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Final Fantasy 14is one of the most popular MMORPGs right now, with millions of players across the world. With five expansions under its belt and more to come, Final Fantasy 14 is getting stronger than ever, with new players joining every day.
If you’re a sprout looking to start your journey in Eorzea, you may be wondering which server you should play on. While you’re able to’t really go wrong with any of the servers, each has its different communities that may better suit your preferred playstyle. Below, we’ll take a look at which server you should play on based on your playstyle.
Which Server Should You Play On?
In Final Fantasy 14, servers are grouped by Data Centers, or thephysical serversthat are located in our world. These includeNorth America,Europe,Oceania, andJapan. The closer you are physically located to the Data Center, the less likely you’ll be to experience things likenetwork lag. Because of this, it’s important tochoose the Data Center that you are physically closest to.
Outside of the Oceanean Data Center, each physical Data Center has multiplelogistical Data Centersto choose from, and each of these houses different servers. As an example, the North American physical Data Center holds the Aether, Crystal, Dynamis, and Primal logistical Data Centers, and each of these have their own servers to choose from.
It’s important to note that you canfreely visit other servers within your Data Centerusing theWorld Visit System, so you can easily play with other players on your same Data Center. Additionally, you canvisit servers on other Data Centersusing theData Center Travel system.
Now, let’s take a look at each Data Center and its servers to decide which is the best fit for you.
North American Data Centers
Overall, no matter which server you choose, there will be others to play with. For instance, just because Aether is the defacto endgame raiding Data Center, there are still plenty of people on any of its servers that will RP or organize community events, while the opposite is also true for Crystal.
That said, if you want a strong new player experience with tons of other new players and a bunch of bonuses,any server on the Dynamis Data Centerwill be your best option.
European Data Centers
European Data Centers follow a similar trend to the North American ones. For the most part, these servers areprimarily English-speaking, but you’re able to definitely find communities that speak other languages on several of them, withMoogle, Shiva, and Ragnarokhaving the most prominentFrench, German, and Spanish-speaking communities, respectively.
Oceanian Data Center
The single Oceanian Data Center Materia is your only choice if you live in this region, making it pretty straightforward when choosing a server. These serversall offer new player bonuses, meaning no matter which one you choose you’ll be in a good place.
Japanese Data Centers
Outside of a few specific cases, most Japanese serversspeak Japanese only. Unless you are an English speaker living in Japan (in which case, choose Atomos, Kujata, or Tonberry), we recommend against playing on any of the Japanese Data Centers, as communicating with others will be difficult.
New And Preferred World Bonuses
There are several bonuses you can earn for making a new character or transferring your existing character to aNew or Preferred World. The specific servers that offer these bonuseschange as population fluctuates, but you can see which are offering bonuses by checking theServer Status pageon the FFXIV Lodestone.
These bonuses are divided into if you’re making a new character on a New or Preferred World, or if you’re transferring a character to a New or Preferred World. you may find the bonuses in each case below.
Creating a new character on a New World
Double EXP until level 90
10 Silver Chocobo Feathers, used to buy low to mid-level gear
1,000,000 gil upon reaching level 30
Transferring a character to a New World
Home World Transfer is free
10 Gold Chocobo Feathers, used to buy rare mounts and other collectables
Double EXP until level 90, valid for 90 days after transfer
Housing reimbursement
Creating a new character on a Preferred World
15 days of free play time
Transferring a character to a Preferred World
