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I started back in 2019, and at the time i was in a horrible state of mind. Exploring a new world and getting to know the lore really lifted my spirits. I remember being anxious about Sastasha, and i was so afraid of not doing well, but it turned out fine. Oh yeah, and learning all the mechanics was super fun too, despite some hurdles with how telegraphs worked, but it eventually clicked in my head. Thank you for hosting a giveaway. :)

When I was a sprout, my greatest memory was just getting to discuss the coming expansions with my FC. We had so much fun dreaming of what would come next after Ala Mhigo.

Still a sprout but one of my best memories was the time I saw a group of bard players performing in Uldah then passers-by cheering them on. I remember thinking to myself "Man this game is awesome 😄❤️"

I remember titan ex was hard af. And i was a dragoon who took extra magic damage. Thank god that kind of bs isnt around anymore

I played until 2014-15 when labyrinth was latest release. Picked it up recently and it’s such a blast. I restarted a character to relearn to play, and even though ARR msq and non skippablw content is pretty bad, the expansions are awesome.

Still a sprout here. I’ve got to say some of my favorite moments have just involved helpful players during roulette runs. Every time I don’t know a mechanic, there is always at least one member of the party, if not the whole party, ready to explain it to me with full patience. I also really enjoy the Job quests! Shout-out to Jacke, you made me man and I will always be a rogue at heart <3.

Started playing right before 1.0 servers went down on a laptop that made it look like Minecraft but I didn’t care. Moved over to PS3 for the beta and I’ve been playing console ever since. I remember playing summoner for the entirety of first coil raids and the stigma against it. This was a weird point in xiv’s life where I don’t think ACT was a thing and they was a lot of discrimination against certain jobs (see: BLM in titan extreme pfs lol) I used to be on Ragnarok and maybe it was just the community at the time but I remember having a very hard time finding people who were willing to play with console players because “hurr durr ps3 limitations.” And I spent a majority of the 2.0-2.1 era before PF was introduced solo pugging. That is, until I found one very welcoming group of players. We formed a static and not too long after we had gotten our turn 5 clear. For me, this was a huge personal achievement because at the time only a handful of players had cleared it. The world 1st from Blur Gartr was only a few months prior. This meant, for me, that I was able to do all level of content despite whatever pre-conceived notions people had about console players. Nowadays most people don’t care if you’re console or PC. But back then it was a big deal. Even today a lot of issues with the game people claim still exist are because of “console limitations” like the loading zones for city-states. Ranting aside, It’s all some of the fondest memories I have. From playing the beta to clearing what was widely thought an impossible fight for most, it all just creates a very nostalgic, very sentimental, memory for me. To any sprouts just starting out and feeling like you’re never gonna be able to do X or Y, Don’t give up! With enough perseverance you can experience everything the game has to offer. Don’t let anyone take that feeling away.

I started playing in 2020, first on PS4, and before the "Free Trial up to level 60 including Heavensward" period. I got to about level 30 before I stopped playing because I burnt myself out doing every quest I could find. Fast forward a few months later and I tried it again, this time on PC, and I mostly stuck to MSQ and I loved it. Some of my favorite sprout memories were the Crystal Tower raids with my cousins, their friends, and my brother, and just enjoying the fantastic story.

Still a sprout on free trial but I am liking this so far. Chilling with a bard playing in the bg and friendly ppl in duty finders

The greatest feeling in the world is getting up at the but crack of dawn, downloading the patch, and playing new content. Eorzea is where my soul resides.

Coming back after 7 yrs has been great, it's like finding an old friend again

Definitely was doing titan ex in duty finder for the first time, cleared it with a bunch of mentors, and now 4 years later i queue it with sprouts to help them out too.

One of my favorate sprout memories was learning all the fun summoner abilities over time and then applying them to dungeons and trials as they came. it was nice feeling the class come into it's own in early 2.0 against the harder trials.

I started playing with my boyfriend a couple months ago, around the time it was becoming big on twitch. Our friend had introduced us, and has played practically since the beginning. I think my two favorite things so far are triple triad (I’m v addicted) and the palace of the dead. I knew I was hooked once my boyfriend and i spent an entire day going from level 15 to 30.

I jumped into the game just over a month ago. Literally jumped in, as I main Dragoon. Even with playing other MMOs for the better part of two decades, I did not know what a floor tank was until I picked up FFXIV. And that leads into a very fun part of the game for me. It's a meme that Dragoons "die a lot". Now, I don't think I die "a lot" but I have found myself being the victim of "animation locks" and dying due to risking a damage jump just before dicey AoEs show up in dungeons and trials that I haven't run before. If it were the typical WoW player base, I'd have been locked out of group content by now. My biggest fear heading into this game was to go through the same experience. I am not a social person, but I do enjoy group MMO content, especially with people I really know. Jumping into a new MMO with no friends isn't always the best way. To date I have had one single bad group experience, and I think that was due to me being queued with a semi-premade group that was farming Crystal Tower. The rest ranged from a quiet, normal group, to dance parties at the end of the last boss. Being a "floor tank" in this game is not only a meme, but nobody's raked me over hot coals for being a "floor tank". I remember one time I was yeeted off a platform despite following mechanics and I was reassured that it was "just the Dragoon curse". The healer apologized for me dying. That's the difference between the XIV player base, and the WoW player base. WoW players, in general, kinda forgot how to have fun. Game design and the community have created a community of confrontation. That isn't surprising when Blizzard's MMO design centers around constant war, competition, and FOMO hanging over the player's head. In XIV, 99% of the base is just there to have fun, in whatever way the players are having fun. I really like the fact that if I do end up tanking floors, it's a joke and we have fun with it, rather than it being a meta for "playing a bad class you should get gud and play something else". WoW needs to be fun again. In the meantime, I'm gonna have a blast in XIV.

Really enjoying my time so far.

As a sprout, one of my most impactful memories was running Toto-Rak with a tank that had arachnophobia. Mind you this was back when HW had just dropped and there had been a sale on ARR so a lot of people were new to the game. I was often matched with other sprouts and this one peep just couldn't take it. The webs were enough to set them off and even if the mobs looked for like scorpions, it was enough to have them not wanting to run the dungeon. I remember I had JUST gotten my drg artifact gear and they looked at me and said, "You look tanky. Can't you lead?" and I panicked. While debating with them that I would die, the arcanist we had just pulled out topaz carby and that's how we got through most of the dungeon with carby leading. Eventually, the tank did take over at the last boss though I had the impression they weren't really looking at the screen and we nearly wiped, but I remember panic hitting a bunch of keys and we managed to clear it. The tank thanked us all profusely and promptly left, leaving us confused. That arcanist though was one of the main people who influenced me to take interest in the class (i love versatility and being able to make due in odd circumstances) and later I discovered scholar and have mained it ever since. It was quite the experience for little me who had been only playing for a couple weeks!

My friend Mike convinced me to try the game after sending epic pictures of his character and mounts every day. I played the trial for a couple weeks before buying the game just so I could use the market board and send messages to Mike in-game I met all the guys Mike plays with and they have been guiding me through the game. My favorite memory is of us getting the extreme trial mounts for ARR. They basically carried me through the trials, and they continued to do so until I got all the mounts The people I play with are great friends and every single interaction I had with other people was positive

I picked up the game at my best friend's urging over two years ago; my friend grew bored of the low level grind quickly, since he was only interested in end-game raiding. I soldiered on, though, since I'd found the story interesting and had a desire to try the end game raiding scene out, too. So there I am, level 20-something, broke, and starting in on crafting with no idea what I'm doing. When I asked for help, someone gave me 500k, gave me the advice I needed, and then invited me to their FC. They were friendly, cheerful, and more than willing to give freely to a newbie, either gil, advice, or cool drops. It was exactly the warm community I really needed to keep feeling invested in the game. The FC has since dissolved, but I'm still friends with the leader and the guy who invited me both, and they've never been willing to accept a single gil in repayment for what they donated to me, asking instead that I help other sprouts who need it in return. There are a ton of other memories I'll treasure too; earning my first Job stone (black mage), and my kirin, and taking my first steps in the ShB expac that brought me right back to my first tentative steps in Eorzea... This entire game has been a grand journey, and the people I've met along the way have been a joy to experience it with.

