New "Player" Troubles

Hello my name is Sean, It has taken me months to talk my buddy who lives across the nation in Florida to buy a copy of Final Fantasy XIV and play. Today, he purchased the game via digital download and spent almost 3 hours trying to figure out how to get everything downloaded and working properly, and if it were not for my help in resolving this issue I'm almost 100% sure he would have given up on this particular situation and probably canceled his purchase.

I've posted this because: if it is this difficult for someone as computer savvy as my buddy who is a 3rd year Pharmacy student soon to graduate with honors, then I am also quite sure Square Enix is loosing an incredible amount of potential new players over this same scenario.

This issue over buying the game downloading it and then being able to get it all figured out, and then be able to log in and play needs to get more user friendly
ASAP, before you loose more potential players!

Thank you to the player that posted the direct link for the game download in the forums via-member sign in.. without that I'm sure we would have never gotten it figured out...

Also: Steam told my friend that the serial number of the game he had just purchased online was invalid... So you may have a problem on that front as well.

Sean, Harlequin Bael