Gotta treat it as an RPG first, MMO second thorough your journey of MSQ, but it really doesn't take away the MMO part, considering the quality and quantity of group content available in the game. Probably the most solid and polished MMO in the market right now. It has it's issues, sure, such as spaghetti ARR remnant code and janky engine, but positives outshines the negatives.

+ One of the best stories I've experienced, especially post ARR and onwards, and especially Shadowbringers. and I'm not talking about in-game stories only. I'm talking of all story telling mediums. I'm an avid reader and fantasy enjoyer, and this hit my palette just right. Sure, it might be predictable at times, but predictability does not take away from quality. It has many amazing characters that you will form a strong bond with, and genuinely care about. And do not make the mistake of thinking that you have to be final fantasy fan and played through the stories of other FF games to appreciate it like I did. I actually only played a few FF games before, and the story still gripped me. Sure, there's some references and plotlines that you could probably appreciate more as a FF fan, but it's by no means required.

+ The quality of PvE content only keeps getting better, especially as you progress thorough the game and leave ARR behind. Both mechanically, and visually, PvE encounters will keep surprising you.

+ A lot of random content you just can relax with, without sweating your arse off . Crafting and gathering jobs. FISHING, which is the true endgame. Glam farming, gold saucer, triple triad, housing, and that's just touching the surface. No matter if you're a hardcore raider, the casualest of casuals, or someone inbetween, you will find things to do and you will have fun.

+ A breath of fresh air coming from other MMO's, where the ol' mentality of "OOOOOH I GUTTA RUUUSH TO MAX LEVEL ASAP AND START RAIDLOGGING AND PADDING OUT MY ITEMLEVELS" has been left behind. It really is a journey, all the way until level cap, and it continues being a journey as you complete various content provided by the game. Community enjoys things things, social events. Raiding and other PVE content seems to have a lot less pressure. But that doesn't mean there's a lack of it. If you enjoy hardcore raiding, there's still savage raids and extreme trials waiting for you, not to mention the Ultimate fights, where your performance will be put to the test in an absolute maximum possible way, and cooperation and group effort must be unparalleled.

+ A lot of character expression. Base character creation might be limited, but not as limited as many other MMO's out there. But then there's glamour system, ability to play all jobs on one character (the only thing that finally cured my alt-o-holism), various cosmetics, choices in the story, etc.

+ Dev team that at least doesn't hate the guts of their own playerbase and call them names on twitter *cough*blizzard*cough*

+ All jobs feel unique and all are perfectly viable, and fun to play. The game is actually balanced pretty darn well. There's no arbitrary restrictions or getting denied to PvE content over garbage like DESIGNATED borrowed power systems you have to pick and grind out, or DESIGNATED legendaries that you must own. Just pick a job, level it up, learn it, buy crafted gear or grind out gear with timestones, and jump straight into action.

+ I have over 4k hours logged at steam so far, and there's still many, many things I want to do, but didn't find time to, because I was busy with other stuff, and many things I haven't even scratched the surface of. You will have no worries about lack of content. Especially when this game doesn't throw away older content the moment they release a new expansion, like some other mmos out there do.



But of course, nothing is perfect, and I'm not sugarcoating things. Game is excellent. But it still has it's flaws:

- Spaghetti code remnants from ARR and Janky engine, it's one of the reasons why we STILL don't have glamour log.

- The starting experience can be tedious and takes a while for things to get into gear. The GCD feels terrible at low levels where you have only a couple of abilities and no OGCD's, but make no mistake, the combat is by no means slow once you level up the job significantly, and in fact rotations on some jobs might get so complicated and the amount of buttons you will need to push in short period of time to play your job optimally, might make you feel like you need piano fingers and wished the GCD was longer lmao.

- The game's ToS is pretty damn draconian, and there's no beating around the bush. It includes stupid obscure, broad crap like "expressions that any reasonable person might find offensive", "unsolicited advice", or "telling someone they're playing wrong", even if they do stupid crap like play BLM as a frost mage (BLM's have to rotate between fire and ice phases). It really strangles the social aspect of the game, due to the fact that people have to watch their mouths in case there's some professional career victim and reporter lurking around some corner, and discourages friendly banter, which shouldn't be a case in genre like MMO where the social aspect is important. It got somewhat better recently, however, because the warnings/penalties on your account actually expire after a while. And it MIGHT be over-exaggerated in general, because I can be pretty loud mouthed and opinionated, and in over 4k hours, I haven't received a single warning.

- PvP is a minigame at best. It's fun, it has non power rewards, but the game is just not made for it.

- The game has a serious botting problem, and a cheater trouble in ranked pvp. They are dishing out bans, but it's not enough.

Overall, it's definitely my favorite MMO in current market. I've played pretty much every MMO under the sun, including Ruenscape, Lineage 2, Guild Wars 2, New World, WoW, Elder Scrolls Online, Wildstar, SW:TOR, and many many others. It was such a relief to finally escape WoW during ~Battle for Azeroth, or stormblood expansion of this game, and I'm very glad to escape that Bobby's maze. I've found a new home in Eorzea, and I'm never looking back.

So do not hesitate in giving it a try. Even if it will not end up being your cup of tea, the trial is free and very extensive. Did you know that the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV has a free trial, and includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 with no restrictions on playtime? Sign up, and enjoy Eorzea today!

