I tried doing a search but couldn't find it (or I'm just blind), but is it against the TOS to use something like battleping or wtfast? Before I actually switch ISP from TWC I want to see if that helps (but obviously don't want to be suspended or banned).
Thanks for any info!
VPN etc allowed?
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12-04-2013, 02:35 AMNoahlimitsVPN etc allowed?
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12-04-2013, 02:37 AMPseudopsia
I'll try to dig up dev post. It's allowed.
Edit: here you go: http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post1576042 -
12-04-2013, 02:41 AMMekhana
I use WTF myself it works great.
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12-04-2013, 03:15 AMNoahlimits
Awesome, thank you.
And Mek; do you use the premium or regular version? -
12-04-2013, 08:07 AMMekhana
I use premium but it's because I absolutely must have the best.
However even regular will have a large increase in your performance, premium will still be worth it though if you can spare the fee.
With premium I can chain servers so I have the first set up to be the one in my country and the second set to be closest to the FFXIV servers (Boston.)
I will never play Online without VPN again. It's so ridiculously good. -
12-04-2013, 08:46 AMKatai
This game pretty much requires it or is unplayable.
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12-04-2013, 09:12 AMAlhanelemI will never play Online with it because I don't need it, since my ISP gives me a great connection without needing a VPN. seriously you sound like a sales rep or something. This is a tool (and a wonderful one I might add) for people who need it, but it doesn't improve performance if your performance is already ideal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mekhana
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12-04-2013, 08:31 PMMekhanaThat's probably because you live close or closer to the servers than me. For me that lives in southern South America (almost literally the other side of the world) the lag is pretty nasty and deadly, sometimes both. It makes the game much better. My internet is pretty good I pay 15 dollars for 50mB/s and a very stable connection ask my static coil group if I ever dced in a run.Quote:
Originally Posted by Alhanelem
You do know that your packets don't arrive instantly right, and they have to bounce several times each time they come and go, like a superspeed cheap flight that needs to make several connections before the final destination? That's what VPN is for. It sends you straight where you need to go to and with less congestion. -
12-04-2013, 08:45 PMSnitchie
WTFast 10usd a month myself.. if not unplayable... And its allowed.
I just wish SE could make a deal for their players so we can get aq reduced cost on either vpn, month subs for ff14 or something. Especially since no EU servers. made a thread about this and many colourful answers lol.. http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...h-cost-to-play -
12-04-2013, 09:29 PMzainealWhy in the world should SE do this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Snitchie
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12-04-2013, 09:50 PMSnitchieyet anopther colourfull reply :DQuote:
Originally Posted by zaineal
No EU server is one of the reasons. 2. Euro subscriptions = EU players already pay way more then those that use standard dollar rate. (yes other countries also pay more pr month due to their rates, but I can only speak for myself and other EU players)
Why should they do something like this u ask? So the product I buy work the way it is supposed to work. Since no other games are like this. I didnt have to use a vpn service playing ffxi on JP servers.. FPS games i dont play on servers outside eu. And all the other mmos out there (almost all) have a server center in each region. A VPN solution reduced cost or something from SE is a way to give EU players a bandaid since no EU servers.. Just wait til pvp is out. more ppl wioll rage, not only due to lagg etc, but ping differneces. ;) -
12-04-2013, 10:33 PMEruantien
What is the ip of the servers? So I can test ping I've been contemplating using one and am curious how much it'll help.
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12-04-2013, 10:35 PMShaonePing won't really tell you anything because this game doesn't display ping in game, and you can't just use the VPNs for general traffic (they detect and hook the game connections, rather than routing all your traffic through them).Quote:
Originally Posted by Eruantien
But if you want to test what your ping is you can find your server IP by hovering the name on http://arrstatus.com -
12-04-2013, 10:39 PMSnitchieI visit 16 points when doing tracert. Run command prompt and type the following tracert [insert your servers ip adress] ping goes up from 20ms to 120ms final destination.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaone
So when we start pvping i will play with 130 ping+ against a canadian player with 14 ping. And you will have a huge handicap if you are the one with highest ping. Just try and play some FPS games (www.quakelive.com) on a server far away from you, vs a region local placed server. and u get my drift. I will scream until we get EU servers. If nobody says nothing, nothing will be done ! -
12-04-2013, 10:50 PMdarzokIts fairly simple you build a game based on having to dodge attacks then out the server the other side of the world and expect it to have no effect on been able to dodge.Quote:
Originally Posted by zaineal
The fact the Eu server is the other side of the world is killer for me and many others oh look plume the fact we see it half a second after the cast has started and the server is a good half second or more slow to know we moved means any lag plume hits.
