Haven’t paid much attention to modern mmos. Any that you play? I’ve actually been enjoying a return to the original EQ, even as a free player. So much content now, I doubt I’ll ever see it all, even if cutting out the raids part. :)
Discussion
I played FFXIV for a while and thoroughly enjoyed the main story quest line. you'll have a more enjoyable experience if you go into it as a single player story game rather than an MMO. the multiplayer stuff comes later.
I have a few on my radar, Ashes of Creation and Pax Dei. Those two look promising.
Never got into the FF lineup although some friends did. Same with WoW, both were too cartoonish for my taste. Especially WoW’s pink and purple trees back in the day! LOL
These days EQ is dated, but many fond memories help keep my interest and so much additional content. Never was into raiding much, but now I can solo a lot with a mercenary/merc NPC, and have found a friend who I enjoy duoing with. Soooo many quests, tradeskills, exploration to do, etc. and the best part is I can play for free.
When finances straighten out a bit, I do want to pay for a subscription… think it’s about $10/month if you pay annually. I’d like to support it and they release two new servers yearly plus expansion packs… May not pay for those, since they mainly add more end game stuff.
Will try to check out those ones you mentioned though :)