Gotta treat it as an RPG first, MMO second thorough your journey of MSQ, but it really doesn't take away the MMO part, considering the quality and quantity of group content available in the game. Probably the most solid and polished MMO in the market right now. It has it's issues, sure, such as spaghetti ARR remnant code and janky engine, but positives outshines the negatives. + One of the best stories I've experienced, especially post ARR and onwards, and especially Shadowbringers. and I'm not talking about in-game stories only. I'm talking of all story telling mediums. I'm an avid reader and fantasy enjoyer, and this hit my palette just right. Sure, it might be predictable at times, but predictability does not take away from quality. It has many amazing characters that you will form a strong bond with, and genuinely care about. And do not make the mistake of thinking that you have to be final fantasy fan and played through the stories of other FF games to appreciate it like I did. I actually only played a few FF games before, and the story still gripped me. Sure, there's some references and plotlines that you could probably appreciate more as a FF fan, but it's by no means required. + The quality of PvE content only keeps getting better, especially as you progress thorough the game and leave ARR behind. Both mechanically, and visually, PvE encounters will keep surprising you. + A lot of random content you just can relax with, without sweating your arse off . Crafting and gathering jobs. FISHING, which is the true endgame. Glam farming, gold saucer, triple triad, housing, and that's just touching the surface. No matter if you're a hardcore raider, the casualest of casuals, or someone inbetween, you will find things to do and you will have fun. + A breath of fresh air coming from other MMO's, where the ol' mentality of "OOOOOH I GUTTA RUUUSH TO MAX LEVEL ASAP AND START RAIDLOGGING AND PADDING OUT MY ITEMLEVELS" has been left behind. It really is a journey, all the way until level cap, and it continues being a journey as you complete various content provided by the game. Community enjoys things things, social events. Raiding and other PVE content seems to have a lot less pressure. But that doesn't mean there's a lack of it. If you enjoy hardcore raiding, there's still savage raids and extreme trials waiting for you, not to mention the Ultimate fights, where your performance will be put to the test in an absolute maximum possible way, and cooperation and group effort must be unparalleled. + A lot of character expression. Base character creation might be limited, but not as limited as many other MMO's out there. But then there's glamour system, ability to play all jobs on one character (the only thing that finally cured my alt-o-holism), various cosmetics, choices in the story, etc. + Dev team that at least doesn't hate the guts of their own playerbase and call them names on twitter *cough*blizzard*cough* + All jobs feel unique and all are perfectly viable, and fun to play. The game is actually balanced pretty darn well. There's no arbitrary restrictions or getting denied to PvE content over garbage like DESIGNATED borrowed power systems you have to pick and grind out, or DESIGNATED legendaries that you must own. Just pick a job, level it up, learn it, buy crafted gear or grind out gear with timestones, and jump straight into action. + I have over 4k hours logged at steam so far, and there's still many, many things I want to do, but didn't find time to, because I was busy with other stuff, and many things I haven't even scratched the surface of. You will have no worries about lack of content. Especially when this game doesn't throw away older content the moment they release a new expansion, like some other mmos out there do. But of course, nothing is perfect, and I'm not sugarcoating things. Game is excellent. But it still has it's flaws: - Spaghetti code remnants from ARR and Janky engine, it's one of the reasons why we STILL don't have glamour log. - The starting experience can be tedious and takes a while for things to get into gear. The GCD feels terrible at low levels where you have only a couple of abilities and no OGCD's, but make no mistake, the combat is by no means slow once you level up the job significantly, and in fact rotations on some jobs might get so complicated and the amount of buttons you will need to push in short period of time to play your job optimally, might make you feel like you need piano fingers and wished the GCD was longer lmao. - The game's ToS is pretty damn draconian, and there's no beating around the bush. It includes stupid obscure, broad crap like "expressions that any reasonable person might find offensive", "unsolicited advice", or "telling someone they're playing wrong", even if they do stupid crap like play BLM as a frost mage (BLM's have to rotate between fire and ice phases). It really strangles the social aspect of the game, due to the fact that people have to watch their mouths in case there's some professional career victim and reporter lurking around some corner, and discourages friendly banter, which shouldn't be a case in genre like MMO where the social aspect is important. It got somewhat better recently, however, because the warnings/penalties on your account actually expire after a while. And it MIGHT be over-exaggerated in general, because I can be pretty loud mouthed and opinionated, and in over 4k hours, I haven't received a single warning. - PvP is a minigame at best. It's fun, it has non power rewards, but the game is just not made for it. - The game has a serious botting problem, and a cheater trouble in ranked pvp. They are dishing out bans, but it's not enough. Overall, it's definitely my favorite MMO in current market. I've played pretty much every MMO under the sun, including Ruenscape, Lineage 2, Guild Wars 2, New World, WoW, Elder Scrolls Online, Wildstar, SW:TOR, and many many others. It was such a relief to finally escape WoW during ~Battle for Azeroth, or stormblood expansion of this game, and I'm very glad to escape that Bobby's maze. I've found a new home in Eorzea, and I'm never looking back. So do not hesitate in giving it a try. Even if it will not end up being your cup of tea, the trial is free and very extensive. Did you know that the critically acclaimed MMORPG Final Fantasy XIV has a free trial, and includes the entirety of A Realm Reborn AND the award-winning Heavensward expansion up to level 60 with no restrictions on playtime? Sign up, and enjoy Eorzea today!