The launch of Final Fantasy XIV's Endwalker expansion was a bumpy one, with many players sitting in a login queue for hours and receiving error codes that closed the game completely. Now, Square Enix plans to make changes to better prepare for the inevitable influx of Warriors of Light during the release of their next expansion, Dawntrail.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, FFXIV director and producer Naoki "Yoshi-P" Yoshida apologized to the many players affected by congestion who could not enjoy the experiences introduced with Endwalker. Acquiring new server hardware during that time seemed nigh impossible due to the silicon shortage the pandemic brought, and there seemed to be no other option for Warriors of Light than to wait for their turn and hope they didn't lose their line in the queue.
Three years later, during Live Letter 79, Yoshi-P announced that Square Enix had a few solutions to prevent this from happening again. There are plans to expand FFXIV's current server infrastructure and implement cloud servers. A stress test will be conducted during Patch 6.5x, though the exact patch is currently unknown at the time of writing. Square Enix will add a temporary North American Data Center, which will appear as a "cloud DC," where it can adequately determine how feasible these new servers will be to implement. Further details regarding the stress test will be revealed on The Lodestone at a later date.
Any changes made to ensure a smooth launch for a turning-point expansion like Dawntrail is sure to be welcomed by players, and these changes will hopefully have the Warrior of Light fighting their true enemies rather than error codes.