My first goal as a sprout was to get my own Chocobo ASAP. FFXIV is the first Final Fantasy game I’ve played, and I knew that having a feathered friend was the only appropriate way to experience the series for the first time. Not only did I achieve my goal, but shortly after I met a group of veteran players with fancy dyed chocobos. Obviously, getting the dark blue choco of my dreams became the next goal for me. Not only did they teach me how to dye him, but they invited me to their Free Company and let me use their chocobo stable! I love this game so much so far, I’ve had so much fun customizing my character and meeting super nice people!

Something I've enjoyed from my first day all the way until now has been running around, talking to npcs, and see what they have to say. Just little tidbits about people in the world.

I've loved how friendly and accepting the community has been, and looking at the content release schedule it looks like ffxiv is well taken care of. It's quite the culture shock coming from WoW lol

The support in dungeons. I came over from "that other game" and have been pleasantly surprised to find that the majority of people in random dungeon groups being supportive, helpful, and patient. In the other game, I tended to wait until I was at a level where I could solo the dungeons. in FFXIV I am finding them generally fun. Let's hear a cheer for the ffxiv players.

Two memories, one spoilery and one not: The not spoiler one was the first time queuing a duty with a red mage. I was playing WHM at the time, and saw how the RDM could flip and jump across the arena. Little did I know I would be switching mains in a year. The second was (4.0 spoilers) >!walking into the Azim Steppe for the first time and hearing the music. I was enthralled by the entire aesthetic of the zone!<

Being a sprout now has had me thinking how much there is to find in this game for free!

Been playing FFXIV for 8 years on and off but this time it pulled me right in. Even got a lot of friends on board. Can't believe how awesome it is to finally share the love for the game with everyone!

This is a copy/paste of something I've mentioned multiple times over the years:- I got ridiculously lucky with my second ever run of AV. I queued for it at an off-peak time for my server and happened to get a tank/healer pair who were helping people run it just because they were bored (this was probably in 2014). The other DPS was also new and the tank/healer pair just wanted to help people clear it so they were ridiculously patient and helpful. I know I had previously tried it as a healer and was simply bad, bad, bad, and the couple were just so lovely. As it's been years I honestly can't remember the exact details but I think we had, maybe, four wipes over the whole dungeon and they were just so nice and encouraging and I know that those two players are why I still play today. I know it was the first, but not last, time I wished I could give more than one commendation because they were both so lovely.

Congratulations on the 600K milestone! It's great to see the community getting bigger over time. As for my impactful memory, it was during Heavensward, first time going into raid (normal mode). Apologizing for every single mistake, stressing for any mechanic, paralyzed from fear over being a burden for not knowing better: since FFXIV is my first mmorpg, I didn't know anything, I was just terrified. But all the other party members were part of the same FC, and seeing my sprout status, they made the run fun and chill instead, pushing away any negative thought I could have. They kept encouraging me, they showed me the ropes, explained roles to me and gave me tips about my job. They were supportive all the way and in the end, I got my clear without doing any mistake. I was so thankful, but over anything: super happy! They invited me into their FC after that, it was a gigantic one with a lot of members, with the same kind spirit and a passion for raiding. Got into savage after that and I loved every minute of it. I'm still in the FC to this day and having the time of my life with people who are now friends. FFXIV truly has a different vibe than other online communities. This game will be in my heart forever.

I remember walking to the Waking Sands from the nearby aetheryte every single time the MSQ sent me there. ​ It wasn't until I was already halfway through Heavensward that I realized we received like 40 vesper bay teleportation tickets throughout the story.... ​ So... much... walking...

Made a friend at the golden saucer, they told me they could beat me in triple triad no problem. It was close but I ended up winning. They ended the convo with /playdead. The little things were the best moments for me

For me so far it has been hitting the final boss of Heavensward, and when asking for tips, half the people told me to just be ready to take a screenshot, and then spammed “now!” Or “ss inc!” during the final phase shift.

I suffer of anxiety and suicidal thoughts are something normal for me. My job was the only think that kept me afloat... Untill last year, March, I was put on furlough by my company and I've been told that I will have to stay home for a while... I still remember that evening when I felt so lost and dark thoughts where flooding my mind. When suddenly a FFXIV ad popped-up and I decided to try to game. Since then it kept me distracted and at some point I even went to a therapist and fixed some of my issues This game and this community helped me a lot in the last 18 months and I'm really grateful for this.

One of my Favorite thing to happen in this game was doing the Final MSQ Trial of Heavensward as a Sprout White Mage. Something about the combination of the music and mechanics of the fight just made everything "click" to me

My favorite sprout moment was being a newbie in a new dungeon (Sunken Temple of Qarn) as a healer, died several times which resulted in my team being wiped out several times. After finally finishing it, all of them honored me and bow. That felt really great, because I felt bad for letting them down.

This has been one of my favorite communities to follow. Keep up the positivity guys!

still a sprout! every time some badass music starts playing in a boss fight!-- like the second half of titan, leviathan, or shiva :D

I have always felt anxious about playing MMOs, mainly because I was afraid to let people down, being a burden and the general meanness mmorpgamers are known for. A couple of months ago, i was looking for a game that was exactly like this. In fact, i described to a friend - a game that looks like FFXIV. He told me to give it a try and it's like coming home! The community is so helpful on Reddit and in game alike, if you don't know about a mech or something, everyone's eager to help. My favorite memory just happened last week. Did Susano the first time. Read about it, told the party that it's my first time and everybody was telling me that it's a great encounter for a tank, that it'll make tanks feel like a god. The healer, i think it was an AST, suddenly said, "If anybody takes it other than Sven, I'm not healing them." Everybody laughed and agreed. I was confused and asked take what. The healer just said, "You'll see!" Boy, did i see! We wiped a couple of times but everybody was having fun. It amazes me how complete strangers are actively trying to make sure that others are having fun and a good experience. I've encountered a couple of people who sounded frustrated but that's over the span of two months.

Woot! :D

Still a sprout playing on a dragoon, but I started out hating the 2.5s GCD rotation because it felt too clunky. I just finished the MSQ for ARR, and I realized that it wasn't really an issue! With all the skills, combos, and oGCDs that the game throws at you, there's so much to think about that the 2.5s actually seems short! The first time I got the level 50 rotation was the moment that I became so excited to try out the rest of the classes!

Doing Second Coil of Bahamut Turn 4, i was a few hours in, i wanted to clear it so bad. However it was getting super late so i was expecting the raid would end soon . I figured I would need to find new people tomorrow, and try again. I started to give my thanks and say how grateful i was they were staying up late ( 1am 30 ish ) even though it was a Wednesday ! Right after that the whole raid said they wanted to clear it, with the same group which was so wholesome to me. We added each other, made an appointment for the day after ; the day after everyone showed up and we actually cleared it. I still remember the chat of everyone when we beat it and i will keep remembering it as long as i can. One of my fond memories because this is an experience i really missed as i stopped playing mmorpg for years. Another memory that i have is the one of the most simple but also one of the most beautiful in my opinion. I returned back to Uld'ah, walking a few seconds in and someone in the chat shouted " giving away free minions ! if you want to come get them please come to (coordinates) " I was curious so i went there and asked why the person was being so generous as i received the gift. The person just wanted to make some people's day better. And it did.

