I feel bad about not playing Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn

The re-release of Final Fantasy XIV was something the masses weren’t entirely anticipating. Sure, the beta brought in fans that were excited, but the failure of the original MMO’s release still lingered in the minds of many. Personally, it was only a combination of morbid curiosity and a friend going, “Hey, let’s play this together because it’s on sale,” that brought me into the game.

It’s been maybe two weeks since I’ve played. Holy crap, do I miss it. I haven’t felt this way since I moved right after The Burning Crusade launch.

Sure, I’ve dabbled and messed around with other MMOs before. TERA was enjoyable, but the questing was completely generic. Star Wars: The Old Republic had fantastic storytelling, but it was essentially World of Warcraft in space; I’ve already quit WoW and had no desire to come back to it until Mists of Pandaria’s release. I came for the Pandaren and left when the raiding began. There was also Guild Wars 2, but it too failed to capture my long-term attention.

I’m not saying that all of these games are bad; far from it, in fact. Pandaria is an absolutely fantastic expansion that, unfortunately, showcases the aging WoW engine. TERA’s combat is second to none in the genre. SWTOR is the best single-playing MMO I’ve ever played. But at the end of the day, I didn’t really feel the urge to keep playing. I didn’t have friends in game, there was little to no incentive to keep playing, and the financial requirement wasn’t worth it.

Final Fantasy XIV, however, is worth it. At least to me it is. (I’ve already made a handy-dandy guide about whether or not you should subscribe to the game.) The game’s launch issues are already behind us. Sure, there’s still plenty of text to read, but there’s just so much I want to do in the game. I still have dungeons to explore, I’m looking forward to becoming a Monk, I’m curious about other classes to dabble in and pick up skills, the end-game has beyond curious, there’s still a story to be told…

I could be here all day, guys; go ahead and grab a drink while I continue to mention all the things I have left to do in the game.

…I haven’t even bothered with professions yet, I’m hoping to do group stuff with my guild/field company/whatever they’re called in the game, there’s still PVP coming around the corner, I might have a sudden urge to roll a new race on a different server to play with other friends…

There’s just a lot I want to do in Final Fantasy XIV, and it pains me that I don’t necessarily have the time to do it right now.

And that’s the hallmark of a good MMO: You miss it when you’re not playing.