There's nothing worse than asking a new Final Fantasy XIV friend what Data Center they're on, only to find out that you're on Aether while they're on Primal. Luckily, all is not lost. Players can now Data Center travel and play with their friends.
Data Centers are servers that hold several Worlds within them. One of the first decisions players will make is what World they will play on. It used to be a big decision, since originally players were unable to travel Data Centers or even Worlds. Now, both World and Data Center travel is common, and bridges a very large gap between friends.
There are several restrictions when traveling Worlds or Data Centers, but it's a small price to pay when you get to experience content with friends, no matter what server they might play on. The only hang-up is that you cannot travel across regions, meaning that players on the Oceana Data Center cannot travel to Aether on North America's Data Centers.
How Data Center Travel Works
To visit a different Data Center, select “Visit Another Data Center” from the character login menu on the character you want to travel with. From there, select the desired Data Center and the World you want to visit. Once you initiate the transfer, you will be kicked back to the title screen as the game processes the character transfer.
Once you've initiated the transfer, there's no canceling it. You'll need to wait until the transfer is complete to log in or move back to your own Data Center. After the transfer is complete, you can log in and play with your friends for as long as you'd like until you're ready to return home. If you want to go back home, simply return to the character screen, follow the same process as when you traveled, but select "Return to Home World."
As previously noted, you cannot travel to a Data Center outside of your region. North American Data Centers can only transfer between the four for that region, just like Europe's two Data Centers can only travel between each other. Originally, FFXIV producer and director Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida said that he was considering cross-region Data Center traveling, but reneged on the idea at a press conference at Las Vegas' Fan Fest as reported by Famitsu.
Restrictions with Data Center travel
For those who travel Worlds often and encounter some restrictions while visiting, Data Center restrictions will be nothing new. All of the same restrictions apply whether you are traveling Worlds or Data Centers, with some additional restrictions for Data Center travel. Below are all of the restrictions when traveling away from your home server.
- Access your Retainers.
- Access to legendary and unspoiled gathering nodes.
- Sell anything on the market board (but you can still purchase items there).
- Access the Moogle Delivery Service.
- Form or join a Free Company, and view Free Company information.
- Enter the housing lottery and purchase a housing plot or an apartment.
- Hold or attend Ceremonies of Eternal Bonding.
- Enter Triple Triad and Lord of Vermillion tournaments, or buy Cactpot tickets at the Gold Saucer.
Any Cross-World Linkshells you have on your home Data Center cannot be used while Data Center traveling, unless you have a Cross-World Linkshell in that specific Data Center. You also cannot access FC chat like you can when changing Worlds. You also cannot access PvP teams chat or ranked Crystalline Conflict matches while away from your home Data Center.
While players still need to have an alt to visit friends from other regions, those who have a regular subscription will have no shortage of alt slots to use. It's not perfect, but players may never see cross-region Data Center travel come to fruition.
