Why won't you implement an Auto-Kicker?

Seriously. Figured "hey might get on today and finally get that *fill in whatever*"

SO I proceed to login, get the typical "World Full" and figure "ah well, it's the weekend, I can understand high volume, I'll wait it out"


So... 6 hours has passed checking from every 3 minutes to every 15 minutes to see if I can log in - numerous messages stating 1017 of course and only 1 stating there were 21 people waiting - I thought maybe this would mean I was in line but no... that didn't happen. The system is pathetic.


It would be pretty simple to have a "Are you still playing?" message and countdown to stop this BS. It could easily be triggered when you haven't earned XP, done quests, or otherwise "something involving a interface" in say 10 minutes. (this gives plenty of time to pee without being kicked)

After the 10 mins, you get say 20 seconds to reply, ENTERING TEXT proving you are indeed still playing, just happened to be idle for a little while. Failure to do so in 20 seconds (or whatever time limit) would result in your account being automatically logged out so someone else may join in and actually "play" the game.


Seriously... I expected high volume - but it's not just HV causing the problem - it's players standing around for hours doing nothing while they are indeed AFK - at work/school/etc and no where around the system to actually play at all. Even the quick synth process only takes a few minutes to make 99 items - so it wouldn't be effected either.


and before you flame - I understand your "logic" behind idling for hours so you don't have this error later when you want to play after work/etc
but that's the PROBLEM - you all are thinking the same thing, doing the same thing, standing IDLE - your the CAUSE of the problem, this act of "logging in early so I can play later" is exactly what is causing all this to happen.

LOG OUT when you are away from the game for extended periods of time.
LOG OUT.

Simple enough, right?

If people were reasonable and a tad considerate, your mindset and suggestions would be the case. But people arent unfortunately.
So we spend these hours trying to get in and square wont even do restarts to clear out AFKers.

I do not blame people who stay logged in overnight at all. They are playing the game they paid for in the only way Square will allow.

This is completely the fault of the development team. They knew how many people their servers could handle, they knew how many people had pre-ordered the game for early access, and they failed completely. If the problems had all begun Tuesday, when there really was a random variable of how many people were logging in, then yes, then they could blame it on unexpected surge of players. But it wasn't working even when they knew how many people to expect. What made it even worse, is that there wasn't an announcement that action would be taken until the Japanese server started to get overloaded by people who wanted to play the game from NA/EU.

I blame Square for failing.

Now that's the problem. Logging in all night. While it's "night" to you - its "day" to another. Not just Solar speaking - but day/night shifts and personal taste.


While you stay logged in - you prevent another from playing at all, and all your doing is sleeping. How inconsiderate.

If everyone simply LOGGED OUT when they were done playing "for the time being" this problem would be lessened greatly, down from waiting hours/days to log in, to maybe minutes/hours. Much more reasonable, at any rate.

Yeah the development team at SE messed up but its a real jerk move to fill a spot on a server that someone else could be in while you're at work for 8 hours. During the course of the week I had school and work from 8am all the way until 10pm. To stay online for 14 hours doing nothing and taking up a spot would be inconsiderate so I play for about an hour in the am, then log out in a sanctuary collecting the bonuses while I'm gone and then log in when I can later that evening. Seriously its a game, if you have to ruin someone else's time by going afk just so you can play for 2 hours later is utterly ridiculous.

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Originally Posted by Thunda51

Yeah the development team at SE messed up but its a real jerk move to fill a spot on a server that someone else could be in while you're at work for 8 hours. During the course of the week I had school and work from 8am all the way until 10pm. To stay online for 14 hours doing nothing and taking up a spot would be inconsiderate so I play for about an hour in the am, then log out in a sanctuary collecting the bonuses while I'm gone and then log in when I can later that evening. Seriously its a game, if you have to ruin someone else's time by going afk just so you can play for 2 hours later is utterly ridiculous.

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and if more of us LOG OUT when we have to do life stuff - like work or school for hours - this problem would be almost unnoticed instead of the epidemic it has become.

Simple fact is I see most players log in during the "morning" here - and then stay there all day, finally "playing" at night. This means they sat for about 8 hours to work/school/whatever, eating up a slot - I know they just "wanted to ensure they could play later" but by acting this way - they seriously only make the problem worse.

