The gameplay is slow at first, through most of ARR you don't have a lot of skills to worry about, the rotations are easy, the mechanics start off very easy as well, it's good if it's your first MMO it really eases you in this style of gameplay. It gets very hard and chaotic when you unlock savage modes of trials and dungeons, that's when it becomes really challenging and the most fun. The endgame raids and dungeons are like dances, balancing your rotation with the mechanics of the fight can get very complex and also incredibly fun and challenging, and it's where much of the game's focus is on.

One thing that differentiates FFXIV is that you can be every class in the game on one character, you can try all of them and switch at will, which is great for varying your playstyle, because every class is different, and all of them are viable you don't have to choose the best, you can choose whatever feels best for you, the one you think is cooler, specially because fashion is a big aspect of the game for most players, you can really create your look any way you want.

The Main story of FFXIV is one of the best parts of the games, it really is a FF game first, but ARR starts off slow, with the standard MMO forgetful fetch quests, characters and such. It starts to pick up when your main purpose is found (and the main group of characters), then it has good dungeons and trials (bosses), with interesting designs, looks and backgrounds, this is most of what kept me going in the beginning, getting to the next dungeon. It's a good thing they made the Free Trial so comprehensive with trimmed down bs fetch quests, and free first expansion, because it makes the barrier of entry non-existent, and gives you the first big jump in quality with Heavensward.

The last arc of ARR is where it begins to get interesting, and with the setup of Heavensward making you feel invested in the story more than ever.
Now Heavensward that's when it grabs you, it has an amazing setting, new cities and areas, incredible music, characters, dungeons, and the story is so good, so high stakes it really makes you feel like you're part of this story and not just some grunt in a faction. Stormblood isn't as amazing and personal but it is still a very good story, setting, interesting characters and amazing music. Shadowbringers is just astounding, it's everything I thought it would be and more, I never thought a MMO story could become one of my favorites ever, the quality here is really on another level in all aspects, story, characters, villains, music, gameplay design.

The best community of any online game I've ever played, 95% of players are helpful and won't call you out if you make mistakes, completely noob friendly.

PvP is very barebones, just a couple of modes to have fun every once in a while, hopefully they'll give PvP more attention on future updates. It's the only thing keeping it from being the best MMO for all styles of players.

But since I don't care about PvP for me it's a 10/10 it's not only the best MMO I've ever played, but it might even be the best Final Fantasy I've ever played.

2024: still awesome, Dawntrail's story took a hit, but gameplay wise it's the best it's ever been, but it needs more long form content at expansion launch