Do you remember your first time playing FFXIV?

[MorinaLucine]

I remember being sooo excited about my Character that i spent an two hours making it, but then i logged in Gridania and realized that I was alone D: But as i made my trek around to Uldah, i picked up a fellow hitchhicker and we both ran to LL. Wish Girdania was a little more populated its so nice there...and not dry and barren like Uldah.

[Jericho]

I made 7 characters before deciding on my taru. Or whatever.

[Rubicon]

I remember our Lord and Savior Pookie Poo.

Honestly, I remember trying to set controller settings and not being able to target ANYTHING. It got better.

[Kinseykinz]

I remember our Lord and Savior Pookie Poo.

Honestly, I remember trying to set controller settings and not being able to target ANYTHING. It got better.

I remember being outside Gridania, watching the first CS and then when I needed to walk forward and fight, being like 'I don't know how...wth?' and stumbling through that whole scene until i could get to my menu...searching for that and logging out....

Quick drive to best buy for a gamepad and I logged right back in and was set.

Keep in mind, I had a brand spanking new laptop just for the game and reaaaaallly wanted to play even though I never played a PC MMO and it had been years since my Xbox/PS2 FFXI days. I was afraid of the keyboard back then what can I say. (and now it's all I use lol). The gamepad solved my problem (thankfully).

As to the gameplay, once I got in:

I remember 15+btn's all chopping away on the very same tree...I remember making my first friend....and being so sad when he later stopped playing. I remember walking into the market wards for the first time...OMG is all I can say on how overwhelming I found those to be originally.

But I learned it, and I made good friends. I secretly think that is what kept me going. I got overwhelmed by something...or disappointed (really, casting cure on my party won't =SP on cnj but hitting the goat with my 'stick' will?), or was lonely (none of my RL friends, including hubby played)....and everytime, I'd figure it out, achieve something else, meet someone new, have a silly day with a friend, or be able to help someone else, and those early months, even though amazingly difficult and uphill at times, were still fun, and worth logging in for.


I don't miss the beginning phases, but I'm glad I had them...i don't think I'd have my awesome weaver friend who I use to gather mats for by the backpack load, or had a friend i could duo almost anything with to be silly, or even would have been fortunate enough to take over as LS master(old master stopped playing and the LS asked me to step up) and get to know such a good group of people for over 2 years w/o the bad launch. Nor do I think I would have learned to be a decent player capable of holding my own in endgame content. (Leading a LS, and having to be the boss forces you to step out of the 'shy' shell pretty quickly...it also forces you to up your gameplay to keep leading the pack forward)

[Oscillate_Wildly]

My friend let me use her closed beta account, and Limsa was the only starting area. The game wasn't yet uh...'fixed' yet so I had to turn all my settings down to the very lowest and wander around as a mosaic blob. I never made it off the boat.

[Nipa]

I definitely remember not being able to equip that new weapon I had bought to try a new class. Obviously I had slain some rat and was stuck in combat mode. I uninstalled the game before understanding you had to use a key to disable that mode.

...

Yet I bought it, at full price, on release.

[Miquinee]

My 1st time was in Beta, was getting 15~20 FPS or even 8~ in LL .. lagging so bad

I remember when ppl didnt know how leves quest works, and just grinding on Dire Rats .. lol

I went in ward trying to find some new gears and WOahh!! everything is mixed up
I asked myself "do I have to browse through all this???!!"

Fun fun fun,

[Sovereign]

I remember getting an email on 6/2/2010 that started with...

We would first like to express our appreciation for your interest in
FINAL FANTASY XIV, and thank you for your application. It is our
pleasure to inform you that you have been selected for the role of
FINAL FANTASY XIV Beta Tester.

Applicants selected as testers will be eligible to participate with
the beginning of the second stage of the Alpha Test.
We hope that you will continue to assist us in improving the game
throughout the entirety of the Alpha and Beta Tests.

And I remember being ecstatic! I also remember the clunky character creator, the forced 720p window, only having LL available to start from, and running into all sorts of errors and lag. That said, it was still pretty epic when I made my first lancer and started trying to find Hob... (which took a damn long time, I might add!).

[Vahzl]

Took 3 days for the beta to install, patching was a nightmare, logged in after about an hour of farting about with the account management system, crashed.

Logged back in later, ran at around 2fps, was unplayable, and the chat channels were filled with awful spam.

6 months later, I got a new PC, capable of running this game without even an effort, graphics look great, but still has some tearing etc, stepped out into Limsa, someone told me I couldn't claim my Garlond Goggles on a character that was already created, so I remade it again, and then began the steady grind.

[Laiferr]

Oh man I don't exactly remember! I've been in since Alpha. I do remember character creation, and thinking how awesome it was. And my first time zoning from Limsa to La Noscea with the seamless zones, thinking it was amazing. And looking back and being able to see the city, rather than it being shoved behind ambiguous walls xD good times.