Horrible Server Lag Needs To Be Fixed ASAP

[Avraym]

Yep. Wouldn't be such an issue if late game wasn't entirely 1 shot based mechanics.

So many people are stuck on Titan, not because the fight is particularly difficult, just because of lag and the overpowered consequences of standing in a laggy mechanic.

[Malix]

with all the money i put into this game, it surpises me that they messed up on one of the most important part.

[complexxL9]

I haven't experienced a single instance of this. I'm not saying there isn't an issue but, if it was the server, then wouldn't everyone be having this problem?

Everyone is experiencing it, not everyone is aware of it / has problem with it / can tell a difference.

[complexxL9]

The server knows you're moving, it just won't interrupt the spell casting/item use right away - has nothing to do with lag.

It has nothing to do with "lag" if we define lag as connection latency. It has to do everything with "lag" if we define it as flawed combat mechanics / lousy netcode.

[Unruhe]

I haven't experienced a single instance of this. I'm not saying there isn't an issue but, if it was the server, then wouldn't everyone be having this problem?

As I've mentioned in a similar thread, it could just come down to playstyle. Judging by your avatar, I'd assume you primarily play a tank at 50. While this issue can crop up at lower levels, it's typically the tighter tuning (read: faster enemy cast times) at high level that make the problem most apparent. From the bit that I've messed with Gladiator, I know that you don't have any hard-cast spells as part of your main rotation, so the issue with moving casts or false interrupts wouldn't affect you.

This just leaves the AOE, which is a bit easier for Melee/Archers to avoid simply because of the 'instant' nature of those classes. If your latency to the server is low, and you always move the instant you see a red indicator, you will be very likely to avoid getting hit. Casters have a rougher time of it because it can be tempting to complete a cast ("My cast will finish in less than 1 second, that still gives me .5 seconds to move") but the location polling artificially lowers the amount of time a player has, which can cause a player to get calculated as a false hit if they only barely make it out of the red in time. Casters also have the "I moved but my cast kept going" problem compounding this -- because of the way the polling works, it's possible to complete a cast while moving if you move late in the cast. This can make you face the target or "stutter step" when the spell animation completes, which can cost valuable fractions of a second when trying to avoid a fast AOE.

[Jinko]

I would love to hear an official response on what if anything is going to be done about it.

Good luck with that, we have been complaining about this since beta phase 2/3 and devs have pretty much ignored the issue, although they admit there is one.

They need to update the character positioning every 50ms instead of every 300ms whilst in boss fights, sure it will put more pressure on their servers but this game isn't going to be successful with these issues in play.

[Eliniell]

The biggest problem is that the server only updates positions and spell checks every .33 seconds. Most big MMOs update every .1 seconds, so the responsiveness feels a LOT slower in this game.

[Silverwalk]

This is an example of the lag discussed in this thread http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...fix-something.

It is an accepted bug and Yoshi posted why it happens two months ago in the beta forums. Bug report: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...s-everybody%29

Those people who claim it is the players computer or connection are ignoring this. The devs have confirmed that the problem is in their software and server design.

Those people who say they have not seen this problem have probably not been observant enough. It's easy to reproduce using the methods in the accepted bug report.

1. Start casting Cure and just before it completes start running - cure completes despite the fact that you're moving. The amount of time you can run before it cancels will vary by 0.3 seconds but usually you can get away with up to 1/2 second before the cast bar is finished.
2. Run out of red AoE's and then run back in just before the cast bar completes - you take no damage.
3. Watch someone else get killed by an AoE and then watch their dead body sliding across the ground to safety - that's how far the server was behind the other persons client and shows that the person had in fact reached safety.
etc etc.

Yoshi promised this would be fixed in ARR, see this post http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...t-be-addressed

Square-Enix: First of all, we'd like for you not to worry. The interface lag will get much better when we introduce the server system for 2.0. As compared to 11, he (Yoshida) would rather compare it to World of Warcraft. It's going to depend on things such as your personal environment, equipment, etc. But it will be closer to that then what currently exists.

From the beta forums:

Area Attacks and Latency Issues

Producer and director Yoshi-P here.
Thank you for all of your feedback on latency issues and the evasion of enemy attacks. As we continue working to address these issues in time for phase 4 and release, I'd like to inform you all of the current situation.This post will focus on area attacks that are difficult to evade, or still connect even if you appear to have avoided it.

Damage taken when Ifrit uses Eruption.

When Ifrit used eruption in phase 3, the animation had a momentary build-up before the explosion. Because of this momentary buildup, there was a slight delay between the server's check and the explosion. This has already been corrected for phase 4 and release.

Damage taken for what looked like a near miss.

1. Registering Player Damage

In phase 3, when judging whether a character was standing in an attack's area of impact, your position was checked using a circle around your character to represent the space your character stands in.

Furthermore, to keep the different races balanced, the radius of this circle was the same for all characters. Because of this, even if you appeared to have barely escaped the area of effect, a portion of the circle was still within range. This created the illusion that you barely evaded attack, with varying results depending on your race.
For phase 4 and release, this circle has been reduced to a single point at the center of where your character is standing to more accurately determine your position.

2. Enemy Progress Bars and Area of Impact

Being an online game, there will always be a minimal delay when input is received from the player and sent back after being processed by the server.
In FFXIV: ARR, your position is checked by the server once every 0.3 seconds. This timing is synced and processed according to the servers to prevent lag between your input and what you see.

During phase 3, however, this syncing did not take place due to stringent server checks that took place, causing lag between what you saw on the enemy progress bar and your character's positioning. As a result, even if you appeared to be outside the area of impact when the progress bar was filled, damage was still taken.

Adjustments are being made to reduce lag as much as possible, and syncing should improve the timing between enemy cast bars, area of effect markers, and the actual attacks.

Rest assured that we're doing what we can to make sure players can safely evade attacks by watching enemy cast bars and markers for area attacks.

Players overseas were also affected by having to access the Japan data center in Version 1.0, as this further delayed the relay of data from the server. With the establishment of a regional data center and the above measures being taken to improve syncing with the servers, we will continue working to ensure an enjoyable gaming experience for all of our players.
(Even with a great connection, I think there's still maybe a 0.1 second margin of error with the cast bar, so make sure to get out of the way when playing with your party. )

It is hard to understand how this bug is in the released game since Yoshi promised it would be fixed in 2.0 and told us not to worry.

The main thread has 163 likes at present, it took over 1500 likes to generate a response during beta so it looks like most players are willing to accept the bug as is and don't think it's important to fix it. So don't hold your breath for any change, SE will concentrate their resources on what the players want, as they should.

[Ranak]

The issue listed here can be resolved by a client side check to see if you're running or not. That way you get a more "responsive" feel.

[Musai]

*snip length* "stutter step" when the spell animation completes, which can cost valuable fractions of a second when trying to avoid a fast AOE.

This explains why I've seen my character "slide" in a different direction than I had been moving in while moving and casting an Insant DoT or after running out of the red and "sliding" into another direction than I had intended. I have also seen the cancel effect on my spells. And when I did Ifrit, I was totally frustrated. I would see the cracks turn red under my feet. I'd stop casting and strafe or run. I could see myself well outside of the explosion zone. Then I would watch my HP drop by half. That does not help a healer keep healing the group when you have to worry about healing yourself due to these delay response issues. And that was last week before the current issues continued to worsen. I won't even get into how bad the past few days have been. I just get sick of it and log out.