Asmongold praises FFXIV for “innovating” on WoW’s iconic model
There aren’t many games bigger than World of Warcraft when it comes to MMOs, but Asmongold thinks Final Fantasy XIV picks up where the classic Blizzard MMO left off when it comes to innovation.
WoW and other Blizzard gameshaven’t exactly had the greatest year in 2021. While the MMO is still one of the biggest in the genre, games like FFXIV have only gotten more popular as streamers likeAsmongold and others leaveAzeroth for Hydaelyn.

While Warcraft has its issues right now, Asmon pointed out it was innovative in the past compared to other MMOs before it. However, now it seems like Final Fantasy is doing the same thing to WoW.
“Final Fantasy basically did what WoW did to EverQuest.What WoW did to EverQuest was take all the annoying time wasting mechanisms and got rid of them,” he said during a Sept 21 stream. “And then Final Fantasy took all the annoying, time wasting mechanisms in wow and got rid of those.”

EverQuest, which isstill aroundand operating, first launched in 1999 – and, as Asmon said, was a precursor for many to World of Warcraft. Blizzard’s MMO definitely dethroned it back in the day, but could it be WoW’s turn to be usurped?
“They’re fixing the problems with Shadowlands, but there’s no innovation,” he continued. “Taking the most popular post on a forum thread and just applying it to the video game, that’s just simply not innovation. There’s no growth in the game.”

29 best MMO games & MMORPGs to play in 2025
Final Fantasy XI forced to shut off most popular server after surge of new players

Asmongold praises key difference of Monster Hunter Wilds vs World
But just because there’s “no growth” going on in WoW, doesn’t mean Asmon necessarily thinks FFXIV will be the end all, be all MMO anytime soon. Not that it doesn’t have potential, but that it could be making the same“mistakes” as Warcraft did before.

Final Fantasy XIV only seems to be getting more and more popular with burned-out fans of the Blizzard franchise, and if the streamer’s right, WoW devs will need to start thinkingproactively instead of reactivelyto really change things.