Cant select server to join a friend...

So, I'm gonna start by saying the forum restrictions are lame. I understand them but still... Anyway, I just picked up the game and tried to create a character on a server (Balmung) a friend is on to find out its locked? I also read that a lot of this is due to people staying logged in overnight or while at work. Is this true? i have a hard time believing the whole server population stays logged in. I have tried everything people have said. I have hit the refresh button every 3 minutes from midnight till at least 5am. I am really disappointed right now. I don't know what to do. Any other ideas?

I have heard talk about server transfer working but that would be added money on top of the game price. Is SE just keeping Balmung and servers like it gated to make $$?

Balmung is the most populated server and because it is so overpopulated, as you've seen it's pretty difficult to get onto. Other servers you can try early hours of the morning, but I don't believe that trick works with Balmung because of just how overpopulated it is.

The only ways to get on it are either straight away after a maintenance before too many people login, or to simply create your character on any other world, wait 3 days (it's a transfer rule) and then just pay the world transfer fee to transfer across. When you do a world transfer you can select any server, even the locked ones and since there's no planned scheduled maintenance any time soon, this is really your only option to get on that server.

Regarding Character Creation Restrictions
This information will be updated at the following intervals:
3:00 a.m./ 7:00 a.m./ 0:00 p.m./ 5:00 p.m./ 10:00 p.m. (PST)

is it true about the people staying logged in so that they dont get stuck in cues?

hard to confirm but honestly wouldnt be surprising.

the key thing is balmung is constantly locked because its over capacity, and yet still people push to get on.

of course people want to play with friends etc but, even if you get on youd then be plagued by log in queues every day probably

im honestly surprised they havent complete locked balmung even to transfers

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Originally Posted by Jedi-ketten

is it true about the people staying logged in so that they dont get stuck in cues?

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Perhaps, but whenever I have logged into Balmung lately there have been no login queue at all.

During the time I have been playing FFXIV I have so far never encountered any login queue that was longer than a couple of minutes.

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Originally Posted by Jedi-ketten

is it true about the people staying logged in so that they dont get stuck in cues?

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Back when ARR first launched there was a lot of trouble with really long login queues (on all the worlds, not just the overpopulated ones), and I know some people were doing that back then (and making the problem even worse in the process, of course). But SE boosted their systems somehow (the only clear sign of a hardware upgrade we've seen from them) and the login problem cleared up. I suppose it's possible some players simply got into the habit of staying logged in 24/7 and continued that pattern, but it's been a long time since login queues have been enough of an issue to account for it.

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Originally Posted by LDR

im honestly surprised they havent complete locked balmung even to transfers

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If you read through the rules of the world transfer service, they claim that you can't transfer to a world that's locked for character creation, but people trying it have found that you actually can.

My theory is that there are actually plenty of very brief openings (lasting maybe a second or two) in the character creation restrictions even on Balmung and that the transfer system is able to check for them on an automated basis. If a player is trying to directly create a character, and keeps refreshing every couple minutes to find a chance when it's open, but meanwhile an automated transfer is able to check for such openings every second, then as soon as an opening occurs, the transfer will have a much better chance of getting through before the restriction is back in place again. (I just made up that every second timeframe, but you get the idea.)

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Originally Posted by Canadane

Regarding Character Creation Restrictions
This information will be updated at the following intervals:
3:00 a.m./ 7:00 a.m./ 0:00 p.m./ 5:00 p.m./ 10:00 p.m. (PST)

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It's updated on the website at those intervals, but servers open/close much more frequently than that

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Originally Posted by CGMidlander

It's updated on the website at those intervals, but servers open/close much more frequently than that

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I don't know. The list of servers with character restrictions has always seemed pretty absolute to me. I've never been able to make a character on a server listed there as locked. On the other hand I have seen occasions where Behemoth is not listed as locked, but rejects new characters. That suggests that the servers listed have a lock down that requires operator action to lift, but that servers that are not locked in that manner, can automatically lock/unlock to prevent load issues if necessary.

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Originally Posted by Kosmos992k

II have seen occasions where Behemoth is not listed as locked, but rejects new characters.

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That's what they're saying :)

The servers will continually open/close, but the website is only updated at specific points of the day. So basically the webpage list is out of date as soon as it is updated (so almost pointless it even being there).