review please

[Xaris]

Hey all.
For those who remember I played in alpha and both closed and open beta of FFXIV. However, I did not get as much gaming in during open beta as I would have preferred as it began the same day I moved to a new province(i am canadian) and new job. I was really hoping to get a better idea from OB whether this is a game I really would (or can) sink my time into. Though I have played past versions I was wondering about the release version.

I hesitated from pre-ordering as I was unsure about how much free time I would have to play. I am married, have two children under three and am a full time pastor. I roughly am able to get in about 5hrs a week, usually in chunks of 45min-1hr. once a week about a 2hr session is possible.

Questions I have are as follows:
1. I understand the surplus/fatigue system, yet is 4-6hrs a week enough time in 1hr sessions to feel like any accomplishment can be done?

2. Is the UI still as fabulous as it was in OB? How are chat channels now - fixed?

3. The market ward sounds horrid from what I am reading. How is the economy and the buy/sell system working out?

4. content. it seemed like in beta that the amount of content was less than what it could have been. What are things like now. Is there never ending amount of stuff to do? Do you get bored easy or overwhelmed?

5. What is the community like? I understand that both Japanese and American players share the same servers. how is that working out?

I am possibly grabbing a copy this weekend if I can find any in store, and would love to hear honest feedback on your experiences so far.

Thanks.

 

[JonZenor]

Hey there Xaris. Once school starts back up next week I will be in the same boat as you, maybe putting in a half hour to an hour a day. I think there will be plenty for you to do in that amount of time. Most of what I have done so far doesn't take too long to do so getting quests or leves done with only an hour of play is very possible.

1. I understand the surplus/fatigue system, yet is 4-6hrs a week enough time in 1hr sessions to feel like any accomplishment can be done?

I have not been effected by the surplus system at all and have not really heard anybody who has been effected by it.

2. Is the UI still as fabulous as it was in OB? How are chat channels now - fixed?

The UI is pretty much the same, takes a bit of getting used to but not too bad. I'm not sure what you mean by the chat channels.

3. The market ward sounds horrid from what I am reading. How is the economy and the buy/sell system working out?

Yes, it is very difficult to find what you are looking for. There is a plan that is supposed to help this out a bit but I do not know all of the details yet. I have been able to make some decent money on the market however, so obviously some people are finding what they need.

4. content. it seemed like in beta that the amount of content was less than what it could have been. What are things like now. Is there never ending amount of stuff to do? Do you get bored easy or overwhelmed?

What we have now is still mostly like the OB, most of the updates are coming on Thursday.

5. What is the community like? I understand that both Japanese and American players share the same servers. how is that working out?

The translate feature works most of the time but I have not really done much with PUGs. I bet the community within our linkshell will be a lot of fun once we start planning things, which should be soon.

We hope to see you soon!

 

[holmdave]

Hey all.
Questions I have are as follows:
1. I understand the surplus/fatigue system, yet is 4-6hrs a week enough time in 1hr sessions to feel like any accomplishment can be done?

Most of your questions have already been answered, just posting my thoughts on one point.

Usually for a MMO this would be far to little time to get anywhere ever.
However in FF XIV it can actually work out since you can spend most of your time doing guildleves and rank up fairly fast in the playing time available

You probably need to plan what you want to do in the game, mainly going for one class. This will mean your char is a bit "thinner" than for those that play a lot and level many classes to blend into their main class. But your char should still be quite useful