Final Fantasy XIV Official Release Thread

Ahhh, that explains everything! Yes, we were looking on our mobile phones earlier today and looked a bit perplexed. I must have outright misinterpreted 'collectors' with 'complete'. I'm browsing the site but can't find specific details on the subscription setup (monthly, annually, every 3 months, etc) - I did see a 60 day pass or something like that, but it's listed at $29.99? I'm presuming that's basically $15 a month? Does the monthly go down if you elect to bundle multiple months, etc?

It can be as cheap as $12.99 a month if you can live with being able to make fewer total characters. Or if you want more, can pay up to $14.99 a month. They will let you buy up to 180 days at a time (at a discount of $12.99 per month) but you cant have more than 180 days of time paid up at any point (meaning you cant buy up 1 year at a time).

uswGTeZ.png


They also sell time cards for $30 which covers 60 days of play time.
 
Last edited:
I was talking with a friend about this specific MMO earlier today over brunch and he was sharing his demo experiences thus far with this game. He seems pretty intrigued by the game and tells me that the playerbase isn't as 'toxic' as other games (friendly, helpful people, etc.) which had us considering getting more involved in this game. I did a quick search on GMG, and saw that they were selling the "Complete Edition" for $99.99, though for members a 15% off code bringing it down to $84.99. However, directly on the official site, I see the price of the 'Complete Edition' for PC to be going for $29.99.

I guess I'm absolutely perplexed by the pricing of it on GMG and was looking to see if there was perhaps an additional add-on that I'm missing to justify the price difference?

The SE website has been having the 50% discount since the game award thing recently, I have no idea how long it'll last but it's an incredibly good deal. The complete edition has all of the expansions and if you register using a new account you'll get 30 days free play time. So I'd get that deal ASAP before it ends.

And yes as someone that was involved in many gaming communities (fighting, moba..etc), FFXIV's community is really nice in general, though of course there's some bad apples here and there, but it's pretty rare. I've been playing for 2-3 years on Odin server in EU. A very polished game and even though it starts slow MSQ wise I'd suggest against buying any jump potions, FFXIV is all about the journey, so take your time and enjoy it.
 
The SE website has been having the 50% discount since the game award thing recently, I have no idea how long it'll last but it's an incredibly good deal. The complete edition has all of the expansions and if you register using a new account you'll get 30 days free play time. So I'd get that deal ASAP before it ends.

And yes as someone that was involved in many gaming communities (fighting, moba..etc), FFXIV's community is really nice in general, though of course there's some bad apples here and there, but it's pretty rare. I've been playing for 2-3 years on Odin server in EU. A very polished game and even though it starts slow MSQ wise I'd suggest against buying any jump potions, FFXIV is all about the journey, so take your time and enjoy it.

Just a quick update - my friend and I ended up capitalizing on this deal. Ironically, shortly after we had found it early December for that price, it had gone back to it's standard retail. I think it wasn't until literally a week before the Holidays that it showed up as 50% off on the website again. I was playing the free trial for some time, just to get a handle on the mechanics and figure out what's what. I had thought there was some kind of elemental resistances with some of the monsters, but I think in the end it doesn't really matter much? For example - the Bombs, I figure Blizzard would be more preferable over Fire, but I guess it really doesn't matter?

In any case, my friend had a bit more of a rough time getting setup. He had initially played the free trial via Steam and made some considerable progress (I believe he had hit Level 28). The redeemable codes we got were direct from the Square Enix FFXIV store. I guess there wasn't a way to activate the redeemable code for his account, as it was coming from Steam, and there wasn't anything about character transfer despite him having re-installed the game directly from Mog Station. 3 days later, he had ended up just deleting the Steam account out of frustration and starting completely over from Mog Station.

Game is pretty fun for me so far- though, the difficulty on some of these guild quests jumped up suddenly once I had reached L26. :l
 
Yeah there's some funny business with the Steam vs SE launcher. Not really sure why they didn't test it or fix it yet. Sorry your friend had to deal with it.

