"Oh btw, FFXIV Online in 2010"

[ghost]

Think I'll let this one smolder a little while before  I rush in and set up my account.  

Edit:  Yeah, this one may be another turd sandwich. 

[Cyrrex]

They appear to be open for registrations at the moment...I was able to get a beta code.

Now, I just have to wait for the patcher to do it's usual magic.

[Lantyssa]

I was able to get a code this morning.  It seems before work is better than in the evening.  Not sure I'll bother playing much though since I don't expect massive changes.

[Cyrrex]

Yeah, I just logged in for the first time.  Not sure if I'll repeat that action.

[Mrbloodworth]

Got me a code too, what server is everyone on?

[trias_e]

My first 60 minute impression is that this game is pretty.

That's about it.  The UI/control/performance is all horrible.  I could get over those things if the game has fun combat and grouping, but as far as that goes I have no idea.

[tmp]

Got the code as well, after some wrestling with f5 managed to log into the beta site too.

the forums registration seems to be disabled, and the beta key email had this funny bit:

"FINAL FANTASY XIV Tester Site: https://dev-na.ffxiv.com/
*You will not be able to post in the forums."

well, it's one way to do a beta...

[Numtini]

That's about it.  The UI/control/performance is all horrible.  I could get over those things if the game has fun combat and grouping, but as far as that goes I have no idea.

One thing I noticed is that any client side video lag translates into UI lag. Not just lag in executing commands, but actually moving the mouse lags up and stutters.

[01101010]

That's about it.  The UI/control/performance is all horrible.  I could get over those things if the game has fun combat and grouping, but as far as that goes I have no idea.

One thing I noticed is that any client side video lag translates into UI lag. Not just lag in executing commands, but actually moving the mouse lags up and stutters.

Most everything is server-side which I believe is a direct result of SE going way overboard on botting/hacking. But yeah, the "software" mouse lag is and was horrible throughout the early stages and they never directly addressed it other than saying, "we're working to improve the response of the mouse controls...use a controller, lol."

[tmp]

For client updates, supposedly may help to open following ports:

TCP - 54992 - 55551
UDP - 55296 - 55551
UDP - 443

didn't have patience to test it without, but there you go. and the patcher is seemingly lacking option to throttle your upload speed which means it'll happily overload it and kill your download speeds in the process, but i suppose that's to be expected.

[Morfiend]

I think I might be dumb, but Square-Enix sent me a 20 digit code, and asked me to register, but the registration code only seems to accept 16 digit code.

[tmp]

Maybe your page didn't fully download with the server loads they're experiencing 

that's semi-serious, the page i got had 5 boxes on it so whole 20 digit code fit in there. So page refresh may actually help.

[Morfiend]

Wrong area?

[palmer_eldritch]

For client updates, supposedly may help to open following ports:

TCP - 54992 - 55551
UDP - 55296 - 55551
UDP - 443

didn't have patience to test it without, but there you go. and the patcher is seemingly lacking option to throttle your upload speed which means it'll happily overload it and kill your download speeds in the process, but i suppose that's to be expected.

You can download the patch files using a standard torrent client if you can find the .torrent file. If the game's updater is trying to download a patch, that means the torrent file has been created somewhere on your hd.

In my case (using Windows 7), the .torrent is stored at C:\Users\Myname\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV Beta Version\downloads\ffxiv-beta\d96437e6\metainfo

Once the patch file is downloaded, it needs to be placed in C:\Users\Myname\Documents\My Games\FINAL FANTASY XIV Beta Version\downloads\ffxiv-beta\d96437e6\patch

Then, start up the FFXIV launcher and it should apply the patch.

If you have a number of .torrent files and are not sure which one you should use, start up the launcher and check which file it is trying to download. Then close it again and open the .torrent file with the same name in a standard torrent client.

[tmp]

Wrong area?

Yes. You need to select "Services" near bottom of the page, then "Final Fantasy 14" and then "Add Service". That will give you the right page.

[Morfiend]

Ok I found it. Way to make it easy to register for your beta Square-Enix.

[tmp]

You can download the patch files using a standard torrent client if you can find the .torrent file. If the game's updater is trying to download a patch, that means the torrent file has been created somewhere on your hd.

Excellent, thank you.

[Maledict]

Interestingly, if like myself you select Euro English for the beta test, it won't accept a Postal Code despite asking for one in the details screen. So apparently I now live in London, Winsconsin in order to register the game.

Not that it matters, as trying to download the client just results in an eternal loop over 3 webpages none of which actually download anything.

[tmp]

Download was the one thing which worked fairly straightforward for me. "Download" from the main menu of the beta site leads to page with "Download Installer" and that opens a page with long-ass temporary url. Right-click that and "save as" and it fetches ~100 mb file, it doesn't seem to do anything automatically there.

