How to change server?

[Phyxer]

Hey, new player here (level 51).

I started on the Gilgamesh server because i heard it was focused on people doing raids and stuff but so far it's a completely deserted place.

Queue times for story and raids are from 20 to 30 minutes and the party finder it's empty aside from 3 or 4 people promoting their house parties (i dont even saw one single party for high level stuff).

I tried loggin at different time zones to see if there was any change, but no luck.
I also asked the people i did the instances with if they had the same problem, and they all agreed that the queue time was very long.

So, how do i change server? i assume i will have to pay, but i have no idea were or how to do it.

Also, what server it's the more populated? because the game its amazing but playing an mmo with no people online its not that fun, specially for me because i want to focus on farming all raids.

[MistakeNot]

You can move to another server through the Mogstation, and yes it costs money.

You should not change servers without doing careful research first though.

First, all servers in the same datacentre share queues for dutyfinder - so they will all have the same waittimes.
The datacenter you are in - Aether - does have a reputation has being raid-heavy. Never played there myself, so I don't know how true that reputation is. But my point is that if you have long queues there, you are likely to have long queues elsewhere too.

What timezone are you in? You are typically best off picking a datacentre that matches your timezone.
Do you have all languages selected in DF? That can make a big difference in some cases.


It is also worth noting that the game as a whole is in a bit of a slow period right now, with many people having finished old content and are now just waiting for the new expansion.
This is probably extra true on Aether due to them having many hardcore raiders. That all the servers in Aether currently being locked for new characters also means there is no influx of new people right now.

[MilkieTea]

On Aether. I havent had long wait times unless Im DPS. the data center right now is completely shut down to new characters.

Queue as tank or healer and your wait times will significantly reduce.

Also, check DC PF and not world PF. DC PF will have raids and stuff.

[Jeeqbit]

You can change server for free using the World Visit System. Just click an aetheryte at one of the starting cities and you can change server. This will not affect queue times because the queues draw from across the data center.

You have to pay to change data center, but it probably won't affect queue times unless the data center is in a different region. The queue times get slower when everyone from that region is sleeping.

When I went through the story it took me 40 minutes (on a tank) for every trial, but you only have to suffer that while going through the story and then it's not much of a problem again.

the party finder it's empty aside from 3 or 4 people promoting their house parties (i dont even saw one single party for high level stuff).

You actually cannot see parties for content you have not unlocked, so it's just that they are all hidden. There are not very many when people are sleeping either, so it depends on the time as well, in the evening hours it can be over 100.

You can create your own recruitment in party finder though, just select the thing you want help with and say it's your first time bonus.

[Phyxer]

The datacenter you are in - Aether - does have a reputation has being raid-heavy

Yeah, i read the same stuff before choosing a server, then i got this: https://i.imgur.com/g0yspVB.jpg
Almost at the 50 minute mark i finally got a party to do it.

Also, check DC PF and not world PF. DC PF will have raids and stuff.

My party finder looks like this all day: https://i.imgur.com/JZHS9iO.jpg

I tried loggin in different times during these days, but the only thing that change it's the ammount of people promoting their houses.

In gridania and limsa there's always a bunch of ppl but no one is looking for party nor promoting their guild. And i barely see players with the green thing in their names so i guess everyone its already max level and full mounts.
I better start doing some research on what other server i should transfer.

And thanks for the answers!

[MilkieTea]

Yeah, i read the same stuff before choosing a server, then i got this: https://i.imgur.com/g0yspVB.jpg
Almost at the 50 minute mark i finally got a party to do it.




My party finder looks like this all day: https://i.imgur.com/JZHS9iO.jpg

I tried loggin in different times during these days, but the only thing that change it's the ammount of people promoting their houses.

In gridania and limsa there's always a bunch of ppl but no one is looking for party nor promoting their guild. And i barely see players with the green thing in their names so i guess everyone its already max level and full mounts.
I better start doing some research on what other server i should transfer.

And thanks for the answers!

You... need to unlock raids... in order for raids to show on your PF.

PFs only look like that when you have nothing unlocked. Mine looks like this (right now, early morning at 7:31 AM EST)

[Jeeqbit]

Yeah, i read the same stuff before choosing a server, then i got this: https://i.imgur.com/g0yspVB.jpg
Almost at the 50 minute mark i finally got a party to do it.

