FPS drops like a stone before game crashes

[Absurde]

I'm guessing you're using an ATI graphics card? If so this is an issue that's been there basically since the beginning and which SE doesnt seem to want to do anything about. There used to be a 150+ page long thread about it but it was moved to the resolved section (and no, nothing has really been resolved). There is a work around which i think involves disabling all the LOD features in your graphics settings, but ofcourse the game will look worse with objects only starting to look good when you're really close to them (oh and another side effect is armour models never using high detail, no idea why). So those are currently your options: random crashes or game looking crappy for no real reason.. until SE and AMD finally start cooperating on the issue.

[HakuroDK]

I'm guessing you're using an ATI graphics card? If so this is an issue that's been there basically since the beginning and which SE doesnt seem to want to do anything about. There used to be a 150+ page long thread about it but it was moved to the resolved section (and no, nothing has really been resolved). There is a work around which i think involves disabling all the LOD features in your graphics settings, but ofcourse the game will look worse with objects only starting to look good when you're really close to them (oh and another side effect is armour models never using high detail, no idea why). So those are currently your options: random crashes or game looking crappy for no real reason.. until SE and AMD finally start cooperating on the issue.

AMD Radeon, actually. But I'll try your suggestions anyhow.

[Raist]

AMD Radeon, actually. But I'll try your suggestions anyhow.

AMD and ATI are one in the same... AMD gobbled them up a few years back.

[Drako]

There is a work around which i think involves disabling all the LOD features in your graphics settings

Actually it's enabling the two LOD features in FFXIV settings.

This issue is ongoing sense launch. It just gets severely exacerbated when SE puts a high demand on open world content(see HUNTS). It's a unfortunately problem due to using old DirectX on newer cards. Most people are hoping the new DX11 client will resolve this and all the performance problems. It's crazy to buy a top of the line GFX and find your getting less then 30FPS running around Mor Dhona at max settings. SE has never really made any official comment on this problem. I'm not really sure why, it's one glaring issue that a big chunk of their players are experiencing.

Check these posts for more info on the issue.
ATI Card compatibility issues!
Memory Leak Preformance Issue