Final Fantasy 14 is currently being targeted by waves of DDoS attacks on its servers, causing players to disconnect from the game at seemingly random intervals. The ongoing DDoS attacks on Final Fantasy 14 are primarily concentrated on the North American data centers of Aether, Primal, Crystal, and Dynamis as of this writing.
In short, a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt normal server operations by sending floods of traffic at it all at once. This is often done using a network of “bots” comprised of several devices, servers, or computers that flood a target with false requests or packets of information. A single attacker can then command the bot network via a dedicated command server to overwhelm a target with information and cause problems for legitimate users. There is no known way to make a server completely immune to a DDoS attack, though games like Final Fantasy 14 can mitigate the traffic from a bot network.
Final Fantasy 14’s North American Servers Targeted By DDoS Attack
Although this is not the first time that Final Fantasy 14 has faced a DDoS attack, an ongoing wave is causing problems for players on specific data centers. On the Final Fantasy 14 subreddit, several users reported that the North American data centers of Aether, Crystal, Dynamis, and Primal were experiencing disconnections and errors due to the attacks. The attacks started on Monday, November 3, and were temporarily mitigated before firing back up again late on Tuesday, November 4, at approximately 11:24 PM Eastern. Final Fantasy 14 players took to social media to confirm if other players were disconnected from the game, and some noted down the times that the disconnections happened. These attacks continued throughout November 4 into the early morning hours of November 5. As of this writing, the most recent DDoS attack wave hit the North American servers at 1:40 PM Eastern.
Players in Europe, Japan, and Oceania are seemingly unaffected by the ongoing DDoS attack on Final Fantasy 14. Though Square Enix put out a brief response late on November 4, the situation remains unresolved as of this writing. The attacks came just weeks after Final Fantasy 14 launched its 7.35 content update, which introduced the Pilgrim’s Traverse deep dungeon and a crossover event with Monster Hunter Wilds.
However, the DDoS attack has caused players to lose progress in Pilgrim’s Traverse, as disconnecting during a solo run will cause it to be lost. With Final Fantasy 14 preparing for its 7.4 update in December, it remains to be seen how Square Enix will respond to the attacks moving forward.
- Released
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August 27, 2013
- ESRB
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T for Teen – Language, Mild Blood, Sexual Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Engine
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Originally the Crystal Tools engine, but currently it’s a custom engine using parts of the Luminous Engine.
