Latency and Lag

[Eldarath]

Good day.

I am a refugee from another popular MMO.

I live in Africa and are used to playing MMO games with a latency of around 200ms. I have not had any problems in other games. Until now...

As per the information I can find, Chaos - Louisoix server is EU based. So I enrolled on this server. I definitely had to get used to the slower playstyle but once I got used to it, I started noticing that I definitely am experiencing lag but only in this game. I did my first extreme trial today and basically could not do anything. I am having massive latency as I can clearly see I am out of the AoE, but still die to it. I spoke to friends that also started playing this with me, and their experiences are exactly the same. This is really worrying problem as we will never be satisfied just playing the easy mode.

I cannot find any way of seeing in-game what my latency is, but its definitely bad.

So if I am to play this game for much longer I need information about how to improve this. If I need to transfer to another data center or server, then I need to know.
How can I test my ping?
Does this game not support players that have to play with more than 200ms?
Are the maintenance crew aware of this widespread problem?

I would appreciate information as this will definitely affect my decision of paying a sub fee.

Thank you

[MistakeNot]

For some tips on how to check your ping times see http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...heck-your-ping

When avoiding AOE do note that the marker on the ground is not 100% reliable as to when the AOE goes off. The castbar of the mob is better for this. But even so I have lost track of the number of times I could have sworn I was out of an AOE, only for the game to judge that I was not - and this with a ping time of just around 50ms. Just get used to needing some margins when avoiding AOEs

I do some play on both EU and US servers - which have vastly different ping times for me (50ms vs 200ms), but the overall feeling when I play is not all that different (although if I got into Ex/Savage content on the US servers I may start to notice the difference)

Overall opinion from earlier discussions on this seem to be that ping times up to 200-250 ms are perfectly playable, as long as you aren't aiming to be in the top 1% of players.

[Risvertasashi]

FF14 is plagued with network issues, causing problems for even some players that are not, geographically, very far from the servers. The practical solution is to use a gaming VPN, though I know this sucks to hear since it means another monthly fee. But it's what a number of players have to do to play with acceptable ping, and they usually have free trials so you can see if it actually helps or not.

[Eldarath]

So the answer is to use a gaming VPN just to play a game? Then that immediately tells me exactly what to do. Not to play this game.

I will look into it at much later stage to see if they put some work into the networking code.

[Einmimiria]

Good afternoon and thank you for posting on the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

The distance you are from the server can play a big role in the stability of your connection. However, it's difficult to tell for certain where the issue stems from unless we have something like a trace route to look at.

If you are running into congestion or a routing issue, then the lag you get from the distance is going to inevitably get worse, unfortunately. I can provide some troubleshooting, but this would only strengthen your home network, any routing issues would be unaffected.

1) The game will use the Internet Explorer web browser to connect to the internet. Open Internet Explorer, then open the "Tools" setting, go to "Internet Options" and adjust the following settings:
- Under the "General" tab, please delete ALL browser history.
- Under the "Security" tab, please move the slider to the lowest possible settings or no higher than "Medium"
- Under the "Privacy" tab, click “Advanced” and select ‘Accept’ under both First Party and Third Party Cookies.
- Under the "Advanced" tab, please make sure that "Allow software to run or install even if signature is invalid" is CHECKED.
- Make sure that all SSL and TLS (EXCEPT SSL 3.0) are CHECKED. [SSL 3.0 should be UNCHECKED]
- Hit "Apply" to save the settings, and then "OK, to close the Internet Options menu.

2) Use a wired connection as opposed to a wireless one.

3) Make sure your anti-virus/firewall has the appropriate exceptions for Final Fantasy XIV (you can temporarily disable them while you try to connect as well).

4) Perform a clean boot. Simply open the task manager and select the 'Start up' tab. Disable everything here and restart the PC. This will make sure that no background processes are interfering with the game.

We hope we can be of assistance in helping you enjoy the exciting world of Final Fantasy XIV!

[Risvertasashi]

So the answer is to use a gaming VPN just to play a game? Then that immediately tells me exactly what to do. Not to play this game.

I will look into it at much later stage to see if they put some work into the networking code.

Do follow the steps suggested in other posts to rule out ISP issues on your end. But if the issue is not on your end (and for a number of people, it's not), unfortunately yes.

[MistakeNot]

So the answer is to use a gaming VPN just to play a game? Then that immediately tells me exactly what to do. Not to play this game.

Using a VPN may help - or it may do nothing at all, or it may make your connection worse.
It all depends on what your connection to the game servers look like.

If the network route from your computer to the game servers is a bad one - like a route with too many hops, or one which uses a roundabout connection, then using a VPN may help by forcing packets to travel a shorter, quicker route.
But if your network packets already travel along an optimal route - than using a VPN will not help at all, and may even make things worse.