What server are you on?

As you noticed there's absolutely no elemental damage to consider in the game just yet. Supposedly they're reworking it for an upcoming patch. Since it seems like you're playing a thurmature/blackmage its basically fire all day everyday and then limited blizzard to regain your mana. For the moment anyways. The biggest issue for newcomers (in my opinion) is that almost all the jobs change drastically around 60 and typically become way more fun.

Hope you stick with it or at least have fun while you play.
 
Game is super fun, I'm still a regular wow player, but I do jump on FF here and there to quest and just take a break from wow. I really like it. I wish my guild would jump ship over to FF. I think it does a lot of things much better.
 
Yeah there's some funny business with the Steam vs SE launcher. Not really sure why they didn't test it or fix it yet. Sorry your friend had to deal with it.

What server are you on?

As you noticed there's absolutely no elemental damage to consider in the game just yet. Supposedly they're reworking it for an upcoming patch. Since it seems like you're playing a thurmature/blackmage its basically fire all day everyday and then limited blizzard to regain your mana. For the moment anyways. The biggest issue for newcomers (in my opinion) is that almost all the jobs change drastically around 60 and typically become way more fun.

Hope you stick with it or at least have fun while you play.

My friend and I are on Brynhildr, just running around. I actually start off with a gladiator, then pugilist, then that thurmaturge (sp?) and a conjurer. I've been bouncing around all classes, trying to just level them up somewhat evenly. I think it wasn't until I got into mid-20s with my characters that I finally activated the code I bought. I am interested to see if elemental damage/resistances do get addressed in an upcoming patch- but the game is pretty fun thus far. I feel like I'm hitting a 'wall' of sorts trying to get to L30. The Levequests don't seem to reward as much as I was used to earlier on?

The only real nagging issue I have, is every now and then I'll just straight hard crash. Some kind of DX11 fatal error. Before, it used to be a bit more consistent, but now it's kind of random - a bit frustrating, but I've been lucky to not be in the middle of some kind of timed jaunt. It may be my BIOS settings for my OC, but I haven't really experienced it in any other titles. Is there some kind of 'verify data' or game files option outside of a complete re-install? I couldn't find any in the launcher.
 
My friend and I are on Brynhildr, just running around. I actually start off with a gladiator, then pugilist, then that thurmaturge (sp?) and a conjurer. I've been bouncing around all classes, trying to just level them up somewhat evenly. I think it wasn't until I got into mid-20s with my characters that I finally activated the code I bought. I am interested to see if elemental damage/resistances do get addressed in an upcoming patch- but the game is pretty fun thus far. I feel like I'm hitting a 'wall' of sorts trying to get to L30. The Levequests don't seem to reward as much as I was used to earlier on?

The only real nagging issue I have, is every now and then I'll just straight hard crash. Some kind of DX11 fatal error. Before, it used to be a bit more consistent, but now it's kind of random - a bit frustrating, but I've been lucky to not be in the middle of some kind of timed jaunt. It may be my BIOS settings for my OC, but I haven't really experienced it in any other titles. Is there some kind of 'verify data' or game files option outside of a complete re-install? I couldn't find any in the launcher.

Sadly I can't comment on any PC fixes, I'm currently running it on a PS4 basic.

I wouldn't' use levequests to level because as you've noticed their EXP/effort ratio is crap, but it is an option. Your best bets are running dungeons or running FATEs. The caveat there is that it's really only worth doing FATE grinds if you have a larger group of people so that they are done quickly. Personally I've only ever just used dungeons, but obviously you need to be at least level 15 first.

The Main Story Quests (MSQ) will keep you up to level for 1 class for the most part. There will be a few spots where you'll need to grind a little bit here and there (levels 41 and 48 come to mind). You can also do the daily roulettes you have available as well as the hunting logs and challenge logs.
 
