SERVER LAG - Player complaints compilation (Demanding a specific answer)

[Vektrat]

Hello Square Enix,

I made this post over two weeks ago (now classified as an Accepted bug). I wanted to make it as helpful and informative as possible, but I guess it is time to dramatise the issue:

• [GAMEBREAKING] Ability/moving objects delay and unresponsiveness (affects everybody) (over 350 likes, 20k views, and 7 pages of replies)

I put effort into this, I used other player's effort, and I received support from them. I expected from all of this, for you to at least have the decency to have a DIRECT comment on this specific issue, we didn't even get the copy&paste one.

This is the most active thread, it's kept up the General discussion for weeks and been ignored for weeks as well:

• Sorry SE, but endgame won't work if you don't fix something. (275 likes, 51 pages, over 50k views)

Many other players have reported the same issue over and over (here's a quick list from the latest posts in the English forum, some more popular, some less):

• Horrible Server Lag Needs To Be Fixed ASAP (50 likes, 7 pages)
• Will the horrible server delay/character responsiveness s be addressed as stated back in Beta? (question for TGS)
• Is SE Going to Fix Server Lag? (7 pages)
• Delay or can avoid AOE on time.
• Either make dodging AoEs possible, or make them not instant-kills (30 likes, 12 pages)
• SE, please watch this: delay
• Standing out of the red, and still getting hit (8 pages)
• Help me understand AOE markers
• AOE hurts me still
• Increased natural lag on EU due to no local servers.
• ...

Now, some threads may look different, but they all relate to the same issue, and it is NOT an European-only thing. And YES it affects EVERYBODY.

I understand you may have other priorities, I understand that the game is quite "playable" at the moment for most of the people's current concerns (leveling, etc); but this is a MAJOR issue.

WE ARE BEING IGNORED right now.

Threads are being put under the rug, players getting tired, duplicate threads dirtying the forum, people coming up with different conclusions and beliefs that add up to the confusion or spawn other non-existant issues because everything comes down to the very same issue: server lag.

People is INVESTING time in HELPING, in trying to make the game better, in HELPING YOU DOING YOUR JOB. We put time to make videos, to report issues, to explain things so that you and others can understand, to try and figure out what's wrong, to try and FIX it ourselves thinking it may be on our end.

I for one am tired of making new stuff, so I'll keep this thread saved, and copy it to the forum every time it disappears into locked subsections AS LONG AS THERE IS NO OFFICIAL REPLY. I am sorry, I really am, I don't like to threat or demand, but this is insulting.

Again, we understand you may be working on it, that your hands are full, but at least let us know this has reached you and that it is in your TODO list, so that people can stop creating new threads, submitting stuff, and getting confused. Most of us already think this will vanish into ether and never get fixed.

Thanks for your support

_______
ANNEX:

Source: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post1286035

This is from a thread from 2012 (and the main reason we think this will be ignored now as well):

• Server lag: can it be addressed?

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. )

Regarding the game's battle stystem, also form beta, by Yoshida himself:

With the advent of stronger internet connections, recent MMORPGs have come to be able to have defensive and evasive skills similar to offline stand alone games. Despite this, I feel that this does not fit with our customers who play FINAL FANTASY online, and I would like to have everyone play this game steadily for as long of a time as possible, which is why we’ve eliminated action elements to the best of our ability.
[...]
Visually noticeable AoE attacks that you can avoid by moving
[...]

[Norister]

yeah, you keep on keeping on

[Mishayangg]

I tried this and it works!

"There is a simple way to make sure this doesn't happen. You need to cast a spell once you've left the AOE's area and the sever will register your new position. The moment you leave the area start casting and you will never be hit."

[Vektrat]

I tried this and it works!

"There is a simple way to make sure this doesn't happen. You need to cast a spell once you've left the AOE's area and the sever will register your new position. The moment you leave the area start casting and you will never be hit."

Regardless if this works or not, this is NOT convenient, and this would only put aside one of the long list of issues server lag has. If the server forcefully refreshes the client's location on client actions, well, that's great, but there's a bunch of other stuff not working and that can't be workarounded by a sh*t "fix" like this

[Silverwalk]

Please add this quote from Yoshi's post about the battle system during beta:

With the advent of stronger internet connections, recent MMORPGs have come to be able to have defensive and evasive skills similar to offline stand alone games. Despite this, I feel that this does not fit with our customers who play FINAL FANTASY online, and I would like to have everyone play this game steadily for as long of a time as possible, which is why we’ve eliminated action elements to the best of our ability.

With these goals in mind we have built the content and the battle system.
Visually noticeable AoE attacks that you can avoid by moving
A system where you can boost damage by attacking from certain positions
Freedom to put things together by executing skills that follow a specific route
Being able to fixate on dealing the most damage while giving consideration to TP/MP costs in the end-game.
Jump not being essential for clearing content

While it might be thought of as simplistic, the end-game after reaching the level cap is where a good deal of player skill differences will start to appear, especially when adding equipment into the mix. We started designing this game by making the first goal of FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn having everyone enjoy this aspect.

This is the reason why there are no action elements in FFXIV content and battle.

The full text is here: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post1291216

The beta forums are gone, but doing a google search for:
FFXIV:ARR "Battle System" Yoshi
pulls up copies. For example here: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=65514566

[Cienna]

This issue was supposedly one of the reasons for remaking the game. Please honor your word Yoshi, that this issue will be resolved. I am glad the animation lock was fixed, but this issue still lingers. Thank you.

[Fuz]

I've got it too and it's EXTREMELY frustrating.

[theflo84]

Yes, this Issue has to be resolved.

The game is GREAT but...

I will play the game as long as it is free to play but as soon as i must pay for it i will quit.
And i hope most people will do the same so SE realise that there is a mayor Problem that
must be fixed.

Just a Word from SE will be great so we know that they are looking into it...

[Sneakaboo]

I just post it here as well, it's 100% there servers in most cases.
The lag spikes mainly during peak times it SE their servers, nothing else.
I've bothered to call my ISP and asked them to check stuff because SE asked for it.

But yeah had a good laugh with them but no it's them, the 2-3 lag spikes can't be fixed by me or the ISP.
I run with a 160Mb/s connection 80 ping , 110/160 latency and ping in their network 7.

If this isn't enough or if SE is not able to fix their servers than it pretty much ends here for me.


Not even going to start about the build in delay and horrible data centre location.

[Moonwood]

Regarding the game's battle stystem, also form beta, by Yoshida himself:
With the advent of stronger internet connections, recent MMORPGs have come to be able to have defensive and evasive skills similar to offline stand alone games. Despite this, I feel that this does not fit with our customers who play FINAL FANTASY online, and I would like to have everyone play this game steadily for as long of a time as possible, which is why we’ve eliminated action elements to the best of our ability.
[...]
Visually noticeable AoE attacks that you can avoid by moving
[...]

Instead of helping players it became a deadly support.