I've decided on making my main character a Seeker of the Sun Miqo'te Conjurer on the Figaro server:
She's probably the most decent looking female character I've designed in an MMO to date (which probably isn't that hard, laughably).
The pace isn't much different than in open beta, and now that I've reached the upper teens, I'm definitely feeling the grind. Being Asian, I usually like the grind -- but only when it's efficient grinding. Grinding in gear over 10 levels behind is not my idea of fun, however, so I've had to invest quite a bit of time into crafting, which also is just as slow.
My list of complaints are probably the same that many have already thoroughly expressed elsewhere. For example, crafting requiring components from multiple professions, which by itself (in a normal MMO) is fine. In an MMO without an official trade channel or an auction house, it is not. Hopefully, dividing market wards into categories will help somewhat, but I'm still fairly unhappy with the 4 total clicks + loading time required to browse through and close each individual retainer/character's bazaar.
I also agree with someone who said that the game feels like a massive online single player game. In a nice active linkshell? Great, but be prepared to walk for ages (since there's no alternate transportation yet) after you rapidly deplete your anima, unless you have a very tight-knit, static party. Lack of level-sync is a bit of a turn-off after FFXI, but it's not a game-breaker.
All that said, I'm still fairly satisfied overall with FFXIV, and hope that they make it better over time, to patch up the big gaping holes of bugs and unsatisfactory implementations and mechanics.
