Time Flies

So.

Time. Social construct. Intangible, invisible, implacable.

But by the gods, it doesn't half hit you square in the face with all the blunt force of a sledgehammer sometimes.

I have, as of this May, been playing FFXIV (on and off, of course) for nine years. Nine. YEARS. Ugh, ouch, oof. I feel old. Aged. Decrepit. Time has upped and whacked me in the face with the steel chair of inevitability.

It's been a great nine years though!

I remember, although I no longer have pictorial evidence, that I started the then-30 days only free trial as a miqo'te. I then, once I'd bought the full game via the starter edition, immediately Fantasia'd to a Xaela Au Ra. I was, at the time, a Summoner main.

I have one terrible photo that wasn't even taken in G-Pose of that OG look, and it doesn't even show the face. 

Eventually, of course, I came back to the game after quite a long hiatus and Fantasia'd again. This new look I've kept largely unaltered for several years now, with a new name to boot:

Look, it me! The new - now very much longstanding - name is of course in the URL so I'm not repeating it, you know it. The new looks are, as mentioned elsewhere, cribbed  from a place I shall not name, altered to suit FFXIV and given vast amounts of backstory and detail not existing in the original media.

I've been playing as this Raen for years now, through Stormblood, Shadowbringers, Endwalker and now Dawntrail.

While I've never dipped my filthy casual toes into Savage content (unless very over-levelled and unsynced), let alone Ultimates or the variant/criterion equivalents, I've tried most other things:

• I'm an omni-crafter, with all jobs - combat or not - at least at level 90.
• I've done most of the pre-EW trials and tried most of the pre-EW Extremes too, cleared all raids up to DT on Normal, furnished two apartments and a Medium House (saved up the fortune that said house cost me),
• Farmed mounts, minions, maps, glamour and titles, crafted and gathered and fished.
• I've restored Ishgard,
• Funded the return to glory of Doma,
• Aided every beast tribe this side of Tural,
• Hunted marks in every region, and
• Chased a certain idiot savant detective across the same places.
• I've found viewpoints and easter eggs and I climbed that bloody tower and even made the lamppost jump the first time!

Yes, there's plenty of content I've not yet completed or even tried but I don't mind, that just means I still have more fun and adventure and challenge to experience! Honestly, I don't know how anyone could ever truly 'finish' the game when there's just so much to try. I don't think I ever will finish it until it one day goes offline, but my sincere hope is that that won't happen until I'm old, retired and won't miss it.

A friend asked if I had had my money's worth from all the sub fees this involved. And the answer is yes. Yes I have! I've wept over this game, laughed, cursed, yelled, giggled, gasped, the whole shebang. Made friends, dragged other friends kicking and screaming into Eorzea, lost friends. Set goals, met goals, had highs, had lows. This game is my second home and even if I don't visit for a long time, I always come back.

Always.

Nine years is evidence of that, and barring a cataclysm to match the likes of Dalamud's Fall, there will doubtless be another nine years and counting of me, Eorzea, and FFXIV.

To borrow Yoshi-P's best known phrase: Look Forward To It™️.