FFXIV is the only MMORPG that has made it to the modern age that truly delivers the MMORPG experience that gamers have always wanted. This is because the creators of the game actually support their playerbase and their hopes and ideas for the game through livestreams and public events. They even have real-life cafés where they have dishes, drinks, and decor themed around the game. Not only this but the game has a vibrant community online which is enhanced by the following features:

• Musical instruments of different types that you can play and show off to your friends as part of the Bard job
  
• A fully-fledged housing system for both players and guilds with hundreds of items to customise it with
  
• A vibrant roleplaying community who run a theatre troupe that do stage performances and open-mics
  
• A marriage system with spectacular weddings and same-sex allowance
  
• Over a hundred emotes all with unique animations
  
• A system that lets you change your armor/weapons into any look you want with very little restriction (Also known as transmogrification or glamour)

Besides all the social features I've talked about there's a lot more to the game such as the long, detailed main story quest and all the combat mechanics. Many players burn out on the main quest early on but once you push through that barrier which can be boring at times it's all worth it once you hit the expansion story quests. The combat mechanics are slower and more methodical than most MMOs but I don't find this a bad thing. It's up to the player to decide whether they like them or not. Of course this game also has raiding, mount collecting, chocobo raising and coloring, and companion pet collecting.

The two bad points about this game I can list are the ping mechanics and the subscription price. Because of how the game works, if you have bad ping then you'll get hit by a lot more enemy attacks than usual and there are many 1-hit-KO mechanics in the game so it can be frustrating. If you play from Australia like me or another country where you'll have high ping then you'll need a VPN to get you on the same level as other players. This can seem intimidating at first but if you just use a service like Mudfish it's actually very easy to set up. It'll also cost you about $5 a year but if you plan on playing this game over a long period of time it's worth it.

The subscription price sets me back about $20 Australian a month, and even a couple of dollars more if I want to use a third retainer. Retainers are companions that you can send on missions to gather resources, sell items to other players, and use to store items. It's useful to have a third but not required. This price is about 1/4 steeper than World of Warcraft's subscription cost and it can really add up if you're subscribed for a year. Along with the ping this is a negative worth considering.

Content comes out fairly regularly and there's always a new quest with an item reward on holidays. I've never been dissatisfied with the pace of content and even when there's been dry months I've still had other things in the game to keep me busy anyway.

This game is the passion project of Naoki Yoshida and you can tell when you play it. Without him and the people supporting him the game and community would've died years ago. He and his team breathed life into a dying game and made it something spectacular. It was the same with the Gower brothers for Runescape and Chris Metzen for Warcraft, their passion also kept their games alive and made them truly special. We're privileged enough to be able to play a game that's still being worked on by someone with that passion and it's definitely worth the time.

FFXIV Shadowbringers gets my Steam Awards 2019 nomination for Game of the Year because of it's outstanding story, gameplay, art design, and graphics. FFXIV in general wins my award for Game of the 2010s.

FFXIV is the only MMORPG that has made it to the modern age that truly delivers the MMORPG experience that gamers have always wanted. This is because the creators of the game actually support their playerbase and their hopes and ideas for the game through livestreams and public events. They even have real-life cafés where they have dishes, drinks, and decor themed around the game. Not only this but the game has a vibrant community online which is enhanced by the following features: [list] [*]Musical instruments of different types that you can play and show off to your friends as part of the Bard job [*]A fully-fledged housing system for both players and guilds with hundreds of items to customise it with [*]A vibrant roleplaying community who run a theatre troupe that do stage performances and open-mics [*]A marriage system with spectacular weddings and same-sex allowance [*]Over a hundred emotes all with unique animations [*]A system that lets you change your armor/weapons into any look you want with very little restriction (Also known as transmogrification or glamour) [/list] Besides all the social features I've talked about there's a lot more to the game such as the long, detailed main story quest and all the combat mechanics. Many players burn out on the main quest early on but once you push through that barrier which can be boring at times it's all worth it once you hit the expansion story quests. The combat mechanics are slower and more methodical than most MMOs but I don't find this a bad thing. It's up to the player to decide whether they like them or not. Of course this game also has raiding, mount collecting, chocobo raising and coloring, and companion pet collecting. The two bad points about this game I can list are the ping mechanics and the subscription price. Because of how the game works, if you have bad ping then you'll get hit by a lot more enemy attacks than usual and there are many 1-hit-KO mechanics in the game so it can be frustrating. If you play from Australia like me or another country where you'll have high ping then you'll need a VPN to get you on the same level as other players. This can seem intimidating at first but if you just use a service like Mudfish it's actually very easy to set up. It'll also cost you about $5 a year but if you plan on playing this game over a long period of time it's worth it. The subscription price sets me back about $20 Australian a month, and even a couple of dollars more if I want to use a third retainer. Retainers are companions that you can send on missions to gather resources, sell items to other players, and use to store items. It's useful to have a third but not required. This price is about 1/4 steeper than World of Warcraft's subscription cost and it can really add up if you're subscribed for a year. Along with the ping this is a negative worth considering. Content comes out fairly regularly and there's always a new quest with an item reward on holidays. I've never been dissatisfied with the pace of content and even when there's been dry months I've still had other things in the game to keep me busy anyway. This game is the passion project of Naoki Yoshida and you can tell when you play it. Without him and the people supporting him the game and community would've died years ago. He and his team breathed life into a dying game and made it something spectacular. It was the same with the Gower brothers for Runescape and Chris Metzen for Warcraft, their passion also kept their games alive and made them truly special. We're privileged enough to be able to play a game that's still being worked on by someone with that passion and it's definitely worth the time. FFXIV Shadowbringers gets my Steam Awards 2019 nomination for Game of the Year because of it's outstanding story, gameplay, art design, and graphics. FFXIV in general wins my award for Game of the 2010s.