WTFast helps allows me to dodge plumes and other attacks easier since the delay is much shorter is it 9.99 worth of help no not even close but allows me to run titan with out having to be running before plume every time in order to avoid it a problem that would be avoided if there was EU servers in the EU in the first place. The problem is there own making they should fix it we should not be expected to be locked out of end game due to the own problem since they do not want to fix it. -
12-04-2013, 10:54 PMEruantienThanks that helps, as snitchie said doing a current tracert and ping test I can see how bad or not so bad it is.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaone
As a Mage the times it really annoys me is when I'm outside the circle and am halfway through a cast and get hit. If I'm still running I'm like what the hey, but when I've come to a complete stop and had time to start casting grrr.Quote:
Originally Posted by darzok
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12-04-2013, 11:01 PMWHS
If you are using windows 7 you can run perfmon and look at ffxiv.exe to verify your ip that you are actually on during gaming. You will connect to 4 different ones all during your login to ffxiv. The last 2 are the ones that matter most and determine your ping and latency. I'll edit this post with the info once I save so I don't hit the /10char limit.
Type the following in your run command line: click either start/run or if using windows vista or later you can just click on start and in the search box.
For the run line use: C:\Windows\System32\perfmon.exe /res
For the search box just use: perfmon /res
Once you have the Resource Monitor up click on network tab and then login to the game. This will work alot easier if you are in either window or borderless window mode and not full screen.
As you login to the game you will see stuff like ffxivlauncher and ffxiv maybe ffxivboot all of those as you login do get ip address and do stuff with the game servers. But eventually after you get fully in the game you will get the final 2 ip address's that you will be using. Both will be the same ip address but will use a different remote port. One is to maintain your server login or session ID in this case so you don't get logged out. The other one maintains your game session or the actually what you yourself are doing in the game. They will not be labeled so just watched the one that it sending and receiving the most date. In B/sec it will be.
At the very top of the network tab you will see under Processes with Network Activity a lit of programs and image/pid will be at that top like filter boxes you can check. Find ffxiv.exe in that box and click it so you filter it on your list. That will be of the most help. Now game and look at ffxiv under TCP Connections box about 3rd one down from the top. There you will see what is going on.
Now I will tell you that the ip address you get is not static. It can change everytime you login. And most likely will. I did a ipaddress lookup and SE bought or uses a large range. Hundreds of address's. Which one you get really does not matter but if you are trying to use the same ip address everytime you ping to montreal if that is your server than you will not necessarily get your connection info that way. Best to do what I have described in this post. I ping to server's in montreal 40ms or so. But when I get logged into game I go up to 100 maybe 170ms at times. Normally I hover around 80ms and I am just south of Michigan. Also not my ping to montreal data center is 40ms. I get massive latency once I get routed to the ffxiv game servers. Server side latency or the link to them from within the data center but in either case not anything I can do a thing about.
I hope this helps you find your latency. Mine was not improved with battelping and I find that it seems to be getting better all on it's own for my specific case. Weekly maintenance has helped me more which supports the Yoshida statement made long time ago about Fragmented Server Memory.
