i suppose a tiny upside to xi is that no one knows about it past people who are into that kinda thing anyway. every knows about WoW and most players are ridiculed (well the 15 year olds anyway). no one knows ffxi is like WoW and you can get away with talking about it in public without someone calling you a nerd

I play WoW,

and i must say, i am only lvl 46, and sick of it. The fact that you basically grind lvl by lvl is irritating, and looking for groups sucks if the server isnt new, cos there are fewer at your lvl.

Although i do enjoy it, i am slowly playing less and less. And a lot of people say the game only starts when you hit 70....so i dunno.

as for FFXI i cant say i have played it, i barely have enough time for 1 MMO let alone 2

Havn't played WoW...
I think personally FFXI looks and is better even though it is hard to level up sometimes and hard to get money, atleast it's a challenge. When your bored of leveling there is plenty more to do around.
You can change job whenever you wish and unlock new ones. It's got a good storyline from the beggining and as for the prices...
I've played FFXI for quite a while know and I didn't get bored of it. I don't think the prices are expensive because Yes, your first character costs around £10 but after that all other characters you buy are around 90p. Not that you need them anyway. Unless you want a mule character or just want to start the adventure all over again, theres no need too. Also, it was put up the other day that FFXI banned over 9,000 accounts that were found to be playing against the Terms of Service (RMT's).

Definatly, Definatly FFXI.

Ok... new poster here, and I couldn't resist jumping in on the topic I probably could contribute the most in.

I played FFXI from US Release until mid-2005, then WoW from 2005 until a couple of months ago, when me, my wife, and my best friend all went back to FFXI together. So... at least 3 years experience in both.

It is simple, to me. WoW is a MMOFragFest, and FFXI is a true MMORPG. WoW - you log in and immediately get into action. You can start fragging things solo or fragging n00bs in PvP within 10 minutes of logging on. Instances are a lot of fun, but 4 times out of 5 you finish them empty-handed. Dying is no sweat. Nothing, not even raid bosses, ever gets your heart rate up. Stories are rarely touching, funny, or honestly even worth reading. It is simply the best multiplayer hack'n'slash ever created. If you want to play a game online, you want to play it fast, and want to have an easy time.. WoW is the place to be.

FFXI... you can make an argument that the gameplay is primitive in comparison to WoW. So why did we all go back after 3 years? Even when we were playing WoW, we missed FFXI - but never went back because we believed it was still "too hardcore", plus the economy was destroyed by real-money traders.

Quite simply, it is the most immersive multiplayer experience ever made, imo. The cutscenes suck you in, and the ones involved with the actual storyline are true masterpieces. We burnt CDs of the music to listen in the car and on our computers. The stories all tie together and immerse you. Combat is 0% button-mashing and 100% smart gameplaying. Tough battles make your blood pump because of what is at stake - making a big progression in the storyline, or an hour's worth of XP. WINNING a tough battle or finishing a tough quest makes an entire night feel like a success, even though there's still a thousand things you still haven't accomplished in the game. The world is technically smaller than WoW's, but it feels much bigger.

Comparisons... WoW has a console that rivals that of an F-14 fighter pilot, while FFXI immerses you with a simple interface - your health, mana, TP, a small menu, and a compass. WoW is a frenzy of button mashing and clicking with the mouse, FFXI can be played -entirely- with the keyboard once you get comfortable with the controls. Aside from the 3-second voices when speaking to NPCs, races in WoW have almost no identity - especially when a full suit of armor makes it impossible to tell what you are at a glance. FFXI races all have extremely distinct personalities and looks. The step from PvP/5-man instances to raiding in WoW is a 40+hr a week commitment, around the clock, while FFXI raids are a bit shorter, more intense, and more sporadic, based on "sponsors" or availability of friends.

Dispelling rumors... re: the economy in FFXI - it is now FIXED, with the elimination of real-money traders. I sold all my gear for 6.5M 3 years ago when I quit (and kept the gil, just in case I came back) - I could buy it all back for about 1M now. That's a moot point, though, since the 3 of us started new characters from scratch (but I will admit I send a little money to help along here and there...). Looking for parties? All you need are 2 friends who play at the same time as you - a tank, healer, and dps/support can kill Tough mobs all day long for a respectable amount of experience when 6-person parties are scarce. Rude players? Hardly - if someone was rude, everyone would know about it in a day. It's like a small town, even though at least 2000 players are usually on at a time on most servers. Instead of being snerts, 15-year-olds have to resort to asking for help in FFXI, whereas in WoW they can act like they're the best, because honestly, WoW is easy to be good at. I also believe that 50-monster trains are gone, because the 3 things we've run away from in the few weeks we've been playing have eventually stopped giving chase. Those were the days....