I think there is no autokick because of FFXI. In that you would literally camp for hours to get a rare mob. I know its lame. I think 1 hour is a good autokick time.

don't blame people because of the system, the one made the system is responsible

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Originally Posted by SuperDevin

I think there is no autokick because of FFXI. In that you would literally camp for hours to get a rare mob. I know its lame. I think 1 hour is a good autokick time.

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in this game I don't even see 1hour being needed. Even crafting only takes a few minute on "autopilot" mode, and FATE events are rather common so "rare mob" stuff doesn't even come into play.

On top of which I don't know of any "super rare drops" yet that would require such behavior... so.... 10 minutes "idle" would be plenty. "Idle" being defined as something a bit more involved then simply "afk" to prevent easy walk arounds and accidental triggers.

No exp gains
No items synthesized
No quests accepted/turned in/updated

would be a good start to the parameters of the kick program. Always avoiding the easy stuff like "moving" "jumping" and "typing"

If we just had auto-boot in place, people wouldn't have to deal with 1017 the vast majority of the time. *sigh*

auto boot and working queues and 1017 would vanish......

Bad thing is it is the afkers are just going to get worse the longer it takes for them to resolve the population issues. Every day more and more people are rationalizing staying logged because "everyone else is doing it" mentality.

I am waiting for the "Square owes me a new PS3 because mine burned out staying logged in so I could play the game when I wanted" posts.

So is anything going to be done about this crap? I'm sick of trying to log in for 2 hours straight. Whenever I get in - regardless of what a crap it is to get back in, I always log out before going to bed/work. It is the considerate and right thing to do - but try telling that to other immature kids. Yeah maybe i'd leave my comp on all night too if I didn't have to pay my own bills LOL. What can you do, yes it's squares fault but it's also the peoples fault for not being considerate, you don't get this crap afk in WoW. Cities are so packed of people doing absolutely nothing.

There is a majory maintenance planned for the 3rd going into the 4th, so it is possible things will be fixed soon. I'm crossing my fingers for it.

Since quite a few ways are easily defeated, how would you implement AFK detection reliably?

Indeed its needed. I see why people do it (login sucks and you get issues like you have) but at the same time your denying people who will actually be PLAYING a chance to get on. Given a queue is done (you know, like anyone with even the slightest sense of mind would do for a game to prevent issues like servers being full and giving people a chance to log in, and enjoy life for the 30 or so minutes before they get logged on) it would be nice to have, say an hour afk timer or something which is MORE then enough time to give someone to be afk.

SE messed up their servers capacity , we all know that. You are mad we all get it. Are we going to logout when we are done ? Of course not we might never get in again. Hypothetically speaking let's say everyone who does not play log out , will it fix the server full issue you complain about ? Nope. There's just too many players it will always happen until they increase the size.

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Originally Posted by Omnerabdator

auto boot and working queues and 1017 would vanish......

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Dunno if it'd fully vanish, but it definitely would be so low likelihood in happening that it would basically be gone.

They already said that they are looking into the AFK-kicker. And IMO it should be 30 minutes before it kicks you out as it has been with other games. Since 10-15min is way way too short if you think about everyone who is actually playing the game and not just yourself.

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Originally Posted by LetoAtreidesII

Dunno if it'd fully vanish, but it definitely would be so low likelihood in happening that it would basically be gone.

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oh srry i didnt mean completely vanish, just minimised by a hell of alot

Update* 12 hours of refreshing every 5-15 minutes, and still unable to get on even ONCE.

This is flat out unacceptable.

I demand Char Transfers so I can get the hell off this stupid over-afk'd world and go to a less populated one without starting all over.


It's a darn shame I spent my day off thinking I'd get to play , only to sit at the loading screen. I must be stupid or something thinking I can play a game on MY time, when I WANT TO, that I PAY FOR. Silly me. Oh wait... no .. that's not silly at all, that's expected business. So where/when will the company fulfill their end of the contract and provide the as-advertised product?


I've got 6 friends I've informed NOT TO BUY the game until these issues are resolved, and when we can actually pick a server WE CAN ALL PLAY ON TOGETHER. Although at this rate, that will never happen... I mean to think you can play a "MMORPG" WITH friends must be silly too.

