FINAL FANTASY XIV Online News

Final Fantasy XIV closes one-third of North American servers to new characters

Final Fantasy XIV has been beloved for years, and it's been exploding in popularity over the past few months. Servers have already been straining, and players are looking nervously ahead to the surge that's likely to accompany the Endwalker release date. The devs have previously announced plans to help ease the congestion, and those plans are starting to come to fruition - but for now, one-third of North American servers have been closed to new characters.

The Aether data center - one of the three NA data centers - has had all its worlds classified as 'congested', meaning that no new characters can be created there until that classification is lifted. New players can, of course, create characters on other servers as normal - but if their friends are on Aether, they've got no way to play together. (At least, not until data center visits are added in the future.)

For more long-term solutions, director and producer Naoki Yoshida says in the announcement that "our Infrastructure and Development teams are working closely to plan large-scale solutions such as expanding our data centers or adding new Worlds. As previously mentioned, however, there is an ongoing global shortage and increased demand for semiconductors, and quite frankly, we are still struggling to source the required equipment."

Read the rest of the story...

Final Fantasy XIV goes down for a nine-hour hotfix tonight

If you've got plans to go grinding in Final Fantasy XIV tonight, you're going to need to seek out alternative entertainment. FFXIV is going down for a lengthy maintenance period in order to implement a hotfix and address some of the server issues lingering from the MMO's recent explosion in popularity.

Final Fantasy XIV maintenance will begin on August 23 at 6pm PDT / 9pm EDT, or August 24 at 2am BST. Maintenance will last for nine hours, concluding on August 24 at 3am PDT / 6am EDT / 11am BST. The home world transfer service will be suspended 30 minutes before maintenance begins, too.

This period will cover the implementation of a new hotfix for patch 5.58, and will allow the devs to "conduct maintenance on the infrastructure", as they explain in the announcement. The devs have spoken of broad plans to ease server congestion over the past handful of months, as the game has seen a recent surge in popularity - and the player population is likely to keep getting bigger as we inch toward the Endwalker release date.

Read the rest of the story...

FFXIV housing - prices, locations, and types

If you're thinking about investing in FFXIV housing, but are unsure where to start, or have no idea how much gil it may set you back, we're here to help. From massive mansions in The Mists to cosy cottages at The Lavender Beds, you have plenty of options to consider when setting up a new home for you and your free company.

A plot of land ranges anywhere from 1,488,000 to 50,000,000 gil, and that doesn't even include the property permit. So, it goes without saying, you're going to need to save up your hard-earned money for a long time before you can move in. We recommend speaking with the rest of your free company, so that you can split the cost equally, and live in the lap of luxury together.

With the FFXIV Endwalker release date on the horizon, there's never been a better time to pick up a plot of land in this epic MMO game. If you're interested in learning more about what the game has to offer, we recommend you also take a look at our FFXIV Sage and FFXIV Reaper class guides.

Read the rest of the story...

Final Fantasy XIV's The Rising event is back in August - here's what you need to know

Final Fantasy XIV had a rough launch, to say the least, and the 1.0 version came to an apocalyptic end that was then integrated into the story of A Realm Reborn. Now, the Rising serves as an annual celebration of the game's relaunch and provides a new quest to undertake and items to earn. Here's what you need to know for this year's version of the event.

The Rising for 2021 begins on Friday, August 27 at 12am PDT / 3am EDT / 8am BST, and lasts until Thursday, September 9 at 7:59am PDT / 10:59am EDT / 3:59pm BST. The relevant quest this time around is called Rising Calm. You'll get it from Kipih Jakkya in the Steps of Nald district of Ul'dah, and you'll need to be level 15 to undertake the quest.

The event rewards this time include the Red Moon Parasol and Nymeia Potpourri - an offering which has proven disappointing to some fans. The parasol is a recolour of similar items, and the potpourri is, well... it's confetti. It's basically a consumable emote.

Read the rest of the story...

The FFXIV community will help you solve the fashion report, every week

If you, like me, have recently started your journey through Final Fantasy XIV, you might also be extremely confused by basically everything going on with the Manderville Gold Saucer. This casino features a host of minigames that earn MGP, which in turn you can use to buy exclusive cosmetics. The weekly Fashion Report is one of the best ways to rack up MGP, but it's also the one that requires the most extra effort and research.

Luckily, members of the FFXIV community are willing to do that research so you don't have to. Each Fashion Report asks players to put together a look that matches a stated theme. Themes are given out on Tuesdays at 1am PDT / 4am EDT / 9am BST, and you can take your outfit to be judged starting Fridays at 1am PDT / 4am EDT / 9am BST. You can make four attempts for a good judgement.

Players typically hit the FFXIV subreddit to trade theories about the most effective outfits, and user kaiyoko collates the results into an image that best gear to pick out for the judgement every Friday. There'll typically be a simple outfit that earns you the 80 points necessary to get the basic MGP reward, and a more challenging set of gear to acquire for the full 100 points.

Read the rest of the story...