Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn producer Naoki “Yoshi P” Yoshida has issued an apology to players regarding issues surrounding the launch of the MMORPG’s latest expansion, Dawntrail.
“Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who has been playing Dawntrail since the start of early access,” Yoshida stated via a blog post on the game’s official website. “However, I would like to offer my sincere apologies regarding the issues that we have identified and listed below. Please let me explain the status of the investigation behind their causes and the measures we plan to take to address them.”
Issues currently plaguing Dawntrail include a bug that causes the Xbox version of the game to freeze up when the player travels to a new area, issues with the animations of certain characters, and problems with the following raids and other in-game activities not working correctly:
Delirium Reginae (Savage)Dragonsong’s Reprise (Ultimate)The Minstrel’s BalladShinryu’s Domain
The blog post noted that these activities are currently bugged, meaning “mechanics related to freezing are not functioning correctly.” Yoshida noted the similarity between this issue and a previous bug affecting bosses in the Syrcus Tower raid, adding “we are planning to implement the fix through a client patch.”
As for the problems with character animations, Yoshida explained that the problem was “unfortunately identified late in the [development] process.”
The biggest hurdle, however, seems to be the bug causing the Xbox version of the game to freeze. Fixing it will also require a patch, but the process “involves rigorous check by [Square Enix’s] QA team,” meaning it may take a few days to fix.
“We are working to expedite the release of this patch at the earliest possible opportunity,” Yoshida said of the Xbox bug. “However, we regret to say that this process will require some time. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this causes and appreciate your patience and understanding as we work to address the issue.”
On the bright side, Yoshida did have a temporary fix for players experiencing the bug.
“The likelihood of encountering memory fragmentation is reduced when playing on Worlds with relatively low populations due to the lower chances of encountering large numbers of characters on screen at the same time,” he explained. “Until we have resolved the issue, we kindly suggest you consider playing on either the Dynamis, Shadow, or Oceania data centers.”
“The aforementioned issues are being classified as a high priority,” Yoshida explained, adding that the dev team is “considering the release of a hotfix, which is likely to occur sometime this week” and would be followed by “a brief maintenance period.”
The Dawntrail expansion isn’t set to officially release until Tuesday, July 2, but went into early access on June 28, which may be the reason so many bugs were only uncovered just before launch. Yoshida closed out the blog post with an additional apology, reassuring players that Dawntrail will continue to be closely monitored for bugs going forward.
“I would like to extend my apologies once again for the occurrence of these issues,” Yoshida wrote. “Rest assured, we are committed to addressing issues such as these that occur after the release of an expansion and will continue to promptly correct any urgent issues that may arise.”
