Recent reviews by coconash

Tl;dr this game is great, give the trial a chance. There is a lot of content for all types of MMO players. A few systems have some jank but nothing detracts from the experience in a way that makes me enjoy it less.

My relationship with FFXIV has been up and down. I started in early 2019 at the recommendation of a friend. I played quite a bit of Guild Wars 2 and WoW throughout the years, so I was not going into it blind.
I will be honest, I hated the story until Shadowbringers (The last expansion as I write this). I hated that I had to get through all of it to "play the game" and reviled the idea that this was "a Final Fantasy game first." This opinion led me to quit the game for a while due to ARR burnout.
I came back about a year later to complete Heavensward and Stormblood. Again, I didn't listen to the story but loved the gameplay. Yet again, I burned out at the end of the Stormblood patch quests.
Finally, this past June (inb4 Bald Man), I reinstalled the game ans told myself I'd listen to the story. I read up on the story from past expansions as a primer and actually found the plot pretty interesting. I proceeded to binge Shadowbringers until completion in early August.
What I learned, and what many people don't want to hear, is that the story is amazing. While it isn't what keeps me playing, and I didn't unsub when I finished the story, it provides motivation for every fight once you finally get to "play the game."

Once you get to "play the game" you'll have already discovered that the combat is amazing, fight design is fun and engaging, and the community is generally awesome (I've had maybe 3 bad encounters ever). Literally my only complaint coming from GW2 and WoW is the collection system for appearances. Glamour (transmog) is a nightmare of UI and clutter. But besides that there are few real complaints I have.

Give the free trial a shot once it opens back up!

This is a great remaster of a childhood favorite. The story isn't fantastic, but the game play is a blast! Definitely pick it up if it's on sale.