Free Trial Content and Limitations in FFXIV

Final Fantasy XIV's free trial is one of, if not the most generous trial period of any game in the same genre.

Players are able to experience a massive amount of content without ever paying for the game, with PvE instances, PvP, countless collectables, and so much more available to trial players.

In order to download and start the free trial, you will need to head to the official page from Square Enix, where you will be able to open a trial account and download the game. This option only works for PC players that wish to play via the FFXIV launcher, Mac players, and any PS4 or PS5 players.

If you wish to play FFXIV via Steam, you will need to head to the Steam page for the Final Fantasy XIV Online Free Trial, which can also be found here.

The free trial offers a massive amount of content to players, but there are limits placed on what you can actually do in-game.

Currently, players can fully experience the base game, A Realm Reborn, the first expansion of the game, Heavensward, and now with the latest change, Stormblood. This includes almost everything within these games, but we have included a number of limitations in a list further down the page.

As you are able to play through Stormblood, this means that you can play any of the classes/jobs available to you up to Level 70, including all of the crafting and gathering jobs.

All of the base classes are available to free trial players, as well as those unlocked in Heavensward and Stormblood:

• Gladiator (Paladin at Level 30)
• Marauder (Warrior at Level 30)
• Conjurer (White Mage at Level 30)
• Arcanist (Scholar or Summoner at Level 30)
• Pugilist (Monk at Level 30)
• Lancer (Dragoon at Level 30)
• Rogue (Unlocked at DoW/DoM at Level 10, becomes Ninja at Level 30)
• Archer (Bard at Level 30)
• Thaumaturge (Black Mage at Level 30)

Dark Knight, Astrologian, and Machinist are also available to free trial players, but you will need to have another Job at Level 50 or above, as well as have already unlocked Ishgard, the first city you venture to in Heavensward.

With the addition of Stormblood to the free trial, Samurai and Red Mage are now available to players. To unlock these jobs, you will need a single job at level 60. However, unlike the Heavensward jobs, you will not need to access expansion maps to gain access to them; they are available in the starting areas of the game.

Blue Mage, the limited job, is also available to free trial players, with over 80 spells available to you.

All crafters and gatherers can be leveled to Level 60 on the free trial.

Players can take part in the following PvE activities while playing on the free trial:

• Main Story Quest
  • You can experience the MSQ throughout A Realm Reborn, Heavensward and Stormblood, which amounts to approximately 545 quests.
• Side Quests
  • You can do any of the side quests in A Realm Reborn, Heavensward and Stormblood.
• Levequests
• Dungeons, Trials, and Raids
  • As long as you have unlocked them via the Main Story Quest, you can do any instanced content in A Realm Reborn or Heavensward.
• Palace of the Dead
  • You can clear the deep dungeon as much as you like, even earning the Necromancer title for clearing up to Floor 200 solo with no deaths.
• Hunts and Elite Marks.
• Complete Relic Weapon quests.
• Hunting Logs.

Players can take part in the following PvP activities while playing on the free trial:

• Frontlines
• The Feast
  • As a free trial, you can only play Training Matches — you cannot participate in Ranked.
• Rival Wings
• Duels

Currently, players on free trials cannot take part in PvP activities due to the abuse of free trial accounts. The developers shared intentions to only prevent this temporarily, but there is currently no estimate as to when free trials will be able to take part in PvP once again, or if they will ever be able to again. This emergency measure was put into place in February 2021 and you can read more about why it happened here.

Players are free to explore the entirety of ARR, Heavensward and Stormblood on the free trial, including:

• Unlocking all Aetheryte Teleports in ARR, Heavensward and Stormblood.
• Unlocking all Aethernet Shards in the cities of ARR, Heavensward and Stormblood.
• Filling the ARR, Heavensward and Stormblood Sightseeing Logs.
• Unlock Flying in ARR, Heavensward, and Stormblood zones.

While the list here is simply too vast to expand on, there are a number of Final Fantasy XIV's most enjoyable activities that you can experience while still on the Free Trial, such as:

• The Gold Saucer
  • All of the Gold Saucer's offerings are fully available to Trials, including Chocobo Racing, Verminion Tournaments, Triple Triad Matches, GATEs, and more!
• Cosmetic Collections
  • You are able to collect mounts, pets, titles, achievements, glamours, and more, as long as you can complete the requirements for them within ARR or Heavensward.
• Grand Companies
  • You are able to join a Grand Company while still on the trial version, as well as experience everything they have to offer, including GC Hunts, Squadrons, and more.

Despite the absolutely massive amount of time you can sink into the FFXIV free trial, there are some limitations to what you can do in the world of Eorzea. Below, we have split the limitations into two categories: the first category goes over the official limitations presented by Square Enix on their free trial page and the second looks at community-found limitations.

The official limitations are as follows:

1. You can only make 1 character per World, with a maximum of 8 characters in total.
2. You cannot get any class or job higher than Level 60.
3. You cannot have more than 300,000 gil.
4. You cannot use the "shout," "yell," or "tell" in-game chat options during the Free Trial.
5. You cannot access the in-game market board during the Free Trial.
6. You cannot trade with other players during the Free Trial.
7. You cannot send in-game letters using the moogle delivery service during the Free Trial.
8. You cannot hire retainers during the Free Trial.
9. You can join a Linkshell or Cross-World Linkshell if invited, but cannot create a new Linkshell or Cross-World Linkshell during the Free Trial.
10. You cannot create or join a Free Company during the Free Trial.
11. You can join a party if invited or by using the Duty Finder, but cannot assemble a party during the Free Trial.
12. You cannot create or join a PvP team or participate in The Feast (Ranked Match) or The Feast (Team Ranked Match) during the Free Trial.
13. You cannot log into the Lodestone, the official forum, or Companion application during the Free Trial.

With the addition of Stormblood, Ultimate Raids have been added to the game. However, the free trial is not capable of zoning into these endgame raids.

Below, you will find limitations of the free trial that are not listed on the official Square Enix website, but instead have been found by the community.

1. If there is a queue on your World, depending on the size of it, you may not be able to play, as players with a "full account" will be prioritised over trial accounts.
2. If you have ever purchased the game, you cannot go back to a trial account, even if you never cleared the content that is currently included in the free trial.

This section will be expanded if we find more limitations to add to it.