They hide Glamours/Transmog behind a level 15 quest and require you to make items to do it, and it used to be gated behind a level 50 quest that required the Main Storyline to be completed apparently.
The fact that several basic features are locked behind MSQ is not a new concept and pretending that they're not is just being either purposefully retarded or dickridingly ignorant.
Your original phrasing was 'options menu', but yeah, I get what you're saying. The way the game drip feeds shit to you can be frustrating.
Pretending that the multiman raiding and the grind is the only thing WoW gives you to do is a very retarded point?
I don't really think it is, although I didn't specify that I was talking about max level. Unless it's changed recently, WoW has always been focused around raiding. There's nothing wrong with that design/approach, but the feeling of 'having' to log in to do rep grinds/dailies/leveling my borrowed power item wasn't really enjoyable for me. If I stepped away from the game, I'd generally be fucked and behind the curve.
Shit may have changed, but that was what made me step away from WoW. I don't begrudge people who do enjoy that shit, and it was something I did enjoy, but I stopped enjoying it. I also don't think XIV is a perfect game, but it scratches my itch for an MMO.
You can go to other zones, you can explore at your leisure, bask in the world, go into fun side quests, get professions that aren't "classes" you need to do level up raids for
FFXIV is very on rails, but there is a ton of side content available (that yes, is doled out slowly to you.) I don't know what you're talking about re: professions. You still have to 'level up' Engineering or whatever in WoW, it just used a different metric. WoW used to have key recipes tied to raid drops or faction vendors (and even required you to clear dungeons for certain craftables, a la BRD and Scholomance.) The only thing I can think of is some crafting/gathering abilities gated behind quests which do require MSQ progression, but they've done away with that.
I do prefer WoW's freeform/sand-boxesque approach to accessing zones, but you also aren't jumping into Karazhan on Day 1 of release of the TBC patch. Let's not act like that there aren't prereqs for shit in WoW.
then it nosedived when Pandaria came along.
Gotta agree with Clown Elvis here. I'd argue Pandaria was probably the peak of top-to-bottom good narrative in WoW. There was shit prior that was good, but it was very inconsistent. Cataclysm was utter shite. It was either Popculture Reference or Thrall.
It is barely passable from what I have seen so far, and that is ignoring the fact that Final Fantasy 14 is part of the Final Fantasy franchise and they made the traditionally helpful characters like Ifrit and Ramuah into antagonists.
One that you fight at Level 20...as your first major boss.
I think part of it is that I played a lot of Final Fantasy when I was younger and it does scratch a lot of the 'member berries for me.
Keep in mind that Ifrit is usually your first basic bitch summonable opponent you face in most FF games. He's the first Esper you fight in FF6, someone you fight early in FF5, and the fucking tutorial boss in FF8.
The story is good (for an MMO), but it is also very JRPG-y. I'll spare you the 'it gets better' line, but in terms of a coherent, cohesive narrative there aren't many solid competitors. Whether or not that is a
good thing to have in an MMO is entirely subjective, though. I don't think it's perfect and I have a ton of issues with it, but on the balance I do enjoy it.
Also, the Old Gods thing, was that changed? I thought the deal was that beings like C'Thun were basically immortal and you could only beat them down/contain them.