When will NA get more shards?

[Hasrat]

It is definitely a bad thing for new players that characters cannot be created during peak hours on the NA data centers, but it would also not be great for SE to add new worlds right now that would end up being almost deserted once the new expansion hype dies down.

In fairness, how long were servers like Mateus allowed to remain "almost deserted" before the Balmung lock and transfer incentives?

It may not be financially ideal, but, some players such as myself might find their own enjoyment in being in the low pop crowd. And as long as you've got that one empty world that really nobody wants to be on, you've at least got somewhere for new players to start.

But. Quite honestly. I'm not sure if they can even end up with that result anymore. With the New World bonuses and incentives, they'll always have that initial surge, and as long as they stay Preferred, it'd continue to have folks trickling in until it doesn't really feel like a low pop server anymore. But, that's just a personal disappointment.

[Doozer]

This isn't about me. It isn't about "packed servers". This is about new players being unable to make a character anywhere. Why do you think this is acceptable practice? Why do you think it's okay for JP to have so many more servers with the same, or even slightly smaller, player base?

You're getting really mad when it not only doesn't affect you, but is easily remedied. The servers aren't full, they're just under strain right now from increased traffic. And if new people want to play so bad, they can make their characters at non-peak times. Wake up early before work or school, load in the saved character appearance data, pick a server, start it, then just shut the game off. It'll skip the opening cutscene and you'll be able to start playing for real later.

[Kirsten_Rev]

You're getting really mad when it not only doesn't affect you, but is easily remedied. The servers aren't full, they're just under strain right now from increased traffic. And if new people want to play so bad, they can make their characters at non-peak times. Wake up early before work or school, load in the saved character appearance data, pick a server, start it, then just shut the game off. It'll skip the opening cutscene and you'll be able to start playing for real later.

It's even more easily remedied from SE's end.

After all, it is utterly ridiculous to have time-sensitive restrictions for character creation. I mean, does SE think that by allowing people to create a character at 3am, that same character won't log on during prime time? Warn people about congestion, lock the server completely if it is truly maxed out, and other than that, step back and let people fend for themselves. All that time-sensitive locking does is anger people for absolutely no good reason.

[MistakeNot]

After all, it is utterly ridiculous to have time-sensitive restrictions for character creation. I mean, does SE think that by allowing people to create a character at 3am, that same character won't log on during prime time?

No, they think that if character creation on one server is only possible at 3am, then most new players will create their characters on some other server.
Having all servers in a data centre locked for character creation is not something the system is built to handle, but since that only happens during the first week or so of each expansion SE probably thinks it is not worth the trouble to come up with a better system.

[IttyBitty]

I am struggling to see why people are defending SE over the fact that new players are unable to create characters unless they wake up/stay up until 2 in the frickin' morning. Not everybody has the luxury of no-lifing for a chance to create a character on any server, much less specific ones.

"Oh but it's a new expansion it should be expected!" When the hell do you think is a better time for them to make their game available to new players?

[Celestene]

This, try non-peak hours tomorrow and it'll be fine. It's the weekend with an expansion just released, the servers are going to be packed no matter how you look at it.

Love how many people act like a jerk because it isn't their problem. Some people can only play at certain times so to tell him he should get up early just to make a character on an account he pays for is ridiculous. He is allowed his opinion and from what I see it is a valid one. Aether has had no creation at all for about a week.

[Arixtotle]

Crystal data center has a few servers that are not congested yet. Start a new character outside of prime time and you should be fine. SE shouldn't add any servers. Ya see kids when the hype starts to die down a bit people won't login and MAGICALLY you will be able to login to just about every server again! WOW! OMG! LOGICAL THINKING!

This has nothing to do with queues. It has to do with the fact that there's no reason for NA to have so few shards. JP has a heck of a lot more shards and the same size player base. And there should NEVER be a time when a player can't make a character at least on some server. Why would someone buy a game that they wouldn't be able to play? Imagine that you just bought FFXIV and yet you can't make a character anywhere. That's horrible for a company.