My friend and I are on Brynhildr, just running around. I actually start off with a gladiator, then pugilist, then that thurmaturge (sp?) and a conjurer. I've been bouncing around all classes, trying to just level them up somewhat evenly. I think it wasn't until I got into mid-20s with my characters that I finally activated the code I bought. I am interested to see if elemental damage/resistances do get addressed in an upcoming patch- but the game is pretty fun thus far. I feel like I'm hitting a 'wall' of sorts trying to get to L30. The Levequests don't seem to reward as much as I was used to earlier on?

The only real nagging issue I have, is every now and then I'll just straight hard crash. Some kind of DX11 fatal error. Before, it used to be a bit more consistent, but now it's kind of random - a bit frustrating, but I've been lucky to not be in the middle of some kind of timed jaunt. It may be my BIOS settings for my OC, but I haven't really experienced it in any other titles. Is there some kind of 'verify data' or game files option outside of a complete re-install? I couldn't find any in the launcher.

Have you tried disabling DX11 (config option in the launcher)? As to your specific question, you may be better off asking that on the FFXIV reddit or the official forums.
 
Sadly I can't comment on any PC fixes, I'm currently running it on a PS4 basic.

I wouldn't' use levequests to level because as you've noticed their EXP/effort ratio is crap, but it is an option. Your best bets are running dungeons or running FATEs. The caveat there is that it's really only worth doing FATE grinds if you have a larger group of people so that they are done quickly. Personally I've only ever just used dungeons, but obviously you need to be at least level 15 first.

The Main Story Quests (MSQ) will keep you up to level for 1 class for the most part. There will be a few spots where you'll need to grind a little bit here and there (levels 41 and 48 come to mind). You can also do the daily roulettes you have available as well as the hunting logs and challenge logs.

My friend and I did a few of those 'Guildhests', which seemed fun. Then again, I'm finding it really hard to get timely groupings while as a Pugilist or Thaumaturge. As for the FATEs around, the ones I've been participating in were in Southern Thanalan, by the Ala Mhigo (?) areas. Most of my classes have Hunting Logs ready to partake in Level 3, but it seems that for me to complete one of them, I'd have to be in Eastern Thanalan for what appears to be a Dungeon. Maybe I'm approaching this a bit differently than I should? Should I focus strictly on one class and level that up, or am I juggling far too much trying to keep 4 classes relatively around the same level?
 
Have you tried disabling DX11 (config option in the launcher)? As to your specific question, you may be better off asking that on the FFXIV reddit or the official forums.

Oh, good question- no, I haven't tried disabling DX11. If I run into lockups again, I'll definitely give that a go and see if it at least helps alleviate that weird, intermittent problem.
 
My friend and I did a few of those 'Guildhests', which seemed fun. Then again, I'm finding it really hard to get timely groupings while as a Pugilist or Thaumaturge. As for the FATEs around, the ones I've been participating in were in Southern Thanalan, by the Ala Mhigo (?) areas. Most of my classes have Hunting Logs ready to partake in Level 3, but it seems that for me to complete one of them, I'd have to be in Eastern Thanalan for what appears to be a Dungeon. Maybe I'm approaching this a bit differently than I should? Should I focus strictly on one class and level that up, or am I juggling far too much trying to keep 4 classes relatively around the same level?

While I would say just stick to one class until you max it out, that's just my opinion. Whatever you enjoy doing is what you should do. The game will still be there in the end, what's important is that you actually have fun playing the damn thing.
 
Well 4.2 dropped yesterday and the same typical bs. Savage raid downed in less the a day. They really need blow it up again for 5.0 and start fresh.
 
Never really cared for the savage raids, got thru v3s and called it. As long as the MSQ is enjoyable I'll be happy. Was too tired to load it up yesterday.
 
