FFXIV does undeniably have some really antiquated user interfaces outside of the game.

The fact that the launcher is closed when you launch the game and that there is no auto-login feature is actually mind-boggling. Like, pretty much every single piece of software these days has an auto login feature by default that you need to manually disable if you don't want it. Steam, Origin, Uplay, Battlenet, Spotify and probably even the epic game store (even Tarkov has it!). FFXIV is literally the only piece of software on my computer that requires a login that does not have an automatic login feature and no option to leave the launcher open upon starting the game. There's just no excuse for this in 2021.

Even though i've gotten used to SE's crap interfaces outside of the actual game at this point i have to admit that i think interacting with any FFXIV related services outside of the game is just an absolute pain in the behind. I don't know much about the newly updated mogstation but the old mogstation looked straight out of 2004 and was just awful. Then we have to process of purchasing optional items; you log into the mogstation and click the optional items tab, that sends you to a different site, the square store where you need to log in again, then you put your items in the cart and in order to finalize your purchase you have to log in AGAIN. I mean wtf? 3 logins to purchase a fantasia. I don't think i know of any games these days with microtransactions that doesn't just have it directly accessible in the actual game, and requiring you to enter your details 3 times across 2 different websites in order to make a purchase is just absurd.

And something else i really dislike is the pre-order system. You get 2 different codes. Why? Why do i need a special pre-order and then a second key to avoid being locked out after i've already started playing the expansion, and this key you sometimes don't even get mailed to you, i don't think i've encountered such a bizarre system with any other digital game purchase, ever. With Endwalker i never got it mailed to me. I had to dig up the old pre-order confirmation and click the link to access my pre-order key in order to view the key for the full expansion. All these extremely archaic quirks add up and it's just annoying to deal with. I hope the updated mogstation is a sign of things to come because good lord they're far behind in terms of user interface design outside of the game.