Ahead of the release of the latest FFXIV Dawntrail expansion, Square Enix released a detailed plan to handle server congestion at launch. Starting with Patch 7.0, the release of Dawntrail Early Access, the company will implement several limitations to curb the strain on the servers.
To begin with, FFXIV login queues will be implemented in a more stringent way. Logins will prioritize full version accounts over free trial players. In addition, to keep server congestion in FFXIV Dawntrail to a minimum at launch, they will be limiting Data Center travel between servers. In North American and European servers, some Data Centers will be completely cut off from travel. For the Japanese servers, the company will be limiting the amount of non-home world characters that will be able to log in. The new Oceanian Data Center is being floated by Square Enix as an option to use the Data Center travel feature to avoid periods of high congestion.
Players will also be unable to create new characters on World servers with high congestion. Square Enix also recommended players plan around normal times of high congestion for players to get in and access the expansion. These times are listed as follows:
- For the Japanese Data Center: From 2am to 8am PT/5am to 11am ET
- For the North American Data Center: From 1pm to 11pm PT/4pm to 2am ET
- For the European Data Center: From 4am to 4pm PT/7am to 7pm ET
- For the Oceanian Data Center: From 12am to 6am PT/3am to 9am ET
Square Enix also mentioned that the early access release falling on a weekend may make the congestion windows larger. The company advised us to keep that in mind as players log on during that time period.
Famously, there was a massive bottleneck during the FFXIV Stormblood expansion colloquially referred to as Raubahn Extreme. It had players lining up on servers to, one at a time, attempt a story-mandatory instanced fight. Square Enix is hoping to avoid any troubles like for the new release.
In the most recent Live Letter from the Producer, the FFXIV staff showed off what players can expect going into Dawntrail, including new gear and new end game content.
Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail will enter early access on June 28, 2024. The full release will arrive on July 5, 2024. It will be available on the Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox and PC.
