Data Centers/World Locations Info from the LIVE Letter

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Originally Posted by Kirol

So, people in England will be stuck with French and German only. I preferred English/日本語 only, seeing as I could deal with both... Maybe I'll just have to learn French and improve my Deutsch.
Or move to America.

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????

It's by region not by language. French and German players are a minority among everyone else who uses English in the EU region (which is on top on Europe also include the Middle East). And most of FR/DE players can speak/understand English decently (at least enough to do light content that doesn't require a very complicated strategy, basically what you do in PUGs).

So I really don't see the issue there. There are lot of EU players on Ragnarok and English is still dominant.

amen, to what Xatsh Vei said.

Please implement something similar to Guild Wars 2's guesting system, which lets you "guest" on another server besides your home for free and play with other people.

Not happy about the regional servers, but at least that way I could still play with EU friends who'd like to base themselves on a local server.

One of the great things about 14 and 11 was that communities from all over the world were able to integrate together. This is the most dissapointing update from this game that I've read. I'm EU but I play in an NA LS and our times have worked out nicely together as they do early events. I've had quite a lot of gear from runs and I owe them a lot and vice versa. For me to fully enjoy the game I'm going to need to be on a European server, especially if there are world events that need a lot of random players like in Guild Wars 2. Now, I dont want to fuck over the shell im in but I will ruin my play experience if i stay on an NA server.

I'm sure this applies to a lot of people, not only me. It is a good thing for casual players and I understand the limitations of the technology but for the people who take this game seriously, its forced segregation, so go fuck youselves the people who white knight this.

tl;dr You've left me in a shitty situation here SE. I'm not happy.

So many pages!!!

Just wanted to chime in and say that I'm mostly happy with this change (still too new for a plethora of friends). I'm rather indifferent to the origins of the people I play with (I'm a dirty non-bilingual American, though, so it helps me if people can speak some English since the translator is pretty bad), but I do like to aim for servers with higher East Coast populations as I do play during that prime time-- this makes that easier. New players needing to spam Google with "which server has the highest NA, east coast, population" will probably still be present though as I imagine there will only be one central NA data server.

As far as lag is concerned, they can't really change the combat to be more fast paced with so many people claiming they are hit with huge lag. XI has some slow combat, so latency can be a bit higher there without it causing too many problems. Faster fights need faster data transfers-- if SE wants to overhaul the combat, they have to give these server options.

Honestly, if all goes well and the game brings in more people than it has currently, this is actually more beneficial than detrimental on the whole (sorry to those of you who will be split-- perhaps they will try GW2's "guesting" as was mentioned before).

And if the game stays dead... there are always server mergers.

Why can XI do this right, but XIV (1.0 or 2.0) can't? It makes no sense. Good luck with getting ARR a major success lulz

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Originally Posted by Lirion

You can still play with them, just join the server they're on.

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And what of my EU, AU, friends? What about the people I play with in the NA region? I unfortunatly can't exist on multiple servers or this wouldn't be a issue.

I play with people from AROUND THE WORLD. Not from a specific slice of land.

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Originally Posted by Darshu

Wait, so If I choose to play in a server/world that's not in Japan, and all Japanese players decide they want to play on servers in Japan, I will not be able to play with Japanese players at all?

Edit: Of all the things I've complained about in this game, this has to be their worst decision yet. I really cannot believe this is happening.

It's impossible to force players to stay on a server when they have multiple friends across all regions. EU players on our linkshell will most definitely move to an EU server, NA players to NA servers and all JP players that I loved to play with will remain in JP. And since I don't belong to any, I have no idea where I'm going to go to. I'll probably end up outside of XIV.

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I feel for you and agree!
With so much content dependent on group play where you need to make relationships to access the majority of the content and where there is not as much for solo play, they really need to consider the damage this can do to people in situations like this where they have made strong bonds with people from more than one region. I also have friends from multiple regions, can't comprehend choosing less lag over friends.

For the person saying "MMorpgs are not about the community these days anyway" on the contrary, XIV is about the community and thus they have created a lot of content that requires team play. The international aspect of the xiv community and the translation features are something unique that many players enjoy, making friendships with people across the planet.

I am comfortable with less community, used to do things solo as much as possible due to my real life limitations on play time but I had no choice but to break free from that and make friends in order to enjoy the content and I don't regret that decision, yet it will be horrible to break apart friendships after having made them.

It is difficult to undo that kind of player habit, friends are friends.

