every time someone says "a chip shortage, or they can't find more servers".

[VelKallor]

including the chips needed for functions ranging from touchscreen displays to collision-avoidance systems

I want to highlight this point.

Know what TCAS is?

Its the system you put on aircraft so they dont meet by accident at 30000 feet at 650 mph. FF 14 servers are one thing, a non functioning TCAS on an airliner means it doesnt leave the ground.

Oh you COULD, I suppose...but theres no guarantee the plane, or its passengers, will ever reach their destination alive.

[Shougun]

I think the best we can do right now, besides hope SE can come across some great stash in a basement, or Activision Blizzard shares :3, is make the queue more robust.

It sounds plausible a hiccup on the client side could cause the queue to toss all of it's coffee biscuits onto the ground, but that also sounds like something SE should be able to tighten up because hiccups are a thing that generally can be accounted for. Though, and this may be personal luck, 2002 has become rarer and rarer for myself- near launch days it was really common, but I think the last one I had was a few days ago.

If they had their own launcher or something I'd think they might be able to do something cute like "we're sorry but while we try to fix this issue we'll open up the catalog for some other games for you to play" (even maybe FFXI lol).

I want to highlight this point.

Know what TCAS is?

Its the system you put on aircraft so they dont meet by accident at 30000 feet at 650 mph. FF 14 servers are one thing, a non functioning TCAS on an airliner means it doesnt leave the ground.

Oh you COULD, I suppose...but theres no guarantee the plane, or its passengers, will ever reach their destination alive.