MMORPGs moving to 1-10 MS server side polling

[Dwill]

That is instancing and not open world. Just because they want to go cheap on hardware doesn't remove that fact.

Every zone by definition are already mini-instances dues to having to load between each of them. If it was a real open world, you would log in Gridania for example and you could travel between any Shroud without having to load between each of them. What they are doing is just making sure that there is no performance issue due to overcrowding. If the solution that they choose is similar to the first one I mentioned earlier on, most of you are never going to even notice a difference in your gameplay.

You have to remember that the only reason instancing in exists in the first place, is to not have to spend as much on server cost.

It is true that server cost is a big reason for instancing but is far from the only one. Instancing allows for multiple group to do dungeons and raids at the same time and this is another huge reason why instance exists in the first place.

And with how much they proclaim this game to be a huge success, they should not have to go that route.

Or making the game in a way that spreads people around and not clumping them together.

I agree that Square Enix dropped the ball hard on the server aspect and that they could have had a much better insight on how many people this would attract. Though right now, adding new servers and data centers would be even harder, as it was explained earlier in the thread.

[Elim]

I have 85ms and I live in Canada, BC. lol

When I played SWTOR I had much better MS(and their servers are in the USA). Not to say my ping to FF14 is horrible...it's just not good.

Honestly, I'm not an expert on how these things work, just stating simple facts.

[Amberion]

Every zone by definition are already mini-instances dues to having to load between each of them. If it was a real open world, you would log in Gridania for example and you could travel between any Shroud without having to load between each of them. What they are doing is just making sure that there is no performance issue due to overcrowding. If the solution that they choose is similar to the first one I mentioned earlier on, most of you are never going to even notice a difference in your gameplay.

No, a zone isn't an instance. Instance has since the very beginning in '96 (I think it was created for the first time for MMORPGs then), meant that you made copies of a place/zone/whatever. A single occurrence of it doesn't make it instanced.

It is true that server cost is a big reason for instancing but is far from the only one. Instancing allows for multiple group to do dungeons and raids at the same time and this is another huge reason why instance exists in the first place.

The server cost is actually the only reason it was created. At least from what I remember from when I studied it. BTW, not talking about this game, but from when it was actually first used.

I agree that Square Enix dropped the ball hard on the server aspect and that they could have had a much better insight on how many people this would attract. Though right now, adding new servers and data centers would be even harder, as it was explained earlier in the thread.

Well, at least we agree on something.

EDIT:

When I played SWTOR I had much better MS(and their servers are in the USA). Not to say my ping to FF14 is horrible...it's just not good.

The thing is, some are just better at masking lag. And SE is not good at it.

[Dwill]

No, a zone isn't an instance. Instance has since the very beginning in '96 (I think it was created for the first time for MMORPGs then), meant that you made copies of a place/zone/whatever. A single occurrence of it doesn't make it instanced.

It actually does. The zones are mini-instances, that much is easy to see by the fact you have to load in between each of them. Something more on the side of open world is like in World of Warcraft where one can just mount up and go from Orgrimmar straight to Thunder Bluff without single loading screen. What Square Enix is creating is just something that would toss people in North Shroud #2 instead of everyone clogging #1.

The server cost is actually the only reason it was created. At least from what I remember from when I studied it. BTW, not talking about this game, but from when it was actually first used.

Actually, it was first created to allow multiple people to have access to the same content without people having to wait awhile (sometimes hours) to have a go at content. Then companies started noticing it could actually be used as to save on server cost and certain companies went way overboard with that (Age of Conan comes to mind).

[Kore_Hyperion]

I remember this GIF going around early on, possibly back when the game was in beta. It's still a 100% accurate representation of what goes on in this game, and it consistently makes me feel like I'm still playing a beta version of FFXIV.

Spew excuses about my internet connection or system specs all you like. The fact remains I have played lots of MMOs, some more action/timing intensive than FFXIV, and none of them behave anything like this.

I dunno what game you are playing. I haven't seen lag like that since, as you stated, beta or even alpha. So no, I don't agree that it's an accurate representation of the current state of the game.

