The worst part is

[SeriousxSarcasm]

Agreed. I'm not going to shout and whine about it, because it's just the way it is now, but I've been playing everyday, for over a year. I've taken sprouts and returners under my wing to help them get to this point. I got super excited that I was all caught up and ready to go, because for the longest time I was a silly little sprout that couldn't do the cool new things that were coming out in the patches, and it really sucked being the one that had to sit and watch everyone have fun with it. And now it's here and... it's like being a sprout again. Like everyone except me is getting through it. The sprouts and returners I helped are already in Stormblood, they're talking about how cool everything is and "just keep trying, you'll get there eventually." I've been trying for almost 7 hours straight today. I got up at 2am when the servers went live, and tried almost all day then as well. At this point it's like salt in the eyes watching all these people talk about how amazing it is and how much I'm going to love it.

I'm just depressed and tired now. Sure, they're probably going to fix it in the next few weeks, but that initial excitement? That's never going to come back.

Edit: and tbh I even understand why they have that instance. You remember the "content gate" everyone has been demanding? This is it. This instance is meant to weed out the jump potion sprouts that don't know what they're doing (once it works properly). It's not hard for someone who's decently competent at their job, but it's not something an idiot can pass. So, I think it was a good idea, but they executed it poorly.