Congested servers?

[Deltaray]

How are new players supposed to join when there is NO preffered servers in the NA servers? I wouldnt mind transfering to another region but I think its a little unfair that there are NO preffered servers in the NA. I know shadowbringers hit 2 months ago But friends dont wanna bother grinding slowly if they are going to deal with a long time catching up

[MrMagic]

How are new players supposed to join when there is NO preffered servers in the NA servers? I wouldnt mind transfering to another region but I think its a little unfair that there are NO preffered servers in the NA. I know shadowbringers hit 2 months ago But friends dont wanna bother grinding slowly if they are going to deal with a long time catching up

That just means the data centre is relatively balanced, in that there is no server lacking in population for SQEX to want to push people over to it. Congested servers are already locked and stable so they are not going give you a buff and reward to join a normal population server.

[EveK]

"Grinding slowly" is in no way a necessary, required, or normal part of the experience for a new player that wants to just start playing at their own pace, regardless of world. They should even be able to focus exclusively on the main quest now.

[Niwashi]

Leveling faster doesn't get you through the story any faster.

The issue with leveling in this game is more often that it's too fast, and (even on a regular server) you'll tend to out-level the quests you're doing unless you divide the XP between multiple jobs. With a preferred server that's even more pronounced, and you need to level several jobs in tandem to be able to go through the content at a decent pace.

Whether that's a good or a bad thing depends on how many jobs you want to start off with while going through the story. If you don't want to choose a job, but level all of them together, then a preferred server is good for that. If you want to focus on just two or three jobs initially, then you're better off on a standard server.

If you want to focus on just a single job, you're kind of out of luck, as you're going to level too fast no matter where you are in that case. The best you can do is avoid all optional content and XP buffs. But you'll miss out on a lot playing that way, so I really don't recommend it, especially for new players. New players should explore and try out everything the game has to offer, not limit themselves like that.

[EveK]

We digress, but the level sync system still lets you meaningfully player lower-level stuff even if you're a higher level. One can level quickly enough that they don't have to stop their main quest advancement to level up first, but that's not the same thing as leveling up "too fast."

[JasonEroge]

does anybody know when if tonberry will be open for char creation?

[Hasrat]

does anybody know when if tonberry will be open for char creation?

Have you checked with your local time traveler?

[EveK]

Historically, congested status is only toggled alongside a patch. Beyond that, I'm not aware of any advance notice being given.

[JasonEroge]

Historically, congested status is only toggled alongside a patch. Beyond that, I'm not aware of any advance notice being given.

Do they change it every patch? or its only sometimes for tonberry? how long does it last normally?

[MistakeNot]

Do they change it every patch? or its only sometimes for tonberry? how long does it last normally?

It lasts until the population has dropped enough. Might be a few weeks, might be several months.
So far, every time they have made changes to the Congested/Preferred status of servers it has been in conjunction with a normal maintenance, but not every maintenance shows changes in server status.