When I decided to start blogging about FFXIV, I told myself that I’d only blog about recipes to avoid taking focus away from SWTOR and avoid comparing apples and oranges. Even though they’re both MMOs, they cater to very different playstyles and markets and to say one is better than the other is completely unfair. However, there is one area that can be compared fairly laterally and that is how they’ve managed their entertainment hub or their mini-game location.
SWTOR already had a planet designed for mini-games, Nar Shaddaa, and in particular, had the Star Cluster and Club Vertica casinos already made. Early on, players noted the large spaces and emptiness and speculated that future content, such as dailies or mini-games, might be added to these locations. Initially, FFXIV didn’t have any obvious locations (except for the existing major cities) but it did have the Gold Saucer from FF7. The developers went the obvious route and added the Gold Saucer in February 2015, a separate location away from the rest of the game.
SWTOR’s Nar Shaddaa Nightlife event consists entirely of one activity – playing slots. Initially, many players joked that this event would allow them to clean out their Netflix queues as they tried to win the rancor mount, but thousands to millions of credits later (and presumably having watched the entire Netflix library), players started giving up. The event has just come back under the name “The Festival of Splendor” and nothing has been changed, except for the length of time it will be active. Players who got all the rewards the first time around can sit back and continue rebuilding their funds, but many players are opting to not take part because of how mind-numbing things were before, preferring to continue leveling alts with 12xp or possibly getting some sunshine.
In comparison, FFXIV’s Gold Saucer has a variety of mini-games available at any given time for players. While some take more time than others, such as Chocobo Racing or Triple Triad, there are many small time-sensitive or carnival-type games that only take a few seconds, such as a hammer strength game or a basketball toss. If you don’t feel like playing any of the other mini-games, the ultimate low-energy mini-game is buying a ticket for the Cactpot, a Gold Saucer lottery system. While anything can become monotonous after a while, Chocobo Racing and Triple Triad have demonstrated staying power. The Gold Saucer is not a time-limited event, meaning that players have zero pressure to abandon other sectors of the game in an attempt to acquire the prizes.
Although I would love to have the rancor mount in SWTOR, the sheer tediousness of sitting at the slots isn’t enough to keep me playing for long (even though my Netflix queue is ready). If they insist on throwing this event at us, they could certainly stand to improve it, either by adding games over time, such as Pazaak, Dejarik, an in-game lottery (that pays certificates, not credits), or dice games, or by taking the easy way out and adding new rewards with each event. SWTOR Network’s interview with Alex Tremblay indicated that Cartel Market items take very little time to create – do new in-game rewards take considerably longer?
I’m going to focus on continuing my progress in SWTOR with 12XP alt leveling and raiding, but if I feel the urge to sit back and play some mini-games this summer, I’ll be heading to the Gold Saucer instead. Even though both games offer the same kinds of rewards, I’m looking at it as time invested vs. entertainment value and let’s face it, slot machines are one of the most boring things in a casino. On the plus side, not participating in the Nar Shaddaa Nightlife event means that I’ll have more credits saved for the Yavin 4 stronghold!