IN regards to the server congestions

Hello,

Notice this on the lodestone

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...0acb6c23ccd07f

amazing. a clear and well spelled out definition of the problems and solutions they are looking at.

much appreciated SE

Though while they take the blame for it, I doubt the size of the influx could ever have been easily predicted using any model.

While I have many minor criticisms about the game, things like this are why I play. We have an amazing development team. It's worlds apart from Blizzards attitude.

It's a good sign for Endwalker and FF14 in general, the game is seeing increased popularity and they're taking advantage of that and seizing the opportunity as best as they can with player satisfaction in mind.

Far more than I would ever ask for in terms of acknowledging current problems and keeping the customers in the know with transparent processes.

Naisu.


You heard em folks. Have some patience and understanding, they are working on it and doing the best with what the world has dealt us.

While very appreciated that they not only explained how they're aware of the issue, the why and long-term plans... Only a very small minority reads these things and/or has the option to create new characters outside congestion hours.

Well, not like XIV is hurting for new players.

Wow I am blown away by that letter. Thank you SE for always thinking of your fans who love your game! So refreshing to see this level of communications in a era where many US gaming company's disrespect their player base and feel we are the enemy when in reality we are who keeps them in business. So glad I came back.

Massive respect to SE for this one. I am not even mad about the situation. Keep up the good work and watch yourselves from time to time as well. This shows they are doing everything they can and i am sure its appreciated by everyone.

Damn, they even looked at buying servers from resellers charging more than market rate out of desperation? But still couldn't find what they needed.

Well, better to have the money and not have the equipment available, than to have equipment available and no money. They can at least pre-order and reserve from one of the big data dealers. Even if the backorder is a year at this point.

That is one hell of a post. It is extremely detailed and gives an insight to server infrastructure and how queuing works on the backend.

I'm surprised that the player growth wasn't expected given the amount of money and effort sunk into advertising campaigns surrounding the game itself. Presumably it's the amount of players that is unexpected, however.

It's good to see that the European population is increasing, though. Hopefully that means that more feedback will be gathered from European players as to what we would like to see implemented.

This transparency is amazing and FFXIV deserves the first place at top MMORPGs of all time.

Really admire Naoki Yoshida and his team. They really made those who had remained in 1.0 all throughout till the end have their faith in his promise pay off, and he continues to deliver on that promise years later till this day.

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I'm surprised that the player growth wasn't expected given the amount of money and effort sunk into advertising campaigns surrounding the game itself. Presumably it's the amount of players that is unexpected, however

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I think they expected a surge of players that was normal, but not to the extent that happened becuase of the "streamer influence".

Anyway I'm always amazed how transparent they are when something like this happens and what the exact problem is and what they want to do to fix it.

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Originally Posted by Infindox

I think they expected a surge of players that was normal, but not to the extent that happened becuase of the "streamer influence".

Anyway I'm always amazed how transparent they are when something like this happens and what the exact problem is and what they want to do to fix it.

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Yeah specially when you consider we are in a content drought/pause, even if Shadowbringers had a big influx of players 1 month b4 early access, this time we got it 120 days b4 it.

Also agree with the transperacy n all, really reassuring they are looking for short and long term solutions

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Originally Posted by Theodric

I'm surprised that the player growth wasn't expected given the amount of money and effort sunk into advertising campaigns surrounding the game itself.

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They actually suspended a lot of the advertising campaigns so that it doesn't look like they are taking advantage of how everyone is spending more time at home because of COVID-19.

Good stuff, the assertive logout remedy will help - that said, I'd taper it a bit - here's one idea. Start off with 1 hour of inactivity before the logout process is invoked, and all events where the 20 second timer appears on a player's screen are counted. Each account has, say, 30 such per week. If your count exceeds 30 in a week, your timer is 45 min for a week, and then reverts to 1 hour, etc. If your account exceeds 40 in a week, your timer is set to 30 min for a week. Call them carbon credits - and, you can buy them! Go to the Mog Station and for 2 bux a month your account's carbon credits are doubled. Like that. This has possibilities ... you can even trade carbon credits on the Market Board. What fun. Then, you can trade in Carbon Credits for game time. It gets better... KPOW

Huh? oh, sorry Mom, I was dreaming.. Yeah, I'll go for nap... oh, log out. Right. <3

Shooter

Really appreciate that from the big man himself, bravo. As frustrating as it can be at times it's much easier to handle if we all know what why and how.