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Originally Posted by Jynx

And what of my EU, AU, friends? What about the people I play with in the NA region? I unfortunatly can't exist on multiple servers or this wouldn't be a issue.

I play with people from AROUND THE WORLD. Not from a specific slice of land.

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Organize ahead of time tell your friends to join the same server you. The lag for them can't be any worse then it is now.

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Originally Posted by Zumi

Organize ahead of time tell your friends to join the same server you. The lag for them can't be any worse then it is now.

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The lag isn't the issue it's that if they ever have to change play times they will be utterly boned, likewise if I move to their server my playtime varies wildly and this "Was" one of the best games you could hop on and find people playing 24/7 because it was a wordwide game.

Again i can't just hop servers when my playtime changes.

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Originally Posted by Jynx

The lag isn't the issue it's that if they ever have to change play times they will be utterly boned, likewise if I move to their server my playtime varies wildly and this "Was" one of the best games you could hop on and find people playing 24/7 because it was a wordwide game.

Again i can't just hop servers when my playtime changes.

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Well that problem is solved with the content finder lets you queue up for content any time of day and find people to play with.

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Originally Posted by Zumi

Organize ahead of time tell your friends to join the same server you. The lag for them can't be any worse then it is now.

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it sounds so easy on paper but unfortunately that's not how real life works, there are too many things to consider, how about the friends of your friends? will they get screwed then? its just not possible to "talk it out with everyone beforehand" even less with that server location labels and the promise of "you will play better over here".
there's just no way

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Originally Posted by Zumi

Well that problem is solved with the content finder lets you queue up for content any time of day and find people to play with.

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It's great that I have to line up for instanced content to play a game. Hell yeah.

Friendship is beyond Latency !

If the game is suck with good friends, it still fun.

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Originally Posted by Yumi_Hibiki

it sounds so easy on paper but unfortunately that's not how real life works, there are too many things to consider, how about the friends of your friends? will they get screwed then? its just not possible to "talk it out with everyone beforehand" even less with that server location labels and the promise of "you will play better over here".
there's just no way

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Maybe I am just biased. Since everyone from my FFXI LS that went to play FFXIV quit except for like 4 people it started with 35 people. Usually on a LS by myself the majority of the time, since of those 4 people we usually not on at the same time. The major problem is 3-4 people can't get anything accomplished in FFXIV outside of like some starter AF quests. Most of the stuff I done in FFXIV recently has been in pick up groups. Most people have their set groups of people on the server and don't invite new people. From what I seen on FFXIV it was like I have this set of 8 people I play with I won't do stuff with anyone else. But if I am able to get on a server with mostly NA players its probably a lot more likely to be able to find people to do endgame pve with who would be making new groups to start doing endgame and are not set in their ways.

Thank you Yoshi-P for making one of the best choices so far, keeping up with modern day MMO standards that allow players to play your game with close to zero latency issues.

Brilliant choice doing this :D

Kinda sad I'll never get to play with multicultural people any more. I'll probably end up playing on an American server, because EU people get on my nerves.

Why don't people understand that regional servers does not mean region locking?

Wait so let me get this straight,we can still play with JP,EU etc with the content finder?? I'm trying to make sure I'm not confused on this,it's not just limited to US servers right? EDIT:Ah nevermind Alha answered my question.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Why don't people understand that regional servers does not mean region locking?

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If there is no official world server, the majority of the new players will just choose a regional specific. Without enough people from all time zones on all server.... you are screwing yourself by choosing a server outside your region due to low populations in off prime hours.

Due to this square is effectively forcing you choose a regional specific. The fact they are all open to choose does not make them world servers due to this fact.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Why don't people understand that regional servers does not mean region locking?

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It does not, but it will seperate people for sure.

I live in JST, but i play on EST afternoon, hence why i am in an NA LS. Sometimes, i play in my afternoon as well which is JST primetime.

When the time comes, i will have to pick my LS or my gameplay. I will probably pick having server with 50ms (Japan server) and i will be sad i will not be able to chat and have fun again with my LS, community is one thing that makes FFXI memorable.

I won't quit FFXIV over it, but i will definitely not gonna keep stop crying regarding this.

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When the time comes, i will have to pick my LS or my gameplay.

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Why would you have to pick that?

Your LS doesn't have to move. Unless they all want to move for a better ping, they can just stay where they are.

Keep in mind that system improvements are going to reduce the delays even if you're on a far-away server. There will still be some difference but unless you're a hardcore PvP player, it really doesn't matter much at all.

