EU situation is unacceptable at this point

[Kirsten_Rev]

FFXIV User Agreement: http://support.na.square-enix.com/ru...2&tag=users_en

5. INTERRUPTION TO THE SERVICE

From time to time, in order to provide our customers with the optimal gaming experience, it is necessary for Square Enix to conduct routine maintenance on the computers and/or servers that support the Game. During these times, access to the Game or support services may be interrupted. Access may also be temporarily suspended in whole or in part, without notice, due to emergency repairs, fire, flood, explosion, war, strike, embargo, governmental action or failure to act, the act of any civil or military authority, act of God, or by any other causes beyond Square Enix's control, or any other reasons for which Square Enix, in its sole discretion, deems that temporary suspension is necessary. You acknowledge that disruptions of service may occur and waive any causes of action against Square Enix in any way arising from or related to any such disruptions of service.

How is this relevant in any way?

Nobody is threatening legal action. That is literally the only thing the EULA passage above is written to address: it has no bearing on SE's customer service (or in this case, the lack thereof). The danger isn't one of a class-action lawsuit; it's of unhappy customers quitting the game and playing something else because they feel like SE doesn't give a fig about their plight.

Seriously, statements like this aren't helpful, and in many ways are downright harmful. We can agree to disagree on various aspects on FFXIV, but as a community of people who are currently subscribed, I think we can all agree that the more people who are playing, the better, yeah? Why antagonize people with nonsense like this just because they're seeking some empathy, acknowledgement, and perhaps a small gift to soothe their frustrations?

[Enkidoh]

Why? Because the above poster quoted the legal limitations of what SE are obligated under law to do in this situation? This issue is caused by something outside their control, which is covered under that User Agreement as I mentioned in another thread, and thus they owe you nothing. That User Agreement basically states that you accept that there is always a risk that for whatever reason the game is going to have connection problems and that they have no obligation to reimburse or compensate you for it, especially if it's out of their control. You accepted that when you signed up your account, and you accept that every time you click 'Login'. End of story.

Yes connection problems/DDoS attacks are horrid, and we all just want to play this game. But you're forgetting who the real villan is here - and no, it is not SE, it is the digital vandals who cause these disruptions in the first place (DDoS attacks are unfortunately almost impossible to prevent as they work by emulating normal internet traffic, and usually only resolve themselves when the ones responsible just stop or give up). Blaming SE for everything that goes wrong may be the hip thing to do, but it's not right.

[Kirsten_Rev]

Why? Because the above poster quoted the legal limitations of what SE are obligated under law to do in this situation? This issue is caused by something outside their control, which is covered under that User Agreement as I mentioned in another thread, and thus they owe you nothing. That User Agreement basically states that you accept that there is always a risk that for whatever reason the game is going to have connection problems and that they have no obligation to reimburse or compensate you for it, especially if it's out of their control. You accepted that when you signed up your account, and you accept that every time you click 'Login'. End of story.

Yes connection problems/DDoS attacks are horrid, and we all just want to play this game. But you're forgetting who the real villan is here - and no, it is not SE, it is the digital vandals who cause these disruptions in the first place (DDoS attacks are unfortunately almost impossible to prevent as they work by emulating normal internet traffic, and usually only resolve themselves when the ones responsible just stop or give up). Blaming SE for everything that goes wrong may be the hip thing to do, but it's not right.

I sincerely wish at times like these the forums had a thumbs-down button. These complaints are not about assigning blame. Did you bother to read the OP? I'm going to recreate the post with a few statements emphasized.

I'm not going to write an essay about this frustrating situation. I'm just really disappointed by how SE handles this whole thing.

Yeah, I'm aware that DDOSING is part of the current problem but the EU data Center has been the laughingstock of this game for a while now. We went from Chaos dcing and lagging at least 1 day per week to having this issue multiple times a day now.

I've been playing MMO's for about 20 years now and never seen anything like this. I might have seen similar situations but at least when something like that happened in other games the devs had the guts to compensate the players with free playtime.

SE is neither fixing the situation NOR compensating EU players and FFXIV players in general. It's like they don't even care anymore at this point.

Bottom line is: The game has been crashing and lagging a ton lately. Do something about it or compensate your players >.>

The theme here is not blaming SE for the DDoS attacks: it's frustration at the lack of response to a problematic situation. It is frustration with the fact that SE is acting precisely as you are - which, by the way, means your comments are entirely unhelpful, and serve only to further anger players who are already angry.

This isn't about villains. It isn't about finding a guilty party. It isn't about legal limitations, nor what we're owed, nor what players accepted in the fine print. It's about the fact that customers are unable to use SE's product, and they are upset at the situation. SE has a vested interest in addressing it somehow, because regardless of 'obligations', unhappy players quit, harming their bottom line and the in-game community we all participate in.

