Time Restrictions for Afkers

Maybe it would help if players who are afk for say more than an hour gets logged off automatically. It might help with overall server congestions...allowing more people who are trying to log-in actually get back in the game. There really isn't a reason for a player to be on and afking for 5+ hours in the game as there are retainers who can sell stuff for you etc...

The reason they are AFK'ing is so they dont have to log out and lose their spot, which is very unfair for the rest of us that cant get in.

It would not help. The problem is not the "open world", not the normal servers ... the problem are the instance/dungeon-servers and players that are AFK are not in a dungeon or instance, usually ...

So the instances are causing log in issues? Some people are unable to log in and continue to get error messages saying the world is full. I had these all yesterday.

I fully agree with the OP, I have noticed so many players who are literally AFK for ages. 30 minutes AFK to force a log off would solve no spaces on the server for additional log ins. I LOVE this game but am getting tired of my PC crashing and losing my space in the game because people are not logging out.

Additionally, I feel some sort of bar/gauge to represent how full the worlds are in terms of log in, both on the char selection page and the world selection page. Saves the whole 'World Full, please wait until a space is available'. It's frustrating as you have no idea how long to wait. This close to launch day and the servers are full already. I feel bad for the guys who will only start playing tomorrow. :(

Hopefully when they do this less people will be on the server so that peoples fps don't drop because of all the people.

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Originally Posted by IBenjieI

I fully agree with the OP, I have noticed so many players who are literally AFK for ages. 30 minutes AFK to force a log off would solve no spaces on the server for additional log ins. I LOVE this game but am getting tired of my PC crashing and losing my space in the game because people are not logging out.

Additionally, I feel some sort of bar/gauge to represent how full the worlds are in terms of log in, both on the char selection page and the world selection page. Saves the whole 'World Full, please wait until a space is available'. It's frustrating as you have no idea how long to wait. This close to launch day and the servers are full already. I feel bad for the guys who will only start playing tomorrow. :(

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Agreed on all accounts.

Its gotten the point where the word is spreading, don't log out at all. I know people who go to sleep for hours, come back and start playing again. This is a debacle and something needs to be done. Right now I am a paying player who has not been able to log on in 8 hours. I have sat there and tried for 45 minutes straight at time and keep getting world is full message.

I agree with the OP as well. It is ridiculous that people are AFK'ing for hours just so they do not have to log out and lose their place. I know that some MMORPGs have a log out feature for AFK characters after 15 minutes or so. This was an issue in the Beta stages. I'm currently wondering if Square is just giving up and trying to destroy themselves at this point. Just implement a boot feature for the AFK characters who clearly are not logging out just so they can sleep/work/go to school and then just start playing again. It is very unfair to the others who can not get into their servers to play with their friends. Again it's just ridiculous that people that actually want to play can't because of those who are idle. It is inconsiderate. Boot 'em out if they're afk for like 15-30 minutes, maybe even an hour as I seen suggested in here as well. One of the three. It might help with congestion.

Obligatory post supporting OP main idea also to reiterate that one reason why the servers stay congested is because people AFK and keep a slot instead of being logged out. I bet you that AFK timers would solve issues with all of this. I was on Gilgamesh last night and the amount of people that where standing around doing nothing was mind blowing compared to the amount of people actually playing the game.

AFK Timers
AFK Timers
AFK Timers

the fact that there is no afk timer with such server restrictions pretty much ended my ffxiv experience. hope it improves for your sake.

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Originally Posted by Soji24

Maybe it would help if players who are afk for say more than an hour gets logged off automatically. It might help with overall server congestions...allowing more people who are trying to log-in actually get back in the game. There really isn't a reason for a player to be on and afking for 5+ hours in the game as there are retainers who can sell stuff for you etc...

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I understand your concern but according the SE, the reason for the login-in problem (server full) is not the AFKs in the game, rather it's SE lowering the maximum number of players in a given server. Adding an AFK timer might not even solve the problem you're concern about -- we just don't know if the login issue is connected to the AFKs.

