Category:Servers

Servers, also known as "Worlds," are instances of the world of Vana'diel on which players reside (a single server would not work, as the population of the game is too great for one server to be shared). Each World is home to a different population of players. They are typically named after a summoned being or type of monster from the Final Fantasy series, or a lead enemy character from earlier games in the series.

Choosing a World
By default, the server you create a new character for will be chosen at random. However, should you obtain a World Pass by purchasing one from a World Pass Merchant (or recieving one from another player), you may create that character on a specific server.

World Pass
World Pass Merchants are located in each major nation as follows:
 * Kachada (Port Bastok, (J-6))
 * Ambleon (Northern San d'Oria, (C-9))
 * Gamimi (Heavens Tower, (?-?))

Upon purchase of a World Pass, you will recieve a ten-digit number representing it, This number may only be entered during the character creation process, may only be used to create a certain number of new characters with, and will expire in one Earth week (displayed by the merchant as number of hours) from date of purchase.
 * The amount of gil required to purchase a World Pass is determined by the number of active players on the server, and the number of World Passes that have recently expired without use(?).

World Passes with unused character slots are often posted to server-specific forums as a matter of courtesy. Donations for this practice (in gil) are sometimes requested.

World Passes may only be used with new characters. There is currently no way to transfer an existing character to another server using a World Pass.

Vana'diel Adventurer Recruitment Program
More recently, a second type of World Pass has become available for purchase from World Pass Merchants, This Gold World Pass may only be given to a player with a new PlayOnline ID, who has not yet created a character for Final Fantasy XI. The number given may only be used for the first character that the player creates, and (like standard World Passes) is good for seven Earth days from time of purchase.
 * Gold World Passes cost 1,000 gil. This price will not be modified by any factor.

Upon use of the Gold World Pass number, the new character and the Gold World Pass buyer may form a party and speak to a World Pass Merchant (choosing the option "Gold World Pass benefits") to obtain various rewards. The first time this occurs, the new character will recieve 12 Free Chocopasses; If both characters remain active (and paid for) for 40 Earth days, the new character will recieve a Sprout Beret, while the Gold World Pass buyer will recieve a Guide Beret (the latter if one is not owned already). These two berets are meant to be complementary, allowing the buyer to help in leveling the new character.

Further rewards are obtainable by both characters at 100 and 365 days after new character creation, and by the Gold World Pass buyer 40 Earth days after he or she invites each additional new character (if applicable).

See the Vana'diel Adventurer Recruitment Program entry for further details.

World Migration
The only method that existing characters may be moved between servers is when an official World Migration from your server to another (usually new, and thus less-populated) is taking place. World Mover NPCs (wearing the distinctive GM uniform) will appear in major cities and announcements will be posted on PlayOnline if a World Migration is announced.

Be warned that these migrations are not common and, if multiple servers are involved, you will not be able to choose the server that your character is moving to. During the scheduled migration, you will also lose any markers placed on your maps and all items left in your Delivery Box at the time of the move.

Listing of Known Servers
There are currently 34 servers in total known to be consistently active at present.

32 of them are standard servers used by players. The second-to-last is a beta testing server. The last is the test server used for trial of experimental features and hypothetical scenarios, available only to testers and GMs and closed to the public.

Servers may be made temporarily unavailable for maintenance, emergency issues, and updates. The Japanese Server Status and US Server Status pages on the PlayOnline FFXI website will allow you to stay up to date with the status of your current server.

Active Official Servers
Servers currently in service are as follows:

Servers no Longer in Service
The following servers were decommissioned, mostly due to early underpopulation or the end of a specific testing period:

Other Servers
These servers are uncategorized. They may not currently be active, or only active to use for specific purposes:


 * --: Chocobo (activation date unknown)
 * This is the test server for Real Vana'diel, an internet cafe selling itself as a "Final Fantasy XI Play Zone" in the city of Akihabara, Tokyo, Japan. It is also used for "live" special events such as the Boss Battle Bash event shown at E3 2005, and possibly other live events held during the US Final Fantasy XI iGames Tour.
 * This server may currently be in use for inter-server team matchups in each of the three Ballista Royale tournaments.


 * ??: Behemoth
 * ??: Dragon
 * ??: Chimera
 * ??: Wyvern
 * These server names are listed in the FFXI binaries. Their purpose is unknown, though it is assumed they are placeholder names for new servers to be introduced at the time of the Xbox 360 release of FFXI.