This sort of response is exactly why so many people fly off the handle with similarly unhelpful comments about white knights. It willfully distorts the issue, defining good customer service as fulfilling all legal obligations, all in an effort to... what, exactly, justify SE doing absolutely nothing to mollify upset customers just because legally they don't have to? Who benefits from being told to just shut up and continue to pay for a product they can't properly use, all because the developers aren't technically at fault for their problem?

[Wijnand]

The problems existed before the ddos... remember square had to repair a electronic deepfry months ago... the lag has been recuring for ages. The ddos just made it more apparant

[hynaku]

What is really bad you wait 40 minutes in queue for it to pop and right when pops your get disconnected and have to start all over again then have to wait another 45 minutes for it to pop again. They really need to fix these ddos attacks right away.

[Vahlnir]

What is really bad you wait 40 minutes in queue for it to pop and right when pops your get disconnected and have to start all over again then have to wait another 45 minutes for it to pop again. They really need to fix these ddos attacks right away.

There isn't a lot they can do to stop a DDoS attack short of shutting down the servers entirely...which might not be a bad idea, all things considered, at least for a day or 2. But if these DDoSers are as persistent in the future as they are now, they'd probably be right back at it as soon as the servers went live again.

[JohnSpawnVFX]

I sincerely wish at times like these the forums had a thumbs-down button. These complaints are not about assigning blame. Did you bother to read the OP? I'm going to recreate the post with a few statements emphasized.


The theme here is not blaming SE for the DDoS attacks: it's frustration at the lack of response to a problematic situation. It is frustration with the fact that SE is acting precisely as you are - which, by the way, means your comments are entirely unhelpful, and serve only to further anger players who are already angry.

This isn't about villains. It isn't about finding a guilty party. It isn't about legal limitations, nor what we're owed, nor what players accepted in the fine print. It's about the fact that customers are unable to use SE's product, and they are upset at the situation. SE has a vested interest in addressing it somehow, because regardless of 'obligations', unhappy players quit, harming their bottom line and the in-game community we all participate in.

This sort of response is exactly why so many people fly off the handle with similarly unhelpful comments about white knights. It willfully distorts the issue, defining good customer service as fulfilling all legal obligations, all in an effort to... what, exactly, justify SE doing absolutely nothing to mollify upset customers just because legally they don't have to? Who benefits from being told to just shut up and continue to pay for a product they can't properly use, all because the developers aren't technically at fault for their problem?

Except you haven't thumbed-down any comments attributing blame on SE for these issues. But when someone replies to them, you immediately come knocking, saying that's not the point of this thread. Have you told them that as well? Or you're only interested in shutting down one of the sides of the discussion?

That post was in reply to someone who was saying that SE might be liable to be sued for false advertisement, hence quoting the ToS saying they're not. If someone feeling emotionally affected by these issues that they have to fly into a rage immediately when they see posts like this, that's no one's business but themselves. We're not here to keep someone's anger issues in check, nor coddling emotional outbursts-prone people. We're here to discuss all aspects of an issue, no matter how some of them might trigger some people. That also includes supressing misinformation ("you can sue them for false advertisement, every time you have a grievance with them") with facts ("the ToS you accepted when you registered says you waive that right"), no matter how much that might upset people.

[Kinazu]

I'm utterly confused.

Compare this to this.

How is it even possible to say "We've addressed your connection issues" just to say 30 minutes later that they're still a thing. I know everyone can make a mistake but this heavily feels like a "Let's just say that it's fixed so they stop complaining" and then later on respond with a "Welp, looks like it's still going on, we didn't fix it at all". Combine that with the sudden emegencry maintenance it honestly feels like they didn't even try in the first place.

I'm honestly not even disappointed or surprised by it anymore, it starts to feel like a normal routine now, oh well.

[Vahlnir]

I'm utterly confused.

Compare this to this.

How is it even possible to say "We've addressed your connection issues" just to say 30 minutes later that they're still a thing. I know everyone can make a mistake but this heavily feels like a "Let's just say that it's fixed so they stop complaining" and then later on respond with a "Welp, looks like it's still going on, we didn't fix it at all". Combine that with the sudden emegencry maintenance it honestly feels like they didn't even try in the first place.

I'm honestly not even disappointed or surprised by it anymore, it starts to feel like a normal routine now, oh well.

This is how I picture SE when it comes to server problems:



And they have yet to stray from this.

[Jib]

Just adding my voice here. I’ve been playing FFXIV since Heavenward and never had any real issues until 2-3 months ago, maybe?!... the disconnects, the lag. I remember one day levelling monk and it wouldn’t even recognise combos inside a dungeon... yes it has been happening...