Data Centers in Final Fantasy XIV
Screenshot by Destructoid

FFXIV World Status updates open up a few popular hubs post-Dawntrail, others remain ‘congested’

Bad news if you wanted to start fresh on Aether.

Servers for Final Fantasy XIV are constantly shifting and changing status, and those updated labels bring perks or difficulties to players on those servers. After the August 27 maintenance, Data Centers across North America, Europe, and Japan were tweaked, with some shedding or adding the dreaded Congested status.

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With the Dawntrail rush calming down, FFXIV Worlds are undergoing their usual dance to manage player populations across all Data Centers. If you’ve been hoping to join friends on another server or are just eager to create a new character elsewhere, now is the time to double-check those Server designation changes.

FFXIV World Status designations, from Congested to Preferred

Within every Data Center, individual worlds accept, encourage, or bar new character creation entirely. For those who are unsure what all of the statuses mean, here’s a quick rundown:

Congested: Worlds with an extremely high population. No new characters can be created on or transferred to these Worlds.

Standard: Worlds with a manageable number of players who call it home. New characters can (usually) be made on these Worlds, but don’t receive any perks for doing so. Character creation occasionally toggles on and off, but you should always be able to transfer.

New: A newly added World where it is highly recommended players create new characters. Newly created or transferred characters will receive special bonuses, like EXP boosts. 

Preferred: Already established worlds with a low population where new characters can freely be created and will receive the same perks as those on a new world. 

Changes on North American Data Centers

North American Data Centers in Final Fantasy XIV
Screenshot by Destructoid

For those playing on North American Data Centers, a few changes were made to World statuses during the August 27 maintenance. No changes were made to Aether, as all worlds on the Data Center are still considered congested.

On the Primal Data Center, a North American hub, the following Worlds are now labeled as Standard:

  • Behemoth
  • Excalibur
  • Leviathan
  • Ultros

On the Crystal Data Center, a North American hub, the following Worlds are also Standard:

  • Balmung
  • Brynhildr
  • Coeurl
  • Diabolos

There are no Preferred Worlds in North America, though Dynamis is home to mostly those with the same perks labeled as New.

The following Worlds are now also considered congested:

  • Exodus
  • Famfrit
  • Goblin
  • Hyperion
  • Lamia
  • Malboro
  • Mateus
  • Zalera

Changes on European Data Centers

European Data Centers in Final Fantasy XIV
Screenshot by Destructoid

There are no Worlds on European Data Centers marked as congested in the update, but changes still occurred. Most of the shift impacts player balance on FFXIV’s Light Data Center, but anyone looking to transfer a character should have no issue on any World — for now, at least.

On Europe’s Light Data Center, Standard Worlds now include:

  • Alpha
  • Odin
  • Phoenix
  • Raiden
  • Shiva

Moogle and Phantom are the only Worlds on the Chaos Data Center with the Standard Status. However, also on the Chaos Data Center in Europe, Louisoix and Spriggan are now Preferred Worlds, along with Light’s Twintania.


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Paula Vaynshteyn
With her first experience of gaming being on an Atari ST, Paula has been gaming for her entire life. She’s 7,000 hours deep into Final Fantasy XIV, spends more time on cozy games than she would care to admit, and is also your friendly resident Whovian. Juggling online adventuring with family life has its struggles, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.