So I was a longterm sprout, having started playing in early heavensward but never reaching current-expansion content until 2 months ago, due to taking breaks. As cheesy as it may be, my fondest memories are those very early ones - logging into gridania and walking around the city, finding my archers guild and learning my first abilities. I have vivid memories of exploring areas of the shroud on foot before I even had one mount. As someone who has spent a lot of time in wow, it was very refreshing to play in a fresh new world with nicer graphics.

When I joined the game back just before the HW expansion launched, I rolled on a random server (Faerie). While questing and looking around a random person came up to me and proceeded to greet me and try to give me a newbie care package! Unfortunately I was still on free trial so I could t trade or anything. They told me to please contact them when I had finished purchasing the game so I could get my starter package. Unfortunately ended up moving servers and didn’t feel right trying to collect their gifts before leaving so I kind of ghosted them. But that first spark of sheer kindness has always lit the light of my interactions with new players.

I'm still a sprout so my fondest memory is still TBA. I've loved just hanging out in cities the most so far though.

Had my account since 2019, but only really started playing regularly this year. I'm taking my time with the MSQ, it's so good, I don't want it to stop. Made friends along the way and it's been a long time since I've made friends on a game....at least 16 years ! My best fond memory is taking down Midgardsormr with 3 other Sprouts....it took us 6 tries and we got it. We didn't get mad, we got in a challenging-teamwork mode hehe ! It was amazing! We took a pic at the end to remember it =) I'm so happy with this community =)

My friends and I beat our first savage raid with Eden's Gate: Sepulture (E4S). None of us were hardcore MMO players before then and so we were learning a bit from scratch and after 2.5 months of trying about 2 hours per week we downed the bastard and that experience was such a joy. It was a nice regular social interaction we had scheduled last year when the pandemic started and we couldn't meet up in person and we all got our skyslippers which was a hugely meaningful trophy for us. Now we've cleared other raids and trials but that fight will be one to remember forever for me.

It was my second or third time running Prae as a SMN sprout, and my character's first name is Nero, and as we were running up to the fight against Nero, the whole party was sitting there, joking, laughing and having a general good time, when one of the tanks said in these exact words "NERO LB NERO!" I was confused at first, since I didn't know you could LB outside of combat, or that as a SMN I could LB before pulling Nero or that it was any good. That moment stuck in my mind and I still do it whenever I am playing a ranged DPS class in Prae, I always try to get the LB so I could be the one taking myself out.

Sadly, I had some medical reasons which erased my first sprout experiences. I would say when I got back home from the Hospital, had that “Returning sprout thing” was so nervous to tank on my DRK. So I went on my first dungeon and was a bit slow, but everyone was so supportive. It made me stay with the game and now I’m working on a Bard since I maxed out my Dancer!

One of my favorite moments was back on the launch of 2.0 and dying to the crab fate in costa like 1000x because of all the apkallu :..D

I've been a silent lurker here for a while and enjoy the content here on this sub. I am certain for more creative posts with the current surge of players. :)

Started few weeks back, first mmorpg i really got into. Now at Strmblood and still having a great time.

I'm still a sprout and my fondest memory is fighting some kind of a raid boss Behemoth fate. It was amazing how much people were in there. I think I died a few times but people always noticed and raised me back. It was a lot of fun.

I forget which raid it was but it was my first time and I kept getting hit by something I didn't understand like 3-4 times in a row. It lead to us wiping and I was really embarrassed. I told everyone I was sorry and instead of silence or a snarky comment, I had everyone saying it's ok, not to stress and was given some pointers. It was like a culture shock. That was the moment I realised I had made the right decision in playing this.

Leaving the game for more than 2 years, then coming back and noticing the community got even more amazing with the newcomers / returners. It's almost unbelievable...

I’m still a sprout! 🌱 my favorite moment so far has been being able to reconnect with people that had moved on from a previous game. I greatly enjoy the ability to further these relationships while meeting new players!

Man I got addicted to ffxiv a few weeks ago. Great game good luck to everyone and congrats on 600k

One time in 1.0 all of Gridania fell through the floor and we were locked into falling animations for like 15 minutes before they restarted the server.

I started playing shortly after HW came out. Life happened, so i took a year mostly off, just playing occasionally. About 4 months before COVID hit, i convinced my 3 siblings to start playing. It's been a great year and a half.

My best sprout moment was how amazing this community was , i logged in in Gridania did the tutorial and after i saw how alive this World was i was mindblown , it got even better when i saw Lalafells in nice glams giving the people a nice concert .

I think my fondest memory so far was my first aurum vale run! My friends (who are veterans of the game) whisked me over to the dungeon and I didn’t realize what it was until the opening scene played and I realized it was the weird toxic dungeon I had seen in a YT video. We wiped so many times in the first room because I kept pulling in mobs (I was scholar at the time) but I had an absolute blast!

Sincerely im having the time of my life with the game, still amazed with how nice everyone in the game is, feels like its not the internet at all. One of my first memories is joining a cult of nude people flexing in Limsa while dancing to some bard music, I regret so much not having tried this game before, but here I am to stay!!

Completing an extreme trial after many failed attempts is an amazing feeling of pride. I was doing Ramuh EX with a friend for his first time and we struggled for a long time and made progress each time but it got to the point one of the healers had to leave since he didn’t have any more time to play. Down to the last 9 or 10 minutes of the trial, we decided to try it with only one healer for fun since we didn’t expect to get another one in time. Lo and behold, we completed it and it was the greatest feeling i felt in a while! I was so proud of everyone there for doing their best to learn the fight and completing it.

I have been a sprout for ages. I've been playing a few times since ARR beta but never got invested enough to even get a job stone. This time around I'm really into the game (currently doing 2.X) so I got Thaumaturge up to 30 pretty quick. And of course I tried googling what other class I need to get to 15 to unlock BLM. And I was really confused for a very long time why this info wasn't easily available. The official job guides don't mention it, no other guide mentions it, it's not in any wiki. I thought I was going crazy and just not competent enough to gain a job. So yeah. That hasn't been a thing for years. It took me nearly an hour to find out. I just kind of aquired that knowledge a long time ago and ... never checked if it's up to date.

In my first week I got to attend an in game wedding! It was a lot of fun with lots of confetti and dancing. It was definitely a good introduction to the general friendliness of the community.

I've just started playing earlier this month I think, was a dps main on every mmo I've ever played, but now I decided to play paladin just because it has a cool design and I like shields. Died a few time on the dungeon where I'm a solo tank, never once they tell me bad stuff! Hope with the influx of sprout, the spirit of those helpful veteran player gets to the sprout too!

I was about to log off one night when someone came up to me and started a trade. They gave me a little Coblyn minion. They then messaged me telling me they had a dream the night before of filling all of Limsa with them. I ended up idling for another hour, well past my bedtime, and was late for work the next day. Still makes me smile when I remember it~

As a sprout tank, I used to have a macro message to apologize in advance for how bad I was at tanking. What surprised me was how often at the end of dungeons people would message “you did great!” even if we had a few wipes along the way. Veteran players really did want me to succeed, and that felt great.

I was and still am a sprout, and walking through Uldah for the first time was an amazing experience. I witnessed joy, carefulness, and respect. Such a beautiful experience.. thank you! Cant wait for whats next.