EDIT: One more note. And a very surprising note in fact. My latency to jp servers on Aegis doubles sometimes as much as 300ms but tbh I do just as well if not easier dodging the red ring on those servers than on Hyperion. My best guess is server overload on the instances I am connected to. Meaning the group I belong to of servers is really overloading the instance server?? I dunno. Just putting it out there. I still think things overall are getting better but this might not be the case for everyone. I have comcast, maybe they waking up and provisioning my connection for gaming. I heard they can do that. I know I called them every day for a month because of red ring aoe death. LOL. Maybe they finally got a clue because I've had comcast to my neighborhood working on lines 3 times in the past 2 weeks. 57Mbps down 12Mbps up. 0 Jitter A + line and still if the internet is doing it's internet thing I can lag in any game. It all depends on the route that day. It can change daily. Not normally but can. Internet works like that to find what it calls the fastest path. -
12-04-2013, 11:15 PMzaineal
You cannot compare a FPS game to a MMO you just cannot. How your data is routed to SE server is not there concern at all, its up to your ISP to make sure your data is handled correctly. If you are complaining about the costs associated with gaming then maybe you need to rethink your finances and or stop gaming all together.
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12-04-2013, 11:22 PMShaoneIf you are complaining about people complaining about lag on this game when their connection's otherwise fine (and fixed by VPN), maybe you should rethink posting, and perhaps stop posting at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by zaineal
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12-04-2013, 11:52 PMVianneBut you can compare MMOs that have latency issues and the ones that don't. You can compare MMOs where said latency issues don't have much of an impact on gameplay vs the ones where they do. You can compare MMOs run by companies that care about providing a smooth experience to their costumers through regional servers with the ones run by companies that don't. You can compare MMOs where their PR teams will actively attempt to gather information from their players to address an issue instead of ignoring them. You can compare communities that will try to help each other to overcome issues instead of insisting that such issues don't exist or the player is at fault no matter how much evidence there is of the contrary.Quote:
Originally Posted by zaineal
Routing is not an ISP issue, as most of it happens out the ISP's scope, and that's besides that fact that is something that goes both ways. The fact that such tunneling services make a difference without a change of ISP should hint you that much. Guess who would be in a much better position than the player is to diagnose and provide the technical details of the issues to the parties involved in such routing. Guess which MMO companies have done so in the past and which one apparently prefers to ignore the issue? -
12-05-2013, 12:06 AMzainealYou have completely missed the point I'm trying to get across, there is nothing SE can do with how your data is transported between them and you (Sure they can ask ISP's nicely to sort it out HOWEVER once again it falls to the ISP's handling those nodes,which is out of their hands, yes it sucks that servers are located in the most weirdest of places.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shaone
I am hit pretty hard due to the location (Philippines -> playing on NA servers - at one point my data was hitting nodes god knows where) This is where VPN is needed most, can I complain sure, however my location is causing the physical latency issues and yes I am using a VPN (brought my latency from 380+ down to a great 230-300).
Now should SE pay for my VPN and magically force world wide ISP's to rebuild the infrastructure and improve latency around the world no, because SE have provided the service and you have been able to connect and play(Although the service provided could be massively improved, which most likely will over time(could be faster)).
I just want to reiterate what I am saying, should the responsibility how of how your data is being transported be on SE shoulders, no! Should SE for some strange reason provide you with a VPN that the cause is because of bad ISP's, no! Should SE implement european servers, YES!
They have even "address the delay" that some players are experiencing and upping the rate of the server snapshots, which means they are aware of the issues and are(I hope so?) trying to sort it out. -
12-05-2013, 12:22 AMShaoneSpot on.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vianne
My ISP has been amazing through this and done everything they can, they've altered traffic signatures for the game, and worked as far along the routing chain with the transit providers they have contracts with (in the last month they have reduced my ping to from 150 to 90ms, and 22 hops to 14). They are trying very hard, doing everything they can and communicating with the XIV players using their service through their public support forum.
Yet despite this, I get (fairly infrequent) patches of packet loss or the odd rubberband where the other players freeze for a moment and snap at high speed to their real position. This would be "good enough" for most people, but I don't like wiping parties from avoidable stuff, like if that packet telling my client that twin just dropped a blue marker on my character gets lost and has to be retransmitted.
