FFXIV: Looking Back at 10 Years
Posted on August 30, 2023 by Aywren
Come early September, I’ll have been playing FFXIV for ten years with no lapse in my sub! For me, that’s incredible. There hasn’t been another MMO out there that I’ve played for so long without putting it down for some space of time.
Last year, during the 9th year anniversary, I told the story of how that all came to be. While this recap would have been better saved for this year, I don’t see a need to retell it. Especially since that post is quite lengthy and in depth!
In the 2017 Rising post I wrote, I had a recap of what happened during the Rising events of 2014-2017. I thought this was a neat idea for a post this year, and wanted to pick up from where I left off. If you want to know about 2014-2017, check that one out, however.
I’m going to start with 2018!
The Rising 2018
Ah, the year 2018. This was when so many things were in flux for me in FFXIV. I was enjoying my time on Mateus with my new RP character, Amon. I was writing stories, role playing, and knee deep in Tumblr interaction.
That year, Syn and I passed on the torch of Free Company leadership to others, and moved all of our characters to Mateus. Because so much was happening, I didn’t blog about The Rising, it seems.
This was the year that the event simulated the invasion of Ul’dah that happened during the 1.0 Calamity, including battle FATES in the city streets!
The Rising 2019
The 2019 Rising, I did blog about. It was a bit similar to this year’s because you would search the beach at Costa Del Sol for touching letters from members of the dev team or characters in the game.
You also got to see your character in all sorts of jobs when you met with Yoshi-P.
The Rising 2020
The 2020 Rising was the year we had to put the Sultana Seven stained glass artwork back together again. It was basically a jigsaw puzzle type of mini-game.
In the Yoshi-P scenario, you got to see the huge red moon Dalamud hanging overhead…
…And you were met by Yoshi-P and the Sultana Seven.
The Rising 2021
I admit, I have to look back at wiki pages for some of these events to recall what they were. This one had to do with spreading potpourri… or something such! Since this was the event after the release of Endwalker, you got to meet Yoshi-P, who was dressed as a Paladin in front of a giant moon.
This was also the year when they gave out the meteor umbrellas because the cosmetics were becoming a thing.
The Rising 2022
This was the year that encouraged you to look back on your time as a new sprout in the game as you assisted a new adventurer (who returns in this year’s Rising).
I recall enjoying this one quite a bit, despite not having taken screenshots of it on my main.
I’m surprised I didn’t write a post about this as I remember feeling it was a good, strong message to the players, especially in a time when we were seeing lots of new folks joining the game. Though, I guess that’s when I wrote the post about looking back at nine years instead.
The Rising 2023
And that brings us to the current year – I have attended all of the Risings since the first, back in 2014! As the years passed, my main character has changed over and over again (darn those Fantasias), and I’ve rolled a full stable of alts for story and other purposes.
As I stated before, this is the longest I’ve ever played any game. And while I can’t claim to have logged in every single day, of course, it has been a consistent time frame. Even if it’s just to grab a few maps, check my Island Sanctuary, or turn in my daily crafting leves, I’m still in game consistently.
I may not be running dungeons and roulettes every day (well, I am now that Mogtomes are back), but I do hop in to group events, art parties, and community things from time to time.
I’ve been slowly meeting my goals to level my most important alts to a point where they are all on the current patch content. Aside from that, I don’t have too many other things I absolutely want to achieve. That doesn’t mean I’ve done it all – there’s still a good bit of content I’ve never finished or even begun! I know there’s plenty of time to get around to it, though, and I’m in no rush.
I’ve been here 10 years. Another 10 won’t hurt anything, right?
