DDOS attack

[Enkidoh]

You can't 'stop' a DDOS attack without taking the whole game down.. (and even then the attack will just begin again once the game goes back up). It's such a simple yet effective way of taking a network down because it's deliberately emulating legitimate network traffic (it's rather akin to pranksters causing a massive traffic jam by driving a convoy of cars in a tunnel going slow, and towing strings of cardboard boxes behind them). DDOS basically spoof internet connections to a server (such as the game servers) by making it clog up with traffic and eventually crash, so it's very difficult to quickly find the source and seperate legitimate connections from the attackers.

Usually these things sort of resolve themselves when the ones responsible tend to get bored and give up/accomplish their sinister goals at the same time as the system admins and network technicans mount countermeasures to block traffic from certain sources that they identify the attackers are using to access the network from, but that takes time, and further attacks are still possible as the attackers just use a different port or system to attack from, repeating the cycle.

Sometimes DDOS attacks are acutally political - one such attack on FFXI occurred at the same time there was a dispute between South Korea and Japan over a WWII memorial back in the 2000s and South Korean hackers responded maliciously towards Japanese companies and networks, including FFXI. That attack lasted over a month as a recall, and in the meantime FFXI kept going down due to the attacks.

FFXIV and FFXI have both suffered reoccuring DDOS attacks over the years, and this is no different. SE are doing everything they can do, like any company in their position. Just have patience.