Like many of you i played back in beta and i complained, complained and complained some more, but i was never outspoken about any of it or atleast most of it, Do you remember the jittery bow on Archer in beta? The slow menu's trying to sell to an npc, assuming said NPC rendered within 2 minutes? (exaggerated)

Despite all of that i made atleast one or two characters of every race just to get a feel for the play style because as we all know you can't just go edit once you invest such-and-such hours, I finally settled on a Miqo'te, CON/WHM eventually, I started leveling CON around the time they made Cure cost 45 MP and it was a lot more difficult than it used to be to level and by this point nobody was really interesting in grouping up because they felt Lv30+ groups were a better investment or, they were already 50 from the old easier way of leveling.

I got a chance to try 1.20 before billing hit and i even held up my credit card and got ready to pay for 6 months, but i couldn't bring myself to do it, the game is fun but at the same time it's lonely, i figured i would talk myself into paying for it by jumping on and seeking, i even shouted that i was a Conjurer looking to exp <Long Time>, nothing, i waited and waited seeking (shouting) for about 5 hours in Uldah (3PM EST - 8PM EST).

I was seeking much longer than that because i logged out, switched to window mode and watched several things on Hulu, nobody said a word to me. My comment even displayed "I will Heel you!" On a positive note i do like the new search feature but it feels like nobody else uses it, in fact the majority of people i actually saw seeking were 'JP'. So unfortunately i made the decision not to pay, I have a baby who does want my undivided attention often and despite that i tried to make FFXIV work.

To further this, i did manage to get into a Linkshell, and i had a real nice person power level me, it was only 4 or 5 levels but it got me into my 30 range so thinks wouldn't feel so harsh (before 1.20), but the downside is anybody who isn't stuck in there 30's isn't interested in doing much else than Ifrit or the moogle thing, something i was dying to experience, and never could.

I ran back to Final Fantasy XI where i have my handful of jobs leveled and have the ability to actually solo, but i found it isn't any better there, everybody just sits in Abyssea like a bunch of zombies day and night, they don't want to do anything else, oh and if you aren't a certain job, you can forget doing anything a trend iv'e seen in FFXIV too. I can't justify the monthly fee's for a game where i sit in town for the majority duration of my playtime like the old school FFXI was, seeking for hours, finally get a group but you really only have 30 minutes left to play or are so tired it's a grief to be around you.

I don't really know where to go from here, one side tells me to "do it!" the other just reminds me of how difficult it was to really progress in the game. while i could always pick up a craft, i can say i wouldn't enjoy myself and i would just burn out faster, what do you think?