What server are people making characters on now since Gilg is full?
Full/open isn't a static thing with these. It's dynamic, and it being full might last 5 minutes or an hour. Same thing with it being open. It's not like gilg is shutdown until further notice for character creation, or anything.
Anyway, having taken another class to 20, I've now got a maxed dps, healer, and tank, and have dungeons on all of 'em. Granted, these impressions are only for the first little bit of the game, but...
1) I love that combat isn't as spammy as WoW. Some people are complaining about the 2.5 second GCD, but I like it. You're not just wearing out your keyboard pressing the same damn thing over and over again without stop, and if you do press the wrong button because you suck, it hurts you a lot more than in other games where the GCD is only one second. Two and a half times longer of a delay to get back to 'optimal' after you fuck up.
2) The people in the low level dungeons are some of the worst I've ever had to tank for since the early WoW days. Won't focus targets, break CC, aggro random shit, etc. Eventually I found just running in and spamming flash and the skill combo that regenerates mana was the easiest way to keep the idiots from killing themselves.
3) Dungeons I healed I ended up with a marauder tank, and they seemed to take a lot more damage than I did on my gladiator. They might have just been bad.
4) The game is beautiful. Everywhere that I've been has stuck with me in some distinct way. That's a major change from the ~15 levels I played in 1.0, where the graphics were great, but everything seemed completely uninspiring. Now it's the total package - great graphics, beautiful vistas, and vibrant locations that really remind me of what makes the Final Fantasy franchise what it is. The worldbuilding just in this regard is something that I hadn't seen matched after EQ and FFXI
Re: Maps. I haven't had a problem with them at all, tbh. They're not nearly as bad as Yuhtunga and Yhoator from FFXI - but I
likedthat those maps were bad and the areas were confusing to navigate. Jungles aren't supposed to be friendly and easy to get around in. They were two of my favorite zones. There were a lot of amazing EXP camps nestled away in there outside of the major mandragora ones that were almost never populated.
Anyway, WoW was the last MMO I ever bothered leveling past 15-20 on, and I've tried about 85% of the ones that have come out since then. There's something about FFXIV and the world it takes place in that has me REALLY enjoying it, and really wanting to keep playing. I'm having a blast so far.