Starting March 8, 2007, players will be able to create new characters on the World of their choice. Up until now, Worlds would be randomly assigned to characters upon their creation, while only players with World Passes could join their friends. However, with this new adjustment, all players, even ones without World Passes, will have the option to select their realm at the character selection screen.

Originally, the World Pass system was introduced to maintain a balance among all the Worlds and prevent overpopulation. However, with the continued stablization of each World's adventurer community and recent technical advances in server technology, it has been determined that allowing players to create new characters on Worlds of their choice would not greatly affect the current population balance.

In conjunction with this change, we have updated the character creation screen to include a new pull-down window from which players can select the World of their choice. Also, additional characters added to an account will no longer be automatically assigned to the same World as the first character. Players will be free to choose where they wish that new character to reside, be it the same World, or a completely different one.

Finally, the development team is continuing their work on World selection by making preparations for a new service that will allow players to move their characters to different Worlds. Please keep a close watch on the Topics page for further updates on this exciting feature.

*While all World Passes will become void after March 8, 2007, Gold World Passes will continue to be distributed to players who wish to purchase them. Any adventurers who would like to invite their friends to Vana'diel can still utilize the Gold World Pass feature and take advantage of the special benefits this unique system has to offer.

To access a beginner's guide to FINAL FANTASY XI, click here.