This has been a thing since at least Stormblood, if not before. It was done to ease heavy traffic during high volume playtimes. You rarely see it because honestly most of these players buy the game, play it in a month or so then unsub for a chunk..so it’s mostly relevant during major patches/expac launches. Or people just filter into other things.


Btw, good chance to do some hunts, as the hunt targets can spawn in each instance.