Been in an MMORPG gaming rut lately - my favorite genre of PC games. In my humble opinion MMORPGS have sucked donkey balls the past few 4-5 years. I think why I dislike all the new MMORPGs is because they tend to be arcade-ish action oriented combat, "sandbox" or more co-op than persistent world, free-to-play cash shop random lock-box gambling pay-to-win grind-fests.

I prefer tab-targeting combat, story, exploration and quest driven persistent world theme-park MMORPGS with a monthly sub where I get access to most everything by working for it in game and the cash shop or lock-box gambling crap is just cosmetic junk. I've realized you can never go back to the games you really enjoyed (for me that was WoW, Rift, EQ, Ultima Online, Asheron's Call, SWG, Dark Age of Camelot, and SWtOR) and spent a lot of time playing because the nostalgia - the reasons you remember really enjoying those games - is quickly snuffed out when the reasons you quit rear their ugly head.

There are a few upcoming MMORPGS I'm interested in (Pantheon Rise of the Fallen, and Camelot Unchained) but none will be on the market much before late 2018 or 2019. So, out of desperation for a MMORGP I've decided to give Final Fantasy XIV A Realm Reborn a shot since there is a 30-day free trial. To be honest I'm not a huge fan of the Asian/Korean/anime style games, but if it is fun I might be able to get over that. Im excited to see they have my favorite MMORPG class ever (Bard), as well as my second favorite a summoner type (Arcanist).

Anyway, anyone still play this game since it was released in 2013?  

Almost everyone in my Free Company ( FFXIV guild ), including myself, has quit the game. That's even with the latest expansion that dropped in June. I don't think I'll ever go back to it either.

I do like the concept you can have every job on a single character, but other than that I just didn't care for it. People are way too kick happy in instances. Taking jobs that have been one way forever and trying to turn them into something else ( that's what ticked my fc members off ).

I believe you can only go to level 20 on the trial account. A lot of the major changes really don't hit you until 50+ ( Bard's Minuete, Machinist's Gauss Barrel, etc.. )

Good to know. Made it to level 10 on an arcanist. Is kinda fun, and reminded me of my warlock in vanilla WoW (which was my favorite character). Having never played a final fantasy game before (solo play or MMO) I'm finding the lore, look, etc. a little...off-putting. Just something about the anime style games that doesn't sit right with me. Maybe it's just that I imagine every character that is female is really being played by some creepy dude named Algernop Krieger. I dunno...will play a little more, maybe try a bard (my most favorite class ever and the one in EQ rocked), and see how things pan out.   

I had a Vah Shir bard named  Ablur Offur.

Bards are very fun and very mobile at lower levels. At level 52 that all goes away.

I played it pretty heavily before my son was born, quit a bit before when baby prep happened. Now I don't do the MMO anymore and just destiny is a struggle to find as much time as I would like