It seems that SE handles AFK differently without kicking them out from the server. Getting kicked out is rude since I'm a paying customer and I paid for the whole month, AFK or not.

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Originally Posted by Sv3

I understand your concern but according the SE, the reason for the login-in problem (server full) is not the AFKs in the game, rather it's SE lowering the maximum number of players in a given server. Adding an AFK timer might not even solve the problem you're concern about -- we just don't know if the login issue is connected to the AFKs.

It seems that SE handles AFK differently without kicking them out from the server. Getting kicked out is rude since I'm a paying customer and I paid for the whole month, AFK or not.

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Rude is holding up a slot when you are not using it. Logging you out after 30-60min would allow people in. On a green note, auto log out on your end reduces CPU/GPU load and lowers power consumption. Its a win-win.

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Originally Posted by Sv3

I understand your concern but according the SE, the reason for the login-in problem (server full) is not the AFKs in the game, rather it's SE lowering the maximum number of players in a given server. Adding an AFK timer might not even solve the problem you're concern about -- we just don't know if the login issue is connected to the AFKs.

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I'm sorry but how does kicking out afk players not help to reduce the number of players on a server, thus letting in new players. If they are limiting the number of people allowed in at one time kicking those that are afk while at work would help people who cannot get in now. It won't help them all but it will help them. Yes afk is not the reason for the restriction but it is a result of and making the restriction hurt others while selfish people get no punishment. To me that is an abuse of the game and should be taken care of.

We definitely need an AFK kick timer if this game is to survive in a world of free to play MMOs and many other games that don't require a subscription to play and rarely run into this population cap issue. Without this addition, this game will die off because of a handful of AFK place holders who frustrate potential active players into giving up and playing something else that they are not paying nearly as much for or are playing without a subscription.

Not to mention the horrible reality that many players are currently also facing which is being in a queue and then suddenly being yanked out of queue after being in it for a few minutes. It's quite frustrating to be told you're number 7 in line, then getting told the world is full and to try again later after you'd been in line to play for a few minutes.

Agreed, 100%

Yeah, this is what I've been saying. All most all of the most successful mmo's implement some sort of afk timer. Normally they warn the person once they reach near the threshold, and then disconnect them after about 15-30 min. If the player comes back during the warning, they can obviously bypass this. I'm not sure if all the afk people are restricting the amount of people on a server on one time, but that would make sense.


I know plenty of people who log on early in the morning just to get a spot, and remain afk all day. I also know people who never log off. That has to obviously cause some kind of stress on the server. To top it all off I'm on a legacy server. I'm not sure what genius decided to allow an influx of noobs, to a server already heavily populated. I literally saw 100s of players doing fates, and story quests at the same time. I think that's amazing it can be done, but I can't help but think that this also restricts other people from getting on the server.

During phase 4 they even opened more servers just to handle the load. So I'm not really sure why they didn't make a limitation in the beginning. I've heard this before, and I really hope they will offer free world transfers to servers not heavily populated.

I agree with the AFKers thing, but also why can't we sit and wait in line to log in. I'd MUCH rather wait upwards of an hour in line rather than try to log in everyone once in a while, only to be told "no, you pre-ordered for no reason"

I agree with the OP. Aion had this same issue when it launched, but their queue's were sometimes a couple of hours long. They did fix this mistake however, and implemented a 30 minute AFK timer. There were no more queue's at that point. AFK timer = problem solved.

Seriously an afk timer is a must for any MMO. Why it's not implemented yet is a big question. I played a lot of mmo including ff11, Wow and so on... But really first time in my life i can't log in for 2 days and since the pre-launch, i had more 1017 than time in game. Finally, I can understand the launch being chaotic but not having a queue is really a third strike!!!

Forgot to say if they add more servers, i apply for them even if i have to loose anything i did before.

Why afk timers weren't brought in when capping the servers is beyond me and actually scares me that no one at SE thought of that...

Writing to support this idea. Never played an MMO that didnt have an afk timer