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Originally Posted by Kriltex

So is anything going to be done about this crap? I'm sick of trying to log in for 2 hours straight. Whenever I get in - regardless of what a crap it is to get back in, I always log out before going to bed/work. It is the considerate and right thing to do - but try telling that to other immature kids. Yeah maybe i'd leave my comp on all night too if I didn't have to pay my own bills LOL. What can you do, yes it's squares fault but it's also the peoples fault for not being considerate, you don't get this crap afk in WoW. Cities are so packed of people doing absolutely nothing.

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Even WoW, where most servers are only at 50% capacity has an AFK timer of about 30 minutes. It really isn't rocket science. Having no AFK timer is so ridiculous, it is almost like it is intentional. How could it not be? It is like forgetting your own name, or forgetting to breathe. These people design MMOs right? They are programmers no?

LOL

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Originally Posted by bmcmvox

Even WoW, where most servers are only at 50% capacity has an AFK timer of about 30 minutes. It really isn't rocket science. Having no AFK timer is so ridiculous, it is almost like it is intentional. How could it not be? It is like forgetting your own name, or forgetting to breathe. These people design MMOs right? They are programmers no?

LOL

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AFK kickers have existed since MMO's began popularity, years ago. SE's failure to include one either is showing just how unprofessional they have become, or how ignorant the new staff is.

SE said they're actively looking into it. They did not say "no". The first part of any change will be design and costing. But if the problem is a few hundred AFK per world, yet a few thousand are trying to log in, getting rid of the few hundred won't make much of a difference. And when the worlds are less congested after fixes and whatever, the pond scum won't need to stay logged in while they are away for hours if they can log in and play whenever they want.

FFXI didn't need to kick AFK people. It even has a "bazaar" feature for selling items unattended from each character, and a well-known location to park your character while you slept or were at work, so the rest of the world could buy your non-AHable endgame items during their prime time.

I've been trying since 6:30 AM EDT to log in. There is no longer a peak period of time when people are playing. The servers are at capacity 24/7 it would seem.

I'm giving SE no more than another week to completely resolve this or I'm canceling my sub. For the rest of you, I'd say that's one less person to worry about trying to get a server slot....but since I can't get in anyway it's pretty much inconsequential.

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Originally Posted by ArkhamNative

SE said they're actively looking into it. They did not say "no". The first part of any change will be design and costing. But if the problem is a few hundred AFK per world, yet a few thousand are trying to log in, getting rid of the few hundred won't make much of a difference. And when the worlds are less congested after fixes and whatever, the pond scum won't need to stay logged in while they are away for hours if they can log in and play whenever they want.

FFXI didn't need to kick AFK people. It even has a "bazaar" feature for selling items unattended from each character, and a well-known location to park your character while you slept or were at work, so the rest of the world could buy your non-AHable endgame items.

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This isn't XI - it Needs a kicker. Comparing the two is silly - they are worlds apart in demand.

A few hundred kicks is only the active players you can see - what about during a whole day? I am guessing about 60% of the population actually AFK's for long periods of time, causing the congestion and 1017 issues for the rest of us. The longer it goes, the more that do it - why? "oh man, I don't want to NOT be able to play, I better just stay logged in!"

This is the though process of all players at one point or another, and unfortunately, it just makes it worse.

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Originally Posted by Yuck

I've been trying since 6:30 AM EDT to log in. There is no longer a peak period of time when people are playing. The servers are at capacity 24/7 it would seem.

I'm giving SE no more than another week to completely resolve this or I'm canceling my sub. For the rest of you, I'd say that's one less person to worry about trying to get a server slot....but since I can't get in anyway it's pretty much inconsequential.

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http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...e-%28Sep.-4%29

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Originally Posted by Nekodar

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...e-%28Sep.-4%29

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That maint. doesn't say anything about helping already-over-populated servers, and chances are they won't be "increasing the slot size" either - they are trying to get players to join other servers (hence the addition of new servers) - but this won't help already-congested servers unless players are willing to start all over. (I .. don't want to, I know many others share this feeling.)

Being as such, as soon as the maint. ends - it's going to be a rush to log in -because once they fill again - they won't be emptying out anytime soon.

Seriously.............

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Originally Posted by Kissker

This isn't XI - it Needs a kicker. ... I am guessing about 60% of the population actually AFK's for long periods of time, causing the congestion and 1017 issues for the rest of us. The longer it goes, the more that do it - why? "oh man, I don't want to NOT be able to play, I better just stay logged in!"

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I mentioned FFXI because someone said all MMOs had them, and that one didn't, not even during its height of popularity.

