Square Enix Offers Final Fantasy XIV Trial Extensions

[roseofbattle]

Square Enix Offers Final Fantasy XIV Trial Extensions

Log-in difficulties and server congestion prompt Square Enix apologize for inconveniences.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn opened to all players Aug. 27, but players have largely been met with errors preventing them from logging in. To compensate players for their time failing to log in and play, Square Enix is adding seven free days of playtime. The extra days will begin tomorrow after Square Enix concludes its maintenance, which will begin today at 5 pm (PDT). Maintenance should conclude tomorrow at 3 pm (PDT). The maintenance's purpose is to increase the number of Worlds, reduce stress on the Duty Finder servers, and increase the number of concurrent logins for each server.

Square Enix made the announcement through The Lodestone, their official website. "In order to allow access to as many users as possible, we have implemented login and character creation restrictions. We understand, however, that these restrictions have greatly inconvenienced our players," the company wrote in their announcement.

Users who have not entered their registration codes will receive their additional seven days of free play as long as they register before 11:59 pm (PDT) on Sept. 9. For all users, the free play time can be confirmed by accessing the Final Fantasy XIV: Mog Station.

"Moving forward, we will continue monitoring the servers to ensure that quality service and support are provided in a timely manner," Square Enix wrote. MMO launches are usually rough, and the launch of Final Fantasy: A Realm Reborn has proven to be no exception.

Source: Square Enix [http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/topics/detail/66dc7211d03e3676e0ecbdc5a0afea11e7c857de]

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[KeyMaster45]

Maintenance should conclude tomorrow at 3 pm (PDT).

The maintenance time is 5pm PDT to 3am PDT. http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/news/detail/4b021eb3d632f08be9d6198fd595066b31d7fb59

OT: There's definitely some heated discussions going on in the ARR community over whether this will actually fix the congestion problems as for as far as we know they will not be implementing an AFK kick timer with this maintenance. Frankly I'm one to agree with that in some regard as they can add new servers, but so long as you can stay logged in indefinitely (I've currently been logged in since late Friday night) the servers will remain so full that it's nearly impossible to get in; especially since each server's capacity is a paltry 5,000 concurrent connections.

 

[Shadowsetzer]

See, this doesn't really matter to me unless/until they offer some sort of free trial. I've been burned enough times to know better than to spend any money on an MMO without playing it first.

 

[IndomitableSam]

See, this doesn't really matter to me unless/until they offer some sort of free trial. I've been burned enough times to know better than to spend any money on an MMO without playing it first.

Let's Play's are popping up everywhere - take a look for some and see what you can find. The problems since launch have been big problems, and I'm not sure the maintenance today will go much past beginning to fix them. But they have been trying. A little. I've been pretty pissed when it took me 5 hours to login because the worlds are full and the launcher keeps crashing. It's really frustrating. But when I play... it's great. I really am enjoying it.

As much as the free play time is nice... I would much rather they impliment a queue system - that's my biggest issue. I'd be fine with the world full issues if I could sit on the character selection screen with a queue counting down. Instead, you have to keep trying to load the character over and over and hope the launcher doesn't crash under the load of tens of thousands of people doing the same thing.

Only other issue is there's no way to report someone easily, and the gil sellers are already rampant in cities, shouting or sending you /tells.

When I am playing, though (and I've probably put 50+ hours in since phase 4), I'm loving it.

 

[Colt47]

yeah assuming they can get past this 1017 login nightmare the game is looking to have a bright future ahead. It's definitely around encouraging group play, though it only does this through the required dungeon runs for the main quest rather than making it so that people need parties just to survive fighting equal level monsters.

 

[KingWein22]

Why not do an F2P trial up to a certain level and then if they want to play more with said character and explore new areas, subscribe? Just a thought.

 

[rbstewart7263]

Maintenance should conclude tomorrow at 3 pm (PDT).

The maintenance time is 5pm PDT to 3am PDT. http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/news/detail/4b021eb3d632f08be9d6198fd595066b31d7fb59

OT: There's definitely some heated discussions going on in the ARR community over whether this will actually fix the congestion problems as for as far as we know they will not be implementing an AFK kick timer with this maintenance. Frankly I'm one to agree with that in some regard as they can add new servers, but so long as you can stay logged in indefinitely (I've currently been logged in since late Friday night) the servers will remain so full that it's nearly impossible to get in; especially since each server's capacity is a paltry 5,000 concurrent connections.

will the 7 free days only apply to people who bought the game I could personally use 7 free days to try the game?

