The FFXIV data center travel system didn’t launch quite as planned in its first 24 hours. Thanks to high server loads and a rush to test the feature, the Final Fantasy XIV team suspended the service shortly after going live. For now, that all seems resolved, but peak traffic hours may interrupt the process again.
As maintenance for Patch 6.18 wrapped up, FFXIV opened the floodgates on server hopping. It went about as anyone who’s seen the queues in the last year would expect, with servers promptly crumbling under the sudden rush. According to the first Lodestone update, over 15,000 players jumped in line to visit another data center. That increased demand on the MMO’s already troubled infrastructure led the team to suspend travel temporarily.
But the team has kept good on their promise to restore the feature gradually, and today data center travel is back up. FFXIV‘s second Lodestone status report notes it’s open for all Worlds after a few changes but may still struggle with the demand. At peak hours, players may see 30-minute waits, and the team is working on improving that wait. On our end, a jump from Primal to Crystal took about 25 minutes. The return trip was about the same, with a 30-minute wait to return.
Jumping between data centers is a bit of a risk if you’ve got time-sensitive plans, too. The FFXIV blog warns that server stress may sometimes lead to World travel suspension. This is what happened yesterday, similar to how Endwalker launch queues had some players stuck outside their home server. If you’re among those who wind up stranded, you’re stuck locked out of some in-game features until the FFXIV data center travel system can take you home.
While the data center travel woes are a bummer, this week’s maintenance was another step toward stability fixes. In Japan, players saw the addition of the Meteor data center, and European players received four new Worlds. In addition, a recent patch brought us Oceania regional support, and North American players should receive another data center this year.
There’s still quite a bit on the way, but we’ve got the whole road map for FFXIV server expansion laid out for the curious. Also, if you just want to see how FFXIV data center travel works, we’ve got a handy guide for that one, too.
