Reaching over 24 million players by October 2021, Final Fantasy XIV has taken the MMORPG crown. The game has found itself streamed by more and more popular internet personalities, leading to renewed interest–especially ahead of the upcoming Endwalker expansion. The more players the merrier, but the title began feeling the heat when server congestion hit a breaking point in August and September with data centers struggling to accommodate the massive influx of new Warriors of Light.
With Endwalker only days away, that fear has returned, and the development team is warning players to mentally prepare for very long queue times around launch. Thankfully, it looks like something is being done to ease the problem somewhat: login caps for worlds will be increased, at least for a little while. A new blog post from the team at Square Enix also reminds players that even if the queue timer doesn’t seem to be ticking downward, it’s still decreasing. Don’t panic!
Players who own the full version of Final Fantasy XIV will be given priority over those on the extensive free trial when attempting to log in to a world at full capacity. Interestingly, another workaround has been implemented: by opening a subcommand menu while waiting in line to select ‘Visit Another World Server,’ you’ll be able to progress main scenario quests while temporarily visiting another world. If you just can’t wait to get to that sweet, sweet lore, this is the option for you.
If players encounter “Error 2002” when logging in, please wait a bit before trying again: this means that the world has maxed out and is attempting to prevent the server from crashing. It’s sure to be a hectic few weeks to start, but it’s hard not to be inspired by the fanbase–both #Endwalker and #FinalFantasyXIV have been trending on Twitter for days.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker will release on December 7 for PC, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5. Those who pre-ordered the title will be able to access the new content early, on December 3. Last week, the game picked up two Golden Joystick Awards for Best Community and Still Playing.