New and returning Final Fantasy XIV players are eagerly awaiting the release of the upcoming Endwalker expansion. That anticipation, however, might complicate its launch, which is set for Dec. 3 in early access and Dec. 7 for all other players.
Square Enix is well aware of this, though. In an official statement posted earlier today, the devs warned players of potential server congestion at launch.
“We are currently experiencing record numbers of active users, and therefore are expecting a number of logins that is yet to be seen since the launch of FFXIV,” Square Enix said. “There is a high likelihood of congestion that will result in Worlds reaching maximum login capacity and lengthy wait times when logging in.”
To prepare for the launch of Endwalker, the devs worked on improving the quality of the servers by “optimizing processes, increasing processing speeds,” and making other adjustments.
But Square Enix didn’t add more servers despite saying it aimed to do so in July, especially in North America and Europe, before the expansion’s launch due to the global semiconductor shortage that’s been happening for over a year.
Related: When will Final Fantasy XIV’s Endwalker 6.0 patch release?
In addition to attracting a massive number of players, as all major updates do in multiplayer games, FFXIV has seen an unprecedented number of people start to play the game this year.
The servers already went through some overload-related issues over the last few months in Europe and North America. As such, players can expect to be met with log-in issues or long queues when trying to sign in during busy hours after Endwalker’s launch.
There won’t be much that players can do if they encounter these issues at launch. The most reliable solution will be to play outside of busy hours, but that’s not always a possibility.
Otherwise, players can choose a less-crowded World for their character thanks to the functionality being added in the game’s menu alongside the expansion.
