I've been wanting to play this game for a while. But I think in order to have the best experience, you probably need to get a group together that is willing to play at the same time as you

. I convinced a friend to play a bit(like 4 hours) with me years ago and I thought it was fun! But I don't think he enjoyed the slower grind of the experience and he dropped off.

I've played on one of the fan servers and it was fine. if XIV has burned you out, and honestly I don't blame you, not sure you're going to find what you're looking for in XI.

remember XI is a pre-WoW mmo so that means it's quite difficult when compared to modern MMOs and plays like other MMOs of the day i.e. Everquest, Anarchy Online, Ultima, etc.

You're not going to find as many new players and other players are going to be literally years/decades ahead of you. I'd suggest you try one of the fan servers first to see if you like it before spending money on the actual servers/game.

What?

There's chat in ffxiv