Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail Launch Notes

After experiencing the near painless process of EVE Online's Equinox launch, I now get to go through a Final Fantasy XIV launch. While the full launch of Dawntrail is on 2 July, the process begins next Wednesday. So far this week Creative Studio 3 has published not one but two articles on The Lodestone concerning the launch and the probable congestion afterwards. I thought some people might get their eyes opened by what the FFXIV developers and players go through when a new expansion launches.

The time scheduled for the launch of Dawntrail is a little longer than the almost 30 minutes CCP took to launch Equinox. Square Enix plans on taking down all worlds at 2am PDT/9am UTC on Wednesday, 26 June and bring them back online at 2am PDT/9am UTC on Friday, 28 June. The maintenance may go longer, but the world servers will not come online before the scheduled time on Friday.

One thing I really like about the way Square Enix rolls out an expansion is the developers allow players to download the new client during the downtime. PS4, PS5, and XBox users can begin downloading the client around 4am PDT/11am UTC on Wednesday and PC and Mac users can begin their downloads around 8am PDT/3pm UTC on Friday. Square Enix will announce when downloads are ready on The Lodestone in the news under "Special Event".

Besides the world servers, the following services will be affected by the downtime.

• Data Center Travel will be suspended 30 minutes before maintenance begins, and will be unavailable until maintenance has ended.
  
  
• The Home World Transfer Service will be suspended 30 minutes before maintenance begins. In consideration of the high server load expected immediately after the start of early access and the release of Patch 7.0, the Home World Transfer Service is scheduled to open on June 29, 2024 1:00 a.m. (PDT)
  
  
• We will also be performing maintenance on the following Mog Station services. Please see "Online Store / Mog Station Maintenance (Jun. 26-28)" for details.
  
  
• - Character Renaming Service
  
  
• - Item code/Gift code entry
  
  
• We will also be performing maintenance on the FINAL FANTASY XIV COMPANION App. For details, please see "COMPANION App Maintenance (Jun. 26 - 28)".
  
  
• Any duty recorder data recorded prior to this maintenance can no longer be replayed after this maintenance.

The developers also wrote a long article based on player experiences during the launch of Endwalker. I'll try to summarize.

Login Queues - If a player encounters a login queue, don't leave the queue, even if the numbers do not decline. Those who leave the queue will be placed at the end when trying to log in again. When a queue exists, playing players will receive priority in the queue over those on a trial account. 

Restrictions on Data Center Travel & World Visit Systems - While Final Fantasy XIV is divided into individual world servers, players have the ability to travel between those worlds. Unfortuntely, Square Enix will need to shut down or severely curtail the ability to travel to other worlds.

The first concerns the ability to travel between worlds within the same physical data center. Physical data centers refer to the actual server infrastructure located in a specific geographical region. These physical data centers are located in four regions: Japan, North America, Europe, and Oceania. The limitations are as follows.

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 Oceanian Data Center is the newest data center with the least amount of players. As such, travel will face the same restrictions as during the testing phase of cross-region travel. This part of the article is actually good news for the future.

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 - The World Visit System allows players to travel freely between game worlds within their logical data center. Each logical data center contains five to eight worlds, the individual servers that players choose to play on. 

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.

Square Enix recommends making sure your characters are on their homeworlds before the maintenance begins. While the system will allow the characters to return, congestion may force delays.

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...

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.

Character Creation - Players cannot create characters on worlds experiencing congestion. Square Enix recommends either trying to create characters during off-hours or on the new worlds in the North American and Oceanian Data Centers.

Error Messages - The following error messages were the most common during the Endwalker launch period and likely will appear frequently.

Error 2002 When Logging In

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.

In another note, 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.

Error 90002/90006 During Gameplay

These errors are general network connection errors caused by network disconnections. While Square Enix states players should check their home network if they receive these messages, I really have the feeling any such errors are caused closer to the game servers.

Automatic Logout - If a player remains inactive for 30 minutes, the game will kick the character out. I believe that also affects characters dancing in Limsa Lominsa.

Peak Congestion Times - These are the times Square Enix expects congestion to occur during the week. The launch weekend may see longer periods of time.

• Japanese Data Center: From 2:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. (PDT)
• North American Data Center: From 1:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. (PDT)
• European Data Center: From 4:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (PDT)
• Oceanian Data Center: From 12:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. (PDT)

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 - Once again, Square Enix will spawn multiple instances for the first couple of weeks of the expansion. Below are the instructions and mechanics for how the instances will work.

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 - Finally the article points out how to access support information. World and server statuses, as well as any issues that may arise, will be announced through our Lodestone announcements or on the Final Fantasy XIV official X channels (@FF_XIV_EN and @FFXIV_NEWS_EN).