Now, at $11 and some free subscription time I'm finally willing to consider trying the game out to see if I'd be willing to pay monthly to play...even though it'll probably get shut down sometime after Final Fantasy XIV comes out.
The question is, should I bother? Is the game really worth playing? That's where you guys come in. Give me a heads-up. I'm not hugely into the MMO scene-- I've played a few free ones casually, and I'm kind of interested in finding something fun that I could tentatively play with friends and/or users. Is this the game?
if the answer to all the above is a yes, then well try it
Personally I liked it a lot more than WOW, but I had a bunch of friends that I played with, 11 can be lonely at times.
I played for about half a year, but some of my friends are still in the game. One is still arranging raids and what not...
But it was a fun experience and I had the free time when I was playing it. I made some great online friends I still talk to. And if it only $11 and free 30 days, check it out and see if you like it.
The next closest thing would be to play an older FF game where you could set the ATB meter to "wait" and have a laptop open with an IRC client open. Final Fantasy and socializing, sort of together.
I played the North American Beta for Xbox 360 and I will say having Japanese players camping the spawn locations for monsters that at times where at Everquest levels of time before they respawn sucked. I hear it got better but that turned me off the game.