Summary
Final Fantasy 14will be down four servers soon, as Square Enix confirmed that the Shadow data center in Europe will be shut down on August 27 following a maintenance period. The fourFinal Fantasy 14servers that make up the Shadow data center, called Tycoon, Titania, Innocence, and Pixie, will no longer be available for players to visit starting August 15.
Before the release of theDawntrailexpansion,Final Fantasy 14announced that the Shadow data center would be added as a way to alleviate congestion in the Chaos and Light data centers in Europe. The Shadow data center was classified as a “probationary” set of four overflow servers, meaning that players could only access it via Data Center Travel and could not create new characters or purchase housing on it. The Shadow data center wascreated after the launch ofEndwalkerwas marred by long queue times and server capacity stretched to its limits. Hoping to avoid similar problems, Square Enix chose Europe as the territory that would host the probationary servers.
Now that the launch ofDawntrailhas passed, Square Enix confirmed that the probationary data center served its purpose. Following a period of server maintenance,the Shadow data centerwill be shut down on Tuesday, August 27. Ergo, the servers called Titania, Innocence, Tycoon, and Pixie will no longer be available for play after that date. Starting on Thursday, August 15 at 11:00 PM Eastern, Data Center Travel to Shadow will no longer be available.The company said in a Lodestone postthatFinal Fantasy 14players who have any characters on it will only be able to return to their Home World to keep playing. Square Enix did not say how long the aforementioned maintenance would take but asked players to use Data Center Travel to return to their home worlds beforehand to avoid any potential issues.
Which Final Fantasy 14 Servers Are Going Away?
Should any characters be left behind on any of Shadow’s servers following the August 27 maintenance period, Square Enix reassured players they would be automatically returned to theirhome worlds on the Light or Chaos data centers. The shutdown of the Shadow data center will happen over two months after its launch, which took place weeks beforeDawntrail’s early access period. Following Shadow’s shutdown,Final Fantasy 14players in Europe will once again be down to 16 servers split evenly across the Chaos and Light data centers.
Although the Shadow data center will soon go away,Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrailwill still haveplenty of content in future patches. Only time will tell if the probationary servers will return in future expansions.
Final Fantasy 14 (2010)
WHERE TO PLAY
Begin your adventure in FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm RebornCreate your very own Warrior of Light and embark upon a quest to deliver the land from an eternity of Darkness.Take to the skies in FINAL FANTASY XIV: HeavenswardTake your first steps in the reclusive nation of Ishgard, locked in a seemingly never-ending struggle with dragons.Rekindle the fires of hope in FINAL FANTASY XIV: StormbloodJourney to the East and rise up against the might of the Garlean Empire.Become the darkness in FINAL FANTASY XIV: ShadowbringersTravel to a world where light ushers all unto oblivion. But hope is not yet lost, for where there is light there is shadow.Journey to the very stars above in FINAL FANTASY XIV: EndwalkerA great calamity has been building - a second advent of the Final Days. The Warrior of Light must journey ever higher and stand firm as hope’s last bastion.Set forth for new horizons in FINAL FANTASY XIV: DawntrailBlue seas, clear skies, and boundless possibilities await! Explore uncharted territories with familiar faces as hope’s light dawns once more.
