Does Any Game Truly Welcome you Back?
stargrace 
I have been meaning to play a little FFXIV for some time now, but with work, holidays, and a zillion other little excuses cropping up I just had not found the motivation to download the client (again) and log in before now. I played at release but was also distracted by xyz other game and didn’t get that far.
I have a main on Diabolos, but a number of friends are over on Cactuar so I swapped. Plus I had made some annoying mistakes over on Diabolos in regards to my class (nothing permanent thankfully) so I didn’t mind starting fresh. I’m playing Velours Reveurs, a right now level 6 conjurer with aspirations of going White Mage.
I do have one issue with returning, the same issue I have in every single game I return to. Very few of them actually help a player who has been away for some time. I have no idea what changes have taken place, what is new, what has been updated, or even how to play. I wish more games had a method, perhaps a tutorial (optional of course), where everything could be laid out for a returning player. Maybe NPC that discuss the recent changes from the time your account has been inactive for – or a set period that you could select (ie: I have been away for x amount of time, please highlight the important stuff). Knowing how to play, what my hotkeys are, where I should go, etc. All of these things would do wonders in helping me get back into a game, and I would probably be more inclined to stick around. Of course there are websites and patch notes and friends and all the rest but why do we still have to rely on these in order to feel comfortable returning.
With that being said, because my character is at such a low level, I’m not overly concerned with what I have missed. I’m hoping that I can pick things up easily enough and in the mean time the game is just so incredibly beautiful and I’m sad that I never got further than level 15 my last time around. Hopefully I’ll stick with it for a bit, but knowing my nomadic gaming style, I’ll be happy if I even stick around for a month.
Happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!