Quote Originally Posted by MrPresident View Post
Figuring it out as we went along.

No one knew what the hell they were doing and it was great. Fine tuning our skills, optimising our gear, finding little rewards like minions from fates and dungeons, It was all done on the fly. There may have been a small group at the very top of the game who understood what they were doing from the get go. But most of us were just bumbling through and I liked that.

Now the game is so big and established every major fight is cleared and has an established strategy about a day after release. The dungeons all follow the same formula and rarely deviate while there is also less adaptability and variation in play styles now than ever.

I still enjoy the game and probably will for the remainder of its life span. But it’s hard to replicate that feeling of when it was fresh and original.
This. Absolutely this.
I still remember partying up with a group back in ARR beta. We were so excited about getting our chocobos. Everything was new, fresh, and mysterious. We didn't know what the future of the game was going to be like.

Looking back, I think ARR was the highest I was ever excited to play the game... I remember being really hyped for patch 2.1. The sheer amount of content it'd bring! Extremes, the first 24-man raid (this is what I was looking forward to the most), PVP, housing (this one hurt lol), and of course, story.