Does FFXIV free trial carry over?

Final Fantasy XIV is finally getting its free trial back on February 22nd, over two months after Square Enix stopped offering it to reduce player load after the incredibly popular Endwalker expansion. The news comes from FFXIV’s latest Letter from the Producer Livestream from director and producer Naoki Yoshida that took place over the weekend, via NME.

Related

  • Final Fantasy XIV sales suspended to try to help server congestion
  • Final Fantasy XIV sales to resume January 25th

Final Fantasy XIV has a generous free trial option for new players, allowing them to play the entirety of the base A Realm Reborn release and the Heavensward expansion for as long as they’d like. Square Enix’s enthusiastic social media hype for the free trial has even become a meme in its own right.

Endwalker may actually have been too popular when it was first released in December. The trial doesn’t actually include access to the latest expansion. But the game’s servers couldn’t adequately support the combination of people rushing in to play the new content and a fresh wave of new players looking to check out what the hype was all about. Queue lines got so long that Square Enix was forced to both temporarily stop selling the game and get rid of its free trial in an effort to make sure that existing players could get in. And while sales of the game resumed in January, the free trial had still been absent until now.

Square Enix has revampedFinal Fantasy 14’s free trial period, making it available to anyone without any time restrictions.

The massively multiplayer online game is now free to play up until level 35, at which point paying for a subscription is required to continue on. The new limitless trial applies to anyone who has yet to play FF14, along with those who checked out the game back during the old, more restricted period but didn’t sign up.

Those players can use the same characters they created during their initial free trial, and those characters will carry over into the full game if they choose to subscribe.

Prior to the revamp, the game was only available for free for a two-week period. While that may have been enough time for some to make up their minds about Final Fantasy 14, the untimed trial will likely get several more fans and newcomers interested in the game and series.

The popular MMO’s out on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and Windows PC, and Square Enix continues to release new expansions on a regular basis. The next new set of content, Stormblood, adds a samurai class and increased level cap to the game this summer. On the flip side, it drops PlayStation 3 support, although PS3 owners can upgrade to the PS4 version at no added cost.

The rise in the popularity of multiplayer games has dramatically influenced the MMORPG genre. There are a ton of free-to-play games out there, but Final Fantasy 14isn't one of them. To play the MMO in its complete form, you have to not only buy the game but also pay a subscription fee every month.

Thankfully, Final Fantasy 14 offers a free trial version of the game that allows you to play the most current version of the popular MMO without having to purchase the software or commit to any kind of ongoing subscription. It's an excellent way to start the game, but this trial does have some major restrictions that could cause frustration. For those looking to enter the world of Final Fantasy 14 for the first time, we've created a complete guide for everything you can and cannot do in the free trial.

Updated February 23, 2022, by Adam Arter: Final Fantasy 14's free trial has recently returned after a brief hiatus to prevent server congestion after the launch of the latest expansion, Endwalker. The free trial version returned on February 22, 2022, allowing new players to experience the entirety of the base game A Realm Reborn and the first expansion, Heavensward, for free.

At the time of writing, the free trial version offers an excellent way into the game for new players, but is still subject to minor restrictions to certain game functions, which we've explained below.

How To Get The Final Fantasy 14 Free Trial

Final Fantasy 14 Free Trial Website

To get the free trial on PC, all you need to do is head to the free trial website and then associate the free trial with a new or existing Square Enix account. After you’re signed up, you’ll be able to download the game’s installer, which will download and install all available game files. After the installation is complete, you’ll be able to log in, select a server and begin playing.

On PS4 or PS5, the process is similar, but you can download the free trial version by finding the ‘try free demo’ button on the game’s PSN store page. You’ll still need to create a Square Enix account for the free trial.

Keep in mind that you can only play the free trial on a Square Enix account that isn’t already associated with a paid Final Fantasy 14 account.

What Are The Differences Between The Final Fantasy 14 Free Trial And The Full Game?

Final Fantasy 14 Free Trial Goobue

If you activate an account for the free trial of Final Fantasy 14, you’ll be able to play the entire initial main scenario quest up to the end of the Heavensward expansion at no cost.

You’ll experience the game world the same as other players, but some features associated with the expansions or certain social mechanics will be unavailable to you. Here’s a quick comparison of the differences between the free and full versions of the game.

Feature

Free Trial

Full Game (With Expansions)

Main Scenario Quest

Contains all the story content up to the end of the first expansion, Heavensward.

Contains all story content.

Leveling

Level all classes up to 60.

Level all classes up to 90.

Playable Classes/Jobs

All base classes and jobs available except the jobs added in later expansions: Red Mage, Samurai, Dancer, Gunbreaker, Sage, Reaper cannot be played in the free trial.

All classes and jobs available including the jobs added in expansions.

Playable Races

Only the races from A Realm Reborn are available to select in character creation.

All races playable, including the added Au Ra, Viera, and Hrothgar from the expansion packs.

Chat Features

Certain types of communication are restricted — you can't /yell, /shout, or /tell

All types of communication are available.

Trading & Economy

You can’t trade with other players. You can’t hire retainers to store gil or items. The Market Board is unavailable.

All trading and economy features are available.

Social Features

You cannot add friends to a friend list or join a ‘Free Company’ (guild) on the free trial. You can’t send or receive mail from other players. You cannot create parties, but you can accept invites to parties from other people.

You can add friends to a friends list, create and join ‘Free Companies’ and send and receive mail from other players. You can create and join parties.

Gil Restrictions

Your wallet will also be limited to 300,000 gil.

Your wallet is limited to 999,999,999 gil.

Why You Should Try The Final Fantasy 14 Free Trial

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If you’re looking for an introduction to Final Fantasy 14 to see if you like the game, the free trial is a good way to test it out.

If you intend to play Final Fantasy 14 from the beginning without skipping any story content, you can easily do a couple of hundred hours (or more) of this in the free trial. You’ll be able to experience the story of the A Realm Reborn base game in addition to the first expansion, Heavensward.

In addition, you can take most of the optional content associated with these two games including dungeons, raids, crafting, and even developing a unique fashion for your character.

If you’re finding yourself enjoying the game during the trial, you can upgrade to a starter edition, which includes the same story content as the free trial (A Realm Reborn and Heavensward), but without any of the restrictions of the free trial. You can also upgrade to the complete version at a higher price point, which includes the other expansions Stormblood, Shadowbringers, and Endwalker.

Because Square Enix has eased restrictions on various features in the free trial before, such as level cap and purchasing items with real currency in the MogStation, players can retain hope that the developer will also ease some of these social restrictions on the game eventually.

Final Fantasy 14 has exploded in popularity over the past year, so much so that they were forced to halt sales in addition to cancelling the free trial. Now that congestion has eased up a bit, the free trial is back and more accessible than ever before. For this reason, it could only be a matter of time before Square Enix allows free trial players even more freedom in defending the world of Eorzea.

NEXT: Final Fantasy 14: How To Change Your Grand Company

Does free trial progress carry over Ffxiv?

No matter if you started the free trial on PC or PS4, you can transfer your character by logging in to your Square Enix account after you buy the game. The same is true for the PC version of the game. After you buy a copy, log in to the Mog Station with your Square Enix account to transfer your character.

Does the FF14 free trial last forever?

As of 2022, Square Enix has updated the game four times, ensuring that it stays fresh to old players while adding interest to new players. But what if you want to try FFXIV before buying the game and its subscription? That's why Square Enix lets you enjoy a 30-day free trial.

Can you transfer free trial Ffxiv?

For PC users: After logging into the MogStation, click the “Transfer to Full Game” button shown on the Free Trial service account. Follow the instructions to upgrade to the full version.