You (and I) can only guess about the number of AFK. When SE brought worlds up after a maintenance they would be showing 1017 within minutes. Do you really think 2500 AFK people (~60%) per world had auto-relaunch/relogin scripts to accomplish that?

I still think, and maybe you even just admitted, that when people aren't afraid of not being able to log in, the AFK problem will pretty much solve itself. For the rest, SE may have its "kicker" in place by then.

There have been a number of comments on various threads suggesting to stay logged in to FF14 throughout the work day. Many of the servers stay full of afk'ers throughout traditionally lower population nocturnal hours, and traditional work/school times. Funny and sad at the same time.

As I started looking into this issue, I was shocked that there is no Auto-Kicker. Having played MMO since EQ, this has been implemented consistently to address this issue. Even the most populated WoW vanilla servers (Illidan, etc) from launch, you could set an alarm at 0300-0400 and create a character.

In my situation, numerous guild friends from another game migrated to Excalibur. This server has been greyed out for new character creation for days now. I have gotten up at 300 EST with the intent of at least attempting to create a new character, the server was still greyed out. This AM at 0630 EST, all but 3 servers on the list were greyed out.

Unless customer service announces that one server transfer will be allowed regardless of server load (when this opens up in a couple of weeks), I am not seeing a prospect for being able to join my friends on line any time soon. They are making friends, contacts and guild affiliations, and I will not be asking anyone to transfer to a less populated server on my behalf.

I have created a character on Behemoth, (can log into that server about 1/3 of the time), but am ultimately aware that the prospect of character transfer to Excalibur is remote. In my case, playing with my group of guild friends is what I want to do. This is a frustrating issue; a deal breaker. I will absolutely not support this game beyond this month unless server loads are increased this week or an Auto Kicker is implemented this week.

Wildstar will be out in 6 mos or so. Looks like I may be finding another gaming option to keep me busy in the meantime.

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Originally Posted by Kohoutek

There have been a number of comments on various threads suggesting to stay logged in to FF14 throughout the work day. Many of the servers stay full of afk'ers throughout traditionally lower population nocturnal hours, and traditional work/school times. Funny and sad at the same time.

As I started looking into this issue, I was shocked that there is no Auto-Kicker. Having played MMO since EQ, this has been implemented consistently to address this issue. Even the most populated WoW vanilla servers (Illidan, etc) from launch, you could set an alarm at 0300-0400 and create a character.

In my situation, numerous guild friends from another game migrated to Excalibur. This server has been greyed out for new character creation for days now. I have gotten up at 300 EST with the intent of at least attempting to create a new character, the server was still greyed out. This AM at 0630 EST, all but 3 servers on the list were greyed out.

Unless customer service announces that one server transfer will be allowed regardless of server load (when this opens up in a couple of weeks), I am not seeing a prospect for being able to join my friends on line any time soon. They are making friends, contacts and guild affiliations, and I will not be asking anyone to transfer to a less populated server on my behalf.

I have created a character on Behemoth, (can log into that server about 1/3 of the time), but am ultimately aware that the prospect of character transfer to Excalibur is remote. In my case, playing with my group of guild friends is what I want to do. This is a frustrating issue; a deal breaker. I will absolutely not support this game beyond this month unless server loads are increased this week or an Auto Kicker is implemented this week.

Wildstar will be out in 6 mos or so. Looks like I may be finding another gaming option to keep me busy in the meantime.

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I find it rather foolish, perhaps just ignorant of how players behave these days, that SE is just "adding new servers" not solving the main issues.

The limit of char creation is a fine idea -if they also go through and make sure everyone only has 1 character to begin with. Otherwise it's not helping.

I have 6 friends waiting to purchase the game until we can create toons on the same world server, because like you - we don't see the point in playing unless we can do it together.. you know... as a MMORPG is supposed to be played.

Char transfers need to exist ASAP to help resolve the congestion problem, not just "new servers" Those of us that actually got in because of plans to stay on one server or another - only to realize it's COMPLETELY FULL and friends won't be able to join it - (like me) shouldn't be forced to "start over" because of oversights made by SE and company.

great now it seems the NA/EU world list won't load , then when it does, amazingly nothing changes.

Lol the support for AFK kicker has increased about 10fold in the last day.



nearly 1000 players were AFK in the 'starting zones' around the Aether shards, that's a lot of slots that COULD be used!