Final Fantasy XIV Digital Sales Halt, Servers Melting Under Strain

[Karloff]

Final Fantasy XIV Digital Sales Halt, Servers Melting Under Strain

Have you been waiting an unreasonably long time to play? Square Enix has a solution.

"Due to the overwhelmingly positive response to Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn," says Square Enix, "we are currently experiencing extremely long wait times for users to be able to log in and play." But there's a solution to problems like that, and in this case the solution is to stop selling it digitally. This temporary measure, Square hopes, will ease the strain on its poor beleaguered servers. More server capacity will be added later, to deal with the hordes of players [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/125618-Final-Fantasy-XIV-Beta-Hits-One-Million-Registrations] eager to return to their favourite series.

This is the title that Square hopes will revitalise interest in the franchise, after the colossal disaster that was Naoki Yoshida [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120780-Another-Final-Fantasy-XIV-Could-Destroy-Square-Enix] admitted. "I think that was a very big mistake we made." It would seem fans are prepared to forgive Square Enix and return to the fold.

No word yet on exactly how long this process will take, but if the worst problem this title has is that it's too popular, Square Enix must be feeling pretty good about itself right now.

Source: Facebook [https://www.facebook.com/SquareEnix/posts/10151811501984461]


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[CrazyCapnMorgan]

I just spent the better part of an hour trying to login. If any of the admins were watching the servers during Early Access, they would've known that they needed more server strength overall.

Now, I've not played the original FF14 and only checked out FF11 for a little bit, but I can tell you, with absolute certainty, that FF14: ARR is most definitely a Final Fantasy game. It plays and feels like a Final Fantasy game; even the battle musics, sound effects, animations and enemies are all of that well-known Final Fantasy feeling. I play the PS3 version and I can tell you that if there weren't any other players on the game, it'd still feel like a regular RPG.

Square Enix made a wonderfully awesome game...they just need to get their servers in gear and make it a better gaming experience there. Login servers, lobby servers and duty (instance, in FF14: ARR speak) servers were all at max capacity before the official launch. People getting in after launch are just stressing it further. You know, first impressions and all that jazz...

EDIT: I can't believe anyone here hasn't seen this yet, but here it goes...

If Square Enix's server really DID melt under strain, then I guess you could say they...

*puts on sunglasses*

...made their game vaporware.

 

[Denamic]

My sister plays it, and it's apparently pretty good. If I didn't already have too many games to play, I would likely pick it up myself.

 

[Miyenne]

It's a good game so far, a bunch of us from here are all together on Malboro server.

It's just a good thing I don't work. I log my sister and my character in around noon and wait until she gets home around 3 or 4, just to make sure we do get to log in before the wait comes. Even yesterday at noon I had trouble getting in. Then my game crashed and that was the end of it.

But it really is good!

 

[GenGenners]

Yeah, the only problem it has at the moment is literally being too popular. My Free Company (or guild to you non-ARR types) has had to switch servers because our original server capped out too fast and not everyone got in.

 

[GenGenners]

It's a good game so far, a bunch of us from here are all together on Malboro server.

It's just a good thing I don't work. I log my sister and my character in around noon and wait until she gets home around 3 or 4, just to make sure we do get to log in before the wait comes. Even yesterday at noon I had trouble getting in. Then my game crashed and that was the end of it.

But it really is good!

You mean.....you AFK for 3 or 4 hours.....logged in? You do realise that is what's contributing to the login issues, right? People not logging out?

 

[Miyenne]

You mean.....you AFK for 3 or 4 hours.....logged in? You do realise that is what's contributing to the login issues, right? People not logging out?

I do. I do craft on both of us during the wait, or go out mining on myself or harvesting on her in between cleaning the house and such. We only get a few hours a day (and not even every day) to play together. I'm not going to waste hours trying to get in, which I have done several times lately.

I'm a selfish, selfish person.

 

[Church185]

The game itself is awesome, I just hope the fix some of the issues they have been having in a quick, painless manner.

If anyone reading this is interested in connecting with other FFXIV: ARR reborn players on The Escapist, we have a user group set up where we discuss the game!

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/groups/view/Final-Fantasy-XIV-A-Realm-Reborn

 

[jehk]

I guess I picked the right server. I haven't seen very long queues times at all. No I won't tell you which server I'm playing

 

[Colt47]

People can blame others for staying logged in, but the real problem lies with the duty finder system going through it's baptism by fire. Thankfully it looks like they might have gotten an emergency fix out in time and after this maintenance we may be in the green.

 

[Baresark]

Damn, Square Enix fails at life again. Why in the world is this an issue. They already launched it once, did they forget what an MMO launch is like. I figure you need to plan on how many servers you need, then increase that number by 50%. They can be consolidated later if it's necessary (which it will be).

 

[elvor0]

Soo...how is it gameplay wise now? Because I played it during the beta testing, and although it was a beta, it felt very alpha, if you know what I'm saying. Everything felt immensely clunky and long winded. Combat was an awkward cluster fuck and targeting didn't feel very smooth, that and the abilities didn't really seem very interesting, I played a lancer, and rather than abilities intermingling, it felt like a very linear ability tree. It didn't feel like there was any reason to use earlier abilities over the one I had just learned.