Im sure the massive growth took them by surprise, usually see a heavy drop in active players when content dries up. Its always great to see great to see Yoshi P respond to situations like this so quickly.

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Originally Posted by Liam_Harper

While I have many minor criticisms about the game, things like this are why I play. We have an amazing development team. It's worlds apart from Blizzards attitude.

It's a good sign for Endwalker and FF14 in general, the game is seeing increased popularity and they're taking advantage of that and seizing the opportunity as best as they can with player satisfaction in mind.

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Sorry gotta rebuke this, Blizzard made a post regards to their server congestion that was very technically stated when shadowlands released, SE isn't the only ones to address this. Blizz rarely needs to ramp up their servers as its already really high end (cutting edge in industry actually) which is why you don't see it much.

I just want to say... I am a new player, and I appreciate communication like this. Thanks SE!

I don't know if they'll read any of what's posted here, but thank you Yoshi-P and team for creating such a wonderful game! I am extremely happy to see it finally getting such wide recognition in the west.

YoshiP is always fruitful with his technical explanations, and always appreciate it. it jives with what many of us were already thinking. They simply outgrew their growth plan in multiple regions, The queues that operate like an airport runway, to the challenges of upgrading the server infrastructure during these times.

I enjoy this game. I enjoy this franchise. I love that the creators put in their time and energy, and even when they're sick (looking at you, Soken), they sacrifice what they have left to give it all to us.
Words aren't enough to fully express it, but I'll try.
Thank you. I am glad. :) I mean that from the bottom of my very soul. I don't know if Yoshi-P, Soken, or any of the staff at Square-Enix will ever see this, but I just want it to be on record.
This series came out the year I was born. It has been an absolutely massive part of my very existence since the earliest years of my youth, starting with Final Fantasy Tactics, and eventually moving on to both the older games and the newer ones.
I have no doubt that you guys (Square-Enix staff and their affiliates) are tired, sore, worn out, maybe a little hungry, but you keep on going. You deserve all the accolades, all the praise you get, and you certainly deserve a good vacation. XD
I wish I could travel there and just give you all a big hug, each of you, and thank you personally for gifting me and entire generations the joy that is the Final Fantasy universe (that goes for you, too, Sakaguchi-san and Uematsu-san!). Unfortunatley, I realize that's a little tough for anyone, nevermind me. So I'll just have to settle for this random (not-so-random) blog post.
You are ALL part of a great family now, and any of us would fight for you. Please keep doing what you love to do so long as you love to do it, just don't wear yourselves down until there's nothing left. :) We won't put any blame on you.
Again, thank you. I am glad.
---Duraeus Entenu, faithful fan and goofy Irish mutt---

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Originally Posted by raelgun

Sorry gotta rebuke this, Blizzard made a post regards to their server congestion that was very technically stated when shadowlands released, SE isn't the only ones to address this. Blizz rarely needs to ramp up their servers as its already really high end (cutting edge in industry actually) which is why you don't see it much.

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True, but it's more the developer attitude (which applies to the game in general) and indepth explanation given. There's also a difference between server congestion at an Expansion release where you might expect it and having a completely unexpected surge in players during what's normally a quiet time for MMO's and then apologizing to your players for not being prepared enough for it.

Not going to turn it into a bash at Blizzard though, all I'm saying is respect to SE.

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Originally Posted by Liam_Harper

True, but it's more the developer attitude (which applies to the game in general) and indepth explanation given. There's also a difference between server congestion at an Expansion release where you might expect it and having a completely unexpected surge in players during what's normally a quiet time for MMO's and then apologizing to your players for not being prepared enough for it.

