Right now, Final Fantasy 14 is having a major DDoS problem. The server attacks have been happening for years, but over the last few weeks, their frequency has increased massively. We’ve had multiple attacks, forcing players to disconnect, over the last few days. Square Enix may not have said anything about them recently, but more players are starting to voice their frustration. Hopefully, we’ll hear from Yoshida and the team soon.
If you’re unfamiliar, a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is when a third party attempts to interrupt the traffic and connection to a server. The server is overwhelmed with traffic, effectively causing it to shut down under the stress. For Final Fantasy 14, this means players are suddenly logged out of the game and may find it difficult to log back in until the DDoS has ended. While playing an MMORPG, which is always online, it’s easy to see why this can become a major problem.
Since the start of 2024 these DDoS attacks have been sporadic. According to the Lodestone, there can be an average of anywhere between two weeks to months between them. They can take down either the North American, European, Oceanic, or Japanese data centers, in any combination. Longtime players will remember the particularly bad Stormblood DDoS attacks in 2017, with an even more serious deluge of disconnects happening in 2014.
Over recent weeks though, the DDoS attacks have become particularly frequent. The Lodestone addresses six separate attacks in the last four weeks, and three since Wednesday September 18. Square Enix repeats that it is “investigating the attack and taking countermeasures,” while adding that it will “continue to monitor the situation and work with ISPs” on solutions.
The high concentration of DDoS attacks isn’t going down well with Final Fantasy 14 players; the forums and subreddits for the game are filled with players reacting to the disconnects. I’ve been incredibly lucky, never being disconnected mid-dungeon and even having a smooth Dawntrail launch. But I’m the exception, not the rule.
FF14 director Naoki Yoshida addressed the ongoing DDoS attacks earlier this year, saying “This is the largest scale and length” since the game launched. “I am hopeful because we have not seen any sort of critical damage at this point, and so Square Enix will continue to work diligently to protect us from the DDoS attacks,” Yoshida added in the May 2024 livestream.
I know DDoS attacks are incredibly difficult to combat, but I hope Yoshida and Square Enix address the FF14 community on the problem soon. Disconnects won’t go away, of course, but DDoSing has become so frequent that something needs to be done.
With DDoS attacks ongoing, make sure you stay up to date with the Final Fantasy 14 server status and maintenance times. If you’re still in Tural, we’ve got all the Final Fantasy 14 Dawntrail Aether Current locations.
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