We would like to share information regarding the congestion that may occur during the early access period and release of Dawntrail.
With the launch of a new expansion, we are expecting far more simultaneous logins compared to usual. In light of the congestion that occurred during the launch of Endwalker, we have taken precautionary measures such as expanding our data centers and adding new Worlds.
However, our player base has continued to grow since then, and a large number of players will be playing for extended periods during the launch of the new expansion, which could result in Worlds reaching their login caps and therefore longer login queues.
To alleviate our players' concerns, we would like to share some details regarding situations that may arise during early access and the launch of Dawntrail, as well as our countermeasures against congestion.
Login Queues
When a World reaches the maximum number of players that can log in, it will result in a login queue for that particular World.
Even if the queue does not appear to be counting down, the queueing process is still functioning and will admit players in the order in which they queued. We apologize for the inconvenience, but ask that you patiently remain in the queue should you encounter a wait. Note that upon canceling the queue, you will be moved to the back of the queue when reattempting to log in.
When a login queue is in place, players on the full version of the game will be prioritized for logging in. Free Trial characters will be able to log in after the login queue has been cleared. This allows us to prioritize our paying customers and will mean longer wait times for Free Trial users, but we would like to ask for your understanding on this matter.
Restrictions on Data Center Travel & World Visit Systems
As existing data centers and Worlds are expected to become especially congested, the following restrictions will be in place starting in Patch 7.0 until Patch 7.01 (or Patch 7.05 at the latest, depending on the situation) to alleviate congestion and prioritize logins for Home World residents.
Data Center Travel within the Same Physical Data Center
Japanese Data Center
- The number of non-Home World characters that can log in will be limited.* When a World has reached the maximum number of visiting characters, non-Home World characters that are logged out on that World will be unable to log in, and the World will be unavailable for visitation via Data Center Travel.
North American Data Center
- Aether/Primal/Crystal: Will be unavailable for travel.
- Dynamis: Will remain available for travel, and the maximum number of traveling characters will be increased compared to usual. The newly added Worlds in the Dynamis Data Center are still relatively unpopulated and may be helpful login destinations when other Worlds are experiencing high congestion.
European Data Center
- Chaos/Light: Will be unavailable for travel.
- Shadow: Will be open to travel, with probationary Worlds which may be helpful login destinations when other Worlds are experiencing high congestion.
Visiting the Oceanian Data Center via Cross-Region Data Center Travel
The cross-region Data Center Travel functionality, which has been in public testing for some time and appears to be stable, will be usable in Patch 7.0 onward.
The traveling limitations on cross-region will remain as follows:
- Japanese Data Center → Oceanian Data Center
- North American Data Center → Oceanian Data Center
- European Data Center → Oceanian Data Center
World Visit System
Japanese Data Center
- The number of non-Home World characters that can log in will be limited.* When a World has reached the maximum number of visiting characters, non-Home World characters that are logged out on that World will be unable to log in, and the World will be unavailable for visitation via the World Visit system.
North American Data Center
- Aether/Primal/Crystal: The World Visit System will be unavailable.
- Dynamis: The World Visit System will remain available, and the maximum number of characters that can visit via the system will be increased.
European Data Center
- Chaos/Light: The World Visit System will be unavailable.
- The World Visit System will remain available on the Shadow Data Center. Furthermore, the maximum number of characters that can visit via the system will be increased.
Oceanian Data Center
- The World Visit System will remain available as usual.
Additionally, characters that were visiting another World prior to Patch 7.0 will still be able to return to their Home World regardless of traveling restrictions, but their ability to return may be temporarily impeded by periods of server congestion. As such, if your character is currently visiting a World that will have traveling restrictions, we advise returning them to their Home World before Patch 7.0 maintenance begins, as the restrictions will lower your login priority.
Playing on Other Worlds During Congestion
High congestion is expected on all Worlds, especially those on the Japanese/North American/European Data Centers.
Although Data Center Travel and World Visit will be limited as mentioned above,
during periods of high congestion, you may want to consider playing on Worlds with relatively lower populations, new Worlds (NA/EU/OC), probationary Worlds (EU), and those on the Oceanian Data Center.
Players on the Japanese Data Center
- Traveling to a less-crowded World via Data Center Travel, using the World Visit System, or traveling to the Oceanian Data Center via Data Center Travel is recommended during periods of high congestion.
Players on the North American Data Center
- Traveling to the Dynamis Data Center or Oceanian Data Center via Data Center Travel is recommended during periods of high congestion. The Dynamis Data Center also has New Worlds which offer certain bonuses when selected as a Home World.
Players on the European Data Center
- Traveling to the probationary Shadow Data Center or Oceanian Data Center via Data Center Travel is recommended during periods of high congestion.
How to Travel
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While there will be restrictions based on the World Visit System or Data Center Travel, you will still be able to progress in main scenario quests, as well as find parties and participate in duties through the Duty Finder, so we recommend considering this method depending on your situation.
Read on to learn more about the World Visit System and its restrictions.
Read on to learn more about Data Center Travel and its restrictions.
* "Visit Another World Server" will automatically choose a less-crowded World within the same Data Center as your character's Home World. Note that during peak congestion times, such as the early access period, you may experience login queues even when using this feature.
Returning a Character to their Home World
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Character Creation
New characters cannot be created on a World that is experiencing congestion. This is because new characters must be logged in to the World in order to be added to the database and complete other character creation processes.
For this reason, we ask players to create new characters outside of peak congestion times when the World is less crowded. In the case of the North American and Oceanian Data Centers, the newly added Worlds are relatively less crowded and recommended for creating new characters.