Not going to turn it into a bash at Blizzard though, all I'm saying is respect to SE.

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I'd take it with a pinch of salt, personally.

I don't doubt that the development team are passionate about the game but we also need to remain grounded and realise that these companies spend a lot of money on finding the best way to put out a message in a way that will be beneficial to the game's reputation and PR. Any official statement is likely combed through by lawyers and PR agents.

It's the nature of the industry, or rather pretty much any major business these days.

I had read recently that part of the reason for them not getting more servers up and running was as simple as parts not being available due to the virus. Anyone that's tried to purchase video cards in the last year have a pretty good idea of what's going on, maybe not to that extent, but a rough idea.

Communication is key in any line of work, and Yoshi hit that one out of the ballpark. It's communication like that, that will not only retain players, but garner more.

Kudos to the team for pushing forward.

Im used to gaming companies launching games and expansions inaccessible for days with no apology or communication. The 1-3 minute waits ive been having on Famfrit are nothing. Thanks SE.

There is one more thing I would suggest: Add "AFK auto-logout circumvention" to the list of prohibited activities.

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■AFK auto-logout circumvention
When AFK auto-logout is active, meaning players will be logged out automatically after a given period of inactivity, "AFK auto-logout circumvention" is defined as the use of any device, script, or other means to defeat the auto-logout system and stay logged in despite the player being absent from the computer or console.

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And be sure to enforce it.

Let's be honest even the most optimistic player a few weeks ago could not have predicted a surge of this kind during what's normally the dead pre-expansion period. World of Warcraft's 9.1 patch falling flat on it's face is definitely a factor in all of this and combined with the likes of Asmongold and Bellular as well as other popular streamers actively giving the game a go and ENJOYING it has finally led to an unprecedented surge in demand and interest by the gaming community. We've seen this with the likes of numbers on steam reaching all time highs for example and the huge amount of sprouts across all server's leading to ARR areas being as busy as ever. The fact that they're having to reintroduce the AFK timer something that has only ever been employed during new expansion launches at what is normally the QUIESTEST time during the game's development cycle speaks volumes at just how much demand for the game has surged in the past few weeks.

Alot of the information regarding their difficulties is understandable too given both the current real world conditions as well as unprecedented demand. We already knew the dev team was hamstrung by quarantine restrictions making setting up the oceanic data servers alot more difficult so it's no surprise this would impact the north american and european servers too if they have to inspect these as well (international travel is only really begun reopening this month in both continents) and full vaccination is required to enter these regions atm. As for the difficulty in sourcing new server hardware it's completely understandable you only have to ask anyone in the PC gaming community in the last few months how much of a nightmare it's been to source the newest CPU and EXPECIALLY GPU's without being ripped off by scalpers or paying far above MRSP. Even earlier this year is was a nightmare to source certain motherboards and even PSUs. At the very least they are bringing foward plans for new server's and capacity increases as soon as they can secure the hardware needed to do so.

Overall for what it's worth while new players might find things a bit difficult the game IS worth buying if only the base pack thats like €10 so you can queue up. This is also a blessing in disguise as Endwalker during the last LL was stated to have nearly triple the preorders compared to shadowbringers. Had this happened during Endwalker itself we'd be drowning in a sea of dissapointment memes right now! At least with all this happening now it's alerted the dev team to how much demand the game could potentially have and that we are definately in need of a new server or 2 on the NA and EU datacenters.

It's nice that they've actually acknowledged the problem and are attempting to fix it, so kudos to them.

Yes, it was definitely an unexpected (but richly deserved) influx of players. One moment we were carrying on as normal, looking forward to the interim patches and then Endwalker. The next moment, player avalanche :-) Great stuff!

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[...] As producer, the responsibility for being unable to predict the current influx of new players falls to me. [...]

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Oh please, YoshiP couldn't have known that Patch 9.1 would've been such a great success!