When playing a 'Tank' in the Dungeons, the Healer of the team typically heals, right? I had to re-try a dungeon which was part of my main scenario quest about 3 times last night because the random party folks got killed. I think I'm doing everything that the 'Hall of Novice' thing taught me as a gladiator, which was draw enemies attention and keep them off your allies, but for some reason I felt like I must have been doing something wrong.
 
When playing a 'Tank' in the Dungeons, the Healer of the team typically heals, right? I had to re-try a dungeon which was part of my main scenario quest about 3 times last night because the random party folks got killed. I think I'm doing everything that the 'Hall of Novice' thing taught me as a gladiator, which was draw enemies attention and keep them off your allies, but for some reason I felt like I must have been doing something wrong.

Yes a healer should heal. Could be a number of things. Healer not paying attention to health bar, DPS not paying attention to their enmity generation, both not paying attention to AOE markers, you not paying attention to the enemies.

If the dungeon is low enough some healers might have a hard time healing without having access to their full range of skills. Especially WHMs who get a lot if their big, instant cast, oh poop spells later on. Doubly so if they just use regen spells while they stand there like dolts.

If the DPS felt like it was up to them to control the pace of the run then they would've just pulled stuff they expected you to handle without taking you into consideration. This could be compounded by the healer issues.

If you weren't paying attention to all the enemies on the field (such as ranged attackers) or taking into account boss positional attacks then you may have been causing too much damage for the healer to compensate for.

Could've also been a case where the healer or DPS were critically under geared. I've had a few runs in the stormblood dungeons where the group is using their lvl 60 gear because "I'm on an alt and I have a full set when I hit 70" which might be true but you'll be completely useless until you hit 70 and guess what, you're not 70 yet.

tl;dr: could've been a lot of things, but always feel free to ask a group if they have any concerns after a wipe.
 
When playing a 'Tank' in the Dungeons, the Healer of the team typically heals, right? I had to re-try a dungeon which was part of my main scenario quest about 3 times last night because the random party folks got killed. I think I'm doing everything that the 'Hall of Novice' thing taught me as a gladiator, which was draw enemies attention and keep them off your allies, but for some reason I felt like I must have been doing something wrong.
You should honestly never lose hate at higher lvls unless you very under geared. Pull the group with shield lob, flash 3x in a row and then hit each mob with your enmity combo the best you can. Don't focus on just one mob at a time after those flashes. You should have solid hate on everything after 3 flashes. Run to the range mobs first to keep them grouped up for those flashes.
 
Apologies if this was posted earlier in this large thread already, but a friend of mine introduced me to this 3 part documentary regarding FF XIV that I thought was pretty cool:
 
Quick question regarding Hunt Bills - I'm finding it hard to sometimes find the solo marks. I'm not quite sure what exactly triggers 'Kill Boss FATEs'. Is there a rhyme or reason to triggering a kill boss FATE? I think there was one in South Thanalan with the sandworms that I picked up on easily enough, but some of these other ones I get I'm not quite sure what the trigger is, despite best my Google-Fu.
 
Quick question regarding Hunt Bills - I'm finding it hard to sometimes find the solo marks. I'm not quite sure what exactly triggers 'Kill Boss FATEs'. Is there a rhyme or reason to triggering a kill boss FATE? I think there was one in South Thanalan with the sandworms that I picked up on easily enough, but some of these other ones I get I'm not quite sure what the trigger is, despite best my Google-Fu.

If you mean the daily/weekly hunts bills then those are completely separate from FATEs. Some FATEs happen to have monsters that can be hunts but that's just coincidence. The only hunts that are spawned by specific actions such as killing FATEs or gathering x amount if an item are S-rank hunts.
 
If you mean the daily/weekly hunts bills then those are completely separate from FATEs. Some FATEs happen to have monsters that can be hunts but that's just coincidence. The only hunts that are spawned by specific actions such as killing FATEs or gathering x amount if an item are S-rank hunts.

