The really bad lag is back... again...

[Hugowulf]

Funny, I'm not having any problems.

I’m not either, but I’ve seen at least five d/c while doing my dailies. It’s very strange.

[SturmChurro]

Funny, I'm not having any problems.

Same. I wasn't having any lag when I saw this thread pop up. When I got into a dungeon on my tank, the healer let me die and kept complaining about lag, and died in avoidable aoe. Don't know if they were lying or not.

[Packetdancer]

On a wild guess, if some folks are having problems and others aren't on the same data center, the issue isn't on SquareEnix's end but rather a router somewhere upstream from it. Where if you happen to pass through the afflicted network gateway you lag, if your route to the server doesn't pass through there, it works fine. Maybe Comcast in a particular region is all afflicted, but Verizon in that region isn't. Or maybe Comcast in a different area isn't affected, while in that first region it is. Etc.

In which case, there's unfortunately probably not much SE can do about it right now.

[RicaRuin]

Some EU input: Light had massive problems those last few days, and Chaos had problems for around an hour this evening. Only for an hour at our end and only when on the instance Server, but a lot of people in LotA confirmed to have the same issue at the same time.

(From our Thread on the German Forums, it happened to people with different internet providers as well.)

[Nandrolone]

Happening on primal

[Mesarthim]

It's a problem that does not affect everyone. As someone who has been on the receiving end of it for almost all of Stormblood it's a problem on Square's end, namely their ISP NTT. Unfortunately all you can do is wait it out or use a VPN because Square "will not" talk to their ISP about it but rather tell you to talk to yours (which isn't where the problem is). Only some routes on NTT are affected which is why only some people experience this problem.

It's still going on right now but it's not as bad was it was a few hours ago. Not to be the bearer of bad news or anything but if it's been an issue for nearly 3 years I wouldn't expect the problem to stay permanently gone. At least it hasn't happened consistently every single day around the same timeframe like it was in Stormblood.

[WK74648]

Having issues as well on my end. I was able to get a leveling and expert roulette in. Tried doing a trial with my GF and we both lagged really bad. We are both on comcast but don't share the same connection.

My guess is a DDOS attack. I am noticing small lag spikes and delays in the world as well. Not as bad as the instances but its noticeable.

Heres to hoping for a quick fix! :-)

[worldofneil]

It's a problem that does not affect everyone. As someone who has been on the receiving end of it for almost all of Stormblood it's a problem on Square's end, namely their ISP NTT. Unfortunately all you can do is wait it out or use a VPN because Square "will not" talk to their ISP about it but rather tell you to talk to yours (which isn't where the problem is). Only some routes on NTT are affected which is why only some people experience this problem.

SE don't pick your routing to their server, your ISP does, that's why they tell you to talk to your ISP.

Most of the time the ISP will refuse to change your routing, usually because they have agreements in place with providers and the way they are doing it now is the most cost effective for them.

This is also why using a VPN will often fix the problem as you are routing around it your end, doing what ideally you ISP would be doing.

Yes Square Enix use NTT, but like you said not all routes are affected and as mentioned above, they don't control how you get there.

[Mesarthim]

Well unless ISPs magically grew some morals I feel it'd be a dead end to talk to our ISPs. Individuals don't exactly have much pressure to exert. The entire problem would be avoided if NTT wasn't (apparently) extremely bad.

It's the equivalent of bypassing the problem instead of actually getting the problem fixed for the long term. But after 3 years I can't say I expect much of anything and instead need to shell out even more money for VPNs, at least if you intend to play during primetime. Doesn't occur during the late night.

[worldofneil]

Well unless ISPs magically grew some morals I feel it'd be a dead end to talk to our ISPs. Individuals don't exactly have much pressure to exert.

Unfortunately you're probably right, but you are their customer, SE isn't. They can't exactly talk to your ISP and say "Hey excuse me would you mind not routing these people this way?". Your ISP is going to do what they want unless SE were to pay them otherwise. Maybe SE have some pull with NTT, but from what we've seen in the past, it suggests that they don't. They probably only pay NTT for Internet connectivity, not a say in how NTT runs their network.

The entire problem would be avoided if NTT wasn't (apparently) extremely bad.

Sadly this isn't an isolated experience. Back when the NA servers were on the east coast people still had similar problems, but that time it was Level3 instead of NTT. Sadly SE just don't control the infrastructure of the Internet.

It's the equivalent of bypassing the problem instead of actually getting the problem fixed for the long term. But after 3 years I can't say I expect much of anything and instead need to shell out even more money for VPNs, at least if you intend to play during primetime. Doesn't occur during the late night.

I'm sorry that there is no simple solution. Changing ISP might give you a better route without the need for a VPN, but there's really no easy way to test that and as routing agreements are renewed/renegotiated things could change in the future anyway. The fact you don't have problems late at night suggests either the route you are taking is congested/over capacity or is simply being throttled at prime times.

I appreciate I've been absolutely zero help and I can only apologise for that, I just really wanted to help clarify why things are how they are.