[Chiramu]

Nice to know they only state the connection to the servers for NA players. It would be nice if they stated the MS timer for everyone forced to play on NA servers who are not in NA.

The delay I get in FFXIV is better from Australia than in WoW. NA players think they are the sole people in the world again.

[Amiantos]

Nice to know they only state the connection to the servers for NA players. It would be nice if they stated the MS timer for everyone forced to play on NA servers who are not in NA.

The delay I get in FFXIV is better from Australia than in WoW. NA players think they are the sole people in the world again.

Wow this is baseless hate for no reason. No one is forcing you to play NA servers. I'd think you would get better MS from a jp server.

[Amiantos]

I have 85ms and I live in Canada, BC. lol

When I played SWTOR I had much better MS(and their servers are in the USA). Not to say my ping to FF14 is horrible...it's just not good.

Honestly, I'm not an expert on how these things work, just stating simple facts.

Before I moved 85 was about normal for me and thats easily low enough to dodge most attacks.

[Aussir]

I remember this GIF going around early on, possibly back when the game was in beta. It's still a 100% accurate representation of what goes on in this game, and it consistently makes me feel like I'm still playing a beta version of FFXIV.

Spew excuses about my internet connection or system specs all you like. The fact remains I have played lots of MMOs, some more action/timing intensive than FFXIV, and none of them behave anything like this.

This... I've had this happening too many times for my taste. Some tried to blame it on my net until I pointed out that I'm on 50Mbps Optic Fiber and I run regular speed/ping/tracert tests and found no bottlenecks.

Also, I really doubt that it's people's internet connections all the time. Game servers have an internet provider as well and if their internet provider screws up, everyone will have issues connecting to the servers.

[Fornix]

@Fornix
In other words, they cut corners at the expense of the player base.

I don't agree on that assessment. The transfer of more and more data centers to the colder climates is a very environmentally sound decision. And I hope that more will follow, if need be through investments done on for example a EU level in case of Europe.

In the past, latency would have been a limiting factor and made such transfers impossible. However, with minimal switches and routing, combined with high bandwidth fiber optic lines connecting to such data centers through the oceans a data center in e.g. iceland is very feasible. The delay to such locations often then also is not caused due to going overseas or by being on a relatively great distance. After all, 10.000 km's, a distance from Canada to Chile, only equates to an expected latency of a mere 100 ms.

The fact that on a smaller distance people are getting higher latency rates than that is not due to the servers being hosted in Canada, it's due to bad routing on the way there. And those issues are going to have to be resolved on an entirely different level. This is not something game publishers are going to be able to fix. Sure some servers may be hosted on a location prior to bad network segments, giving a good connection for you. However, those players at the other end of the route in that case will end up having the same problems.

Ultimately it's the responsibility of those who own the problematic networks to up their game and make the required fixes. Unfortunately more often than not these areas are left to degrade further and further. Some ISP's may take initiative themselves and simply reroute traffic in a different direction. Providing a general better experience for their customers without having to resort to third party services. However, ISP's are limited in what they can do as well. As they tend to own only a segment of national or international networks. Where your data goes once it travels over the network of their neighbour, is no longer up to them. The neighbour can still route you on to a terrible segment.



As for Yoshi's statement regarding the congestion in North Shroud and possible multiple instancing it as a solution:

Additionally, the congestion in North Shroud is quite rough, so we're currently looking into whether we should implement a system that has been adopted by other MMORPGs for making multiple instances of the same open-world area. The preparations have already been made and we've implemented this into the Chinese version of the game, so we do have some operative results. We'll be testing things up until the last minute to be sure that the concept of multiple open-world instances is clear for players who aren't used to this kind of system.

Bear in mind that that's absolutely nothing new. And more often than not the motivation to introduce instancing here is due to the graphical lag created on the player's end more so than anything else. Server side handling isn't so much an issue in this game. Even on S-ranks, where over a 100 players may actively be casting and all there's still no delay in skill casts. EVE like proportions of failure due to a much greater number of players and interactions involved aren't met. Especially not when players are standing idle. However, fps drops are most apparent for many players. A lot of people then also complain about lag in the city hub in north shroud or during S-ranks. But this lag mainly comes down to nothing else than their fps dropping below 10.