Final Fantasy 14 has experienced another distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack on its servers, with the North American data centers as primary targets. The most recent Final Fantasy 14 DDoS attacks came after waves of attacks already hit the servers in November.
The attacks came soon after Final Fantasy 14 released Patch 7.4, Into the Mist, on December 16. The new content update brought the finale of the fan-favorite Arcadion raids series and a new main scenario chapter that set the stage for Final Fantasy 14next expansion. Final Fantasy 14 also introduced a strategy board that players can use to formulate battle plans. The 7.4 update also brought a significant change to the game's glamor system, as restrictions on most armor that were based on job, role, and level had been lifted.
Final Fantasy 14 update 7.4 just made big changes to a fan-favorite job
Final Fantasy 14's Patch 7.4 update brings new story missions, new bosses to fight, and some surprising changes to a popular job.
Final Fantasy 14's Latest Update Marred by Disconnections
Fixed Final Fantasy 14 experienced a long DDoS attack wave in November, the disconnection problems have since returned. As of this writing, the most recent attack on the North American data center occurred at approximately 3:30 PM Eastern on December 19th. The attacks caused Final Fantasy 14 players to voice their concerns on the game's official subreddit and to confirm if an attack was the cause of the sudden disconnection or lag.
What is a DDoS attack?
Simply put, a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt normal server operations by sending floods of traffic all at once. While there is no known way to make a server completely immune to a DDoS attack, games like Final Fantasy 14 may reduce traffic from a bot network by redirecting traffic flow or through other countermeasures that Square Enix or its partners may take. Affected FF14 players can attempt to log in again shortly after, although they may be met with a long queue. Square Enix stated that they were aware of the ongoing situation and would continue to monitor it.
In light of the DDoS attacks in November, Square Enix made another change Final Fantasy 14s Deep Dungeon feature that gave players a way to save a run that would previously have been deleted due to disconnections. As of Patch 7.4, Final Fantasy 14 allowed players who disconnect in a Deep Dungeon instance to resume their run if they log back into the game within 10 minutes or less. However, if a single party member in a Deep Dungeon run is knocked out while the disconnects are happening, all progress will be lost and players will have to start over from a previous floor.
Other known issues with Final Fantasy 14's latest update
While Final Fantasy 14s latest patch has seen its share of issues that required additional server downtime to fix, an issue that has brought the community together in hilarious fashion. After Patch 7.4's arrival, an unnamed level 1 deer, called “MissingNo” by Final Fantasy 14 player, was spotted in Coertha's Western Highlands. The highlands are normally inhabited by monsters ranging from levels 50 to 60. Despite being a known bug introduced in Patch 7.4, Final Fantasy 14 players have taken pictures and held group gatherings around the MissingNo deer.
Although Square Enix made a few more hotfixes Final Fantasy 14 on December 19th to address some issues with Cosmic Exploration and specific glamor pieces, the MissingNo Deer could still be found in the Western Highlands of Coertha. But time will tell if or when Square Enix will send the Tier 1 beasts back to where they came from in a future update.
- Released
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August 27, 2013
- ESRB
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T for Teens – Language, mild blood, sexual themes, alcohol use, violence
- Engine
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Originally the Crystal Tools engine, but currently a custom engine using parts of the Luminous Engine.
Sources: Square Enix, Is XIV Up