That is an extreme trial. Extreme is the (optional) high-end content in this game and before doing it you are supposed to understand your class, rotation, have decent gear, materia, food and damage potions.

It's for this reason that the content is not served by any roulette except mentor roulette. You are not supposed to queue for extremes. Instead what people normally do is recruit in Party Finder for them because this makes it more likely that all of the people joining are properly prepared for it. When you queue for it instead, you usually get matched with a bunch of other new players who don't understand it is raid content, don't know their rotations and won't get very far. What does help them to clear some of them is that you are synced to the maximum item level of the expansion (which is usually double the item level of the content) and get stacks of The Echo when you die, which increases stats up to 30%, but sometimes the mechanics are still too much for unprepared new players.

The reason that nobody does Bowl of Embers (Extreme) in party finder is that it's old. It came out in 2013. Most people clear it by using the Undersized Party setting, which allows a level 80 player to solo it for you in a few seconds.

The raid content that gets done most of the time is the newest ones (currently level 80) and old ones are done by niche little communities of people who want to do all of the content and not just the new stuff.

You will struggle to get a party for (Extreme), Minstrel's Ballad, (Savage) or Coil Turns because it is tuned as high-end content and because it's old, not many people do it synced, so you have to find 7 friends who want to do it synced, which can be hard but party finder helps. The alternative is asking a level 80 to solo them all for you using the Undersized Party setting.

[Frizze]

My party finder looks like this all day: https://i.imgur.com/JZHS9iO.jpg

I tried loggin in different times during these days, but the only thing that change it's the ammount of people promoting their houses.

Ok, lets take a look. You have 10 groups under roulette, so thats probly 10 people advertising their run-selling services(although you do SOMETIMES see people trying to pre-form an actual roulette group - usually DPS looking for a healer or tank to give them the quick que). No dungeons, not too uncommon. No guildhests, ditto. You have 4 groups recruiting for trials, one would imagine they are EX mount farm groups - mostly the lvl 80 mounts naturally since those are the newest ones. Next we see 5 groups recruiting for raids. These tend to be a mixed bag of people wanting to unsync older content(whether for glams, for loot, or for unlocks), and people wanting to sync old content for various relic steps or challenges. Moving on, we see 11 groups under the high-end content flag - so the most current raids. Then to move quickly through the rest: no one for PvP(normal), no one for quest battles(i honestly dont even know what that would BE, its always nobody), no one for fates(fate groups arent super uncommon, but most would be doing a minimum of heavensward era fates if not more current), no one for treasure hunts(even if there were, people really only want to do the lvl 80 maps right now), no one for mark hunts(again, the hunt trains would be focused on lvl 80 hunts anyway), no one for ocean fishing(the time of day isnt indicated in the picture, so these might not have been open at the time anyway), no one for deep dungeon(the people who recruit for those typically want to get a group to go 51-200 PotD or 31-100 HoH, and you need certain aetherpool levels to really stand a chance at that anyway - which is to say, you should already know if thats something you can do or not), and finally no one in the category that i remember as "exploratory missions" but i think has been renamed(and again, this would be lvl 80 content you couldnt do). And of course finally, 17 people in the "other" category talking up RP events, advertising crafting services, showing off houses, trying to make friends, and whatever else people decide "other" means. So with 47 total groups, i wouldnt call that PF dead by any stretch of the imagination. It just doesnt have a lot of lower-level groups open. And this is, again, normal. People are more interested in doing the higher level content, and it takes more people to do, so thats where the groups are focused. Of course, theres nothing stopping you from opening a group to do whatever content you have unlocked and need help with. Worth a shot maybe?

[MistakeNot]

Yeah, i read the same stuff before choosing a server, then i got this: https://i.imgur.com/g0yspVB.jpg
Almost at the 50 minute mark i finally got a party to do it.

You got lucky! Obviously a raid-heavy DC.
To a first approximation, nobody queues for Extreme Trials or Savage raids through DF. Those are run either by FC groups, statics, or are recruited for from PF.
On some other datacentre you'd probably have had an even longer queue.