Given the recent influx of new players...

[Anienai]

Devs should implement a AFK -> Log Out system.

It is called Directx and 90002/90001 error.

[Sebazy]

It should be on all the time anyway. Save some server load by kicking people who aren't even actually playing.

Whilst I'm usually on SE's case about cheaping out on servers and infrastructure, it's important to note that modern games are actually exceedingly efficient when it comes to handling idle players. A group of idle players actually generates very little load at all and this is something that can be clearly seen by watching the amount of data being sent. As far as CPU cycles on the server, this can also be verified by just about any game with a dedicated server going back as far as Quakeworld. If you want to keep examples strictly within FFXIV, just make a note of how action latency doesn't fluctuate in areas with large afk crowds such as outside Bozja or Limsa square. Yet the half the number of people at a hunt ties the servers up in knots and has actions getting horridly delayed.

Expansion launch windows need the auto kick because of the much larger percentage of people that are actively engaging in overworld content. Turning it back on now wouldn't change a thing because the servers aren't actually overloaded outside of maybe the comedy trains following streamers around as of late. SE could achieve the same result without annoying people just by tuning the queue better and looking at tackling mass migrations to specific servers in the hope of being spotted on some random twitch stream.

[Neoyoshi]

Devs should implement a AFK -> Log Out system.

For those who dont know, when a new expansion is released a similar feature is enabled to avoid server congestion. What it means is that the moment your character hits the 30-minute inactive status, the system automatically logs you out.

While it is a less-than-ideal solution, it should help with the current situation veterans and new players alike are facing. Even if the number of players afk in servers amount only to a couple of hundreds (check Limsa, Eulmore and Gangos just to have an idea), forcing them to exit the game - and therefore stoping loading all the data associated with said characters, from retainers to gear for instance - would lessen the burden some servers are having and reduce the queue even if by a small margin.

Again, this is not the best solution. Better/ More servers are the solution. But unfortunately it wont happen overnight. The AFK -> Log Out system can.

(My first time posting on the official forums, sorry if this is the wrong place to post this)

We already have AFK timer, it'll activate either before or after Endwalker launches, we usually always have the AFK-timer up at the beginning of a expansion; then they shut the timer down when the service stabilize after the influx of expansion players tapper off.

We don't have nearly as many people online right now compared to expansion launches; let that thought sink in, because it gets crazy nuts when a expansion comes for FFXIV. xD

EDIT: What you are seeing right now is not the expansion influx; this is a combination of 3 things: Trial accounts, Free Login period players (which lasts until the 23rd) and some press hype due to various other smaller factors, like content creators, events, and veteran players showing up early.

The Expansion crowd is much MUCH larger, so you havn't seen that yet; we aren't even close to those numbers yet; you'll know it when you see a server queue of 8k people or more.

Just for some context, this was the Stormblood queue for certain datacenter shards.

[Ayuhra]

Is this really an issue?

How long are people's queues?

....I'm not trying to be difficult I'm genuinely asking, I'm assuming Aether has generally much longer queues than my DC.

[Van_Ryker]

We don't have nearly as many people online right now compared to expansion launches; let that thought sink in, because it gets crazy nuts when a expansion comes for FFXIV. xD

What about the new players, both subscribers and free trials, who cant make a character on any server because its full? Or the long queue times that some servers, mostly those from EU, are having because of the number of players online?
And I understand that this is not even close to the numbers we will have in EW, but isnt it better to try to do something now than wait until November and realize that a good chunk of the playerbase is unable to get in the game? And I mean something else that is not just gatekeeping free trial users (which generates a bad reptutaion after all).

[Stirix]

Personally i think afk logout should be a thing. Yesterday i fell asleep in front of my laptop when i woke up i was still logged in, that's 8 hours i took up a player space someone else coulda been using.

[Neoyoshi]

What about the new players, both subscribers and free trials, who cant make a character on any server because its full? Or the long queue times that some servers, mostly those from EU, are having because of the number of players online?
And I understand that this is not even close to the numbers we will have in EW, but isnt it better to try to do something now than wait until November and realize that a good chunk of the playerbase is unable to get in the game? And I mean something else that is not just gatekeeping free trial users (which generates a bad reptutaion after all).

I'm not disagreeing or anything, I'm just saying that we all have to deal with this, a lot of us have been dealing with the whole character creation lockouts for years now, and we've just learned to deal with it and try to create characters during really odd hours of the night/early morning.

Until a better system comes along, we just have to work within these limitations.

[Pirana1]

Is this really an issue?

How long are people's queues?

....I'm not trying to be difficult I'm genuinely asking, I'm assuming Aether has generally much longer queues than my DC.

Recent posting. On the NA server that I'm on, there's usually no more than a five minute wait to load in, but... that's 4:00 a.m. in the morning. In the afternoons, it's usually five to ten minutes. Nothing major on my end, but if the link provided is the norm on that DC/server, that's something I would take into consideration if I were to pursue this game any further and most likely move onto something else if it didn't change.

https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...-over-the-days.

Regarding this thread, thirty minutes max if they're afk, after, they're logged off.

[Neoyoshi]

Regarding this thread, thirty minutes max if they're afk, after, they're logged off.

The afk-timer we have is much less then that if I recall correctly, isn't it like 5-10 minutes after a character goes into afk status? Does anyone remember?

[Pirana1]

The afk-timer we have is much less then that if I recall correctly, isn't it like 5-10 minutes after a character goes into afk status? Does anyone remember?

From what I've read of late, there isn't one, other than during launch releases, when there's a thirty minute timer implemented.