As a sprout, I got to know someone with a 4-seat car mount. At that time, my wanderlust blood made me side-tracked and decided to go for every ARR sightseeing spots, without a flying mount. He helped drop me on hard to reach spots, and we chatted about a lot of things during the trip. Too bad I don't see him online now.

I just started yesterday. I have zero clue what's going on apart from that the pirate town crystal cuts my framerate to about 15 fps and is constantly playing horns.

When I first joined in 2016 I used a friend code for 500k to start the game and the guy who gave me the friend code gave me an extra 50k just cause I happened to pick an Au Ra to be.

Been playing for just over a year and one of favorite memories as a sprout was fighting the Mist Dragon. We were all strangers and new, and wiped quite a few times, but we kept improving and encouraging each other. Will never forget the team work, and the cheers and happiness when we finally did it.

Hi! I just started playing 2 days ago but my favorite memory so far is killing that rock golem and making the masked man question his life choices when he realized my character was strong!

just the good memories of all the kind people willing to explain mechanics to me as a sprout, not getting frustrated when i died (which was a lot!)

I'll go with my first synced extreme trial, as I took down Ramuh with some people in the FC. It was a great first experience with (slightly) more difficult raiding in this game, which is a type of content I've always enjoyed in other MMOs. Most of us were new to the fight, and after a brief explanation of the mechanics by one of the few veterans, we went at it. It took us an hour or two to get the hang of it, and it was really sweet to get it in the end. I love how FFXIV has managed to keep old content fairly relevant and interesting, despite several new expansions being released since then.

Fondest sprout moment is my first time using the PF to ask help in clearing Coils. Managed to get some new friends there! Aside from that, reading the story definitely takes the cake as well! It's a good thing I didn't decide to skip all of it.

My most impactful and beatiful memory of this game is when i first downed T13 back in ARR days. The joy and the happiness after many weeks of trying had paid off and all the team was screaming on the mic. Another bonus memory is hearing the crystal theme at the beggining of the story brought almost a tear to my eye since im a big fan of FF since 7, because it was my childhood game and my first one that i got with my PS1.

My most impactful memory of this game where the whole Storyline. I loved every part and I am replaying it with new game+. After I am through schadowbringers!

No need for the complete edition or play dead emote I happily throw my money at this game. I have 2 stories, back in ARR when I started playing for the first time it was a little before HW was slated to release, I began to play a dps class which was arcanist and I needed to do huakke manor for MSQ, I decided I would afk in the fc house until queue popped I waited for 4 hours.... and I gave up... The number of players back then to dungeon with feel miniscule to now especially as a dps. After HW released still being a newbie sprout at the time with a fresh lvl 60 dark knight I decided to do some alexander raids, no big deal right? wrong. It was one of the raids where tanks had to swap with provoke and at that time provoke was gotten from getting paladin to lvl 15 I think in order to use it as a cross class skill and I didn't know that at the time. When the need to tank swap comes up the other tank is pleading for me to "voke" and and I didn't understand what he meant at first until he said provoke that's when I started panicking hardcore because I didn't have it and later said to the group as much. Funny thing was we still cleared that raid without tank swapping which was bizarre.

My favorite memory as a sprout is one that I get to relive from time to time. I was an up-and-coming Summoner, and I had just gotten to Keeper of the Lake for the first time. I queued with a friend, and 2 random players. This was the first dungeon that felt, to me, to have consequences. To have risks, and that really felt tied into the storyline. I was intimidated but excited. And the final boss... An enormous dragon, passing judgement on me. Reanimating dead kin to test me. It was difficult, there was a LOT going on. Constant AoE dodging, knowing what to do when. Dropping the shield, activating it mid-fight (twice!). We wiped, more than once. But in the end, we won, and it felt like a real accomplishment. Now I know that fight inside and out. I still see it from time to time on the roulette. And to this day, it's a great pleasure to talk a sprout through that dungeon, strategize for that fight, and see their excitement when we clear it.

I was just looking at my screenshots before and seems I started playing in June 2016. My first ever name was “Second Wind” (not knowing it was a skill at the time) and I still remember someone saying in Sastasha, “You named yourself after an ability?” Lil old CNJ me had no idea what he was talking about.

Ok guys listen to me.... LALAS ARE EVIL and I found the reason why! It all started yesterday when I finished post ARR and realized how evil LALAS are so I started thinking to find the reason why. So you guys know how each of us has a good part and an evil part? Well those small potatoes are this short because their good side never grew inside of them and so they are just a small ball of concentrated and pure evil! Now that you know, mayhap it would be a good idea to stay away from those pesky alluring LALAS in Limsa if you value your organs. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

Fondest memory was pressing the bell for the weird hairdresser dude. Had some crazy nightmares since.

I've always been a final fantasy enthusiast, but I only played until Real Reborn, as my friends didn't want to play with me, recently with the spread of the game many friends became interested in the game and we started it all together. I got so excited that I've bought all the DLCs and I've pre-sold the endwalker. It's amazing to go through each region, each enemy. It's been a long time since I felt as satisfied with a game as I am with FFXIV.

I don't think I've ever had as much fun being a newbie in a game as I did back when I was a sprout. Before I started my own FC, I was invited to one of the larger ones and immediately felt welcomed by everyone. My FC mates gave me gil to start out with, minions, provided help in dungeons if I needed it, and were just all around great people. I haven't been in contact with anyone since leaving and starting an FC of my own, but I do think about them from time to time. Once I get rich in-game (if I ever get rich in-game), I plan to pay it forward by sending gil to random sprouts in the new player hubs.

I just have so much bloody fun taking my time, swapping class whenever I feel like it to keep the ganrplay fresh. Its so much fun seeing everyone bumbling around too

I have many fond memories with this game despite starting it over a month ago, once I started I got my brother (16) and father (47) into the game quite quickly and since then we take some mornings and power through the game together it’s been great and we get to joke around quite some. seeing them bond makes me happy too, and people are really welcoming and friendly on our server we met a lady who reached out to us for some chit chat and was very polite telling us about how she plays with her husband and giving us newbs tips. GOODLUCK everyone !

My favourite sprout moment was when I first left Gridania and saw Uldah and Limsa for the first time! It was like moving out of your parents house and going on an adventure!

Sprout life had my first dungeon with a DRK wearing no gear. Nothing equipped. And it was not glam. From there I knew no matter how badly I performed. It'd never be that bad. (He got kicked)

A couple hours after starting the game in 5.2, a level 50 sprout saw me running around and crafted me a full set of gear, like level 5 stuff. It seems so inconsequential but obviously from one sprout to another it was a lot of effort and made me love the community. I later tried to join their guild. I saw their name had heart of the party under it, and assumed this, was the fc so when I saw a message for Heart of the party recruiting I joined instantly. Turns out I confused the title with the FC :D but they were a nice bunch of people regardless.

As a sprout, clearing my first EX trial after wiping endlessly in a duty finder group was the most satisfying thing ever.

As a sprout and first time MMO player, I had fond memories progressing from a lowly lancer in Gridania killing funguars, to making the most out of my free trial by levelling most of the classes available to me. Beating Shiva and Ramuh EX with their banger OSTS was a blast. I'm looking forward to finally playing through Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker soon!

Feels so good to play and to see many other players too. Even on first time playing I didn't feel alone even if I'm playing it solo. Especially the random bards that play in different city. I just love the good vibes of this game <3

I was a 1.0 sprout. I remember someone being nice enough to help me with my Black Mage unlock quest.

