So I'm a helpless Final Fantasy XIV addict, and with the the Endwalker expansion out now, I figured why not write a bit about the progression systems in FFXIV and the motivators the game gives you.
Given how FFXIV is a very successful MMO over recent years, there are MANY different forms of progression in the game. You have story progression, standard XP leveling for different jobs (classes), gear score progression, crafting mastery progression, and even fight progression when learning different raid fights! No matter what kind of content you are interested in, there is always something for you to work towards and have meaningful feedback on the progression you've made. Let's take a look at a few of these different systems and how you progress through them.
When it comes to story content, FFXIV has one of the most well crafted stories I've ever played. I'm just a few days into the Endwalker story, and I'm completely blown away by it. Each expansion the game has comes with significant story content for players to progress through to reach the "endgame" content. During the story, players will travel through different areas, unlock new zones, new resources etc. It gives you a significant amount of XP as well, so you'll always be able to max out at least one job to the new level cap while progressing through the story. Pretty much all new content in any expansion is tied to progressing through the story, so it's generally always your #1 priority to complete on expansion launch. FFXIV also continues to feed you story content over the course of the expansion, even after the initial launch. Initial launches of expansion give the the X.0 patch, which is the main bulk of story, however each subsequent X.1, X.2, X.3, X.4, X.5, and X.55 patches introduce even more story content. Historically the .0-.3 patches are the bulk of the main story for the expansion, with the patches rounding out and tying up loose ends of the main story. The .4 and onwards patches introduce new story elements that will lead you nicely into the story of the next expansion. Even if you only play FFXIV for the story, there will always be new story content for you to do over the course of an expansion cycle!
With the story leveling whatever job you decide to play during it, there is the matter of leveling all your other jobs you choose to play. FFXIV has a few different ways to level alt-jobs that keep you engaged in the game. You have your daily roulettes, which is a system where you play through a random content piece generally selected to help other people in the game progress through their story content, that have bonus XP added to it. These roulettes are fantastic ways to get a huge dump of XP once a day. There is also an endgame zone that was added in Shadowbringers, and can assume something similar will be added in Endwalker, which is specifically designed to promote the leveling of alt-jobs. These zones artificially synch your level to the max level and normalize your gear score when inside them, allowing you to play jobs that aren't your main at max level while you are also continuing to level them! It's very intuitive design because for other side content, you will be spending a lot of time in these zones so the developers encourage players to max out the level on other jobs while in there.
I am pretty much only a PvE battle focused player, so I don't have the authority to speak on PvP or crafting/gathering progression. I know they exist and lots of people enjoy them, but I've personally never participated in them. However, I have been dipping my toes into more advanced PvE fights and trying my hand at those, and there is progression in that sense. Raiding in FFXIV is generally broken up into 2 different categories: progression raiding and speed raiding. Progression (prog) raiding is when you are going through fights for the first time, learning mechanics, and being challenged by the design of the fight itself. The highest form of prog raiding is world first clear attempts. These are the people you see doing there best to get through fights when generally undergeared, learning mechanics for the first time, and designing strategies on the fly to complete encounters. Depending on the raids, some of these can take over a week to get the first clear! Little by little these players are getting further and further in the encounter and learning a little more of how the mechanics work. On the other side there are speed raiders whos only goal is to kill the boss as fast as possible. These raiders have their forms of progression where the faster they kill the boss, the more prestige they have.
Hopefully you all enjoy my quick little dive into the progression systems of a game I deeply love. This is by no means all of the types of progression FFXIV has, and probably doesn't even scratch the surface of each of these systems. FFXIV is a very complex and well crafted game, and I hope everyone can give it a shot!