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Let's see if the new players are scared away of the queue. The game is a lot of fun even during the tedious ARR slaught. If you spent lots of time farming WoW and being absolutely burned out after a year, give it a rest sometime, but be interested in MMOs, FFXIV is such a joyful alternative. Unfortunately even long-time players in my FC are getting annoyed, especially when you're coming home from work and you find yourself in a queue for over half an hour. Staying logged in doesn't help much and most certainly not now with the automated kick now around. Yet, as much as I commend the AFK timer, it yet hasn't shown its real effect. At least when it comes to world travel, there's still at least 20min queues with most over 30min. I don't dare to log out and check how the queue for the actual log in now looks like.

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Originally Posted by Feronar

There is one more thing I would suggest: Add "AFK auto-logout circumvention" to the list of prohibited activities.


And be sure to enforce it.

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Not a good idea. There are too many, perfectly legit, ways of avoiding the auto-logout, some of which can easily happen accidentally.
One example: Start crafting something. Get called away from the computer by a phone call or something. Forget to go back to computer to log out character and don't return for many hours. While in crafting stance the character will not be auto-logged out. Talking to an NPC or a retainer also blocks auto-logout.

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Originally Posted by MistakeNot

Not a good idea. There are too many, perfectly legit, ways of avoiding the auto-logout, some of which can easily happen accidentally.
One example: Start crafting something. Get called away from the computer by a phone call or something. Forget to go back to computer to log out character and don't return for many hours. While in crafting stance the character will not be auto-logged out. Talking to an NPC or a retainer also blocks auto-logout.

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So... Just make auto logout force you out even if you "accidentally totally not on purpose" bypass the current auto logout function.


Such as "if no new inputs received in x minutes, force disconnect client"

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Originally Posted by MistakeNot

Not a good idea. There are too many, perfectly legit, ways of avoiding the auto-logout, some of which can easily happen accidentally.
One example: Start crafting something. Get called away from the computer by a phone call or something. Forget to go back to computer to log out character and don't return for many hours. While in crafting stance the character will not be auto-logged out. Talking to an NPC or a retainer also blocks auto-logout.

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You’re acting as if crafting is some lengthy ordeal. If you can’t finish a minute and a half long craft and proceed to then AFK “for many hours” you’re exactly the reason they’re having to implement these workarounds, whether it’s intentional or not.

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Originally Posted by Feronar

There is one more thing I would suggest: Add "AFK auto-logout circumvention" to the list of prohibited activities.


And be sure to enforce it.

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How were you planning to enforce it?

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Originally Posted by MrPresident

You’re acting as if crafting is some lengthy ordeal. If you can’t finish a minute and a half long craft and proceed to then AFK “for many hours” you’re exactly the reason they’re having to implement these workarounds, whether it’s intentional or not.

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Crafting isn't some lengthy ordeal - that's just nonsense. But you can still get interrupted while doing it and have to leave the computer.

If you get logged out while crafting you lose the crafting materials you were using - some of which can be very valuable. If an auto-logout feature would cause that to happen I guarantee SE would get many very angry customers.

Crafting is just one of many activities that SE has decided makes you immune to auto-logout.

If someone is eating an apple for their lunch and they step away from it then the apple is going to spoil and likely be inedible by the time that they return. Equally, if people choose to go AFK in the middle of an in-game activity then I don't think they should be surprised if they're logged out or unable to complete whatever it is they were doing before they took their leave.

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Originally Posted by Feronar

There is one more thing I would suggest: Add "AFK auto-logout circumvention" to the list of prohibited activities.


And be sure to enforce it.

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Why? It'd be much more fruitful for them to go after large scale bot and RMT teams, mass pvp win trades and such. These are things that actually impact both the game's economy and it's player base. A few stubborn AFKs aren't impacting anything. This is just adding work to achieve nothing except alienate some of the most steadfast and lucrative players they have.

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Originally Posted by Sove92

How were you planning to enforce it?

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Someone is seen repeatedly jumping in place.
GM whispers that player: "Hey, are you there?"
No response. Player is still jumping in place.
GM teleports that player to the Mordion Gaol, and gives him the boot.