completely uninstalled all anti-malware programs that i had installed, but thats not it. i really, honestly do not think it is a communication error, the ports are open and i can ping to their servers with no issues at all. squeenix support is increasingly not helpful, but a friend of mine pointed out something that confuses me, my directory for the game (c:/programfiles(x86)/steam/steamapps/common/FINAL FANTASY XIV - A Realm Reborn does not contain a .cfg file.