FFXI is a grind, too - but a much more leisurely grind in terms of how active your eyes and hands have to be in the process. But, you can also be smart about it and plan doing quests/missions around the level that the stuff you'd have to clear out would be near your level - thus, you xp and get stuff done at the same time. It could definitely be a bit more challenging if you're playing all by yourself, though... but there ARE a few class combinations that can solo all the way up to 75. You'd just have to limit your expectations a little if you want to avoid groups.

i personally cant say anything about XI as its installing onto my 360's HDD as i type this, but i will say this, WoW is HEAVY soloing! at first i loved it, till i just got sick and tired of all the quests, lack of story line and all the little kids spamming in undercity! I got my warlock to lvl 37 and havent played it since, i also got a NE druid to 26. Like i said its heavy solo! Instances are fun but being in a group actually lowers the over all EXP! The graphics to me were gorgeous though, i loved the charecter designs and world design, and the classes and races are FTW! Many races to choose from, but in the end its a game that can just as easily be played offline as it is on! I want to group with people! and personally ever since i got EQOA for ps2 im now more into console RPGs. So ask yourself this, do you want to solo and PvP? or do you want to group with like minded people and PvE? I think thats what it boils down to! Also myself being a HUGE fan of all things FF i think its worth the 29.99 to at least try it out!

idk i dont really like MMO's the story is always so hollow and it get super boring. id rather just stick with the regualr RPG

FFXI has a great storyline, not only for a MMORPG but as a game in general. (one of the better of all FF imo)
Also the question was "WoW or FFXI?""

haha this shouldnt be a problem
WoW is gay dude, its such an easy game, and theres a bunch a twelve year old running around everywhere, and everyones just a noob.
FF11 is better in so many ways, older and more matur people, better gameplay, its challenging in certain ways, but tons people would gladly help you out.
Just play it its awesome.

So my friend and I have noticed a lot of contoversy between WoW and FF11. Now we both play FF11 and we both love it. Ive have tried WoW and my first reaction was " This is a piece of shit." We compared both games and found reasons why FF11 is much better. First off, all WoW is, is just killing stuff, grinding and doing quests, and raiding. The problem with that is theres no storyline, or missions to do, and that get really boring. In FF11, theres alot of missions to do and theres a whole storyline with each expansion pack, which keeps it very interesting, Now when it comes to the players, WoW has a bunch of 10 years old, noobs, and assholes running around everywhere that are annoying as hell. Whereas in FF11 theres people mainly ages 16 and up, and alot of the people are very friendly and gladly help out any player. Alot of people always say that in FF11 you always have to party, which isnt nessecarily true. I know people who have solo'ed to lvl 30 with no problem, and I have managed to solo a lot myself. But the reason why partying is good because you lvl up very quickly and its fun playing with other people, and its alot easier to get a party than people think, as long as your inr the area where you should lvl then you have a high chance of gettin an invite. I even get invites when i dont have my seeking party sign up. In WoW, you can solo throughout the entire game, and thats is just really boring. Theres a reason why its an online game, so you can interact with other people in it and play with them, not so you can just play the whole game by yourself and not even talk to anyone, you might as well just play something like Fable. But I do understand WoW doesnt revolve aorund money, and FF11 does, which is a good thing, but the economy in FF11 is getting restored and is almost back to normal. The thing i love about FF11 is that characters are lvled by jobs and ot an overall lvlm which is good because if your done lvling a job or if you dont like it you dont have to make a new character you just jobs and thats it. Unlike WoW where if you dont want the job you would have ti make a new charcater. WoW does have alot more players, but its such an overated game. FF11 doesnt have as many players but has a very good folowing. The gameplay in FF11 has a better setup, and you dont even need a mouse to play. In WoW you always have to keep your hand on the mouse and that tends to cause carpel tunnel. Also WoW has no auto run so you have to keep moving your character. Now one more thing, in WoW when you start the game you get a quick cutscene and then it throws you in the game without telling you anything, I had no idea what to do when i tried it, and had to figure everything out which is also very very annoying, and that made me hate the game even more. Now in FF11 it doesnt tell you everything in the begging, but it does show tell you where to go at first. and when going into the game, theres a whole manual on the game that will tell you everything you need to know. Also high level players randomly invite you to their linkshell, and you can ask them anything you need to know. Another aspect about FF11 is the sub jobs which helps out alot.

Theres a bunch of other things we could talk about but I'm just going to sum it up. WoW is just an easy, simple, and boring game, its the same repetetive thing, just killing things an lame ass quests. FF11 is lots of fun, challenging and theres tons of things to do along with a whole storyiline and tons of support from other people. I know that some people would agree with me and others will spam me telling me I'm full of shit or im just ingorant. But if you actually studied both games, then you would come to this realization.