What's changed between the first version and ARR?

Forgive me if i'm being ignorant, but I haven't played in a while and I noticed A Realm Reborn has been gathering a bit of attention as of late

I did play version 1.0 and despite the horrible negative reviews it got, I thought it was a decent game and I knew it was going to be remade into A Realm Reborn eventually, however, when I learned I was about a month short of getting legacy status, I thought I would have to start over from scratch which was something I sorely did not want to do, so I decided it was probably time to move on to another game (which ended up being GW2)

Later, I got a letter saying that my characters could be transfered to new servers, which kind of made me consider getting ARR, so I transfered my characters over in case I ever wanted to get the game

Now, more recently, alot of my friends over in GW2 were talking about how excited they were for ARR, how they played the beta, and how awsome it was. This, along with the fact that I presumably get to keep my old characters pretty much solidified my decision to get FFXIV ARR and I ended up pre-ordering it

So, now, for those who did play the beta, I was wondering what's changed between version 1.0 and ARR?

way too much to explain this close to p4, best to just jump in at this point. you won't regret it.

ARR is closer to wow then FFXI.

you have dutyfinder(makes party for dungeons,bossfight, guildheist), FATE(active time evets like gw2), gear is number base only, chain questing like WOW, guild leves. classes are more simplfied

housing coming in 2.1, PVP coming months later

New Graphics engine built for the game instead of using FFXIII's

New server to help alleviate the client-server lag

Regional servers to further help with the above.

All new story in a post End of an Era world

All new maps (changed and partitioned into smaller, more diverse maps)

Battle system has been sped up and revamp completely.

PVP will be added.

Player housing will be added.

Addition of free companies (player ran companies more like traditional guilds from other MMOs).

F.A.T.E (full active time battle) which as stated above is just like the dynamic quests in GW2.

Duty Finder which is just a cross-server LFG matching system.

Customizable UI

PS3 support (soon PS4)

Voiced main story missions.

More character creation options.

And much much MUCH more. >.>;

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Originally Posted by indira

ARR is closer to wow then FFXI.

you have dutyfinder(makes party for dungeons,bossfight, guildheist), FATE(active time evets like gw2), gear is number base only, chain questing like WOW, guild leves. classes are more simplfied

housing coming in 2.1, PVP coming months later

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a lot of that is just wrong....to start by first version she meant FFXIV not FFXI.

anyway, whats changed. the maps have been completely redone, for the better, there are lots and lots of quests to do, there are now plenty of monsters for everyone to kill, MAIL!, JUMPING! lol (not sure why I find those two so important lol) market(not retainer based). streamlined materia system(WTF? hey SE why isn't "materia" in the spell check on YOUR forums?) added FATEs(easy to figure out when you encounter them). Added Arcanist class and Scholar and Summoner for jobs, reworked all the numbers for money/stats/gear/etc...adding Free Company housing at launch and personal housing and pvp in patch 2.1(early September) reworked the crafting system, rebuilt the gathering system, totally changed fishing. Ishgard will finally be open, new primals (though ifrit(really? SE terms for your game should really be in the spell check that's annoying) seems unchanged), ok so there's more, but that's all I'm gonna say for now. Keith seems to have hit a few I missed.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by indira

ARR is closer to wow then FFXI.

you have dutyfinder(makes party for dungeons,bossfight, guildheist), FATE(active time evets like gw2), gear is number base only, chain questing like WOW, guild leves. classes are more simplfied

housing coming in 2.1, PVP coming months later

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This is actually incorrect, PvP will be in 2.1 as well.

I'd suggest just hopping in phase 4 and giving it a whirl! Like others have said you won't regret it, a lot has changed.

I think people failed to mention one important aspect:

You didn't need to preorder it. Since you own 1.0, you get to have ARR for free :D
Although preordering gets you a cute Cait Sith pet and a Moogle Cap :3

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Originally Posted by SirEdeonX

I think people failed to mention one important aspect:

You didn't need to preorder it. Since you own 1.0, you get to have ARR for free :D
Although preordering gets you a cute Cait Sith pet and a Moogle Cap :3

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and early access

It's easier to say what hasn't changed:

Class names, Races (although new genders are added), Background Lore

Way to much to type out.

It's almost literally a new game. New guts + a face lift. At this point it will be easier to just play it and see for yourself. Since you played 1.0 you get a free copy, so if you don't have beta access now, download at launch (8/27) and see for yourself.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gwaiyn

Now, more recently, alot of my friends over in GW2 were talking about how excited they were for ARR, how they played the beta, and how awsome it was. This, along with the fact that I presumably get to keep my old characters pretty much solidified my decision to get FFXIV ARR and I ended up pre-ordering it

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I hope you realize that as a 1.0 player, you get a free download of ARR. You bought it once, don't need to buy it a second time (unless you want the pre-order goodies or want the PS3 version).

And I have to agree with others that said jump in, you won't regret it. Every beta weekend, I couldn't put it down! Welcome back!

This is a good place to start if you want to know how the game has changed.

Well, I suppose I did already pay for it and early access is nice to have

Was there anything I needed to get into the beta? or could I just jump straight into it?