Since you may end up spending hundreds of hours with your new character, the choices you make in character creation are important, but maybe not as much as you’d expect. The first thing you’ll need to do once you decide to take the plunge into Final Fantasy XIV is make your character. Just because Final Fantasy XIV players are a friendly bunch overall doesn’t mean that every Free Company will click with you, and there’s no shame in jumping ship if things aren’t feeling right with your current group. Even if you decide to save this step for later, checking out one of these recruitment sites can be a good way to vet a Free Company before joining it. Using one of these services will let you find a Free Company that sounds appealing to you so that you can make your character on a server it’s active on.
Square Enix runs an official Community Finder, which allows players to search for Free Companies as well as more informal social groups called Linkshells, and Free Companies frequently recruit on the FF XIV Recruitment subreddit as well. If you play long enough without joining a Free Company, you’re bound to get invitations from groups looking for recruits, but it may be worth considering one before even starting the game. Free Companies vary widely, from small groups of close friends to massive organizations with hundreds of members. Free Companies can even buy their own houses, giving members a place to hang out together. Free Companies are groups of players that chat and play together, as well as provide mechanical bonuses like experience boosts. The main way to connect with other players in Final Fantasy XIV is by joining a Free Company. Fortunately, Final Fantasy XIV is well known for having an active and friendly community, so even loners can likely find a group they click with eventually. However, there’s plenty of content that relies on teaming up with other players, and those are some of the most rewarding activities in the game. It’s possible to play through most of Final Fantasy XIV alone, and in fact, many main quests can only be tackled solo.
Trial players are locked out of buying and selling items on the Market Board and joining Free Companies (the equivalent of guilds in other online games), but there’s still more than enough content in the trial to let you know if Final Fantasy XIV is a game you want to play in the long-term. Playing through A Realm Reborn and Heavensward and hitting level 60 can take well over 100 hours, and that’s not even factoring in content outside of the main story. It also unlocked access to Heavensward, the first expansion to Final Fantasy XIV and one of the best parts of its story.
An update in 2020 greatly expanded the game’s trial, letting players get up to level 60 without a subscription.