One Ethernet Pull Could Crash an FFXIV Server

Square Enix patched a serious Final Fantasy XIV bug on September 8, the same day the new Beastmaster job launched, after discovering an interaction that could crash an entire server rather than just the affected player's game.

The issue, detailed on the official Lodestone notice, triggered when a player's character left the area due to a connection loss at the exact moment their pet used a weapon skill that restores its master's HP. That specific timing was apparently easy to force on purpose — pulling an Ethernet cable at the right moment could reliably reproduce the crash.

Beastmaster is one of FFXIV's limited jobs, a category shared with Blue Mage. Limited jobs can't be used to clear the main story quest or endgame dungeons, but they come loaded with unconventional abilities that make them popular novelties — which meant a large crowd was piling in to test the new class right as this bug was live.

What's confirmed

• Date: Beastmaster launched and the fix went out on September 8.
• Trigger: A disconnection timed with a specific pet HP-restoring skill.
• Scope: The failure took down the server, not just the individual client.
• Reproduction: Disconnecting an Ethernet cable at the right moment could force it.

Square Enix has a track record of chasing down oddly specific bugs in this MMO. Last year it fixed an issue where listing an auction house item priced between 44,442 and 49,087 gil in a certain zone could boot players from the server, and a 2023 incident briefly handed everyone random buffs. This one just carried higher stakes, given it could take an entire server down rather than inconvenience one person.

Further reading: PC Gamer

The post One Ethernet Pull Could Crash an FFXIV Server appeared first on MMOs.com.