Question for PC Players

Greetings to all of you,

After roughly 2 years of arguing with my stepson, I finally got him to take a break from WoW and try FFXIV so I am going to buy him the game and some sub time. However, something occurred to me and I wanted to ask around about it. I remember not too long ago that people who had the Steam version of the game were having some sort of an issue. I don't remember what it was, I just remember players being really upset about it. I play on console so it wasn't affecting me at the time but I need a PC copy of the game. I was wondering if the problem people were having had been sorted out or should I just buy from someone other than Steam?

Thanks in advance adventurers!

I'm not aware of any lingering issues with the game itself. Unless something has changed recently, you do, however, need to keep within the same ecosystem on PC. If you buy the main game on Steam you need to buy all of the expansions there. If you buy through somewhere that's "not Steam" you need to buy the expansions also from "not Steam."

Not a Steam user, but I believe the problem was something along the lines of, if Steam is ever having a fit, verifying users or something's down or whatever, then you're just stuck until Steam gets their shit together.

Maybe it's not a huge deal. But, would also expect it'd be better to cut the middleman regardless.

But like I said, no Steam here, so can't confirm.

Steam was pretty delayed on expansion pack purchases.
Also limited releases of the physical collectors edition.

I suggest to everyone not to opt for the Steam version whenever possible. If the Steam overlay and stuff is important, you can add it as a non-steam title to the Steam client, while maintaining the regular PC client.

A father should never force their son into anything. While FF14 is a superior game that usually indicates higher IQ, it's still at the end of their day their decision to make.

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Originally Posted by Canadane

Steam was pretty delayed on expansion pack purchases.
Also limited releases of the physical collectors edition.

I suggest to everyone not to opt for the Steam version whenever possible. If the Steam overlay and stuff is important, you can add it as a non-steam title to the Steam client, while maintaining the regular PC client.

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Yeah, unfortunately I'm pretty much locked into Steam for FF XIV. If I had known ahead of time I'd have bailed but...it's there and it's what I have to use for my PC. Definitely don't recommend it for FF XIV though, that's for sure. I play FF XIV primarily on my PS4 anyway so it's not a big deal.

So, once upon at time, you could launch FF14 directly without having Steam online. Sometime passed and a new policy came into place where FF14 would not longer have the ability to launch without Steam online first.

The issue? Steam has had some authenticating problems, meaning that people could not bypass it by launching FF14 directly. The issue has passed but the policy is still in place.

As King Canadane as advised, if you can get your hands on a copy without Steam, go for it.

EDIT:

Here, this is link to the actual change: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...727afe494a3b81

Bollocks. It was 5 years ago during first expansion time when there was issues with pre-order delay and that was on Square not submitting the expansion early enough to Steam for Valve to check it.

If you want to use Steam wallet, which works with PayPal too then go ahead and buy Steam version. No need to apply credit card information.

I think what youre thinking about is how that , if you buy from steam you must also buy the expansion from steam ,since the steam version and non steam version isnt compatible with each other. This is the thing that usually people get mad about cause they cant refund the sale so they are basically fcked.

The only "issue" is that, if you buy the game on Steam, you're forced to buy every future expansion on Steam as well. And you must run the game from the Steam desktop app. That's it. I have the game in both Steam and PS4 and i have never had any kind of issue since 2016. Also, having Steam Wallet as a payment option is pretty nice IMO

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Originally Posted by SenorPatty

So, once upon at time, you could launch FF14 directly without having Steam online. Sometime passed and a new policy came into place where FF14 would not longer have the ability to launch without Steam online first.

The issue? Steam has had some authenticating problems, meaning that people could not bypass it by launching FF14 directly. The issue has passed but the policy is still in place.

As King Canadane as advised, if you can get your hands on a copy without Steam, go for it.

EDIT:

Here, this is link to the actual change: https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...727afe494a3b81

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Okay. This is more than likely what I was remembering. Didn't seem like it was a year ago lol. Thank you for digging up that link for me.

If you share library on steam with family it can be an problem. My GF plays the Steam version and i have the "normal" one.

If shes on it obviously locks me out of all of her games, it also makes it impossible for her to play a game on the side unless she uses it from my library. So if you share library or are the type to play a game during downtime like dps queues consider that.

