundation and starting point of the current game. Since then, the game has released better and better expansions every two years.
Don’t just take our word for it. On Metacritic, the original release rated just a 49 overall. With the release of ARR, it skyrocketed to 83, increasing to 86 for the first expansion, 87 for the second, and the last two expansions, Shadowbringers and Endwalker, garnering a rating of 91 and 90 on Metacritic, respectively. The game is on a clear uptrend and perhaps at its absolute peak, having become one of the highest rated MMOs of all time, alongside Guild Wars 2 and World of Warcraft.
Related: Fans are loving the new Sámi-inspired winter outfit from Final Fantasy XIV
FFXIV has thousands of hours of content
If you’re looking for content, Final Fantasy XIV is swimming in it. While even triple-A games can struggle to find that “value for money” spot, this isn’t a struggle for Final Fantasy XIV, which has over 200-300 hours of content squeezed into its free trial alone. Then, if you choose to purchase and subscribe, you’re unlocking another three full expansions of content, with literally thousands of hours of content.
The main story alone can take up to 300 hours, depending on how dedicated you are to playing it, and with the side content and endgame, you can easily hit four figures. And that’s even without alternatives, limited-time events, and grinding content designed to consume more time. Even with the subscription, Final Fantasy XIV is one of the best games ever made.
FFXIV actively rewards the playerbase for replaying old content
A big problem with many MMOs is finding out that older zones and locations are dead, old dungeons take hours to spawn, and no one is running old content. Final Fantasy XIV has essentially solved this problem due to how it incentivizes max level players to run old content in alternate jobs thanks to its turn wheel system. Once per day, players can get a huge boost to experience by running a randomly selected dungeon, trial, or raid. Roulette users will also get additional Tomestones and other rewards. This means that no content is dead.
Additionally, the game hosts numerous Moogle Tomestone events each year. These are intended to push players to lower running content to reduce wait times for new players or while player populations are slightly reduced during breaks between patches. The event rewards players with more bonuses for running specific dungeons, bringing neglected content to life.
Finally, FFXIV never leaves the old zones. Whether it’s for relic weapon grinds, side quests, event quests, or just in between expansion patch content, the game makes sure to send you back to the important zones.
Related: Final Fantasy XIV’s Heavensturn event rings in the new year starting December 31
There is much more to come in FFXIV!
If you’re not satisfied with 90 levels of content, four expansions, and thousands of hours of gameplay, don’t worry. There is much more to come! The game’s story continues, and while Endwalker marked the end of the game’s first story arc, game director Naoki Yoshida has promised many more stories to tell. In a radio show in September, Yoshida explained that 7.0, the game’s next expansion, is already written and new jobs (classes) are in development.
Also, the game isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. One of the most heartbreaking things that can happen to an MMO is to see it shut down. Fortunately, there’s no danger of that happening for FFXIV, which is currently Square Enix’s most lucrative game title yet. Q2 2022.
Even if it didn’t, Square Enix has set a precedent by keeping its older MMOs alive with FFXIV’s sister title Final Fantasy XI, which has been running since 2002, with its most recent expansion releasing in 2020. -Annual expansions for the first 11 years of its existence and has seen continued support for the last nine. This was even after their supposed “Finale” expansion back in 2015.
So overall, Final Fantasy XIV is here to stay. It is one of the most popular MMOs in the world, at the peak of its popularity. 2023 is the perfect time to jump in and experience it again or for the first time.
Thinking of getting into Final Fantasy XIV? Check out What is the best expansion for Final Fantasy 14? in professional gaming guides.