Do you remember your first time playing FFXIV?

[syntaxlies]

I do . I started with the collector's edition, so it was really easy to remember the whole population within Ul'Dah (but that changed when the standard edition came out, way too many people!).

Other than completing the first quest and talking to every NPC within Ul'Dah.

With my newly-found complete freedom to explore, I ran on to the road that directed me straight to Gridania. The road was packed with people running between cities.

When I just entered the Black Shroud, whenever I saw a player exiting I would stop and talk to them about where I came from and where they were heading!

When I finally reached Gridania city, in every area I visited I would shout "I am from Ul'Dah!!!"

Good times .

So, what did you do with your first time on FFXIV?

the first time i played was beta, i waited 2 moths to pay for them game which was a great decision because i got it for $30.00. i waited because i knew it needed some patching, lol. boy was that an understatement.

also i remember getting 0 xp for killing mobs way over my lvl. i had a hard time figuring out why that was.

[Estellios]

I remember the first week I would Teleport from Ul'dah to Camp Black Brush and vice versa.

[MiNuN]

^Lol ha ha ha, everybody used up their anima

[Mamba]

I remember being over the moon being invited to the 1st alpha testing. I got the email when I could play it (If I remember correct USA, EU and JPN had different time slots when you were able to play), luckily it was in the evening for me, as I probably would have taken time off work for it if it had been during the day.
I downloaded the client (and got access to the the alpha testers only forum - woot). First, Second, Third attempt... I couldn't log on, I kept getting some error message due to so many people trying to log on at the same time. I tried for over an hour to log on and then the time slot for EU was almost over so I gave up /cry.
I tried again a few days later and couldn't log on AT ALL ever!
I decided to give up as I had been reading the forums, that most people didn't get past the character creation screen anyway.
Then about a month later I tried again and YAY was able to make a character, Lalafel called Pixie Dust. The whole scene at the boat was SO LAGGY that it was hard to follow what was happening and when I finally got control of my character I moved maybe 1 step in 10 seconds. I don't know where I got the patience but I managed to get my character out of the boat and there it happened (every single time!) FFXIV crashed and it would not go anywhere from the boat. That was as much alpha testing I got and I was gutted. I knew my laptop wasn't the best so it probably needed upgrading for such high end game.
I gave my alpha account to my friend who had similar experiences and decided that I wouldn't try again until I had a new PC. It was already August 2010 when I then bought me a new computer and was able to try BETA with proper graphics and no lag.
I remember going to the market wards and it was EMPTY, I didn't know what the area was for. I also remember griding rats outside LL and I did not know what a levequest was until I bought the game and watched the opening movie.

Then the big day came, CE was out and I took 3 days off from work to get a proper kick start to FFXIV. I went to the gameshop at 9am when it opened just to find out that they hadn't received their delivery yet. So.. I was hovering around the store for 3 hours (!!) until I got the game.

I first created a Mi'qote and I ran around the whole world in the first few weeks. I had all the crystals, including the really difficult ones in Mor Dhona (I still have the character and now I wonder how on earth I ever got to these places as lvl 12!).

I also remember having a go at my friend who was leveling a pugilist for getting more SP than me who was playing a thaumaturge and he ended up on some fights just standing in the back while I casted spells so I would also get some skill points lol
Oh and do you remember when there was that clitch in the game that you would engage a mob and then suddenly the game would say that you cant attack that mob?

I got very fed up with FFXIV in only about two weeks and after that have played the game very on and off. I did make some friends in the few weeks of FFXIV though who have never come back, I wish they would because back then I did still feel a bit excited about the whole community.

[Lienn]

Well, i started in Gridania (was a different character), did the first quest and went out to get camps...my first day was entirely spent getting most camps.

Then i went to do a thing i like the most in this game...gathering!

Ah, the good old days...you guys have no idea how i miss the original game...most of my good memories are stuck at that announcement of new hairstyles, party craft leves and hamlet defense...before the "dark cloud of mediocrity" engulf Eorzea and start rotting every aspect of it...

I want my FFXIV back... ; ;

[MiNuN]

@mamba I feel the same as you regarding old friends, when you buy the CE you basically know everybody during that first few week!

But, another thing, everything had horrid experience with you first play FFXIV, but looking at the current FFXIV, isn't it a relief?

[DeadRiser]

Yes I do and I have such a heart warming story to go with it

It was like my second day playing right after my old high school's homecoming. I was a conjurer and needed some help. Invited this game named Buritoslicer Buritosandwich and we did a crap load of stuff together. We seen eachother for a while every so often and then the big wipeout it XIV and everyone quit. Right after 1.18 hit, I seen him at a random camp and we been Linkshell buddies since. Just something I thought about that makes me want to stick with XIV forever.

[Vanguard319]

I first logged in about ten minutes before the first major maintenance, so I wound up being stuck in the game, unable to log out, I wound up hard rebooting in order to get out.

[Sputnik]

Werid i dont remember my first day playing 14, but i can still remember my first day playing 11 hmmmm

[Soukyuu]

Oh, I remember ^^
Got into one of the later waves of alpha testing and it was surprisingly easy to get ingame, I only crashed once lol
Most people were pretty optimistic since it was alpha and so many things would change, and we were allowed to test it

I started making some contacts and then the alpha was over and beta came, and everyone was so impressed with how much SE changed. I felt that they wouldn't disappoint us if they managed to improve so much from alpha to beta.

Uni kept me busy so I didn't play much. Then came release with the CE version. Seeing lots of people in onion helms at newbie zones made up for the fact the release version was not different from the beta one. The random parties at Aetherytes where everyone was following the same goal of exploring new zones were great, but it soon started to wear off and most people quit. Servers became quiet and i decided to quit myself.

Recently I came back and started playing again and funny thing, those people i saw running past me about a year ago were back too, and one of them even is in one of the LS I am in lol