Best launch of any mmorpg I've played

[Halivel]

you do realize we have 1hr queue and we get kick out of the lobby for...idk...and also we get the 2002 error ...js meow~

Some people do, some people don't. 4.0 release still was much worse in comparison. Not only you had to sit in 2-3 hours queues with crashes in lobbies, along with that there were constant server crashes that resulted in being unable to play smoothly even when you succeeded in logging in the game. Once again: 6.0 release isn't the smoothes for FF14, but it absolutely isn't the worst we've had.

For a 1st day for a game that got sudden influx of new players plus a whole lot of returnees that came back for new expansion, along with the fact that servers are long due for an upgrade, it was rather okay. Smooth? Obviously not. Just as good as it could possibly be. I don't I know a single a game that doesn't have problems during 1st day of release, plus developers apologized for possible issues in advance (though for knowing that you would've need to wafch/read patch note reads that they did on Thursday).

[Sotaris]

Shadowbringers was better. There was queue hell for the first day but everything was smooth. There were almost no issues that happened other than a couple things here and there that were quickly resolved. Stormbloods was THE WORST by far of any expansion. I would put this ones launch somewhere between Shadowbringers and Stormblood. Heavenswards launch wasn't great either. It was pretty terrible. I'd put it as second worse for the expansions.

Worst launches: Stormblood, Heavensward by far, and A Realm Reborn if you count the launch of the post legacy XIV as a whole.

Middle Tier: Endwalker. It's amazing how far they have come with stability during a semi conductor shortage. The problems are pretty annoying, but as long as you're in the game its pretty smooth.

Best Launch: Shadowbringers. Hands down was the smoothest. It might be some time before we ever get a smooth launch like this ever again. I pray for the next time.

We had a lot less people playing when Shadowbringers was launched so given that fact I'm not at all surprised it been more queues. Other than that it been fairly stable. My world had one hicup last night causing insane queues but aside that, not much to complain.

[Thatusernameistaken]

Aside from battling the 2002 boss when servers went up, I've had nothing but a great time. Just understand that if you want to play by 9pm, log in and put yourself in queue at 6 or 7 lol. Or play at 3am like me XD, only 30 in queue this morning when I logged on.

Launch has been amazing so far given the circumstances SE is working with.

[Sylve]

My launch hour queue was 2700 on Hyperion. Got in to play in roughly 30 minutes.
It continues to baffle me that people whine about queues when they're on some of the most overpopulated servers in their datacenter.

Adding servers wont even alleviate that by much, Because if the queues were as painful as they claimed they would already have switched to a lower pop server.
"But my house!" "But my friends!" they say, yeah you and the 20k other people in the queue saying the same thing.

For a new server to alleviate queues, the residents of the overpopulated server need to be willing to actually transfer to off to the new one.

[Sotaris]

For a new server to alleviate queues, the residents of the overpopulated server need to be willing to actually transfer to off to the new one.

Which only a minority will do. We seen it in the past and it will be same when OCE opens next year.

[Sylve]

Which only a minority will do. We seen it in the past and it will be same when OCE opens next year.

Yeah that was my point lol.
SQenix can throw an infinite number of servers at the game, but in the end its on the residents of the over populated servers to move there. SQenix will never forcibly move people.
So it doesn't really matter how many new servers SQenix scrape together. It wont change the reality of queues on overpopulated servers at peak times.

Server crashes etc right after the servers come up is due to a literal DDoS attack by the playerbase. Not in a malicous manner of course, But the way a DDoS attack operates is very similar to the stresses the servers suffer when coming online when 90% of the playerbase hammers the login server simeltanously.
There is very little that can be done to prevent those kinds of issues short of putting you in a queue for the login server so you can get to the charaacter select and get the regular login queue there lol

[IdowhatIwant]

Shadowbringers launch was near perfection. This launch is pathetic. 4 expansions in and suddenly we have these 2002 and 2004 errors from being in queue too long. They are blaming the pandemic for not buying more servers. They've been working on this xpac for 2 years now, I don't feel sorry for them for waiting less than a year before their next xpac to decide that it was in their best interest to buy more of them. They should've added more servers 8 months ago when there was a surge of players joining the game, but they didn't do anything. It has nothing to do with availability, they didn't want to pay the price to upgrade at the time.

I 100% agree. Most people that are saying this is a successful launch are either 1. WoW players that haven't actually played any launches from this company or 2. ignorant of the actual issues people are experiencing. And just like with Raubahn SE just says sorry deal with it.

[hynaku]

I would say it's the worst launch every in all the expansions. At least on the others could get past the start menu before got lobby 2002 error. I would say 1.0 launch was the best. I never had a problem ever login and playing it.

[Jettinson]

Took me less than 20 minutes for Twintania (EU) day 1, just 1 single 2002 error
This morning (day 2) was normal and smooth
And now this afternoon I am legit experiencing constant 2002 errors, very long queues, character data not showing up and already over a hour trying to get in, so yeah now that is rough

[Shikiseki]

Hard disagree:

if you get lucky and get in, the game's fine sure but:

- like 50% of your friends are somewhere stuck in login limbo and can't play which leaves a very bitter aftertaste on a multiplayer game
- the queue's unstable: even if you are willing to wait 3h+ (which is even higher during prime time!!!), there's no guarantee you aren't struck with a random 2002/9002 at any time and basically reset the whole thing. If you DC, chances are you're out for the day for now lol...


As for the content - you can see that the devs payed extra detail to the story this time and its execution which is a huge plus but that won't help you if people can't get to play the game to begin with. I can't imagine how bad they must feel since I'm sure they'd only want people to enjoy the hard work they put into this game, only to be thwarted by unfortunate circumstance and technical shortage...