Road to 70 Buff

[ffstocritter78]

Hello... I am new to the forum: so please forgive me if I have posted this in the wrong section. I have a few friends that want to play FFXIV on Sargatanas (I think I spelled that wrong) due to other friends being in FCs already on that server. The problem they are running into is that they want to join the server only if the "Road to 70" buff is running. I asked in a Facebook post about how often the "Road to 70" buff is applied to a server. Some said it was done based on server load, others said it was random, other said that the Aether Datacenter only gets the "Road to 70" buff if a new expansion comes out, and some said that it is something scheduled by Square Enix; but, couldn't provide a schedule of this. I tried to persuade them to join as they have referral codes; but, they would have to wait 30 days from subscribing to the game in order to use the "circlet" to give an XP boost. In short, I am just trying to help them get into FFXIV, on the server they are dead set on joining, and begin their FFXIV with the leveling help of the "Road to 70" buff. Can anyone assist what I should tell them or direct me where to look to see when the "Road to 70" buff will be applied again to servers on Aether and the aforementioned server in particular?

Thanks!!!

P.S. I have been keeping an eye on the server status page on the Lodestone; but, haven't seen Sargatanas listed as "Preferred" since the last expansion. Does that page get regular updates or is it just chance that one can catch Sargatanas as being a "preferred" server?

[Mhaeric]

That lodestone page with server statuses is always up to date.
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/worldstatus/

Sargatanas was a preferred world from August 10 to September 8. The change previous to that was all the way back in April 7, so it was standard that whole time.
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...428d0cdf5c44a3
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...0430f5b02303e3
https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...9dc1cf57155cd1

They change the preferred/congested server statuses fairly infrequently, so check the news section on the lodestone for posts titled "Regarding Changes in Congested/Preferred Worlds" to see when/if Sargatanas changes back to being preferred. They don't announce these changes ahead of time as far as I know, they just post it on the lodestone news feed when it happens. It's based on population numbers and can be considered the rough equivalent to other games designations of low, medium, or high population servers. The setting that turns on and off character creation is mostly separate from this and is based on current active population, so even if a world is preferred you might not be able to create a character if it is during peak time with lots of people logging in. Congested worlds always have character creation turned off, though.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...ews/category/1

As for the Road to 70 buff itself, the exp boost is quite nice but it's no longer really needed after the experience changes and modifications to the main story quest they made in 5.3. Even without the road to 70 bonus you will always be higher level than what content the story locks you into anyway. Some people even complained how much experience they were getting. There's other bonuses to creating a character on a preferred world, of course, so their decision may or may not be swayed by that.

[AnkanV]

In my opinion, the road to 70 buff is a hinderance more than a help unless you know from the start that you will be leveling multiple of the starting jobs simultanously. Otherwise you pretty soon way outlevel the content you have unlocked. (I'm currently playing through ARR after the 5.3 changes with a character with the road to 70 buff, whom I only intend to play as healer. Currently I'm 53 sch, 50 whm and MSQ is only at 45. And this is while I have avoided rest xp and don't even do the leveling dungeon daily every day).

[ffstocritter78]

Thank you everyone!!!

I will pass this along to them in hopes they will begin their FFXIV adventures soon. As far as the other things provided by the "Road to 70" buff: I am not sure what those are. However, if they are not something that is a make or break situation: I will encourage them start playing as soon. Once again... Thanks for the insight!! :-)

[ffstocritter78]

Thank you everyone!!!

I will pass this along to them in hopes they will begin their FFXIV adventures soon. As far as the other things provided by the "Road to 70" buff: I am not sure what those are. However, if they are not something that is a make or break situation: I will encourage them start playing as soon. Once again... Thanks for the insight!! :-)

Oops.... Just found the difference apart from the EXP boost. Nothing majorly different. I will pass this on as well. Thanks again all!!