Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker was released December 7, and two weeks later, queues to log in can still be thousands of players long. An influx of new players paired with a highly-anticipated expansion pack made it so subscribers sometimes must wait an hour or more during peak periods. Square Enix expected login issues during Endwalker, but not quite to this extent, and has since been offering compensation to subscribers while the developers do their best to get the situation under control.
Before FFXIV: Endwalker's patch 6.01, Error 2002 sometimes disconnected players who were actively waiting in the queue to log in. In some cases, this forced them to start again from the back of the line, which was especially frustrating when the queue was already in the thousands. The mystery of this error, a relic from the original iteration of FFXIV, has finally been solved. Fixing the source of Error 2002 has removed at least one problem plaguing the game, and now FFXIV's patch notes have wrapped up a decade-long tale of its own alongside Endwalker's finale.
While those waiting in line have been relieved of one source of grief, the fact remains that the line itself is still extremely long. Since FFXIV: A Realm Reborn was released in 2013, it's been steadily gathering recognition, awards, and more players. World of Warcraft streamer Asmongold gave FFXIV even more of a popularity boost when he tried the game out earlier this year. Building interest in the game helped FFXIV achieve record-breaking concurrent players on Steam. The game's free trial was changed last year to include play all the way up to level 60 and the entirety of the Heavensward expansion, which encouraged those numbers to climb even higher.
FFXIV Has Suspended Sales & The Free Trial Is Temporarily Unavailable To New Players
Final Fantasy XIV has somehow managed to become too great for its own good, with fans themselves eagerly spreading knowledge of the game through word-of-mouth, and even making memes out of inviting others to its generous free trial. In response to Endwalker's release, Square Enix first made it so free trial accounts could only log in to the game during early morning or late night, so peak hours were limited to current subscribers. Now they have paused new registrations for the free trial completely and pulled their advertisements for the game.
Square Enix has suspended sales of FFXIV to new players as well, only allowing current players to do things like purchase expansion packs and digital upgrades. Since then, active subscribers have seen the queue lengths drop, but this will only temporarily alleviate these issues. When a FFXIV expansion releases, congestion usually subsides as players finish up the Main Story Quests and begin to log in at different times. This hasn't happened yet for Endwalker and frustration among fans is growing. The developers are focusing on current subscribers for now and have offered 14 days of free play time as compensation, something that is almost never seen in the world of MMORPGs.
Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker's Server Capacity Can't Keep Up With Its Popularity
FFXIV's development team is a rare gem in the industry, and the fact that they are so in touch with their player base is part of how the game keeps gaining new subscribers. The Endwalker expansion released to near-universal acclaim and was only on the shelf for two weeks before becoming unavailable. For now, the queue will be a little better, but Square Enix can't suspend sales forever. It has not yet announced when new sales and free trial registrations will resume, but considering how new and popular Endwalker is, it may not be for very long. Unless congestion drops, the problem is just being pushed off until later.
Ultimately, FFXIV is in desperate need of new servers. If the queue is too long, the apparent solution would just be to make more space for more players, but it isn't that simple. The need for more data centers and Worlds was brought up during the influx of subscribers earlier this year, and the development team plans to build them. Unfortunately, like many others, FFXIV is affected by the worldwide semiconductor shortage. The pandemic has caused a lot of global supply chain issues, with the chip shortage limiting the manufacturing of game consoles and other technology, in addition to physical server equipment. The shortages are expected to continue, so there is no specific date that FFXIV plans to have new servers ready, but developers hope to have a roadmap by January of next year.
FFXIV Needs More Servers But New Content Will Keep Coming
FFXIV will add more servers as soon as it can, but the expansion's stream of new content may make the game's congestion problems even worse. Patch 6.01 fixed the Error 2002 issue while also adding Pandaemonium: Asphodelos, the new raid dungeon. Patch 6.05 is scheduled for release on January 4, which will add the Savage mode of the raid series.
If players' enthusiasm hasn't been curbed yet, the addition of new content will encourage them to log in. This normally isn't an issue, but an achievement: keeping subscribers engaged is one main goal of an MMO's development team. Endwalker has lots of new features that have yet to be added to the game, and at this rate, it doesn't seem like FFXIV's server congestion is going to be alleviated. When Square Enix resumes sales and free trial registrations, it's likely that the game's giant login queues will only grow longer.
FFXIV: Endwalker's biggest problem is its login queues, and it's hard to say when they will return to reasonable levels. The game's popularity shows no signs of slowing down and it's yet to be seen if the decision to stop advertising will slow down the flood of new players. Square Enix hasn't announced when sales and free trial registrations of FFXIV will resume, but when they do the queue issues will continue to grow. As of right now, there are no plans to delay Patch 6.05 and Pandaemonium: Asphodelos (Savage) unless there are some unforeseen major issues. Until the Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker team is able to obtain the physical materials needed to create more servers though, the long queue times will likely persist.