Final Fantasy 14's long awaited Endwalker expansion finally launched in early access after some delays. Players were all geared up to check it out, but unfortunately found themselves waiting in long queues. The launch saw the game reach its highest ever level of congestion, leading to the devs apologizing and offering a free week to compensate for it.
Director Naoki Yoshida, has now shared a response to the congestion issues via the Final Fantasy 14 blog. "We apologize for the huge inconvenience caused to players by the extremely high levels of congestion in each World since Early Access and the official launch of Endwalker," said Yoshida. "We are currently working to address various issues while maintaining our strengthened 24-hour support systems, but for now I'd like to provide an update about the current situation."
He then went on to elaborate on some of the major errors that players have been encountering. Error 2002 could occur due to one of two reasons: Either the number of players in the queue exceeding 17,000, or issues with internet connection on the players' side.
The first scenario occurs in order to keep the login server from going down if the queue becomes too long. Players will only face it if the server they try to join is already at full capacity. However, the devs have managed to raise the cap, so the error occurring for this reason is less likely now.
The second scenario occurs because the longer queues lead to longer wait times,which in turn increases the likelihood of connectivity issues. "In most cases, this is considered to be caused by packet loss on the internet route or instability from the Wi-Fi connection in the player's internet environment," noted Yoshida. This seems to be the biggest issue being faced by players at the moment. He apologetically suggested using WiFi or playing the PlayStation version while this issue gets resolved.
Errors 4004, 3001, and 90002/90006 were also detailed out.
The Final Fantasy 14 community has been mostly understanding of these issues as of now, but the frustration of not being able to play the Endwalker expansion is surely rising.