Data Centers

Before you get to create your character, the game makes you select a data center, a logical data center, and a world. Confusing? Yeah, we thought so too. Hopefully this page will give you a short and concise rundown of what they are and what you should choose.

Too many words? Feel free to skim past all the words and read only the ones in orange. These are the our recommendations.

Data Centers, Logical Data Center, and Worlds 

Before you can begin to craft your character you’ll need to select a data center, a logical data center, and a world. What is all that you ask? Well some will tell you “it doesn’t matter, just choose any random one of each” and others will give you the culture of every one of them to try to help you choose one. 

Here, I’ll try to give you concise information that will allow you to informatively choose the data center (and subsequently the world/server) that’s right for you!

First, Pick a Data Center

Data centers are physical locations that store data and in this case, FFXIV. You’ll select one of these first. Square Enix currently has Final Fantasy XIV Data Centers in four different regions: Japan, North America, Europe, and Oceania. The closer you are to the physical DC, the less likely you’ll have network lag.

Recommendation: choose one closest to where you live/game.

Secondary Recommendation: if you have friends that are already playing FFXIV and you would like the easiest way to play with them, choose the data center they are in.

Then, Pick A Logical Data Center

Each of the Physical Data Centers has up to four Logical Data Centers. You’ll have to select one of these after choosing your Data Center. This is where it starts to get confusing as they have names related to Final Fantasy. There are a few features that you can only access if you are on the logical DC you belong to but otherwise, it does not really matter which you choose.

Recommendation: if you have friends that are already playing the game and you would like the easiest way to play with them, choose the logical data center they are in.

Lastly, Choose a world

Each of the Logical Data Centers has up to eight Worlds and these Worlds are akin to servers. This is the last thing you’ll choose before getting access to the character creation menu. Worlds also have names that are related to Final Fantasy.

When creating a character you’ll be limited or restricted to create one on a world that is not congested. To find the current status of each of the servers head to Square Enix’s Server Status Page. If the server is labeled as ‘Congested’ you will not be able to create a character on that server. Look for the servers labeled ‘Standard’ with the green character symbol :creationofcharavailnb:next to it.

Recommendation: if you have friends that are already playing the game and you would like the easiest way to play with them, try to choose the same world they are in. If that world is congested, choose a world that is in the same Logical Data Center. This way you can still visit and play with them using the in-game World Transfer feature.

Now that you’ve got the boring stuff out of the way you’re ready to start creating your character! I hope you’ve got some time to spare, cuz this might take a while…