 

[KeyMaster45]

Maintenance should conclude tomorrow at 3 pm (PDT).

The maintenance time is 5pm PDT to 3am PDT. http://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/news/detail/4b021eb3d632f08be9d6198fd595066b31d7fb59

OT: There's definitely some heated discussions going on in the ARR community over whether this will actually fix the congestion problems as for as far as we know they will not be implementing an AFK kick timer with this maintenance. Frankly I'm one to agree with that in some regard as they can add new servers, but so long as you can stay logged in indefinitely (I've currently been logged in since late Friday night) the servers will remain so full that it's nearly impossible to get in; especially since each server's capacity is a paltry 5,000 concurrent connections.

will the 7 free days only apply to people who bought the game I could personally use 7 free days to try the game?

Yes, you'll have to have already registered a copy of the game with them in order to get the extra 7 free days they're adding on to the free month that comes with buying the game, so you'd have to get your hands on a copy/registration code by 11:59pm PDT (or 5:59am GMT)tonight if you want to get that. This time, however, is on top of the free month you get from just buying the game (game is only $30 USD).

 

[IndomitableSam]

yeah assuming they can get past this 1017 login nightmare the game is looking to have a bright future ahead. It's definitely around encouraging group play, though it only does this through the required dungeon runs for the main quest rather than making it so that people need parties just to survive fighting equal level monsters.

I don't mind the dungeons, really. I did Thousand Maws for the first time on Sunday, with a pick-up tank and healer. It's the longest dungeon I've been to so far (I've only been to the first 5), and it took maybe 45 minutes and was pretty easy, aside from that Ochu boss that just randomly hits people and ignores threat levels. I love how dungeons are quick and pretty painless. Most dungeon timers only run like 80 minutes max so far anyway. None of that 2+ hour deadmines run and crap like that. Some battles are downright rough with weird mechanics (Those slimes in Copperbell? The fact that you have to summon a bomb and then make it explode in order to hurt the slime, and keep doing so as the slime multiplies? All the while Spriggans are trying to kill the bombs you summon before they can explode? This is a level 17 dungeon. The boss before that has dozens of spiggans spawn and run around the room that you have to kill before a giant armored... thing appears to attack you.) Or the final boss in Copperbell(?) that you have to kite around the room before adds are trying to break down the walls and... let more monsters out? Not sure if it's an autofail if the walls collapse.. haven't lost that fight yet.

It's fun, anyway. They've come up with some good mechanics for the boss fights that make it so it's not just tank and spank or tons of adds spawn. Various mechanics you need to keep an eye out for in every fight makes going into a new one you haven't done before scary.

I think my favourite part of the game is you never feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. There are always NPCs around. I could be wandering the desert in the far south of Thanalan, walking over the dunes and all of a sudden trip over some NPC. Or in the middle of the forest and, hey, there's some random Wood Warder hiding behind a tree. Or you round a corner somewhere in the mountains and all of a sudden there's a settlement. Or just an inn on the side of the road. There are a couple towns per zone, at least, but there are also dozens of buildings or camps or ruins or something with NPCs in it. The world is alive and every inch is lived in and that's pretty amazing for a game.

The world still feels a bit small, though. I look forward to more zones.

Especially zone where you walk out of town, kill a few ladybugs, cross the road, and all of a sidden a level 45 Ahriman is floating over your corpse. It's not Level 1-5 zone followed be 5-15, followed by 15-25... it's literally cross the road or walk across the brdge or river and a saghain is eating your innocent little face. It's great how you have to be careful and pay attention to the world.

 

[CrazyCapnMorgan]

I think they could sweeten the deal a little bit by offering a one-time free server transfer.

I mean, I don't mind starting up a new character just to play with friends on another server, but it would be nice of SquareEnix to compensate the players in this manner.

Side note: I've been told that Falafel (Lalafell) heals bring good luck and baby chocobos!