Clarification From Dev About the 30-Minutes AFK Logout

Can we get clarification if the 30-minutes AFK kick is a permanent feature now?

We will be getting 6.1 in more or less a month from now and they will continue with the AFK kick for 6.1.

If based on how long this feature being implemented for 6.0, there won't be any period that this feature will be lifted anymore.

:confused:

Edit: Ok thanks for the answer, they will remove it "soon", awesome.
I missed that last part of recent PLL which usually only marketing stuf.

If there isn't any word on it then there's no word on it. It's probably staying.

Ps. This is a community forum for players to chat with one another. It's not a direct line to the devs. Lol.

It's usually temporary I suspect it'll be the same this go around. Hopefully instances will go away with 6.1.

Yoshida said they might turn it off soon. Most likely instances will be gone in 6.1.

Yoshi-P made a short comment about removing the auto-logout feature soon, near the end of the most recent live letter.

They already clarified they could probably remove it soon (6.1) and this is when it was removed in the last expansion (5.1). It has been removed after every other expansion as well.

They have never been interested in keeping it permanently because they know it's inconvenient. It exists because it effectively increases server capacity to kick out people who aren't doing anything. Extra server capacity is needed when an expansion releases or when there is insufficient server hardware because of a semiconductor shortage.

Oh, I missed that during the PLL. And that's a great news, thanks for the answers!

Just out of sheer curiosity, what do you need to be online and idle for more than 30 minutes for? Most every other MMO on the planet has an auto disconnect feature when you are AFK for lengthy periods of time and there is never really any complaining about it.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rhysati

Just out of sheer curiosity, what do you need to be online and idle for more than 30 minutes for? Most every other MMO on the planet has an auto disconnect feature when you are AFK for lengthy periods of time and there is never really any complaining about it.

---

Mostly for chat discussions/logs and I'm tired of trailer music suddenly playing if I forgot to turn down volume. Also if the server no longer congested, why forced afk players to logout?

Auto-disconnect should be an option when server no longer congested, FFXIV has no reason to follow what others are doing if it's not beneficial for the players.

FFXIV idling camera makes for nice background viewing on a second monitor while you do something else. I only wish they timer could be set to longer than them seconds per scene.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dionysius

Can we get clarification if the 30-minutes AFK kick is a permanent feature now?

We will be getting 6.1 in more or less a month from now and they will continue with the AFK kick for 6.1.

If based on how long this feature being implemented for 6.0, there won't be any period that this feature will be lifted anymore.

:confused:

---

You must have slept in the back during the 69th live letter.

Remove at 6.1, it's made to free up space and kick the majority of afk by staying connected for hours and days.

I say majority because some abuse macro and bot to stay connected.

Also check this post from Yoshi-P on how they don't want to be very restrictive on players and "AFK" is also part of the gameplay experience.

https://na.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...7f00ed86bb7155

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Naoki34

You must have slept in the back during the 69th live letter.

Remove at 6.1, it's made to free up space and kick the majority of afk by staying connected for hours and days.

I say majority because some abuse macro and bot to stay connected.

---

No way you assume every single players obligated to stay with every single 2-3 hrs PLL right? Especially if it's not officially translated yet. Lmao.

i think the massive hype caused by streamers and expac died down so the game probly is mostly back to its pre asmon time atm XD

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by VerumNaos

i think the massive hype caused by streamers and expac died down so the game probly is mostly back to its pre asmon time atm XD

---

Asmon said he's coming back soon to do the MSQ on stream, so who knows if a lot of people will come back as well. At least the majority of the other big streamers already finished the MSQ so it won't be as crazy. He had just gotten in Stormblood when he left.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rhysati

Just out of sheer curiosity, what do you need to be online and idle for more than 30 minutes for? Most every other MMO on the planet has an auto disconnect feature when you are AFK for lengthy periods of time and there is never really any complaining about it.

---

Most of those are longer than 30 minutes. If you're cooking, getting a shower, need to go tend to something, etc, 30 minutes is kind of slim. If they're going to have launch login issues like they did this expansion, they should consider extending it to an hour whenever it's active because that would get the full AFK people but not punish people who spent hours getting online and then have to run off to do something.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Dionysius

Can we get clarification if the 30-minutes AFK kick is a permanent feature now?

We will be getting 6.1 in more or less a month from now and they will continue with the AFK kick for 6.1.

If based on how long this feature being implemented for 6.0, there won't be any period that this feature will be lifted anymore.

:confused:

Edit: Ok thanks for the answer, they will remove it "soon", awesome.
I missed that last part of recent PLL which usually only marketing stuf.

---

Don't worry. You'll get to AFK soon!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rhysati

Just out of sheer curiosity, what do you need to be online and idle for more than 30 minutes for? Most every other MMO on the planet has an auto disconnect feature when you are AFK for lengthy periods of time and there is never really any complaining about it.

---

"AFK" is how most people play this game.

Given the inability to get improved servers running and the rush of returning players at every patch, I say leave the timer on.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rhysati

Just out of sheer curiosity, what do you need to be online and idle for more than 30 minutes for? Most every other MMO on the planet has an auto disconnect feature when you are AFK for lengthy periods of time and there is never really any complaining about it.

