Server Lockouts are limiting the growth of this game.

[Arkanethered]

Gold world pass:

Purchasable by: lvl30+ with 30days + subbed

Usable by: New account <30 days subbed only if account has character less than level 20 (free trial max)

This would allow only established people to purchase the pass, and only allow newly made accounts to access it... aka, prevent morons from creating hundreds of unnecessary alts and jaming the server with them with their own world passes.

[SakuraMidori]

SE knows this yet they pick not to put the cash into making more room

[Superskull85]

A better alternative is to do away with the archaic way of dividing the population by server and instance zones. Create more instances for each zone for more and more players. Why a modern game doesn't allow for every player in the same region to play with each other is beyond me. Some players are even divided by data center even if they are technically in the same region.

"Mega-Server" technology is not a new thing. Other games have used it. It is about time FInal Fantasy XIV does as well in my opinion

[Zabuza]

For once a topic I can actually agree with. Problem is if the floodgates were open everyone would be flocking to the three to five most populated servers, leaving the rest of them out in the cold.

So the solution then is what? To merge the smaller servers together and increase their average server size?

I do sympathize with those who want to play on the same servers as their friends. Noone should have to pay for a transfer to accomplish that if they are new.

[Chukkaque]

Every server in Primal is available for short windows except Excalibur. I can guarantee it.


And for the record, I was finally able to create a new character during the 10 minute window after the servers came up after the last patch. The gif above is about 2 solid days worth of trying to create a character between 10pm and 8am pacific.

YUP. There is a list that updates every 4-6 hours idr which. But usually the sever lock out is overnight for sure. They shut it down during the busy times.

Just use this.
http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodest...06d0909189e479

[KisaiTenshi]

A better alternative is to do away with the archaic way of dividing the population by server and instance zones. Create more instances for each zone for more and more players. Why a modern game doesn't allow for every player in the same region to play with each other is beyond me. Some players are even divided by data center even if they are technically in the same region.

"Mega-Server" technology is not a new thing. Other games have used it. It is about time FInal Fantasy XIV does as well in my opinion

Area codes and Zip codes predate the Internet.

While I don't expect FFXIV to take this route, and I'd shun games that try to do the "lets create a stupid amount of servers, populated by 3 people and a cat" a la Minecraft.

The "correct" solution, albeit difficult to pull off would be to be a combination of "cellular" networks and overlay instances.

For example. Take Rowena's building in Mor Dhona. As soon as you enter the front door, all the "cells" outside would stop transmitting except the one immediately outside the door. For things like NPC shops, you'd get your own personal instance so that it isn't crowded by player collisions. For Player housing "shops" and field shops they would "crowd control" creating an "invisible" barrier so that the "player shop" can be seen and interacted with, and player collisions turned off in that immediate cell.

Player collisions would be turned on only for cells outside of "town" cells, thus allowing strategic use of mounts, vehicles and obstacles for FATE type events

Player Name collisions, are also easily dealt with. The underlying cells would have a "home" cell (that the player can change) so only that player gets the "unique" name in that cell. In the event that two players have the same name, the "visiting" player would get20"from (cell plain name)" affixed to their name. If two players with the same name want to have the same home cell, they will always get a prefix name reflecting their "job" in the cell. eg "(Blacksmith) Jill Wayne" and both players can't be the same job in the same cell at the same time. So it would only become an issue if everyone wanted to be called "Ninja Naruto Animekid"

So the instance solves the population problem at the cell level, while the cell'ing solves how to put everyone into the same world without creating so much fragmentation.


But I digress, the problem with FFXIV is that the servers were made "smaller", like they cut all the previous zones up into 5 or so pieces, in what used to be one zone. So this also limits the number of players that can play per server so there is more headroom for SE to add more content that comes back to these places. I'm sure everyone has seen plenty of the "no entry" doors to buildings all over the place.

[Ashkendor]

Ashkendor,

Many games handle populations much larger than an average server on Final Fantasy 14. Hardware upgrades can help with server instability due to population increases. If that is not feasible, free transfers can help remove the need for hardware upgrades.

In lieu of hardware upgrades (which we haven't gotten thus far) all they can really do is limit the amount of characters that can be made on more populated servers. I'd rather see them locked than see them become unplayable. It's a no-brainer that hardware upgrades would help, but it doesn't seem like that's happening.

[Adire]

What I don't get is how you can transfer to a locked server, but can't create a new character on one.

If the servers are being locked due to congestion and due to approaching hardware limitations, how come people can transfer to them?

If the servers are really being pushed to their limits, transfers to them should be disabled too O.o.

[Kaedan94]

They need to bring back the FFXI Friend Code as part of their recruitment campaign where getting the code from your friend gets you access to their otherwise locked server.

I agree with this. If you use the Recruit a Friend system, your friend should be able to make a character on your system regardless of character creation restrictions.


However, there is a way around it OP. Have your friend make a character on any server. Wait 3 days or solo for those 3 days. Then use the World Transfer service. It ignores restrictions.

What I don't get is how you can transfer to a locked server, but can't create a new character on one.

If the servers are being locked due to congestion and due to approaching hardware limitations, how come people can transfer to them?

If the servers are really being pushed to their limits, transfers to them should be disabled too O.o.

Because you have to pay money.

[Adire]

Because you have to pay money.

So they can bypass hardware limitations for people who have money? Interesting.