* The character creation availability of each World can be viewed on the Server Status page.
Error 2002 When Logging In
"Error 2002" may be displayed when selecting a character in the Character Selection menu.
This error is displayed when the login server is experiencing high amounts of traffic or when the number of characters waiting in a login queue for a logical Data Center exceeds its maximum capacity.
This is a measure to prevent the server from crashing due to extreme traffic loads.
Should you encounter Error 2002 when attempting to log in, we apologize for the inconvenience, but ask that you wait a while before trying again. Furthermore, the aforementioned maximum capacity has been increased by roughly 50% compared to the launch of Endwalker.
Error 2002 may also occur when you are waiting in the login queue. Longer wait times mean an increased likelihood of being interrupted by connection issues due to packet loss, unstable Wi-Fi connections, and other network environment factors.
In the event of a disconnect due to Error 2002, the lobby server will hold your place in the queue for roughly a minute. If your connection returns and you manage to re-enter the lobby server relatively quickly, you will be able to return to your place in the login queue. However, if a certain amount of time passes before you return to the lobby server, your place in the queue will be lost and you will need to re-enter the login queue from the beginning.
Error 90002/90006 During Gameplay
These errors are general network connection errors caused by network disconnections. In the event of these errors being displayed, please check the status of your network environment.
As general troubleshooting tips, we advise using a wired internet connection instead of Wi-Fi, and PlayStation 4/PlayStation 5 users are recommended to review their console’s Power Save Settings.
Automatic Logout
In order to ease congestion, players who are inactive for 30 minutes will be automatically logged out.
As we would like to give priority to those who would like to actively play the game, we apologize for the inconvenience, but we ask for you to log out when you are not actively playing.
Peak Congestion Times
Congestion statuses vary with each logical data center, but based on typical activity, the following times are expected to be especially congested.
- Japanese Data Center: From 2:00 a.m. (PDT) / 9:00 (GMT) / 10:00 (BST) / 19:00 (AEST) to 8:00 a.m. (PDT) / 15:00 (GMT) / 16:00 (BST) / 1:00 (AEST)
- North American Data Center: From 1:00 p.m. (PDT) / 20:00 (GMT) / 21:00 (BST) / 6:00 (AEST) to 11:00 p.m. (PDT) / 6:00 (GMT) / 7:00 (BST) / 16:00 (AEST)
- European Data Center: From 4:00 a.m. (PDT) / 11:00 (GMT) / 12:00 (BST) / 21:00 (AEST) to 4:00 p.m. (PDT) / 23:00 (GMT) / 0:00 (BST) / 9:00 (AEST)
- Oceanian Data Center: From 12:00 a.m. (PDT) / 7:00 (GMT) / 8:00 (BST) / 17:00 (AEST) to 6:00 a.m. (PDT) / 13:00 (GMT) / 14:00 (BST) / 23:00 (AEST)
Considering early access will be taking place during the weekend, there may be congestion outside of these hours as well. The above times are simply meant to be a reference for when login queues may be especially long.
Preventative Measures Against Server Crashes
To prevent World servers from crashing, the number of characters that can move between in-game areas within a certain timeframe will be limited. As such, the game may display "Unable to move areas due to congestion" when attempting to enter a different area. If this error is displayed, we ask that you try to change areas again or wait a while before attempting again. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation as we strive to provide a stable gameplay experience.
Wait Times for Instanced Content
There is a possibility that certain instanced content, such as duties required to progress through quests, may experience congestion. For instanced duties required to progress a quest, we have devised methods to stagger player traffic during main scenario progression, and have also implemented a queue system in case of congestion. Should congestion occur, your number in the queue will be displayed upon attempting to enter the instance. We ask that you patiently remain in the queue as players are admitted into the instance in the order that they joined the queue.
Instances of the New Areas
During the periods immediately after Dawntrail's early access and launch, areas added in Dawntrail or visited during the Dawntrail main scenario will be heavily trafficked. In order to allow more players to enter these areas, we will be implementing several instances of the same area.
Instanced areas will have their area names followed by their instance number at the end, such as Urqopacha 1, Urqopacha 2, Urqopacha 3, and so on. While each of them share the same map, they will be treated as separate areas, and you will be moved to one of these instanced areas when visiting these destinations.
Selecting and Confirming the Instanced Area
You may choose to enter a specific instance of an area either by traveling to your destination through an entrance from a neighboring area or by interacting with an aetheryte in the area.
When moving to these areas via teleport or Return, an instance will be automatically selected. Players can confirm which instance they are currently in through a log message in the chat or by using the “/instance” text command.
Restrictions in Instanced Areas
Players in different instances of the same area can communicate with Tell messages as normal. However, there are some restrictions such as being unable to see each other's character in the overworld.
Entering the Same Instanced Area As Your Party
Party members will generally be moved to the same instanced area when using teleport or Return. However, party members may be split between different instances if the destination instance has reached the player cap. As such, players may not always end up in the same instance, and may need to select their desired instance either by traveling through an entrance from a neighboring area or by interacting with an aetheryte in their desired area.
Support Services During Early Access and Immediately After Launch
The Development and Operations teams will be providing our utmost in live support in order for our players to be able to enjoy the new adventures that await in Dawntrail. World and server statuses, as well as any issues that may arise, will be announced through our Lodestone announcements or our official X channels (@FF_XIV_EN and @FFXIV_NEWS_EN), which we hope will be helpful in keeping you up to date with the latest developments.
We once again apologize for inconveniences that may arise from congestion-related matters, and thank you for your understanding and support.
