A major annoyance of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) has always been having a friend play on a different server than you.
So you log up, make a character, and get all pumped up, only to find that you can’t play with your friends.
Thankfully, massively multiplayer online games have reached their natural conclusion. Mostly. (This is still used by certain MMORPGs, and it’s terrible.)
You can travel to several worlds within the same data center in Final Fantasy XIV. You can do it easily and at no cost to yourself.
There are a few limits to what you can do as a guest on another server, and I’ll explain them now.
If you want to know how to travel to different worlds in Final Fantasy XIV, read on!
How to Travel to Parallel Worlds
Major City Aetheryte
Just as in real life, not all huge blue crystals are the same.
The Aetheryte at the heart of Ul’dah, Gridania, or Limsa is your ticket to other worlds.
Choose the “Go to a Server in a Different World” option to go to a different planet. The time it takes to get to another world is usually little, but there may be a wait.
If that’s the case, try not to rush things. Believe that success is in your future.
When connecting to a server, you will instantly or shortly thereafter spawn in the same city and Aetheryte.
Data Center Restrictions
You can only go to worlds in your data center, as I explained earlier. The character choice screen displays your data center’s name.
When playing on other data centers, you cannot join with your buddies. (Yet.) Soonish, Square Enix will roll out a feature that will let players move freely across servers. It’s hard to predict with the FFXIV dev team sometimes.
When you’re just getting started, it’s a good idea to have all of your friends who want to play the game make their accounts on your server.
Pick the same server while you’re at it, too, if you can. It doesn’t harm to save yourself the inconvenience of having to visit other realms.
For the record, the Primal data center has the best globe servers to visit in FFXIV and the most fantastic people in Eorzea. Definitely make your own choice, though. (Go Excalibur, woo!)
What can’t you do when you visit other worlds?
It might be disorienting to be a visitor to a country that looks and feels just like your own.
As a free-roaming player, you can’t make use of all the features and events that are available.
Here are a few significant limitations you’ll face:
- You should buy property on other servers.
- Open the Free Company user interface.
- When the Free Company buffs you have been using refresh or change, you will automatically receive the new or improved version of them.
- Engage in routine Linkshell conversation.
- Assemble nodes of time-sensitive resources
- Be sure to check your mail.
- Put your avatar in the trash.
- Transfer globally (A permanent one for your character, not a visit.)
- Join Linkshells or Free Companies at no cost.
- Invoke your retainers (no trading or gaining Gil/venture rewards)
The message boards of the stock exchange are still accessible. Finding the best discounts requires doing some international price comparisons.
Returning Home
The trip back to your own planet is exactly the same as the one to your holiday place.
Using the “Visit Another World Server” option, you can choose your homeworld after arriving in a large city Aetheryte.
To get your Free Company buffs, check your retainers, and pick up your mail, you must visit your home world. Be mindful!
Sometimes I’ll be on the Lamia server for days before I notice I haven’t been on my usual home server, Excalibur.
Logging Off
You have the ability to succeed. Assuming, of course, that you ever actually disconnect from the internet. I don’t.
Your persona won’t be leaving the planet you’re currently exploring. Because of this, Final Fantasy XIV is so successful at making its players forget they’ve left their home world.
You commit the cardinal sin of cybersquatting on Eorzea.
See The Other Worlds of FFXIV
After everything is said and done, figuring out how to travel to other worlds in Final Fantasy XIV will introduce you to a wide variety of player factions with whom you can make friends, foes, and adventures.
Having the ability to travel to other worlds also makes it much simpler to assemble a full raid crew. (It is important to note that the Party Finder is always inter-world; it is the same feature with a new skin.)
