Mega happy smiles.

[Seillan]

I've taken many breaks here and there over the last year (for reasons not concerning the game itself) and I'm always so happy each time I come back to it. I've spent the better part of 15 years searching for a game that could meet all the, frankly, ludicrous standards I have when it comes to this genre, and I've consistently came up short almost each and every time. It wasn't until I came back to XI a few years ago, after many of the QoL changes, that I FINALLY (<-- pun kind of intended...) found something that came as close as possible to meeting those standards, in XI.

Since I returned, I've taken things crazy slow and enjoyed every minute of building my character. I'm sure it will sound crazy to many people, but I still have yet to get to 99 on a single job. In fairness, some of this is because of the plethora of time constraints I've dealt with since I've been playing, but a large part of it is because I found the class/job I was looking for in the BLU, and I've made it a goal to find my spells casually as I level -- and trying to do missions/quests while I'm still at least somewhat level appropriate. It's been an awesome adventure for me, the likes of which I haven't experienced since playing Everquest and the old school FFXI back in the early-to-mid 2000s. I still kind of regret not staying true to the game back then, but as much as I loved it, I just didn't have the time, given that my Drk had such a hell of a time finding parties, heh. But I digress.

Over the last couple of years, this game has become more and more a part of my life, and even though I sometimes don't have the time for it, I expect to always have a place for it as long as it's here. I also just recently got my GF into the game and she's becoming almost as attached as I am. That said, I can't thank SE and the devs enough for the amazing work and effort they've put into this game over the years, and to me, it stands as one of the last shining beacons of online gaming greatness that exists in the genre. Reading the words of the producer really fills a void that was left with the ending of the console support and I'm excited and optimistic to see what the future holds for the game!

Happy Anniversary, and many more!