Open Beta Experiences: Volume 3

      I decided to write up a post for all the newcomers of Eorzea including some of the most helpful links I have found over the past month or so. Personally I plan to play in windowed mode to as to maximize my productive time spent here and minimize unnecessary running around. I will be pulling from any available resources to compile this reference list.
      
First things first- Once you decided you are psyched to start playing FFXIV you should probably make sure your computer is equally as psyched as you are to run it. This game is very much a resource hog and the graphics are such that it demands a higher functioning processor and video card then any 5 year old PC you may still be using (like myself). First off run a benchmark test to make sure your PC can handle this game, if you successfully meet the requirements you may want to check the list of where your PC is gonna land performance wise. After all what is the point of playing this game is the graphics are gonna look like the PS2 version of ffxi. If you feel comfortable with your PC system and are ready to start up the game, take a minute to adjust your settings and get familiar with the options that will give you the best gameplay. Adjust your settings first because they cannot be changed once in game.
Link to official benchmark
See what tier your graphics card stacks up
See what tier your processor stacks up
Settings for FFXIV
Graphical settings discussion