Unless something changes, all current players going to be on whatever server they're on now when 2.0 releases. People will have the option of moving (as far as we know), but they also have the option of just staying where they are, accepting a slightly higher ping, and being happy where they are.

The difference between playing on a server in japan and one in NA is not going to be THAT big. As long as the system lag is cut down, you'll still be able to play and do things that require movement (e.g. anything that's like ifrit cracks and lava) just fine with a <300ms ping, which is achieveable between NA and Japan.

In the current version, you don't really even notice ping because the server system is so convoluted there is a fair bit of delay regardless of your distance to the servers. Once that shiat is fixed up, you'll be fine.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Why would you have to pick that?

Your LS doesn't have to move. Unless they all want to move for a better ping, they can just stay where they are.

Keep in mind that system improvements are going to reduce the delays even if you're on a far-away server. There will still be some difference but unless you're a hardcore PvP player, it really doesn't matter much at all.

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My LS is NA LS, they will move to NA LS, it's a no brainer to move to a better ping server. I will not hold them back and will probably advice them to move to NA server for better experience.

You are delusional if you thinks people doesnt want to move to a server with better latency.

Of course i will hold my judgement to see if the latency makes much difference on server outside Japan and decide for there on.

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My LS is NA LS, they will move to NA LS, it's a no brainer to move to a better ping server.

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As I explained, ping alone doesn't have a great impact on MMO gameplay. Especially in FFXIV, especially in it's current state.

They won't have to move servers to have a fully playable experience. After all, it's fully playable *now*. That's not going to suddenly change.

Yes, moving for a better ping is an easy decision to make, but it's not going to hurt you much to follow them to an NA server, nor will it hurt them much to stay on your current server. It's NOT going to be a big deal.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

Why would you have to pick that?

Your LS doesn't have to move. Unless they all want to move for a better ping, they can just stay where they are.

Keep in mind that system improvements are going to reduce the delays even if you're on a far-away server. There will still be some difference but unless you're a hardcore PvP player, it really doesn't matter much at all.

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Well, this I understand , that reguardless on what Server you wide up going on ( NA/EU/JP) it probably won't matter much considering they fixed the servers from the ground up.. so who knows who well they will work ( will just have to see). but if the Servers arw anything like they are right now, then that's when Choosing a Server closest to you will even matter. I think I'm starting to understand better.

" Your not locked on a region" Regions will only truly matter if the servers are not at least par. If it does come to that, then some sacrifices may need to be made at that point. If the only difference lag between NA and JP is .5 sec then Everyone can just flock to the Japan server and forget about the Regional Server. ( Alot of will see when the time comes).

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

As I explained, ping alone doesn't have a great impact on MMO gameplay. Especially in FFXIV, especially in it's current state.

They won't have to move servers to have a fully playable experience. After all, it's fully playable *now*. That's not going to suddenly change.

Yes, moving for a better ping is an easy decision to make, but it's not going to hurt you much to follow them to an NA server, nor will it hurt them much to stay on your current server. It's NOT going to be a big deal.

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It does in current version (ex. Ifrit extreme), however like i say earlier i will hold my judgement when ARR is released and see if latency gives a problem or not.

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Originally Posted by VoltaAsura

Why can XI do this right, but XIV (1.0 or 2.0) can't? It makes no sense. Good luck with getting ARR a major success lulz

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You mean with its awesome delay in reaction between client and server on a pipe that is capped and designed around 56K?

I'm guessing any LS with an ounce of structure will decide ahead of time how they're going to do this. As I said, some can deal with the differences in latency, others can't. I'm sure some are willing to stick around because of their LS and friends, while others will feel parting ways to a server on their same region is the better move. The important thing is that it is a conscious choice made by everyone who decides to stick around.

Ping is not the issue, its population play times. An EU on an NA server will suffer because no new and some old players will leave the current servers for their own specific region servers which will directly affect their game play. So most people are left with the choice of playing with their current friends and suffering for it or moving to region server and not being able to play w/ their friends. Considering most of my MMO friends are NA, this is a big issue.

Am I the only one who thinks this is a good thing?

The good:
Improved communication without the language barrier.
Improved response due to geolocation.
Stronger communities (seriously, how well does the world really get along with each other?)
More players online during prime times.
Higher potential for RL friends?

The Bad:
Lost friends (if they are that good of a friend you or they can make the sacrifice in latency (not ping, ping is what you do to check latency))
More players online during prime times. (Could cause congestion if things are not resolved)

I'm sure I missed things on both sides of the aisle but it is really not a big deal and to me at least, seems like a plus.