Yes, the daily/weekly hunt bills from the bill board is what I'm referencing. I was use Google to look up the names of a couple of these single mark hunts (the ones with the 20 allied seal rewards), and I only came across entries indicating they were part of a 'Kill Boss FATE", which I suppose is what you just mentioned above with them being a coincidence. One of the ones I remember having to abandon was a Stagnant Water Sprite mark entry, in Central Shroud. I remember coming across that very close to the Central Shroud Aetheryte- but I could not for the life of me figure out how to trigger it. I spent a good 45 minutes just running around the map keeping an eye out for it to pop up before just outright giving up.
 
You know it's been so long since I've done Allied Seal hunts that i actually had to go back and check. Looks like there are some that are tied to FATEs, like the Sprite you listed. That's a bummer and I'm a little shocked they haven't gone back and fixed that since none of the post-ARR hunts are.

As for FATEs in general, there are only X up at a time (usually 3 or 4 depending on zone) and they won't cycle until either 1 of the currently available FATEs are beaten or the FATE timer runs out. So nothing really triggers a FATE outside of some of the newer ones that are linked in sequence.
 
As for FATEs in general, there are only X up at a time (usually 3 or 4 depending on zone) and they won't cycle until either 1 of the currently available FATEs are beaten or the FATE timer runs out. So nothing really triggers a FATE outside of some of the newer ones that are linked in sequence.

Hmm, cool deal. I think I've gone through at least 3 or 4 daily allied seal hunt bills, where I will at least get three out of the five or so that give 8 Allied Seals whereas the final two that give me 20 Allied Seals end up being hard to get to show. I'll definitely try 'clearing out' all the other FATEs in the area, hopefully I can get lucky and finally start completing these hunts instead of abandoning them next day. :/
 
Tried this game for a month and just couldn't do it. The community brought flashbacks of WoW. I was on a quest that required you to join up and do a 4man instance. Nobody talked in the beginning, tank pulled everything really fast, healer complained, bickering back and forth, and a votekick by the time we reached the final boss.
 
My condolences. Yeah the dungeon running aspect of the game is usually like that. People are usually only there for the bonus they're looking for so they wanna be in and out ASAP. It's a shame too because most of the early dungeons are cool to look at. The only real communal aspect of the game comes in your Free Company or linkshells and even then it can be marginal.

Its a bummer because I feel the game as a whole is pretty solid, but its infinitely better having 2 or 3 people who will take their time with you. And that's getting harder to come by these days.
 
Tried this game for a month and just couldn't do it. The community brought flashbacks of WoW. I was on a quest that required you to join up and do a 4man instance. Nobody talked in the beginning, tank pulled everything really fast, healer complained, bickering back and forth, and a votekick by the time we reached the final boss.

If you enjoyed some of the mechanics, I would highly suggest giving it another try, especially if you've not yet reached max level - the game changes a LOT as you level up (ie the time before you unlock mounts vs the time after, Advanced Job unlocks etc) and there may be lots of things you may enjoy but haven't done yet (gathering or crafting, housing, Gold Saucer, the Main Story etc) . What server were you on? Random groups have a higher chance - in just about any populated game - of what you describe. Talking in LFG to ask for a group mentioning you're new, want to go try a new class/role, first time in the dungeon etc... and forming a group manually is a good way to ensure you're going with people who know the deal from the start. Likewise, as CptCabbit mentioned, a Linkshell (kinda like a Friends List Chat Channel and you can have many of them ) or Free Company (what would be considered a "Guild" in other games) are better grounds for finding understanding players too.