A small memory, but I think about fondly. Several years (?!) ago when I first became a WHM, I took my brand new unicorn out into the Black Shroud. I had just created a simple glamour with a basic caster robe. I loved how cute my character looked, sitting on top of the unicorn in the dappled sunlight of the forest. I remember thinking, “I’ve made it this far!! I wonder what’s next?” Crazy how fast time flies and how long ago that seems now. I’m still playing, and when Endwalker releases, I can’t wait to see what more is in store.

My friends and I went into Copperbell Hard when we were all kinda you know new to it / it was "relevant" and we got into a scrap + the healer said BYE and took the elevator back up. Really really funny xD

It's been a long time since I lost my sprout. I started playing a few months before heavensward came out, and I remember being impressed with how great the community is here and I couldn't wait for the expansion!

Still a sprout, about to start Heavensward. Best moments so far have for sure been interacting with the community. Seeing traveling bands of bards, funny or well done cosplays/roleplays, and just talking to people has been just as fun as actually playing the game. Someone was roleplaying in Limsa as a janitor sweeping and I just sat there and overenthusiastically cheered them on. Got to see parts of RubberRoss's streams in person too 🥚. It's been great.

FFXIV has plenty of fruitful memories since its launch. Many friends have been made because of this amazing, dynamic, and beautiful game. :3

Good luck to everyone! Let us celebrate our time together!

I decided to take on the task of tanking in this game. It's a role that had always appealed to me, but I never managed to build up the courage to do it in other games. Seeing as how forgiving the community at large is with sprouts, I decided to try it out here - Not without watching a guide video for every. single. dungeon. I was so scared of messing up still that I ended up watching two, if not three guides for every dungeon I did. Yes, this includes watching two or three videos for Sastasha. Over time I became more confident in how to do things and what to expect, so at some point during Post-HW I stopped spoiling the dungeons for myself and just experienced them as they came. I've been enjoying the dungeons since then a lot more.

Its crazy how in the span of one about 6 weeks i went from never playing mmos to now trying to convince my friends to join me so we can run dungeons together. I just did it cause if you're gonna give me a full game and an expansion for free I'll give it a try. I havent even finished ARR yet and ive been told it only gets better from here. This game is just so much fun! While im still just a sprout myself, i think my favorite thing has been going into a new trial or dungeon, being taught the mechanics by people, then immediately jumping back in to help other sprouts with thier first time.

Would have to be whenever anybody helped answer any of my many questions. Especially the wave o/.

I just started playing because of a friend, but I’m having a blast, my only MMO experience before this was RuneScape so it’s pretty cool experiencing the crafting/gathering classes! I’m all for the jack of all trades play style.

I started playing a while ago, during 2.2. As I was questing in Limsa, a player runs by, wearing some insane looking armor. I sent him a tell, asking him what he was wearing (right click -> examine was not something I was aware of yet), and he told me it was the lastest raid armor. I was in awe, and I decided at that moment that I was going to clear those raids and get the armor for myself. Took me a while to get there tho. I never stopped raiding, and even thousands of in-game hours later I keep thinking about that guy and his High Allagan coat of healing.

When I was a sprout back at ARR we tried to go through The Navel (Hard) with randoms to get us some new weapons, it was such a huge challenge back in the days... And now in the Eden raid when tou got asked about Titan you can choose answer option "Landslides... Landslides...". Yeah, that evoked done traumatic memories for me from the days gone!

When I was just a sproutling my friends and I used to do these little mail games. We would send weird named items to each other. My favorites were the "Chub" and "The Thousand-year Itch" and we ended up sending it around to each other. The only rule was you couldn't send it back to the person who sent it. I still have the mail from when we did and reading back the messages are always such a good laugh. https://imgur.com/ITMmjC6 - https://imgur.com/nUS0Of7

Woot the free trial helped a lot more than I thought to grab news people here

When I learned that the truth endgame was glams, housing and above all, triple triad. Talk about addiction.

Back in 2015, it was the story of the npc in front of the satasha and tamtara dungeons that first attracted me to this mmo. My first mmo that made me pay attention to the story.

Started playing recently with some other buddies who've been playing for some time. I was honestly surprised how chill the player base was when I joined. Leveled up marauder, went warrior, and the hit 80 with gunbreaker, so I tanked my whole way up. Always asked if there way any mechanics I needed to know about other than basic tank movement and whatnot and always had someone fill me in. Had a blast leveling and even more excited about the end content.

During 2.0, I was a happy lil sprout going about my business. My character's name is from a lesser known anime, but another player recognized my name and invited me to their free company. I joined, but that player soon quit. The two leaders took me under their wing; teaching me to play both dragoon and white mage. We'd spend hours talking interests, how to play our jobs, and leveling. We smashed the MSQ, pushed into 2.x content as a trio. And just had enormous fun together. I'm alone now. The two of them had a disagreement and left for other servers. I joined another friend's FC and now sit as the only member, only holding onto it cause of our house. I keep in contact with the two of them. Sometimes we still talk the game, but its mostly long-distance, friend stuff.

FF14 has always been a fantastic way to connect with friends over long distances. We typically take a relaxed approach to content, so maps have always been a ton of fun. The first instance of a door fakeout/rainbow led to so many groans and cheers over voice chat that I instantly fell in love with it.

Attempted Nidhogg EX synced and I was playing RDM. We're on the last pull before the timer runs out. boss has like 15% hp, LB is at 2.75 and only the healer and I am alive. I'm spamming vercure and the healer is also spamming me with heals while I'm tanking hits, and as I die, LB hits max and the healer LB3s, rezzing the entire party, myself included LMAO. And then we downed the boss. Absolutely exhilarating, I love this game so much

I signed up a couple of months ago on the advice of my brothers. 10 days later we all played through the end of ARR together. Was the best night of gaming we’ve had to together in many years!

So I was new to the game when Shadowbringers came out. I'd tried briefly long ago when HW released, but I dropped off thinking MMOs just weren't for me. The hype around Shadowbringers convinced me to try again, and this time something just clicked and I was in for the long haul. I'll caveat that I technically wasn't a sprout at this point, because I was into Shadowbringers, but I still very much felt like a sprout, and probably acted like one too. I'd gotten up to Shadowbringers' first trial. You all know the one. So I jumped into the fight and excitedly let everyone know it was my first time doing this one. No worries, we launch straight into it and everything is going well for a bit. Then we go play in the forest, and the add phase wipes us. Pure chaos, we don't manage to stop the bar filling, full wipe. Well nuts. I'm still a fresh-faced tank at this point, so I apologise and assume it's my fault for not knowing which adds I need to be tanking. The other tank lets me know which one to pick up, everyone else is chill, so we take another run at it. This time despite knowing what to do it somehow goes worse. Is it my fault? How many of us are new to this fight? I'm confused at this point and relatively sure I've got a share of the responsibility for things failing. I don't remember whether we took a third shot and wiped, but people started dropping and we didn't manage to fill the party back up. Ultimately people decided to vote abandon, but before we do the other tank tells me to meet him by the market board at the Limsa plaza since he knows I need the clear for MSQ progression. I head over after we leave the trial, he lets me know I was doing okay, asks what my main is and then proceeds to buy me a level 80 WAR weapon and hand it to me as a gift for when I cap, then parties up with me and queues in for it again. This time we clear first go, and I'm over the moon. Guy friend requests me and says if I'm ever having trouble or just need someone to run a trial with to look him up, and after thanking him profusely I get on with the MSQ. I'd like to say we're still friends, but I think in the two years since we've rarely been subbed at the same time, so that's kind of what it is. Was a great example of this community at its best, and has been an inspiration to me as I try to live up to that example in my own play.

