The latest round of Final Fantasy 14 server maintenance is here, meaning you won't be able to play the MMO for 48 hours as Square Enix gears up for Dawntrail.
While Final Fantasy 14: Dawntrail isn't due to go live properly until July 2, thanks to Early Access, those who have pre-ordered the expansion will get to play days before on June 28. As a result of all of that, the Final Fantasy 14 servers need to be taken down for some TLC before Early Access mostly opens the floodgates before the full weight of the expansion's popularity tests the servers to the fullest on July 2.
Read on to find out when the Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail maintenance starts, when it should hopefully end, and how Square Enix feels about the state of the MMO's servers. We can only hope that we're not in for an Endwalker-style situation, which saw plenty unable to play due to server congestion.
Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail maintenance explained
- 2am PDT (June 28)
- 5am EDT
- 10am BST
- 11am CEST
Final Fantasy 14's Dawntrail maintenance begins at 2am PDT on June 26 for 48 hours, meaning FF14 servers should return at 2am PDT on June 28. Read the list above to see what time that is where you're at in the world. It's worth noting that 48 hours is Square Enix's aim and that maintenance may take longer. That said, the developer confirms it'll certainly not be any shorter than that.
You'll also want to keep the above times in mind, as Final Fantasy 14 will start to wind down before server maintenance begins. Data Center Travel and The Home World Transfer Service will cease 30 minutes before server maintenance begins, for example.
Once that's all done, it'll be time to see how Final Fantasy 14 servers fair against returning fans keen to try Dawntrail. The good news there, especially from director and producer Naoki 'Yoshi-P' Yoshida, is that the team can now open "new servers with a press of a button," so "there's almost no chance" Dawntrail servers will suffer like Endwalker.
If you weren't around for Endwalker, the queues to get in were so massive that Square Enix suspended sales for a spell of time and offered those already playing free game time.
While Final Fantasy 14 has been growing in popularity since A Realm Reborn just over 10 years ago, the MMO got a huge shot in the arm close to Endwalker's release thanks to a myriad of other factors, like World of Warcraft streamers bringing their audiences to the MMO as many were collectively fed up with the state of WoW. Final Fantasy 14 has opened plenty of new servers since, though that also proved challenging at first as COVID-19 made building the dang things difficult.
Regardless, with Final Fantasy 14's Dawntrail Early Access launch nearly here, we don't have long to wait and see how the MMO holds up.
