At first I thought this game was really boring since it's allot slower starting then other games. While first campaign "A realm Reborn" (ARR) was put together quickly since the original XIV (1.0) had issues and was eventually thrown away. The way they done this thou was clever. The original game being scrapped was the world ending and ARR is the new world. So it's part of the lore.
But the rushed development of ARR really shows. The quests are more basic and there is so much filler. But the demo version gives you the first expansion for free. This is obviously to show people that that when you finally get the core game over and done with that it does get better. The combat finally gets better rather than just mashing the same few abilities. You also finally get some more challenging dungeons. If you want a real challenge then I recommend going healer since it's the hardest class. How ever you have the hole team relying on you so I would say choose this once you max out another class so you understand the game.
The community in this game are the most positive I've seen in an MMO. When I was learning a new dungeon, I kept dying repeatedly. And being a healer, everyone else soon fell. Everyone was encouraging and showing me what to do. Other MMOs I've played after the first death you wait for the first person to leave, followed by everyone else. Its refreshing to play a game where people are actually having fun and not just playing cos they don't know what else to do to pass the time.
Another great part with this game is switching classes. Other games normally a character is the class. In XIV the weapon is the class. So if you wanna switch from Black Mage to Warrior, just swap the weapon. Each class has its own level and story line. So there is tons of fun to have working with each class and maxing them all out. Plus the storylines are an added bonus and give you extra abilities throughout them.
Overall the game is well worth pushing past the early content. The higher budget content is amazing. You can guarantee you'll have the best experience an MMO can offer. The game isn't made to be addictive and there is 0 pay to win. Its slightly more expensive then other games thou. You buy the expansions all together so you don't buy them individually. When a new expansion comes out you buy the expansion pack again to gain access. It also comes with 60 day membership. Then ontop of that you gotta buy membership. How ever I don't mind paying more for a game if it means they don't have to add pay to win micro-transactions. If you want thou, there is cosmetic store items (Which don't expire so no fear of missing out). These aren't really pushed that hard. I didn't even know they were a thing for months. And more there if you want. But you can get loads of cool cosmetics from playing the game and earning as rewards.