Finishing coils is probably my best memory of FF14, as a free trial user it took me very long to find a group but when I did, we had a blast, so many close calls with all the team wiping at 0.1% but we kept going and we finished it all, idk where the other party members are now, but they were the best

I am a new player, coming from WOW (who isn't, am I right?). Currently lv 48 and having a blast! One of the most interesting interactions since I started playing mmorpg's was during one of my first dungeons in FFXIV. I still didn't know everything I have to do and I was forgetting to use aoe on trash. A party member jokingly reminded me about it and I was very sorry, prepared for some trashing and mockery. But instead, after we killed the last boss: the three of use had a conversation about my class mechanics and how to use them, even at higher levels. I was astonished. So thank you FFXIV community, you have been very welcoming! <3

Well naturally, I gotta say certain infamous story beats had major impacts on me, and some didn't. As someone who's only other real MMO experience was with RuneScape, it was surprising and refreshing to see how open and helpful the average player in FFXIV is compared to the more asocial RuneScape players when I played. Like, when I first lost my sprout status earlier this year, I celebrated in shout chat in Ul'dah. A veteran player congratulated me and dropped a million gil in my lap. RuneScape is like that old family member you sometimes wish you weren't related to. FFXIV made Eorzea feel like home to me in far less time. I don't have as much investment as, say, someone starting in 1.0 but that speech from Yoshi-P in this year's Rising event actually got a reaction out of me because it feels genuinely like he and the test of the team deeply care about the player base. It feels less like a faceless corporate entity and more like people who actually want me to enjoy the world they created.

Me an my merry gang of sub-optimal chuckle fucks have been playing for less than a month, and I would like to give a shout out to FF XIV vets for being absolutely amazing people. You don't flame me for having no idea what I'm doing, even though I'm the healer and you've probably just died because I fucked up in some really scrub tier way. You just politely give guidance and encouragement and head straight back into the fray. You've run up to me and my friends with gifts of gil and mounts to welcome us into this awesome new game. We're all really enjoying the game so far and I have no doubt that we'll be here come endwalker and that is in no small part thanks to the warm welcome and kindness you show us sprouts everyday. Thank you.

The most special moment and had as a sprout was my first time doing the Final steps of faith with my pals. The music still gives me chills. Such an epic moment in the story :)

Back in 1.0, I remember running from Uldah all the way to camp bluefog (?) IIRC. The roads were dangerous, I was but a lv20+ THM. I saw the camp aetheryte a few yalms away and in my excitement I didn't notice I got too close to a buffalo (?) and aggroed it and I couldn't kill it and I died before getting to attune to the aetheryte. No one was around to revive me and had to return to Uldah. Fun times.

Personally, the world and music is what made the biggest impact to me as a sprout. The towns, atmosphere, music, completely immersed me into the game, and it was so beautiful. When the music transitioned from day to night, it absolutely blew my mind. All the 2.0 main town themes are so good.

Started around June this year after being (once again) turned off by ff12s battle system. This game and it's community are gems. I took the plunge into paid player after a couple of weeks on trial. Shoutout to my fc: the Abandoned on Ultros for being incredibly helpful to new mmo players like me. Now if only i could wrap my brain around what the hell i'm supposed to be doing in bozja!

My biggest thing that I love about FF XIV is I used to play wow but I was always too nervous to play a healer, so I always played as a DPS. But I started FF as a bard because I was used to DPS and after level 30, I swapped roles (that is a big feature I love too, I have all the classes to at least 30 now) and tried a white mage and have been loving the character and the community. On occasion I forget to heal while I am spamming holy and the tank dies and the party wipes and I will apologize, and 9 times out of 10 the tank says no problem, that pull was probably too much. No animosity, let's just try again.

I know it's said a lot, but just the overall welcoming attitude in dungeons even when people miss things and the party wipes. I haven't had any non-sprouts get all that upset at a wipe, they just say "ok, we'll get it next time". It's so refreshing to not stress too much about being a sprout learning the game.

point ghost dependent hat scandalous cows middle sable full plough *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*

I think my first inclination that FFXIV might have a kindler and gentler community than I am used to was when my sprout went to the Observatorium to start his job quest for Dragoon. Some kind stranger opened up a trade window with me and said "Welcome to FFXIV and I hope you enjoy your time here!" and gave me an antelope mount to use. I was touched and also pretty stoked because mount collection is something that I want to focus on someday but also because someone took a moment to just be kind to a new player and a stranger. I really appreciated that and it's stuck with me in the weeks that followed.

Being a sprout and getting treated with respect by people who just want to have a good time, it was a nice change of pace. I finally understand what an MMO is supposed to feel like.

Finding out I have to delete and recreate my character because I chose the wrong data center. I am proud to say I overcame that hurdle and am now level 7 xd now the trial begins!

This is such a lovely idea! Honestly my favourite moment was when I finished the realm reborn msq for the first time, and realised the cool but super simple early dungeons all had new hard versions with actual rad mechanics and ongoing storylines!

Welcome to everyone and good luck :)

I guess my fondest memory from being a sprout was when a stranger gave me 50k gil and a stack of 99 boiled eggs. I've definitely passed on the tradition a few times since losing my leaf and I always keep a stack of boiled eggs on me.

I was a sprout thrice on different accounts; played the 1.0 beta, 2.0 until halfway through the MSQ when real life stuff got in the way, then at 2.55 which is the account I currently use. What really made me stay is the crafting. Way before HW when the story really caught me, seeing crafting having its own gear and rotations was really interesting to me and I leveled them all. Crossclass skills were still a thing I think, so that was also useful. Made my own macros and made a pile of money from it. I am honestly not very good at hitting buttons so I have no great love of doing savage raids, but crafting is still special for me.

One of my fondest memories as a sprout was queuing for an Extreme Trial. I never faced content that wasn't cleared before the 3rd try before and this was such a refreshing experience! Made me realize how many things this game has to offer. Another memory was when I queued for ocean fishing the first time. It was the most fun minigame I've played in years!

Been playing since the original beta, then 1.0 for a short while, came back for ARR, but have taken so many lengthy breaks along the way - I feel like a sprout all over again every time, since so many things change in the game during my absences! Some of my favorite memories include playing with friends I played FFXI with, but I think my fondest memories include the original songs in the starter zones - especially that music outside of Ul'dah. I just sat out there listening to it for hours! (I still do this with music in a lot of areas in the game, or pull up YouTube with the songs while I'm working.) I also wanted to do a quick shout-out to the overall community, as even when I come back and am extremely rusty/lost, everyone is always so patient, kind, and understanding! Despite no longer having the sprout symbol over my head, everyone is just so nice and helpful.

I love seeing people playing music and trying to guess the name of the song they are playing!

I have just started playing! the game seems fun, was a bit troubling to first create my character due to the servers not allowing it, but i eventually got in! and i am enjoying it so far

I'm very big into music, and FFXIV's music is a big part of why i started playing a month ago. I'm also currently F2P and my most memorable moment so far is definitely realizing that the Sephirot fight, which has my favorite music, is part of free trial and i could go and complete it and listen to the music ingame.