Thanks to all of you for the information. I will just buy it from the SE store.

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Originally Posted by KRIPTICON

Greetings to all of you,

After roughly 2 years of arguing with my stepson, I finally got him to take a break from WoW and try FFXIV so I am going to buy him the game and some sub time. However, something occurred to me and I wanted to ask around about it. I remember not too long ago that people who had the Steam version of the game were having some sort of an issue. I don't remember what it was, I just remember players being really upset about it. I play on console so it wasn't affecting me at the time but I need a PC copy of the game. I was wondering if the problem people were having had been sorted out or should I just buy from someone other than Steam?

Thanks in advance adventurers!

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Gotta say i have a question, why would you be arguing with your stepson about which MMO he's playing? Just let the kid play the game he wants to.

I have a PC version of the game but I boot it using the steam client. I can run non steam games with steam.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KRIPTICON

Greetings to all of you,

After roughly 2 years of arguing with my stepson, I finally got him to take a break from WoW and try FFXIV so I am going to buy him the game and some sub time. However, something occurred to me and I wanted to ask around about it. I remember not too long ago that people who had the Steam version of the game were having some sort of an issue. I don't remember what it was, I just remember players being really upset about it. I play on console so it wasn't affecting me at the time but I need a PC copy of the game. I was wondering if the problem people were having had been sorted out or should I just buy from someone other than Steam?

Thanks in advance adventurers!

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Steam broadly had some differences in release scheduling for collectors content (but I believe that as of ShB, that no longer is the case).

The bigger issue is that players who purchased teh game through steam have to launch the game through steam. Meaning, if you have a straight PC version of it with its own launcher, you will not be able to log into your account if hte account was purchased through steam. This works in reverse too. There is no difference in the gameplay or anything, its strictly a matter of where you can launch the game from. (Simple work around, btw, for this is if you have the PC files already on your computer to copy/paste them into the appropriate steam folder, and vice versa if need be. There are youtube videos on this. Catch is you will technically hvae to copies of the game on your computer so youre just eating up HD space, but in the age of terabyte drives, probably not an issue).

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Originally Posted by Canadane

Steam was pretty delayed on expansion pack purchases.
Also limited releases of the physical collectors edition.

I suggest to everyone not to opt for the Steam version whenever possible. If the Steam overlay and stuff is important, you can add it as a non-steam title to the Steam client, while maintaining the regular PC client.

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Yeah, agreed. Unless there is a sale or something this should go for most games anyway. I personally prefer to direct purchase, for the most part. Less issues, unless you are attached to Steam being the hub of all your games I suppose.

Just get the game from Square directly. No middleman.

The only steam related issue I recall coming up was people throwing fits about not wanting to use steam.

The only issue's I've experienced in game were caused by DDoS attacks causing server stability issues and having to wait in a login queue when an expansion launches or has a major update. Though it has been popping up regularly with a login queue of 20-30 people when I log in outside those times ever since they started that world visit system thing...

That basically feels like coming home and having some person visiting your neighbor parked in your driveway that shouldn't be there. However I cant just park behind them and box them in and then refuse to move my vehicle when they want to leave later since its an online video game...

I just started playing last week and came here looking for help on another topic.

Why even bother with Steam? I created my account on SE and I was offered a free 30 day trial. You can buy direct from SE.

I also found out when using the SE client you can opt for secondary security and use the SE token generator and get a free extra point to bind to.

I have it through Steam for me and my wife. Not sure why I went that route vs. just getting it through Square.

My only issue is that I needed to move the game files from one HD to another HD and could not. This is because Steam technically only installs and tracks the Launcher. The Launcher in turn downloads the game, but does not let you choose where it is installed. This indirect install method prevents Steam from being able to move the game.

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Originally Posted by KRIPTICON

I was wondering if the problem people were having had been sorted out or should I just buy from someone other than Steam?

Thanks in advance adventurers!

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Do not use the steam version.
Just buy the game and run it from it's own launcher.
The steam version will give you headaches.

Good luck and have fun.

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Originally Posted by Bobberuchi

I also found out when using the SE client you can opt for secondary security and use the SE token generator and get a free extra point to bind to.

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This is true for the Steam and PS4 and Mac clients as well.
It's just ...account related not client related.

Do note if you did buy the steam version, you can still play through the windows client.