New Player, my thoughts

[imjustahealer]

im the same mate. spent 10 years+ playing a disc priest/resto shammy in wow & probably for the last 18 months, i just stopped enjoying it.
played aion for a while with my gf & got my cleric up to 60 & she got her songweaver to 60 also, but nothing comes close to FFXIV.
the storyline from the 1st quest until the current last is just a joy. the different emotions you get by getting really involved is hard to explain (sad, i know lol), playing a game with a proper storyline, this is what a game should be like.
i can honestly say, i wish i had picked this game up years ago & not just in the last 8 weeks, it really is that good.
im playing a lvl 60 WHM & really enjoying the whole quest/dungeon experience.

[Rinari]

Also, Chocobo mounts? yes please!

Not only that, but you can eventually train your chocobo to fight alongside you, filling in as either DPS, tank, or healer. It only works in world content, but is fairly useful, particularly if you want to take on a FATE boss alone. You can feed the chocobo foods to change its color and equip different bardings. This is all separate from racing chocobos that you can breed and race at the saucer.

im playing a lvl 60 WHM & really enjoying the whole quest/dungeon experience.

FFXIV is the first MMO where I've actually enjoyed dungeon content before max level. Most MMOs make it an optional chore you can engage in for better quest rewards, but few people want to do it. To maker matters worse, the low level dungeons tend to be annoying and maze-like as well! FFXIV fixes that by keeping the dungeon layouts relatively simple, making them required in the main quest, giving players incentives to do them, and giving new players some tutorials to get them started. I've really enjoyed the experience, although probably it does annoy some DPS that have to wait in a long que to get through story content.

[MysticWoolie]

Not only that, but you can eventually train your chocobo to fight alongside you, filling in as either DPS, tank, or healer. It only works in world content, but is fairly useful, particularly if you want to take on a FATE boss alone. You can feed the chocobo foods to change its color and equip different bardings. This is all separate from racing chocobos that you can breed and race at the saucer.

Holy Moogles!
Chocobo breeding? Feeding and changing colors and barding? FFVII vibe for me, that is!
Sounds like they implemented the minigames from my favorite FF single player title into FFXIV!

[Rinari]

Sounds like they implemented the minigames from my favorite FF single player title into FFXIV!

Have you visited the Gold Saucer casino yet? My first time there, I ran around wide eyed and ecstatic, playing all the games and joining in on special events. The chocobo racing is on the upper level (have to take elevator to it the first time), so don't miss that part.

If you haven't been yet, here is the info on unlocking it, which you can do shortly after unlocking airship travel;

To unlock Gold Saucer, player must complete the questline starting It Could Happen to You. Players can start the quest by talking to Well-heeled Youth in Ul'dah - Steps of Nald (x9,y9). Players must have completed the Main Scenario Quest: The Gridanian Envoy, The Ul'dahn Envoy or The Lominsan Envoy previously.

[MysticWoolie]

To unlock Gold Saucer, player must complete the questline starting It Could Happen to You. Players can start the quest by talking to Well-heeled Youth in Ul'dah - Steps of Nald (x9,y9). Players must have completed the Main Scenario Quest: The Gridanian Envoy, The Ul'dahn Envoy or The Lominsan Envoy previously.

Massive thanks, Rinari!

I unlocked and completed these quests last night, I'll be sure to get the Gold Saucer going!

I'm so pumped about this, it even has the Chocobo theme song during the races! <3

[NielleWiseeli]

So it seems I wasn't the only one that didn't get hooked from day one haha. I first tried the trial a while back and only got to lvl 7 before moving to something else. But recently I figured I'd give it another shot with a different chara and this time, uh boy am I sold on it. At first I figured I'd miss the combat Tera or Blade&Soul had to offer, but after running my first dungeons I found I can live with this style as well.
I really like how there's a lot of stuff to do and lots of mechanics to learn, so at least with my first char I don't feel like the leveling is getting boring for now. And the story line seems really interesting, while in other games I kept skipping most if not all the text blocks, I can honestly say with ffxiv I enjoy reading the dialogue as I wanna know what happens next.
Money well spent, I'd say.

[Rinari]

I don't feel like the leveling is getting boring for now. And the story line seems really interesting, while in other games I kept skipping most if not all the text blocks, I can honestly say with ffxiv I enjoy reading the dialogue as I wanna know what happens next.

I haven't been bored with leveling yet at all. If you do hit a slog though, jump into Palace of the Dead or do some dungeons. I have Warrior at 59 and Paladin at 51 without trying...and just now finished main quest up to Ishgard. I did get hooked on PotD for a while though, so that would do it. The main quest gets tedious when it starts throwing you around to random people for what seem like unimportant side-quests. There are hundreds of those and they eat up a lot of time. I wish they had streamlined the main quest more. I do enjoy the actual main story and most of the cutscene interactions. I could just do without the filler.

Combat is fun, particularly in dungeons in the 40+ range where it tends to keep you on your toes. It feels extremely active, even though we're really just making decisions around a 2.5s general cooldown.

[Khasar]

Well level 50 now I didn't think I'd ever play an MMO again where I'd get this far and not get bored or burnt out and where I would enjoy the whole journey! Enjoyed the dungeons, I enjoyed most of the quests, the story-line is great but me being lazy I didn't want to read all the text But I kinda got an idea of what the story is about. I also liked the mini raid dungeon Castrum Meridianum, so now I am onto the next one which is The Praetorium I believe.

[MysticWoolie]

I'm just positively lost in all the things i can do.

Sometimes i do the MSQ, currently I am working hard on getting all crafts up to 15.
Loving the fact that even crafting comes with a bunch of skills you can use to improve results rather than <get ingredients - click craft>.
I throw in a dungeon here and there during my crafts, since - now that I reached my first goals (becoming a Scholar and Summoner) I want to practice healing.

Love it!

At the same time I frequent the Gold Saucer, play Chocobo races, also recently unlocked my Feisty little Chocobo, only to find out she can level up as well!
Not to mention you can play mini games using your minions!

So much to do and to see that I cannot imagine getting bored anytime soon.

[Rinari]

I've got warrior at 60 and paladin at 51. I've finished up through HW MSQ (but not Dragonsong) and have been working hard to gear up for higher end content (up to gear ilvl 226 now). I cleared Palace of the Dead down to lv 100 and got my ilvl 255 kina weapon (a great boost for a fresh 60!). I've been working to unlock and play through dungeons, and I think I've maybe only been to about a fourth of what exists. I've got Armorsmith, Leatherworking, and Mining over 40 now. I have an apartment with modest decorations, including an orchestrion that I only have a handful of songs for. I've go 40 or 50ish triad cards, and trying to hunt down enough to hit the magic 60 mark. I hit the gold saucer sometimes to work up MGP for rewards... already bought a couple new dances and some cosmetic pieces. I burned through a bunch of timeworn dragonskin treasure maps with friends and made it to the end of aquapolis...what an adventure and such treasure!

With all that, it seems like I've barely dented the content in the game. I haven't touched pvp or raids yet. I'm just getting started in crafting. There are tons of lv 50 and 60 dungeons and trials I haven't visited yet. I haven't even tried a DPS or Healer job up to a significant level yet (though I love tanking). Someday I hope to acquire a house.

The best part of it all is that I've made a bunch of awesome friends along the way. I love the game more every day!