Server Help

[Winchester1306]

Good Afternoon

I am new to Final Fantasy: ARR and, Final Fantasy in general. But, I am very excited to be here! I am hoping my time in Eorzea.

Now, I have joined because friends of mine are playing as well, but they are on Balmung. Now, I have been trying for three days to create a character on this server, but at this stage it seems impossible?

How do I get a character on Balmung? Quite frustrating not to be able to play with my friends!

Thank you!

[Enkidoh]

Welcome to Eorzea!

Sadly Balmung is the most highly populated server, being the unofficial RP server (role playing), meaning it's frequently restricted to new characters being created there. However, it is not permanently locked - as the server restriction is based simply on how many people are currently logged into that server at that time, therefore the best time to aim for is during the server's 'quiet time' when most players would be in bed sleeping - a la, just after midnight through early morning to sometime after sunrise US time. Of course there are no guarantees it won't be restricted then either, but it's the best time to try.

The other way to get to Balmung is to use SE's official world transfer service which virtually instantly moves your character from one server to another, however bare in mind this is a paid service and requires an immediate one-off fee to be paid, plus there are restrictions to that as well (one being characters on trial accounts cannot have server transfers). But the up side is it seems to ignore the character creation restrictions - I myself was formerly on Ridill but transferred to Balmung late last year and had no trouble doing so. So it's definitely possible.

Either way, don't be discouraged! Keep trying to get on Balmung, as it is a very friendly server so even if you didn't have friends already waiting for you here you would soon be made to feel right at home.

[Winchester1306]

Thank you @Enkidoh for your very helpful and friendly reply! Wow, so far (judging just from the forums) the FFXIV community seems so friendly and helpful compared to other MMO's I am moving over from.

Think I will be going for the paid character transfer then, seems like the surefire way of getting where I want to be. My character should be three days old tomorrow I think.

It is good to hear that Balmung is the RP server, as for most of my MMO life I have been a roleplayer, and I am quite excited to get into it here on FFXIV. So much new lore and things to learn though since I am completely new to the FF franchise. Also quite excited for it though!

Am hoping that these first impressions of an amazingly friendly and helpful community is true, and that it lasts!

[Risvertasashi]

I've heard that the character transfer now respects server lockouts... but there's no harm in checking to see if it lets you.

In case it doesn't work, I recommend mon~thurs around 4am for creating a character on Balmung. It is a big pain... but the upside is once you're in, you're in.

either way, good luck!

[SecretCrowds]

Character transfer has always respected server lockout.

It's just that with character transfer, the lockout limit is higher compared to character creation.

[kuma_aus]

Welcome to FFXIV!

Another good time to make on populated servers is to make just before or after a maintenance. We just had a maintenance on the 8th, and there isn't likely going to be another one until maybe next week. The wait could even be longer, but just keep it in mind as well when you're trying.

[RiversideGuy]

I was massively frustrated because I could not get onto Excaliber, where she who recruited me lived. Kuma has it on the money... after almost 2 weeks of frustration, an old guldie from the other MMO told me about maintenance. I had been told transferring worlds always got you in, BUT they explicitly say restrictions also apply to transfers. I researched it and saw that very frequently, they set servers live before the expected "time back." From 10 mins early to as much as an hour. Typically, the "time back" is 7AM EST, so I get up at 5:45AM and start looking at it. I caught it within 5 mins of the servers being up and saw ALL worlds wide open.

Gotta be on top of it, someone else told me the "wide open" period can be as short as 10 mins.