Depending on your server and if you'd be willing to try another one, I would consider looking in to the servers with a high Roleplay contingent - Balmung (NA data center) is one of the most popular Legacy servers and is the original RP favored server, but it is often so populated that you sometimes can't create new chars there! Alternately, I suggest Mateus (NA data center) which I hear is another server on which RP players gather; this may be the newest server around which the RP community focuses. Gilgamesh (NA data center) is another option, but it too is older not unlike Balmung so it may be harder to get in. I heard that Gil would be the secondary/tertiary RP server for awhile, but it seems Mateus is the more popular one these days perhaps. If you're EU or Japan/Asia, let me know and I can do some digging as I'm not sure which of those are favored. I don't know if you have any interest in roleplaying in FFXIV, but even if not you're likely to find polite players who are willing to listen when you say its your first time or you want to run a dungeon slowly and learn the mechanics, on these RP servers - just remember that especially if you don't RP, to respect those who do and try to keep the polite and helpful nature of the community by conducting yourself accordingly. Even on Balmung or Mateus you'll still find the speed-runners in auto-queued dungeons, but you may find plenty of other players with whom you'd have a better time. Any questions please let me know!

Edit: Its worth noting that thanks to the Job system and in general FFXIV being a really solid title, there are still players who come and run low level content, be they leveling alt classes/jobs or newcomers. So you may be able to find people to play with on a regular basis.

Edit2: Anyone on Balmung and/or Mateus who wants to get together let me know - I could use some others to play as I get back into the game. There is a lot of "old " content from ARR and Heavensward I'd like to see as well!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: st4rk
like this
I've been playing this pretty religiously over the past couple of months. If anyone's on the Brynhildr server, always looking to form up to help level up my other classes and do some dungeons.
 
Wish I could get my fiance into playing with me :(

This here is the real challenge in life.

Old player here (haven't checked things out since Heavensward, life and all). Are most classes still very combo-centric? I've always mained tank classes (DK main since it's release), but the necessity of strict combos had been a bit off-putting a few updates into 2.0. It wasn't ever an issue of awareness clutter for me, but it made some fights feel more clunky than they should have (I could take pre-2.0 Moogle fight and make it look like a choreographed dance, haha).
 
Is anyone here still active with this? I’m checking out the trial at the moment, haven’t played since the beta, way back when.
 
I hopped back in it for a while then unsubbed again. Nothing against the game, it's actually a very solid MMORPG. I just don't have the time for mmo games anymore. The free company i'm in seemed pretty active and the community still seems booming. If you have the time to play it you should have a good time.
 
I hopped back in it for a while then unsubbed again. Nothing against the game, it's actually a very solid MMORPG. I just don't have the time for mmo games anymore. The free company i'm in seemed pretty active and the community still seems booming. If you have the time to play it you should have a good time.
Well I have the same issue. It is a TERRIFIC MMO! The boss fights are challenging and rewarding! The story is freaking awesome! But I don't have the time to play games as much as I used to. Also, I want to power through some of the AAA titles in my backlog. So spending $15 a month on a game that I might fire up for an hour or two once a month isn't cost effective. :)

At one point, while I was in the middle of putting almost 3,000 hours into Warframe, I noticed that I had paid for 6 months of FFXIV play time and hadn't fired it up once. I logged in and I had all types of cosmetic mounts and fluff added to my account for being a loyal customer. That's when I realized that there was life beyond MMOs. I want to smell the roses.

If I were to return to playing MMOs, FFXIV would be the MMO that I would play. It is that good!
 
Is anyone here still active with this? I’m checking out the trial at the moment, haven’t played since the beta, way back when.

I'm in the process of returning myself. Since its release it has more or less been my "secondary, conventional MMO" with World of Warcraft being my "primary" and the remainder of my time spent in " crowdfunded / in-testing / niche" products such as Shroud of the Avatar (which is a fantastic indie MMO and spiritual successor to Ultima Online. Great for roleplayers, story, customization of housing etc... but it has some weak spots as well though diminishing as there's a major content patch every month).

