Like any MMORPG, Final Fantasy XIV has a plethora of servers for players to choose from. If you’re a new player, you might be wondering what server is best in starting your journey. Well, thankfully there are a lot of answers to that question, with no real wrong answer. Below we’ve outlined what the “best” Final Fantasy XIV server is, according to your needs. Along with outlining how to travel between servers and Data Centers.
Each Data Center has its own scene, for the most part. Those looking for more character-focused interactions would be welcome on Crystal, whereas Aether and Primal favor players who are more focused on raiding. In relation to the European and Japanese Data Centers, it’d be working taking a look to see what each Data Center effectively “specializes” in. That said, the specific Final Fantasy XIV server isn’t as important as the Data Center. This is because Square Enix implemented cross Data Center travel.
You might be wondering what this means, well it’s actually fairly simple. Players can interact with one another across Data Centers, with the only current limitation being between regions. For example, players on the North American Data Centers cannot travel to the European or Japanese Data Centers, and vice versa. Cross Data Center travel is done at the character select screen by right clicking or selecting your character’s name. You can see the menu you need to access in the screenshot below.
However, there are some things to keep in mind when selecting a server. This includes home ownership and Free Companies. You cannot own an apartment or house outside of your home server in Final Fantasy XIV. You also cannot join Free Companies located on your home server. Your home server is where you created that character, and where these limitations will stick. So, if you made a character on the Primal Data Center on the Ultros server, you wouldn’t be able to own a house or apartment outside of that specific server.
This can be a little frustrating if you’re looking to join any server on the Crystal North American Data Center. This is because it is usually almost always locked. Sometimes the server opens up, but very rarely. That said, Crystal isn’t the only Data Center that has character creation limitations. You can check an up to date list of servers and if you can make a new character on them here.
Cross server travel is a lot more simple, thankfully. Just go to Ul’dah, Limsa Lominsa, or Gridania, select the main aetheryte there and then select what server you’d like to jump into.
Ultimately, where you create your character is up to you. If you’re choosing to play with friends that have an established Free Company, then it’s best to check what Data Center and server they’re on before you jump into Final Fantasy XIV. If you don’t really care either way, just make sure to make a character on whatever regional Data Center you want to interact with.
You can, of course, always pay for a Data Center and server transfer. But with the cross data center travel option now available, there isn’t a need for it like there used to be. So it’s worth weighing out the options before you decide to spend $15 on a potential transfer, which can be done multiple times. Do keep in mind that occasionally Final Fantasy XIV does incentivize players to make characters on new or underpopulated servers. Doing so and leveling up your character will net you a hefty amount of gil, which can be great for people that are entirely new to the game. And if you’re like me and aren’t interested in home ownership, you can always make your character on any server and feel it out from there.
Final Fantasy XIV is available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC.
