All 1.0 characters were imported over. Alpha and early beta characters were not saved. I think characters in the last wave of beta testing were saved for 2.0.
Theonehio has given you the pessimist's view, so I'll balance things out with an optimist's view.
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A big problem I had with FFXIV was the copy paste zones, I heard they fixed that but can anyone explain how? The zones were just, incredibly easy to move around in and all looked exactly the same, they were just very uninteresting. Has that changed?
Yes and no. The zones are now much more difficult to move around in. The vast empty spaces are gone, but so are the stupid tunnels that connected zones, so you have zone loading in between. That said, each of the zone areas has a much more distinctive personality. The only part of the Shroud that even resembles its 1.0 self is the Sylphlands. The only part of Thanalan that feels even remotely the same is Little Ala Mihgo.
I was personally happy with the reduced world map, because the details are so greatly improved.
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What about time requirements? My days of spending 10 hours a day camping HNM's and such are over, even FFXI's current level of dedication is a bit taxing on my real life. Also, is there a lot of elitism in FFXIV?
You can easily get away with 1-2 hours every few days and still derive enjoyment. Participating in grindy content for the sake of grindy content is not really a requirement at all. SE is carefully nerfing the older content as new content is added in, and there is nothing nearly as time consuming as Dynamis or {sky}/{sea}. The biggest elitism we see comes in the form of primal EX and later Coil fights. "No bonus allowed" is a rallying cry of many pickup groups, meaning that they want someone who has already cleared the fight, under the assumption that that means they know how the fight goes. However, none of that content is required for game progression - there's a side storyline in Coil and finishing the Ex fights gets them off your quest list, but you're not blocked from the main storyline by not doing either one.
In all other content, the newbie bonus message will be greeted with cries of joy. People are still hungry for soldiery tomes (needed for iLvl 100-110 gear) and doubling the amount of bonus in some of the daily content really helps a lot. Most people will be kind and help out, especially if you get a good Free Company.
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Last question, for being there in Alpha, Beta, since FFXI, etc, do I get any sort of token item in FFXIV? I do know I bought the original collectors edition when the first version came out as well, but what about for beta testing, alpha testing or half my life on ffxi? Even some little cape with a gold star saying "SE thanks you for being retarded enough to give them THIS much of your life, here's a useless cape for town gear!"?
Imported 1.0 characters get the tattoo, and if you had the 1.0 CE that carries over to 2.0 as well. Legacy accounts (paid for three months of 1.x) also have a reduced subscription rate ($10/month) and got their character's names or real names, as desired, listed in the credits for 2.0. And a unique chocobo. Also, some 1.0 gear or items remained exclusive to that content, like the hermes sandals and the goobbues they gave away that last summer.
Alpha and beta testers didn't really get any perks. I was in alpha for 2.0 and all I got was an earlier join date on the official forums for my troubles.
I would invite you to fire up your accounts and take a look for yourself. As a 1.0 player with access to your mog station account, you don't have to buy a new copy of the game (
download the 2.0 client here) and you may even get some free days once you activate the 2.0 client (I think it was 7-14 free days? I can't remember.)
If you would like to hop servers and join us on Lamia, The Swarm is full of many ex-FFXI players, and we're always willing to help people progress. You can transfer one of your 1.0 characters to our server, or just create a fresh character from scratch to start. I decided to abandon my old level 40 BLM character and create a new one from scratch.
Edited, Dec 25th 2014 8:04pm by Catwho