This has been an issue even in FFXI servers. I played FFXI since launch, and was constantly burdened by how the time-zones worked out. Being on Eastern time, 7pm PDT to me, means 10pm+ .. So when you look at it, if I work in the morning and get out at 3pm, the game is on Maint for the whole day. If I work evenings, I come back 9-10pm, and there's still one hour left of maint. 10-11pm rolls around, do I really want to stay up and RUIN my life by playing..? Yes. Do I? No, Reason always pulls true. As a N/A player, the Maint. scheduling has always utterly screwed me out of gametime. And yet, I still stuck without complaining. I'm understanding that, SE is based in Japan, and obviously they would accomodate THEIR people's fanbase, not foreigners first. I think "Is this a Trend you are setting for FFXIV?" isn't really a NEW trend, it's a trend they've been following since the Olden(Not so Olden..Still up and running) FFXI days. My point being, they're going to STICK WITH this trend. They have for the past 5years+. My personal advice to you is, either find a second Game to play during the Maint days in FFXIV, change your job scheduling, or quit the Game. All of the choices I've given you are very radical, but they're the only choices who will stick true.
Personally, I quit FFXI to play WoW, then I rejoined FFXI because I had "Good memories," ofcourse Abyssea ruined such memories and reminded me why I quit for WoW. I still play WoW today, and I'm a casual raider who raids 2 days a week. So when FFXIV maint is up? Like today (I worked 12pm~>10pm btw), I got home, I drank and ate, then I hopped on WoW (While downloading FFXIV patch) and raided. Once I was done, I logged out and tried playing FFXIV only to find that an Emergency Maint had been called. It's 2am now, and I'm still up, I was very excited to play FFXIV after my download finish, but as ALWAYS Square-Enix has DISAPPOINTED me, as usual. But again, being an N/A and enjoying it's great government, I am used to such disappointments. Bottomline is: Don't make FFXIV your priority Game, you'll find that is IS A GREAT GAME, but a word of advice from me is, don't expect to be accomidated by SE very often. Explore, find new things, and remember~> FFXIV IS 1.22 NOT 2.0 EXPECT MAINT. AND EMERGENCY MAINT. TO PATCHES TO OCCUR VERY VERY VERY, did I mention.. MANY TIMES. I feel your pain..
Sincerely Yours, Fellow Faithful But Disgruntled Subscriber,
Ashkandi Shadowcroft