With prolonged wait occasions a distant reminiscence, the Remaining Fantasy XIV staff is able to return to normalcy by letting of us keep logged in perpetually, irrespective of how lengthy they go with out, you realize, truly enjoying the massively multiplayer on-line sport.
In July 2021, Remaining Fantasy XIV launched a system that kicked gamers after half-hour of inactivity. This aimed to mitigate the sport’s growing server congestion forward of the extremely anticipated Endwalker enlargement’s launch that December. Sadly, it didn’t do a lot. The overwhelming recognition typically resulted in hours-long login queues. However issues have chilled out today. Gamers are once more free to AFK to their hearts’ content material, a characteristic that units Remaining Fantasy XIV aside from its contemporaries.
When Remaining Fantasy XIV applied these auto logouts, I used to be stunned that the sport didn’t already boot individuals who weren’t doing something. When it comes to sustaining on-line stability, it solely is sensible. Drawing in tens of hundreds of gamers at any given second means doing the whole lot you may to make sure servers aren’t being overloaded. Different persistent on-line video games like World of Warcraft, Runescape, and Misplaced Ark, as an illustration, have lengthy had their very own AFK timers.
Remaining Fantasy XIV—and, by extension, its participant base—is totally different from different MMOs. Its lack of an AFK player-booting system permits the world to really feel fuller and extra alive. Touring to any of Remaining Fantasy XIV’s bustling metropolis facilities may be an amazing expertise, as you’re typically met with throngs of gamers simply hanging out. Actually, some of us by no means log off in any respect, preferring to let their characters dance away the time between play classes in public areas.
As such, the Remaining Fantasy XIV staff’s choice to take away the AFK timer is proving to be a preferred one with the MMO’s passionate neighborhood.
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“After I first began, there was some man standing within the highway within the Black Shroud for a strong week,” mentioned a participant on the Remaining Fantasy XIV subreddit in response to the information. “I used to be dumbstruck. Now, I just about by no means log off, for no explicit motive, so I get it.”
“Earlier than [Endwalker] launched, there was all the time a dude on the steps in entrance of the Aetheryte in Ul’Dah doing the [Bee’s Knees dance],” one other participant mentioned. “I referred to him because the Meth Pope attributable to his colourful outfit (or lack thereof), and for the primary time in months, I noticed him once more this morning.”
“I alt-tab within the [free company] home every single day, maintaining the music within the background,” mentioned a 3rd. “I reckon I’m in all probability not alone with that. Different folks simply by no means log off. Fashionable PCs have the power to maintain [Final Fantasy XIV] open with out hindering the rest. Can actually play different video games whereas [it’s] operating. I log in once I activate my PC, log off once I flip it off.”
Remaining Fantasy XIV’s social facets typically immediate gamers to attain private objectives outdoors the standard content material, resembling making their character as brilliant as doable.
Sq. Enix is at the moment having fun with a victory lap after Endwalker contributed to a “sharp rise” in subscriptions, making it one of many firm’s most worthwhile endeavors within the earlier fiscal yr. Except for the removing of the AFK timer, Remaining Fantasy XIV has additionally obtained smaller mechanical changes and additional content material through the present “Newfound Journey” patch, which ought to, partly, lead immediately into its subsequent main storyline.
