On January 6, 2026, the hardcore Savage variant of the current Arkadion raid started in Final Fantasy XIV. However, due to a persistent problem, many players had little joy with the fresh challenge.
What is the problem? The servers of Final Fantasy XIV have been suffering from repeated DDoS attacks for months now. DDoS stands for Distributed Denial of Service. In such a case, a target is attacked with a massive flood of requests to overload it and make it inaccessible to others.
In the case of Final Fantasy XIV, this means: players lose connection to the server, get kicked out of the game, and find themselves in very long queues when trying to log back in. The servers in the North America and Oceania regions have been suffering from such DDoS attacks for months.
Recently, according to some affected players, the attacks have been particularly severe… it is reported on Reddit that there were more than 15 DDoS attacks in a single day. This is currently doubly frustrating because a crucial piece of content for many players recently premiered.
“A Nightmare”
What content is this? Ever since the release of Patch 7.4, all eyes have been on the biggest stage of Solution Nine: the heavyweight of the current Arkadion raid. The finale of the boss fun delights with cleverly combined mechanics and its rocking musical accompaniment. MeinMMO editor Alex had more fun in this new raid than he has had in a long time in Final Fantasy XIV.
Since January 6, 2026, all experienced players can try their hand at the even tougher Savage variant of the Arkadion raid. It offers better rewards but requires players to have precise reactions, coordination, and maneuvering. The smallest mistakes can lead to a wipe. It doesn’t help if the servers are struggling and constantly kicking players out of the game.
What is the community saying? Many current reports highlight the frustration within the community:
- DragonEmperor complains on Reddit: “Since 2 PM, there have been DDoS attacks approximately every hour, since the Savage raid tier was released. […] The game was largely unplayable when the raid started, and it happened as soon as people entered the raids.”
- Macho-Fantastico explains on Reddit: “One of the reasons why I decided against a return over Christmas was the DDoS attacks. I have friends who play, and for them it’s a nightmare. These attacks have been ongoing for months now.”
- CyanYoh got kicked out of the game in the middle of the raid and took it with humor on Reddit: “Happy Savage Day!”
This is just the tip of the iceberg from countless posts on the subject, each with hundreds of comments and thousands of upvotes. The problem affects a very large part of the FFXIV community. However, there is good news for you: the EU servers have not been affected so far.
This is also underscored by a report from the developers on the official Lodestone, which reports DDoS attacks on the North American data center. We hope that the EU data center remains spared and that the developers can get the problem under control soon.
Patch 7.4 had much more to offer for Final Fantasy XIV than just the new Arkadion raid. An overview of the significant innovations of the current content update can be found in this article: Final Fantasy XIV Patch 7.4 “Into the Mist”: New trailer features upcoming boss battle with a rocking song by a Grammy winner
