We’re 62 days away from the July 2 launch of Dawntrail and server congestion continues to be a primary concern for the Final Fantasy XIV team. Today, they announced the creation of Shadow, a new European Data Center that’ll be ready for the summer launch.
The new data center will include three new worlds appropriately themed after the 2019 Shadowbringers expansion. There’s Innocence, Pixie, and Titania. The Final Fantasy XIV team will be monitoring login congestion carefully to determine the opening dates of the Shadow Data Center worlds. While you may see the Shadow Data Center following an upcoming May 7 update, none of the worlds will be accessible until the data center’s official launch which will be announced on a future date.
Server congestion and long login queues are serious concerns for the Final Fantasy XIV whose last major expansion, Endwalker, became the butt of unending jokes and memes because of its launch woes. Back in March, the critically acclaimed MMORPG tested cross-region data center travel as another potential means of reducing player congestion. We’ll find out in early July if all these preliminary measures actually get excited players into Dawntrail faster or if we'll see the return of Long Queue (Savage).
For more information on the new European Data Center, check out The Lodestone.
