In another instance of Final Fantasy XIV suffering from success, director and producer Naoki Yoshida acknowledged the server issues and login problems that have surrounded the early access launch of Endwalker. In the official FFXIV blog, he explained exactly why these problems persist — broadly speaking, the sheer number of players trying to log in has pushed server hardware past their limits.
Yoshida-san extensively apologized for the long, unprecedented queue times and frequent disconnections during the login process. Since it’s largely a hardware and resource limitation, there isn’t much that can be done to solve what’s essentially a congestion problem. However, he offered a few things to help mitigate the issue.
Free Game Time Conditions
First, players who are active subscribers of FFXIV will get seven days of free game time added to their account starting on December 7 — this includes those who own the full game and are on the free 30-day subscription period. Yoshida-san also mentioned that the team is considering giving additional free game time if congestion problems persist, but will determine that at a later date.
FFXIV Peak Hours Shared by Square Enix
The second thing offered to help alleviate the issues was to share their information on peak hours of activity in FFXIV. This way, players can better anticipate when there might be more room to log in and avoid longer queues and limit the possibility of disconnection errors. Below are the times they stated for each region’s Data Centers.
North American Data Center: 12 PM (noon) to 10 PM PT / 20:00 to 6:00 GMT
European Data Center: 3 AM to 3 PM PT) / 11:00 to 23:00 GMT
Japan Data Center: 1 AM to 7 AM PT / 9:00 to 15:00 GMT
Error 2002, 4004, 5003, and 5006
As mentioned above, many have been experiencing disconnections and error prompts while trying to get to the character selection screen and during the queue process. In case players want clarity on what’s going on, Yoshida-san explained what each of these errors mean.
An error 2002 can occur when more than 17,000 players are in the login queue, which prevents others from entering the queue. This error can also pop up when players’ internet connection experiences packet loss or has a moment of instability. It’s suggested that you use a wired connection if you’re on Wi-Fi.
Errors 4004, 5003, and 5006 happen when the login management server times out — this basically means if you sit in a queue lobby for too long, you’ll get disconnected. They’ve implemented longer lobby sessions previously, but are in the process of extending the window further.
Conditions for Inactivity
As of now, players are automatically logged out after 30 minutes of inactivity. Yoshida-san also knows that folks are trying to avoid this in ways believed to work, like looping dance emotes or auto-attacks on Striking Dummies. However, players will still be marked as “away from keyboard” in these states and subsequently booted after 30 minutes. He basically said he knows what they’re trying to do, and they’re not slick.
However, some players were said to be automatically logged out during end credits and cutscenes in A Realm Reborn, Heavensward, Stormblood, and Shadowbringers. There’s was a protocol implemented for these specific situations but it seems it only applies to Endwalker at the moment. They’re working on fixing this and suggest you either press a key/button or click the mouse to avoid being marked as inactive.
Keep in mind that Endwalker is still in its early access phase — these issues may be exacerbated when the expansion fully launches on December 7 since more players are expected to be trying to log into FFXIV.
We’ll keep you informed about everything happening to FFXIV through the release of Endwalker. If you’re curious about how to play the new Sage or Reaper in Endwalker, check out our guides for those Jobs as well as the expansion’s aether currents, dungeons, and trials. Alternatively, you can just indulge us as we talk about all the nonsense and shenanigans in this MMO we all love.