But SE do some things right, and I am very glad that SE confirmed that VPN is OK, because if it wasn't for Battleping, I would not be able to go to coil. -
12-05-2013, 12:24 AMwhilkeI'm not sure why you think 380ms ping is bad for an MMO? This is not a twitch based game. Every other AAA MMO in the world will feel very responsive in PVE at 300ms ping. Go ahead, I'll wait while you go test it....Done? See?Quote:
Originally Posted by zaineal
There is absolutely many things SE can do to fix their horrendous network setup. Their protocol is so very fragile and requires an ultra-low ping, along with ultra-low jitter and packet loss. If you have any of that, you are in trouble. Guess what? The internet is full of all of those things, so you're in trouble. It also appears that some backbone providers and routers are flagging the FFXIV protocol low for QoS. This means during prime time on those routers your game packets are getting dropped for normal internet traffic (which is mostly why a VPN fixes the issues for so many).
They could introduce closer regional servers. They could fix their network protocol and architecture to be more tolerant with jitter, packet loss, and high pings. They could change their protocol so that it stops getting flagged low on some routers QoS modal.
Are you sure you wanna stick with your statement?
By the way, the fix coming for 2.1 with upping the movement snapshots in some end game instances is not going to fully fix the issue. Sure, people will hopefully be able to dodge aoes better now. However, people are still going to rubberband without a VPN. Abilities are still going to fill slow as hell. Off GCD instant abilities are still going to sometimes fail and go on cool down. People are still going to stutter around on your screen, etc. -
12-05-2013, 01:06 AMzainealQuote:
Originally Posted by whilke
If you look through my posts(other threads) I will have mentioned everything you have said infact my post is near enough the same as yours.
regarding the "380ms" is great for other MMO's I cannot agree with that, using WoW as an example, I've played 8ish years across 3 seperate countries (Australia(400+MS)/England(<200MS)/Philippines(380+MS) Anything above 200ms became silly playing PVP, PVE playing from aus/philippines with that latency you can clearly see how latency affects you, infact rubberbanding in Wow is in some cases worse than FFXIV(In a PVE standpoint) ( HOWEVER my opinion will and can change once we have all seen how PVP is affected by how there server architecture is).
Regarding the abilities firing I've raged many a time due to Hallowed ground not going off and promptly dieing. however because its a design decision and a bad one at that(Cast bars and animations are de-synced etc) and once again I'm not defending SE's poor choice of server back end, I'm defending them where the cards are not in their hands. -
12-05-2013, 01:11 AMharkinateI'm going to go ahead and guess that you don't have 380ms. It's definitely bad for anything, even web browsing. Don't expect people with 380ms or higher to ever succeed in Titan HM and beyond without being seriously carried through the content.Quote:
Originally Posted by whilke
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12-05-2013, 01:18 AMwhilke
The cards are 100% in their hands. To say otherwise is just ill-informed.
For your WoW example you are confusing ping and packet loss (rubber banding). 300ms ping in WoW is very playable in PVE (Which is what I mentioned, PVP is another competitive game). WoW also handles a normal amount of packet loss just fine. It's when your packet loss climbs to a level that no game can compensate for that you'll start to have rubber banding issues in WoW.
FFXIV will start to rubber band at a low percentage of packetloss, because their entire networking architecture is designed for optimal connections only. The internet just does not work that way.
What about once your packet leaves your ISP and is routing through various backbones that do their own QoS and packet dropping? Is that up to us to fix, and not SE?
Really unsure why you are defending SE on this issue when it's clearly been shown to be in their camp to resolve through several other forum threads. You are the last of a dying breed on this specific issue, so carry that torch high. -
12-05-2013, 01:24 AMwhilkeI'm going to go ahead and assume you have no idea what you are talking about if you think 300ms of ping is affecting your web browsing.Quote:
Originally Posted by harkinate
Hint: 300ms is fine for the HTTP protocol, and web browsing. You'll never see the different between 300ms and 30ms while just browsing the web.
Hint: 300ms is fine for nearly every AAA MMO, besides FFXIV, as long as it's a consistent connection. If you have constant spikes higher then 300ms then their compensation algorithms will start to falter. This is why AUS often will use a VPN (to smooth out that jitter they have in their backbone to EU/NA). -
12-05-2013, 02:04 AMDespite
Hello all!
First post here even though I've played a couple months now.