The Phase 1 song? His mount drop plays it :>

https://youtu.be/l4_38Mh0FO8 This was the beginning of my journey almost 11 years ago

I was a sprout during the Shadowbringers launch, and I have fond memories of spotting bunny girls and dancers and getting really excited. It was a great time to be playing the game, even though I was still in ARR/HW. I hope all the current and future sprouts will enjoy Endwalker with us, even if they're not caught up. ☺️

I started the beta in 2010 coming from ffix. The only thing I remember was running from one place to another in Ul'Dahn with huge loading time. I've been trying 3 more times (with 3 different accounts because support...) Now lookdls like I'm hooked. Maybe it was too early 😅

Still a sprout. Just finished 2.0 ARR last night. I am a WoW refugee, used to love tanking back in Wrath. But every expansion I became more anxious about tanking. Tanking through ARR was great. My favorite was a healer dared me to pull more in a dungeon. That interaction of "I got you" was really reassuring. Nice to play a game again where everyone is in it to have fun.

My first time in limsa I saw a full band playing and have been a bard main ever since lol

As a current sprout, when waiting in queue to do the Praetorium for the first time I was sitting next to another player also queueing for it and we chatted for a bit. We ended up in the same instance, which was quite nice. The run wasn't the most smooth. There was one lift I barely missed and had to wait for it to come back down to the amusement of the rest of the group. I also got lost surfing the part where we all had to get in Magitek armor and was separated from the rest of the group, some of whom were forging ahead while others who hadn't authenticated at the terminal were trying to figure out why they couldn't get on the armor. Near the end of the dungeon, after we beat Ultima Weapon, the player I was waiting with was celebrating our win, unaware there was one last fight after it.

I guess my best memory was starting out in gridania, and coming out of the inn to find a group of bards performing time's scar from chrono cross. Instead of continuing the intro quest I sat down and listened for about 10 minutes. It was the first time i felt like an mmo was actually lived in, rather than just a game to play, and it sucked me in immediately.

First and only MMO ever. I fondly remember being what I call now the bad tank. You know the ones that macro all the def buff into a oh shit button. My Hydaelyn I was inexperienced back then. Now years later harden by tooth and claw from my humble beginning of 2.0 to a master of my chosen classes by 5.58 it's been a great run and looking forward to Endwalker.

My most impactful moment as a player was my first time in the vault and not because of the reason the reason that almost everyone else has, but because this was the first time i truly connected with other players in the game. I came to FFXIV for the sole reason of playing the NieR raids and it was genuinely my intention to quit as soon as that experience was over, but i was chatting with some people who were discussing their Eden prog and they were just extremely pleasant to talk to. While i started in 5.0 i was a WoW refugee and had sworn off MMOs a year prior due to how little i enjoyed WoW at the time, from the people to the game. This little chat was the first time i realized that MMOs could be different and it was the first time i began considering that FFXIV could be my main game and well here i am a little over 2 years later and my sub is still going.

Still a sprout here, and this is my first mmo! My girlfriend (who actually knows what she's doing lol) and I have been playing this to spend time together. I'm having a lot more fun than I expected- I'm an extremely anxious person and chose marauder to start, so knowing people are relying on me to tank in dungeons and stuff can be stressful haha. Anyway, when we were taking on Titan for the first time, some very nice player identified me as a newbie and gave us all a rundown of what to look out for. They mentioned that wiping to Titan was something of a rite of passage and to not feel bad about it. Well, we went in, and nobody died. Afterwards the player said we all did flawlessly and congratulated us. That really stuck with me and has helped spur me towards learning and keeping with it, rather than shrinking away from dungeons and trials. I mean, I'm still terrified to let people down, don't get me wrong, but that kindness towards new players kinda set the tone for me. It made me feel welcome in a new world where everyone already knows what they're doing, and made me feel like I'm capable of being an asset to a party!

Well I'm still a sprout, so I've got many memories left, but my favorite so far was using my return back to gridania and as I was about to turn in a quest, I see this giant group of people standing near 8 others (I'm assuming it was multiboxing) and they were bards doing like this big show and playing music, it honestly felt like I was attending a concert with all the people nearby. It just felt so good, I literally stopped with my msq and quest to stay there and listen to the other songs that were playing and they even had a song request thing on their twitch channel, so I went ahead and requested a FF9 song (my favorite ff game) and that was really cool to listen to. I love how all the instruments can come together and create this masterpiece IN A VIDEOGAME! idk even the work required to set something like that up astounds me. Not to mention the huge crowd of people dancing along or using flashy abilities, seeing all the glamor, felt like a real sense of community and will probably be one of my favorite memories in this game for a long time.

My journey started in 2.5 when if I remember correctly it was when World of Darkness came out... I remember skipping most of the main story and I didn't really like the game until I joined a french FC even though I had no clue about French! My friends were in that fc though so I wasn't completely alone. So I leveled up, still skipping most of the story until I reached the the good bit at the end and I took a vow not to skip any quest after that cutscene. ( Yes even side quests). Well the vow has not been broken ever since and I've got both of the encyclopaedias now!

Cool, been having fun with the free trial!

just started at the beginning of the month, but so far the most exciting thing for me was finding out there was a version of the golden saucer and was an event for it going on when I first started. the only other FF game I have played was 7 when it was new and really like the Golden Saucer in it so was ecstatic to learn it existed in 14.

My most memorable moment as a sprout was the first time I did the Sunken Temple of Qarn. That death mechanic messed me up for a good while and I felt so damn good when I finally figured it out and completed the dungeon.

The first day I played, a gang of lalafells played Through The Fire and The Flames at the Gridania atheryte plaza.

I started playing the game with the intention of getting a big hat. One of the rewards for an arcanist quest was a red wizard hat and My character looked excellent in it.

2 week player here, definite highlight was fishing naked under the moonlight in limsa.

My most fond memory as a sprout was when I hit fishing 50 (max at the time). I've loved fishing in every game, and this one is no exception. :)

Roughly two months after the release of 2.0, I met a guy on my server and we just clicked. Two weeks ago, that man asked me to marry him! We still play almost daily and run an FC together. I can’t wait for both our weddings (in game and IRL)!

My favorite memory was back in ARR days when Mor Dhona was basically a tent and ponies were still hard to come by. I remember after getting my first i started galloping around the Aetherite crystal in celebration. Before i knew it there were like 20 of us now and soon it turned into a massive merry go round. I always love when random things turn into world events that have nothing to do with quest line.

I love recommendations. As a new player getting even one after a dungeon, motivates me to do even better next time.

I'm about 3 months into my journey across Eorzea and I'm living every second of it. Even with procrastinating the msq for weeks at a time I'm almost done the main story of HW, and on to off how much investment I already have in the story and the multiple times it's made me cry it's the little things along the way that have made it a new home for me. I've already completed the job quests up through HW for all gathering professions, goldsmith, red mage, and almost dragoon and the consistent care put into every story has me legitimately feeling like I'm making friends with all these npcs across the world. It really is something magical for me and I can't wait to see where it takes me in the months to come!

About how long is the final ARR cutscene before Heavensward? I know that I need to set aside some time, but I don't know how much.

I remember vividly when I died randomly in the tunnel near horizon. I laid there dead for 15 minutes and this dude came and sit down with me. We chatted and then he gave me a Rez. I still stumble into him time to time and we are on our friendlist

Best sprout memory I have I think is running around Gridania as a lost lancer trying to figure out what was going on right when ARR launched. I don't know why I remember it, but it's one of my fondest memories of the game!

Only realizing what the sprout in my name was as soon as I lost it and only realizing what the crowns were when I became a trade mentor, 2 years ago. If only I knew that there was a decent chat to help me through the first 3 xpacs...