---

Most other MMOs don't but the free to play ones might. There's a million reasons why someone might be idle for more than 30 minutes and those reasons don't need to be said since it is a pay to play MMO anyway. It's not like this game is on the cloud where the more players there are at once, the more expensive it will be to host. They already own all their servers and besides the electricity it takes to process more people online, it's irrelevant. Plus, the cost is included in the monthly bill you pay for. If you really want to stay logged in passed the limit, you technically could. But the timer is going away in 6.1. Not that it matters so much since it takes 2 minutes to login again but getting idle kicked does take away from the MMO experience.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eriane_Elis

Most other MMOs don't but the free to play ones might.

---

Both of the ones I named: WoW and ESO have kick timers. WoW's is 30 minutes. ESO is 20 I believe.

Anyway, it's beside the point. Every person that is logged in takes up resources. Whether you are paying or not is irrelevant and always has been. If you aren't actively playing the game, there is no reason for you to be on it. If you got kicked off, so what? Log back in. It takes no time at all to do so even during prime time.

I will be glad when we return to normal and the forced afk timers are kicked.

I've never understood this... If you're going to be unable to play the game for 30+ minutes... just log out? I dont understand the need to let it sit there for two hours while you do unrelated things... Theres no queue anymore, it takes you a grand total of like.. a minute to boot the game back up and get into the game on your character...

I'm happy for the people that are excited about standing in limsa for 3 hours, more power to you, but I really just have never understood the point...

I think pragmatically if queues are gone and people can login without issues then the AFK feature is no big deal. I dunno why people get so concerned about others personal choices. I personally logout and turn my PC/PS5 off if I am knowingly going to be away for more than 30 minutes.

limso afkers rise up
they can't hide us
we exist and we will be seent

I think an AFK timer is perfectly reasonable. It's easy enough to log back in. When it WASN'T easy to log back in, the AFK timer, while frustrating, was very necessary.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by VirusOnline

limso afkers rise up
they can't hide us
we exist and we will be seent

---

:::doesn't go to Limsa:::

Checkmate.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rhysati

Just out of sheer curiosity, what do you need to be online and idle for more than 30 minutes for? Most every other MMO on the planet has an auto disconnect feature when you are AFK for lengthy periods of time and there is never really any complaining about it.

---

for example when I farm a specific legendary node, but at the same time I'm doing something else.

The /alarm rings, I take the ore or whatever I'm gathering then return AFK.

I'll be glad when it's gone, although it's not as bad as ESO's. Sometimes I don't even bother logging in to ESO because I'm also doing chores around the house but at least with ours I can generally fold a load of laundry without getting kicked.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Naoki34

You must have slept in the back during the 69th live letter.

Remove at 6.1, it's made to free up space and kick the majority of afk by staying connected for hours and days.

I say majority because some abuse macro and bot to stay connected.

---

if they are worried about being afk for more than 1/2 hour do you really think they will sit through a live letter?

there is no queues so why worry if you get kicked for being away? I have no problem at all ifs it is a permanent addition

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eriane_Elis

Most other MMOs don't but the free to play ones might. There's a million reasons why someone might be idle for more than 30 minutes and those reasons don't need to be said since it is a pay to play MMO anyway. It's not like this game is on the cloud where the more players there are at once, the more expensive it will be to host. They already own all their servers and besides the electricity it takes to process more people online, it's irrelevant. Plus, the cost is included in the monthly bill you pay for. If you really want to stay logged in passed the limit, you technically could. But the timer is going away in 6.1. Not that it matters so much since it takes 2 minutes to login again but getting idle kicked does take away from the MMO experience.

---

"being in the cloud" is not a mysterious and abstract thing as you seem to imply it is. FFXIV is an online game and is as much 'in the cloud' as anything with an online service (ie server and servers). FFXIV would still need to bring more servers online if more and more users login at once. More servers, owned by Square Enix of not, costs more and more money. The entire reason login queues exist is because of capacity limits at the beginning of their server infrastructure. AFK timers exist to manage the number of concurrent users on at once, lessening world server load and need to expand server availability and capacity. More users -> more servers -> more money needed to sustain it.

Server maintenance goes well beyond just electricty too. There are also employee payroll that is needed to manage, catalogue, upgrade, and replace infrastructure as needed. In order to maintain infrastructure expenses must also be paid on physical hardware as it wears out or as needed for upgrades and expansion. Strorage hardware is one of the most frequent replaces, as an example. These costs exist even if it is owned by Square Enix. Managed services (a common example people bring up is AWS) are not exclusive to 'the more expensive it will be to host.'

As a an entry level only subscriber your contribution to the overall cost to keep FFXIV running and maintained is minimal. The majority of cost coverage comes from additional payments in the form of the mogstore, collectors items, soundtracks, merchandise purchases, premium and additonal subscriptions per player, and internal company transfers. If you just pay the entry level subscription you do not, technically, have the right to use resources to play 24 hours a day 7 days a week. It is a privillege that Square Enix extends to each player if they have the capacity and means to do so while maintaining close-to-stable service. A privillege that Square Enix can take away any time they want by implementing throttling measures.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eriane_Elis

Not that it matters so much since it takes 2 minutes to login again but getting idle kicked does take away from the MMO experience.

---

lol, excuse me what?

if you arent at the keyboard.. what "MMO experience" are you experiencing since you arent playing?