I just want to say that I'm from Southern California and the lag is horrendous pretty much all the time. I never have any problems with any other game and I find it ridiculous that I might have to pay WTFast or something similar just to be able to dodge red areas on the ground in game. There are often times that I've clearly dodged the red circle and started casting my next spell only to get hit by the aoe I just dodged mid-cast. Not to mention watching other players teleport across the screen.
I hope they add more data centers or otherwise address this issue because myself and everyone I know who plays from Socal is thinking about quitting. We should not pay a sub and see lag like this. :mad: -
12-05-2013, 02:15 AMharkinateQuote:
Originally Posted by whilke
Yes, 300ms is fine for HTTP protocol, more specifically TCP, but when you start streaming videos during web browsing (which is extremely common these days) you'll start noticing pretty big differences.
I'm starting to wonder if you're confusing me for someone else in your posts. They suggest that I'm defending SE at every turn, when I never have - I've always thought that SE has been severely dropping the ball in terms of their server and netcode. If SE doesn't fix these issues (as they reportedly will in 2.1..I'll believe that when I see it), then when PvP is released it will be a horrendous experience. -
12-05-2013, 02:41 AMAllyrasplit up the servers would change the routes...Quote:
Originally Posted by zaineal
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12-05-2013, 02:42 AMMekhanaIt's pretty sad that you are so close to the server compared to me and still have to put up with lag. I always wondered why they put the servers all the way up there instead of a hub like Miami or Boston.Quote:
Originally Posted by Despite
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12-05-2013, 02:44 AMAllyraThere is a huge issue for SoCal players in the game because of a particular hop and TWC (there's like ten million threads about it). It's actually not that close, the data center is on the east side of Canada, which is actually really far for the west coast. (Not saying it's as far as you, but ya).Quote:
Originally Posted by Mekhana
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12-05-2013, 03:08 AMJohnist
A Dev has already commented on this damned topic here:
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...ill-get-banned
There, Your answer is VPNs are allowed, but its up to you to use it at your own expense and risk.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hvinire
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12-05-2013, 03:38 AMwhilkeYour latency has nothing to do with streaming video quality, again, as long as you have a consistent connection. You can have a 5000ms ping, and your HD video streams will be just fine. The stream will start 2.5 seconds later then normal, but once it starts you'll get a constant stream of packets (all of which will be 2.5 seconds old from when they left the web server). Resulting in a video streaming experience that is exactly the same as if you had a 0ms ping.Quote:
Originally Posted by harkinate
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12-05-2013, 04:29 AMSnitchie
Reply to Zaineal telling me to rethink my finances.
PVE i agree with you. But as I said earlier when we get PvP , then you can compare with FPS games. Pvp in a mmo does'nt requier the same super connection as a fps game. But you get damn close. Since all my actions isnt planned out like an AI(Titan), same with my opponent. Then the player closest to the server has an advantage. Hence why all EU players are being ripped off by not having EU servers. (the reason i only say EU is because I am in Eu, and Eu is a BIG region where all the other MMO's have servers. So not only do i get lag (like many US players and the rest of the world, but I also get shitty ping for pvp. And I use WTFast vpn paying extra just to play like it is intended (and I still get low ping) So I am to say it, kinda irritated and angry at SE. And please dont say I need to rethink my finances. What I choose to do is my buissines. When I buy a product I can expect it to work the way it is intended, and now it isnt. -
12-05-2013, 04:34 AMSnitchie
And yes I have talked to BOTH my ISP's. As I stated in my thread, I have 2 conections one Fiber 50/50 and one VDSL (copper connection). And same result on BOTH! As many others said in this thread it is not up to my ISP's when I leave Norway, for QoS and such. But they have tweaked all they can and VPN WTFast is my bandaid for now. In my head a reduced cost for EU players is just what u do, to keep your players happy. Not just because of server locations, but also regarding money rates. We already PAY more. A reduced monthly cost is just a signal from SE that we care about our customer. Let us know that they feel our pain. (thats just how I would do it, and ive worked as manager in many customer support posititons so Iknow a thing or two about this. (not my current work , now its sales in oil and gas, again my finaces are just fine... i do not need more money, its a principal!!