About Trials of Fantasy

Trials of Fantasy is a Final Fantasy XIV fan community and website for the FFXIV Free Trial. ToF is dedicated to helping out all of the new players in game, which we call sprouts. Our website is filled with helpful guides for those just starting out, and completion checklists for the free trial players wanting to make the most out of their free time. We try to provide our sprouts with the best resources and information available.

About the Creator

Hi, I’m Ayumi Love, a permanent Free Trial player that is never upgrading to the full game! I started playing Final Fantasy XIV all the way back in December of 2019, when the Free Trial only went up to Level 35. Despite being around for years I still play quite often, working towards any and all achievements that are available. Yes, the free trial is large enough that I still haven’t finished everything, even after over 10k hours of playtime. I play on the Siren server, from the Aether Data Center, so come say hi if you see me! I’m usually very quiet and keep to myself, but don’t let that keep you away! You can also reach me on Discord.

My Original Guides

Back in March of 2020, I began creating my first guides for the FFXIV Free Trial, in Google Sheets. It was difficult as there were no Free Trial resources, everything had to be thoroughly tested to get an idea of what was available. This lack of knowledge was what inspired me to write the guides in the first place – there was absolutely zero information on the Free Trial, so I was going to be the one to help other players out, so they can have an even better experience.

The spreadsheet guides started out as a pretty basic checklist but eventually evolved over time. I discovered a lot of neat things throughout my journey, from trying to push the limits. The Free Trial Expansion really flipped my guide on it’s back, however. It took a long time to recover and get everything back up to date, but after another month or two of work, I got it back up and running. These days I still keep the guide up to date and it’s much cleaner and more informative.

The ToF Discord

In February of 2021, the Trials of Fantasy Discord was created. This where the ToF name first began. After reaching a slowing point with my guides, I decided I wanted to help out Free Trial players in a different way. I knew socializing in-game could be tough, so I thought I would try and form a community. I wanted to bring everyone together and give free trial players a place to communicate and receive help in a more personal way.

At first, I didn’t expect to reach many people and thought it might be unsuccessful. I was doubting myself, and I wasn’t sure if I should even bother, especially with how few people were using my guides. Luckily I was wrong and the community started growing quite quickly, far exceeding my expectations.

Our Website

The Trials of Fantasy Website went live in July of 2021. After running a Google Sheets guide for over a year, I felt like the user experience could be improved further if I migrated everything to a website, and expand on it. So, I took a dive and started learning how to create a website!

Converting everything to a website sounded much easier than it really was. I was constantly running into issues, but I eventually got most things working after a few months. It was quite the learning experience. I also added a ton of new content and pages, and rewrote previous information to be better.

Overall, making a website like this takes a lot of effort! Not to mention, it’s expensive too. However, I enjoy being able to help people out and will continue to do so! The website will continue to improve over time, as I optimize and polish everything. Enjoy. ♥

Thanks for being awesome!

While most of this was done by a single person, others have done their part in helping out too! People always let me know when I make a mistake or if I happen to be missing some information. They also offer advice and suggestions for various things, so I appreciate that. Of course, our supportive community also encourages me to continue what I’m doing. So, thanks to everyone who’s reading this!

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