FFXIV I agree with Majin and cagey that it is a fantastic MMO! When you say you haven't played since "beta" which beta was that? The beta for 1.0 and/or the beta for 2.0/A Realm Reborn (ie when most people came to the game)? Either way, there is a ton of new content and much to do! I'm somewhat of a perpetual newbie myself as I keep coming back but if I end up spending more time elsewhere I don't get very far. One great thing about FFXIV is how you can thrive no matter what you with to do - Play more or less solo? All of the main story quests are solo/small group!. Want to grind up levels for another job? guildlevs/guildhests! Dungeons or raids? Plenty of them! Cosmetics and player housing? Yes indeed! Final Fantasy/Square inspired fun stuff? Gold Saucer awaits you and a ton of lore from other Final Fantasy/Square titles! Overall a really solid title. The only downside here that annoys me a bit is that in recent years the monetization has drifted from what I thought was pretty close to perfect.

If you decide to stick around, let me know if you think you'll apply an account key - I can send you a "recruit a friend" that, if applied during your trial but before you subscribe/game key, will give you a pack of neat stuff including a helm that increases your XP by 25% whenever you're at job under level 25. Let me know if you're interested!

What server are you interested in/have you been playing on? Do youi have any particular desire to be part of certain communities (ie roleplayer)? There are unofficial servers for certain demographics that if they mattered to you I could help point you in the right direction.
 
Last edited:
I still play regulary, have since the launch of 2.0 (A realm reborn). I always recommend it even for people who don't play MMOs.
 
I'm in the process of returning myself. Since its release it has more or less been my "secondary, conventional MMO" with World of Warcraft being my "primary" and the remainder of my time spent in " crowdfunded / in-testing / niche" products such as Shroud of the Avatar (which is a fantastic indie MMO and spiritual successor to Ultima Online. Great for roleplayers, story, customization of housing etc... but it has some weak spots as well though diminishing as there's a major content patch every month).

FFXIV I agree with Majin and cagey that it is a fantastic MMO! When you say you haven't played since "beta" which beta was that? The beta for 1.0 and/or the beta for 2.0/A Realm Reborn (ie when most people came to the game)? Either way, there is a ton of new content and much to do! I'm somewhat of a perpetual newbie myself as I keep coming back but if I end up spending more time elsewhere I don't get very far. One great thing about FFXIV is how you can thrive no matter what you with to do - Play more or less solo? All of the main story quests are solo/small group!. Want to grind up levels for another job? guildlevs/guildhests! Dungeons or raids? Plenty of them! Cosmetics and player housing? Yes indeed! Final Fantasy/Square inspired fun stuff? Gold Saucer awaits you and a ton of lore from other Final Fantasy/Square titles! Overall a really solid title. The only downside here that annoys me a bit is that in recent years the monetization has drifted from what I thought was pretty close to perfect.

If you decide to stick around, let me know if you think you'll apply an account key - I can send you a "recruit a friend" that, if applied during your trial but before you subscribe/game key, will give you a pack of neat stuff including a helm that increases your XP by 25% whenever you're at job under level 25. Let me know if you're interested!

What server are you interested in/have you been playing on? Do youi have any particular desire to be part of certain communities (ie roleplayer)? There are unofficial servers for certain demographics that if they mattered to you I could help point you in the right direction.

Thanks for all the information, I appreciate it! I actually played both betas, but the problem after the second one was that everyone I gamed with at that time wasn’t willing to either leave WoW, or play both simultaneously. I’ve played WoW since alpha and quit for the longest period (to this day) a few months before Legion. Had a business take off then and didn’t reallly have time for anything at that’s point. A shame, because I was really looking forward to that expansion.

That being said, I haven’t really played any PC games since about 2016, last one was Witcher 3, I’d say. I ended up getting a PS4 Pro at some point and just sort of focused on that for my down time between running the business and everything else that was happening.

I thought about ff xiv quite a lot since the beta, and the other day I got this itch I just couldn’t scratch and signed up for the trial. I’m having a blast so far and at this point, I’m planning on buying the complete edition after the trial. Your recruit a friend perk sounds great if you’re willing to share, I’d absolutely appreciate that. I’m on Aether - Zalera right now. It looks like it has a high population and it’s got the xp buff as well, which is neat. Not really into RP, I’m just a die hard FF fan, it’s by far my favorite game series (I’ve played them all, and I mean all, in EN and in JP).