[Maledict]

Download was the one thing which worked fairly straightforward for me. "Download" from the main menu of the beta site leads to page with "Download Installer" and that opens a page with long-ass temporary url. Right-click that and "save as" and it fetches ~100 mb file, it doesn't seem to do anything automatically there.

I don't get that.

Clicking the link from the email they sent me to the tester site presents me with a screen saying only those with a beta account can log into the beta site.

Then I get a screen asking me for my log in details.

After that, I get a screen saying

Login process is running.
If you change the screen, please press the NEXT button.

A few seconds later no matter what I do, it goes back to step one in the process and the screen saying only those with a beta account can log into the beta site.

[Mrbloodworth]

Yes its extremely swamped right now it seems.

Probably full of people on the forums bitching about how laggy the site is :)

[tmp]

After that, I get a screen saying

Login process is running.
If you change the screen, please press the NEXT button.

A few seconds later no matter what I do, it goes back to step one in the process and the screen saying only those with a beta account can log into the beta site.

I think that happens when their account site falls over and doesn't complete the login, so maybe few tries will be needed to get through.

Also don't know if it matters but the mail you get tells you to visit https://dev-na.ffxiv.com/  ... i registered for eu beta so tried instead to log into https://dev-eu.ffxiv.com/ and that worked. Maybe just coincidence but then maybe not.

[Maledict]

Aha that was it - EU link worked first time. Thanks very much!

[Rasix]

Nice.  The patch is at 99.9% downloading and won't finish.  But it's continuing to upload. 

Fuckers.

[Quinton]

Goddamn, I didn't think they could do any worse than the old FFXI/Playonline upgrade/patch process.  They showed me.

Still no luck getting a key, in any case.  I really should cancel my pre-order.  At NA launch, FFXI had had a year to bake post-JP-launch.  This is gonna suck.

[Kitsune]

So far the client is crashtastic and the servers are lagged to hell.  I have doubts about just how much improvement they can make in the time they have left before release, either in their server robustness or in the stability of the client.  Thus far it's locked up my otherwise-rock-solid computer twice and crashed to desktop once.  And if the client crashes, any levequests you were engaged in automatically fail, even if you log back in before the timer expires.  Which is just 

[Velorath]

I'm not really getting a lot of lag, and only had one crash so far.  What bothers me is just how directionless the game is after the starting quests.  The game is just completely devoid of content.  In theory the leves are supposed to be the equivalent of quests content-wise, but it doesn't really have the same effect of directing you through the zones that quests do in most modern MMO's.  Instead it's like "here's a hub where you can repeat quests every couple days, and at some nebulous point you'll probably have to move on to another one".  It sounds strange, but without knowing that I've got to hit level 10 or something on one of my jobs to get the next quest chain or move to the next area, I feel like the game is all stick with no carrot.  I'm just expected to grind without being given any sort of motivation for it.

[Reg]

To think I was planning to break my own rule and get this one as soon as it released.  Guess that's not going to happen. Everything I hear says it's going to be a huge disappointment.  And I've already paid my tax to shitty developers this month by buying Elemental.

[Hawkbit]

Holy jesus Alt-tab is a no-no. 

[Numtini]

I have tried and tried, but apparently I'm doomed to sit in that clearing for all of eternity looking at the dogs because for my life, I cannot figure out how to attack them.

[palmer_eldritch]

I have tried and tried, but apparently I'm doomed to sit in that clearing for all of eternity looking at the dogs because for my life, I cannot figure out how to attack them.

Hit the tab key until a dog is targeted and then press the "1" key. If that doesn't work, try getting a bit closer to the dog.

[NiX]

Holy jesus Alt-tab is a no-no. 

I'm assuming people trying didn't play FFXI. Alt-tab crashed the game on purpose to prevent hacks, which caused a lot of issues when people accidentally hit the Windows key.

[Hawkbit]

I'm assuming people trying didn't play FFXI. Alt-tab crashed the game on purpose to prevent hacks, which caused a lot of issues when people accidentally hit the Windows key.

Ahhh.  That explains it.  Totally understand, then. 

I've found that I'm not using the mouse at all, which is awkward to say the least.  Mouse hand is on IJKL for camera and Enter for selection.  I actually could see myself getting used to it in time. 

[Lantyssa]

If you play the game, do yourself a favor and plug in a 360 controller or find the drivers and use a PS3 gamepad.  I cannot imagine trying to play either of the FF games without one.  It's madness.

[Numtini]

I'm assuming people trying didn't play FFXI. Alt-tab crashed the game on purpose to prevent hacks, which caused a lot of issues when people accidentally hit the Windows key.

That was a different world though. Everyone was doing that stuff back then. Nobody does now.