Square Enix warns of Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker wait times

Sometimes, the launch of a new MMO expansion takes a lot of time. Final Fantasy 14’s explosion of players earlier this year, Endwalker’s launch period is about to get messy.

Square Enix responded to player concerns over congestion by writing a blog on the subject Final Fantasy 14 website. It contains best practices regarding logging into the website during the new Endwalker expansion’s early-access period — which starts Friday, ahead of the official launch on Dec. 7 — warning about the severity of the queue, and what players should expect.

Square first clarifies, “Square expects to Endwalker’s launch to be more congested than previous launches. Studio blames new players as well as the shortage of semiconductors, for which the studio has not been able to add new Worlds that players can log in. Square Enix already apologized to players for the long queue.

The queue will be different for each version of players. Paying players will get priority in the queue, meaning they’ll get to log in faster. The free trial players can still log in but they will only be allowed to do so after paying members have signed up. Square urges users to avoid creating new characters in congested times. Players who remain AFK longer than 30 mins will be automatically logged out to help alleviate the congestion.

New in-game queues will be added. These lines may be encountered by players when they are grouped together for instanced content (dungeons etc.). during main scenario quests. Square Enix also plans to instance certain new areas that experience a lot of congestion — meaning that multiple players on the same world will be staggered into copies of the map. Square will allow players to select the instance they wish to visit to make friends. Square will also attempt to arrange all members of a party into one instance while traveling.

With Square Enix already asking for patience, it seems safe to assume that almost everyone — paid and free — will run into a lengthy queue sometime during the next week.