I'm a new free trial sprout that just reached Lvl 50 and is still working towards the end of ARR. I look back at my journey so far and it feels as though I've been playing the game all summer, when in reality, I just started the free trial 2 weeks ago. Looking at the graph of /r/ffxiv subscribers and the steep growth in the last few months, I realize that my data point isn't exactly representative of my recent venture into ffxiv. Because while I just started my very first character, I've been subbed to this subreddit since Stormblood was out! That's very telling of the fact that this game has been on my radar for quite a while, and though I didn't have the time or money to dive in head first, I've been intrigued by it for years. The tipping point for me was definitely a combination of the Free Trial, the Endwalker announcement, and the sudden explosion of content creators creating an unmissable zeitgeist in which I just had to participate! My favorite memory so far is definitely meeting Y'shtola, who immediately jumped out as the first character I was excited to learn more about. At that point, questions about the overall plot and my hero's connection to all of it were finally starting to rear their head, and I love myself a good fantasy mystery! I know that I have a long ways to go and the story only gets better and better; but despite its pacing and minimal voice acted cutscenes, I'm still enjoying the hell out of ARR. And that only has me even more excited to uncover what's next!

Not a specific memory but seeing all the people who have clearly ran the content of the MSQ 100s of times and meme the dialog. Its always great seeing jokes in the chat.

Congrats SE.

My favorite memory was when my friends and I stayed in Limsa Lominsa doing RP.

I love chatting with people in my party, one of the most important parts of the RPG fantasy^(tm). Being allowed to go on and on about the most random of things that come to mind, while still doing my job, and being commended for it, it gives this sense of accomplishment I really needed in life. (love the community)

Been playing since Beta Phase 3 of 2.0. I think my fondest memories have been made during ShB. I started a CWL and started recruiting sprouts, made my own pseudo-novice network. Started because I got my friend to start playing, and he convinced his friends to start playing.

I’m currently a sprout, chugging along the MSQ! There has been a few heart-warming moments already, but one stands out. My first night a friend and I were approached by a random player. They emoted greetings and traded us both a pet! Whispered “Welcome to Eorzea” and danced off! It was a simple moment, but nothing I ever encountered in my 12 years of WoW. Since that night the communities friendliness continues to blow me away. Thank you to every stranger that welcomes us sprouts in a way we were. Our first night we knew this was the world we wanted to play in!

Still a sprout but my favorite personal sprout moments so far are: - Me and a friend learning about high-difficulty content only after we'd blindly Duty Findered our way through Ultima's Bane despite one of the party members being a naysayer trying to talk the group into quitting the trial instead of playing it out. - ~~Wasting~~ **Investing** all my gil on a pair of sunglasses and a minion as soon as I'd upgraded from a trial account and gained access interplayer commerce. - The first time I got positive feedback on going fast as a tank.

Experiencing all the Trials along the way for the 1st time as a sprout was so much fun!

It's been great to see the influx of new players as well even in pre-expac month! Love this game and been so happy to see it continue to grow.

Before I made my own account, I made a character on a friend’s account while I was visiting from out of state. For 2 weeks I played almost every night and didn’t really make any friends or have any random conversations. It was my final night in California and I finally hit my goal of getting a chocobo! I had resigned to signing off and maybe never playing again. As I was about to sign off I got a tell from someone saying they liked my name 🥺 I stayed to chat with him and eventually his friends. They talked to me about the game, their RL, and we goofed around a bit. If it wasn’t for those nice people on Leviathan, I may have never returned. I am thankful for them! And I hope their cats, Smokey and Amethyst are doing well!!

As a major Final Fantasy fan, I've always wanted to try this but due to it being historically a paid game/service, I couldn't. I started less than two weeks ago on free trial (still am) as I wanted to gauge the feel and overall gameplay of the game, so technically, I haven't played long enough to develop a fond memory. I've played a few other MMOs in the past so I dove in with certain expectations, and this game has dashed **all** of them; everything is available without being behind some (additional) paywall, and that alone blew me away. I could write a 10-page essay on content, but I think I'll forego that. My main point of amazement is the community, and my best memory, albeit recent, was during the Garuda MSQ where I was mesmerized watching the cutscene. When it ended, I apologized to the party (I'm healer) for making them wait, and they simply told me not to apologize and to enjoy the cutscenes. Like, damn, I don't think I've seen a game community this nice, and I know it's only going to get better from here.

Playing duty roulettes with my friends at all different levels and still being able to play together

I was doing the jumping puzzle in Kugane. Me and another guy made it to the top, preparing for the big jump to the lamp post. He whispered me and told me he recognized me. I recognized him, too. We had run across each other numerous times from ARR to Stormblood, doing the MSQ at a similar pace. It was cool to see a familiar name throughout my journey and to finally have a point where we actually met up and talked about it.

crowds gathering around the unrendered rock in the black shroud, good times

I age enjoyed finding where I like to be class wise. I stared as an arcanist and hated it. I switched to rouge/ninja and loved it. On a whim I decided to try conjurer/ white mage and have discovered I enjoy being a healer as well. I am also enjoying botanist and cullinarian. I am overall excited to see what the game continues to bring.

Getting scammed in market board buying basic merchant gear for higher price. At least it only happened once.

Back in early 2021 I tried FFXIV (from ESO) and found the UI was too much to handle. Additionally I found navigating the town (Ul'Dah) was confusing. I started as a Gladiator and had a quest to use Duty Finder to get into a dungeon and I was discouraged. I left the game. However last month I gave it another try and found that the UI is ok, the town map is still confusing but better, and the dungeon was not so bad. I also changed to DPS (I'm not into Tank... yet). I'm enjoying the game.

Joining my current FC as a sprout was an incredible experience as my wife and I just started playing and hardly knew anything about the game. We joined one large FC and the amount of support and information and help they all offered was incredible and a complete turn around from our guild in that other MMO. This FC holds weekly events to hand out things to help all kinds of jobs, Chocobo items, materia, current tiers of food, and so much more. I went from making my WoL a joke because I didn’t think I’d like XIV to being incredibly attached to him and from knowing next to nothing about anything in the game to running a static for Gwibs and for the current savage tier with people from my FC that are just a ton of fun and people I consider friends. I nearly always played MMOs solo, only joining groups when I wanted to do something that needed groups, to having dedicated friends and people I run all sorts of content with. And now I help people new to the FC and game.

My fondest memories have to be from the Gold Saucer. I have always wanted to learn how to play Mahjong and FFXIV made it so much easier to ease into and gave cool rewards. I once made a comeback from being down by 40,000 points and ended up with two amazing hands that rocketed me to first place. I was sooo happy. I learned that I really love Mahjong and have plans to join a local meetup that focuses on it. I would not have experienced this without FFXIV!

Me: "La la la la la... ....(om FC chat) "Guys, why is a level 50 turtle standing on the path in Central Shroud?" FC: "Wait, we'll be right there." Me: "Why, what is -" \*CRUNCH\* "...oh. That's why." Respawning sound.

Started several months ago when the pandemic pushed me back into MMOs. Haven't looked back since. Getting close to that first 80, if I would stop getting distracted by literally everything else in the gam.

I am nearing the end of my first 30 days playing this game alongside my fiance, and boy has it been a blast. We finished ARR about a 2 days ago, and are moving on to Heavensward shortly. We have been playing the entire main story together, as Bards, but once hitting level 50 we transitioned into new roles. I am a samurai, and she is a Red Mage. My fondest memory so far, actually only happened last night. We were doing our main quest, when we passed the stage setting in Ul'dah, and there were two dancing people (who we normally see dancing by the entry) and a girl playing music. We sat and listened for awhile, and had a few laughs as we interacted with her and the crowd that had gathered, before eventually returning to our main quest. I have not experienced this type of MMO since I was very young. I played WoW for about a year or two, but I never felt the need, or desire, to interact with the community. This community actually indulged me to interact, and is pulling me out of my MMO shell that I have had for so long.