Hi

just wanted people to know how i resolved my issue. I recently upgraded my PC and installed FFXIV a fresh from the original DVD of FFXIV (1.0) Collectors Edition.

upon install i found myself presented with all kinds of errors, and after google'ing around and seeing many many situations of the error, and trying all of the suggestions for editing config files, changing DNS, flushing DNS etc.. i found that the ONLY way i could get the game to load was to download the launcher from here

http://www.finalfantasyxiv.com/playersdownload/na/

and then download the game again using this launcher (11.6GB)

for days i could not get this game to work in Windows 8.1, but i don't know if it was because i was using the original collectors edition disc or not.

hopefully this can help some people get back online!

Good Luck and sorry if this is are-post in any way.

Kohla