What exactly do you mean by the monetization? Thanks again.
 
I'm happy to help! Ahhh I see, I too played the betas for them but was mostly focused on WoW (Legion was a great expansion by the way, in my experience. There's still lots of content there worth seeing if you're interested and people run old stuff for various gear/appearances, mounts, battle pets etc..). I am unsure if you're using the same SquareEnix account on your trial as the one you used back during the betas (I assume you never applied a retail key in the past), if not no worries but if you are, you MIGHT qualify for some extra in-game goodies, though I am unsure if beta experience alone confers them. I'm glad to hear about your business' success and that you now have time to come back to PC gaming - there's a ton of great content released in the past couple of years!

Its great that you're enjoying the trial so much and have decided to convert to full retail! Before you do so, just PM me an email address and I can send you the Recruit-A-Friend link to qualify. It will provide you with the 20% XP Boost < Level 25 Helm (which as you likely know can be used over and over again for every Job/class). Its kind of funny, the helm used to be a Moogle hat of sorts but they changed it to a more minimalist circlet appearance hehe), 99x Aetherite Tickets (use them for free teleportation between crystals. Can save you money especially early on. Here's a hint - cost increases the distance between Aetherite crystals, so I chose to only use mine on longer trips as opposed to those in the same/closeby zones), a fist-bump emote (this is new, I am unsure if you can get this outside of RAF. One neat thing about FFXIV is they had multi-player/partner emotes like dances and this fist-bump!) , and Silver Chocobo Feathers (can be turned in for gear at your discretion. Higher level gear requires more feathers per piece but overall its designed to give you gear to help you level up. Level 20 Weapons, Level 50 Equipment, and Level 60 Weapons/Equipment are available).

Regarding the purchase of the Complete Edition, remember there are multiple editions and potential for discounts! If you're a diehard FF fan, you may enjoy the Complete Edition Collector's version which offers a variety of in-game widgets that were part of the CE's for each A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, and Stormblood! Many of them reference older FF characters or items and wil be appreciated by a hardcore fan. If I am correct you can upgrade and get the in-game CE items later through SquareEnix Account / MogStation, if you choose to pick up the Standard version of the Complete Edition. More info here - https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/product/ with a breakdown of the various options. In any case, you can buy a Complete Edition at discount online either Standard or CE; I assume you need a NA region key (EU ones seem to be much cheaper but of course will not serve your needs account wise as they are region locked) At the moment, I'm showing that the best Complete Edition Standard price is a 33% discount on Steam itself! Note that if I am correct, if you buy a copy through Steam you can both launch through Steam or use the client you already have through the Trial . The Complete Collector's Edition is a bit harder to find on sale, but I can get it for 10% off from the Humble Store thanks to my Humble Monthly subscription.

I'll add what I meant about monetization when I edit this post, but I wanted to get this info to you first :D
 
I'm pretty sad that I missed Legion to be honest with you. WoW was one of those once-in-a-lifetime games for me, having never really experienced anything like it before, and having met so many friends who I still talk to today (and some I meet up with). I think at some point I might jump back in and see what I've missed, but it'll probably wait until Classic is released (I'd definitely like to do that). I put in both email addresses that I usually use for games and it seems that I never registered a Square Enix account with either of them, so I'm afraid I'm not really sure what I used to play the beta's with for FF XIV. I ended up just registering for the trial with one of my gaming-focused email addresses and went from there.

I'll PM you now about the recruit-a-friend link, I'm really looking forward to the perks from that, thanks again for the offer to help! I did look around to see what CE's were available, and it looks like each expansion has it's own physical CE with figurines (referencing Stormblood in particular with it's figurine and book). I'm a sucker for CE's (every game I've bought for the PS4 that had a CE available had to be snatched up immediately).
 
Back
Top