It’s the launch of a new MMO expansion, and you know what that means: queues. Early access to Endwalker in Final Fantasy XIV The expansion started today and players are reporting hourly waits, frequent errors and more when trying to join the server.
In one forum post, Endwalker’s developers say that the game’s surge in popularity over the past year means they’re expecting “some logins that haven’t been seen since the launch of FFXIV”, but shortfalls Global semiconductors mean they can’t fix the problem.
“Since the launch of the new expansion is when a large number of players will be playing for an extended period of time, we are expecting much more simultaneous logins than usual,” the post said. . “Furthermore, following a significant increase in player base in all regions since the summer of this year, we currently have a record number of active users and are therefore expecting some login has not been seen since the launch of FFXIV.
The post states that they “optimized” the servers prior to launch to increase the login limit, but the shortage of semiconductors means that they “cannot add new Worlds prior to the release of Endwalker. ”
“While we weren’t able to add New Worlds, we did take every other measure we could, such as replacing suitable servers with higher-performing ones, optimizing processes, increasing processing speed and increase the number of concurrent logins,” they said.
Square Enix also explains how the queue process works, noting that full version players take precedence over free trial characters and highlighting the functionality that allows characters to access limited servers more crowded “in the same Data Center.”
There is also detailed information about error messages, including “Error 2002” reported by many users. The error seems to be caused when “the number of characters waiting in the login queue for Logical Data Center exceeds 17,000”, but the only solution seems to be “wait a while before trying again”.
It’s entirely typical for a new MMO or major expansion to result in long wait times for players. Most recently, New World has been plagued by post-launch queues, push its developers to find a solution.
This is Endwalker’s early access launch, but the wait is likely to get even longer when the expansion fully releases on December 7.