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Ping is not the issue, its population play times.

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playtimes are not an issue. Your LS and friends can simply stay on their current server if that's an issue to you. nobody is going to be forced to switch servers. Balmung is still going to be Balmung with the same people on it unless all of those people choose to move.

If you want better pings, move to the regional server that's best for you. If that doesn't matter to you and your friends, than just stay on whatever server you're on now.

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(not ping, ping is what you do to check latency))

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ping is a part of latency. it's not exclusively used to refer to the console command: 'My ping is 230ms.' "latency' is the combined total of your ping and all other factors delaying server response (e.g. processing on the server)

Gungnir wont be Gungnir if they dedicate it a JP or a NA server, how do you not understand this? If you take end game seriously you will move your LS to a server where the majority of your players has the best ping. Which will be an NA server. So I either say goodbye and move to a European and play by myself or move with them and have a shitty time apart from LS events.

Content finder is a hollow solution.

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Gungnir wont be Gungnir if they dedicate it a JP or a NA server, how do you not understand this?

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all current servers will be JP servers, because that's where they're located, but they will still be "anybody" servers because people from all regions are on them already and they don't have to switch servers if they don't want to. gungnir will still be gungnir because nobody is forcing you to move to a different server. Every current player on every current server is still totally welcome to stay on that server. the fact that it's located in Japan doesn't prevent that. THERE IS NO REGION LOCK.

I dunno, I like this idea. Less lag and better stability.

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Originally Posted by OsmosisDave

Gungnir wont be Gungnir if they dedicate it a JP or a NA server, how do you not understand this?

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Not saying they will do this... But when servers merged they made Ragnarok which they said would be designated a sort of un-official EU server. Whats to say they don't do this again with two additional servers and just keep all the current servers linked with servers in japan~

Then create two ~ XXX amount of additional servers being NA and the other being JP?

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Originally Posted by NarikoStar

Not saying they will do this... But when servers merged they made Ragnarok which they said would be designated a sort of un-official EU server. Whats to say they don't do this again with two additional servers and just keep all the current servers linked with servers in japan~

Then create two ~ XXX amount of additional servers being NA and the other being JP?

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Even if they do that, I'm still stuck with the initial dilemma of chosing between a european server or playing with my friends on a north american server.

i support this change, i do not like playing with biggot Jp's.



NA ONRY

You guys don't understand Char's position. I am pretty much in the same shape.

The bottom line is regardless which region's server you end up with, you are only going to see a fraction of the people outside of the region you are in. Even if I want to play on an international server (if there is one), chances are my current friends will be unwilling to due to latency and stuff.

I do JP PUGs during my weekdays, do LS events with a EU shell during weekends and just mess around with NA folks whenever I see them around.

The difference between a server with a large active population round the clock and one when you see people during prime times is huge...


Meteor is so powerful, it killed off 2/3 (geographically) of every world's population.

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Originally Posted by Alhanelem

all current servers will be JP servers.

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The current servers are being shut down. If the current servers do stay Japanese, all NA linkshells will plan ahead and move to another server of their choice thats based in NA. For multi-regional end game linkshells this a problem for their current players as most are built around a specific timezone but have loyal members and friends from around the world that they might have been playing with for years. Being on a server that is not your region will directly affect your gameplay experience in more than just lag.

Just because you have the choice to play on one server does not mean you should do so if you want to enjoy the game.

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Originally Posted by tymora

Meteor is so powerful, it killed off 2/3 of every world's population.

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Pretty much this. Sucks for people in my position who have variable playtimes I play with people in all time zones across the world.

Now I have to pick and pray my playtime doesn't change every few weeks (Not happening) and also tell over half the people I know that other people were more important than them. Again all for the sake of a few god damn milleseconds.

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Originally Posted by OsmosisDave

The current servers are being shut down. If the current servers do stay Japanese, all NA linkshells will plan ahead and move to another server of their choice thats based in NA. For multi-regional end game linkshells this a problem for their current players as most are built around a specific timezone but have loyal members and friends from around the world that they might have been playing with for years. Being on a server that is not your region will directly affect your gameplay experience in more than just lag.

Just because you have the choice to play on one server does not mean you should do so if you want to enjoy the game.

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All of what you say is true, Only if the lag is bad Between a Computer in NA to JP Server, if the lag is not much of an issue than there really isn't a need to do any of that at all, just go to a JP Server ( that is of course if everyone else plans to do that) and let it be just that.