Handing in quest items was overraught, as were accepting quests in the first place. I'm assuming its better now, but the 2 months I played it(May and June) didn't feel /great/ to be honest. It felt very last gen and made by a smaller company that hadn't made an MMO before and that was only two months ago, I'm sure it's in a better state for release, but the state I played it in was no where even close to being fit for release.

Bearing in mind I played it on PC, it certainly felt like they'd designed it with a pad in mind, with mouse/kb control as an after thought. Certainly no where near as awkward to control as FF11 with a keyboard, but not very fluid either.

 

[Norithics]

It's still weird to me. FFIV was a disasterpiece of untold magnitude, while FFIV: ARR is an incredibly well-designed and thoroughly thought-out game that plays to the nostalgia of multiple generations of FF fans while focusing on the gameplay in virtually every aspect and wasting none of the player's time. It's almost Bizarro Universe stuff.

But yeah, they definitely underestimated how many people would want to play their mulligan.

 

[TT Kairen]

Soo...how is it gameplay wise now? Because I played it during the beta testing, and although it was a beta, it felt very alpha, if you know what I'm saying. Everything felt immensely clunky and long winded. Combat was an awkward cluster fuck and targeting didn't feel very smooth, that and the abilities didn't really seem very interesting, I played a lancer, and rather than abilities intermingling, it felt like a very linear ability tree. It didn't feel like there was any reason to use earlier abilities over the one I had just learned.

Handing in quest items was overraught, as were accepting quests in the first place. I'm assuming its better now, but the 2 months I played it(May and June) didn't feel /great/ to be honest. It felt very last gen and made by a smaller company that hadn't made an MMO before and that was only two months ago, I'm sure it's in a better state for release, but the state I played it in was no where even close to being fit for release.

Bearing in mind I played it on PC, it certainly felt like they'd designed it with a pad in mind, with mouse/kb control as an after thought. Certainly no where near as awkward to control as FF11 with a keyboard, but not very fluid either.

I play a Lancer myself and I use every move I've been given. When soloing, your first thrust plus the combo off of it will be highest DPS, mixing in your slowing stab to reduce damage taken, and leg sweep's stun lets you use either your backstab for increased damage, or your side attack to gain a damage buff.

 

[Worgen]

It really seems like the only mmo that managed a pretty smooth launch was GW2.

 

[Dante dynamite]

Yeah i was wondering if ARR is better than the original FF: XIV because it was atrocious and do I get any bonuses for being an early adopter?

 

[elvor0]

-snip-

I play a Lancer myself and I use every move I've been given. When soloing, your first thrust plus the combo off of it will be highest DPS, mixing in your slowing stab to reduce damage taken, and leg sweep's stun lets you use either your backstab for increased damage, or your side attack to gain a damage buff.

What level are we talking here? Because I got to about level 17 (I think), and use of combos felt a bit superfluous, I'm sure at higher levels they're a bit more necessary, but use of Life Surge and the first thrust killed everything so quickly that attempting anything fancy felt like a waste of time. THe times I did try to get fancy, it just felt too clunky to be worth the effort. Who knows, maybe the game just isn't for me, but as a hotkey/quest based MMO, it just feels so amazingly dated and awkward. I really wanted to like it, but everything was so arduous to do up till that point that I just wasn't having fun.

I find many of the abilities I get (archer, marauder are what I've leveled past 20) just aren't worth using on normal enemies. They're meant for long lasting boss battles and such. Spamming dots and such on regular enemies is a waste of time and energy for the most part. Just use a small cycle of your strongest abilities and that's that.

Obviously moaning that I don't need to use all the skills on trash is a bit unfair, I don't do that on WoW either at lower levels, but I pretty much only had to use ONE ability for 17 levels till I got vigor at 18(or whatever it was called, it caused a crit and healed you). My main complaint is that it flowed like treacle.

I'm not expecting WoW here, as that's had plenty of time to polish itself up, but Square have not only made 2(if you count the first iteration of FF14), they're a fucking big company, and thus I have slightly higher standards for them on this. I mean I've played obscure f2p korean mmos that felt more fluid than what I played. Warhammer Online in early beta was smoother.

 

[Miyenne]

What level are we talking here? Because I got to about level 17 (I think), and use of combos felt a bit superfluous, I'm sure at higher levels they're a bit more necessary, but use of Life Surge and the first thrust killed everything so quickly that attempting anything fancy felt like a waste of time. THe times I did try to get fancy, it just felt too clunky to be worth the effort. Who knows, maybe the game just isn't for me, but as a hotkey/quest based MMO, it just feels so amazingly dated and awkward. I really wanted to like it, but everything was so arduous to do up till that point that I just wasn't having fun.

I'm not expecting WoW here, as that's had plenty of time to polish itself up, but Square have not only made 2(if you count the first iteration of FF14), they're a fucking big company, and thus I have slightly higher standards for them on this.

I find many of the abilities I get (archer, marauder are what I've leveled past 20) just aren't worth using on normal enemies. They're meant for long lasting boss battles and such. Spamming dots and such on regular enemies is a waste of time and energy for the most part. Just use a small cycle of your strongest abilities and that's that.

 

[Elberik]

Wait, an online game has insufficient servers to handle the hordes of eager players?