2nd night unable to play because of LONG queue times

[souldonut81]

The main reason why there are people giving FFXIV the pass is because of the chip shortage and how it makes getting server hardware near impossible, despite OP's claims. If the chip shortage didn't exist, you would see more uniform criticism. However the chip shortage does exist, there are no practical solutions that they can do due to the chip shortage, and they warned people well ahead of time of the likely hood of the current situation.

Im sorry but i totally disagree with you. Wow has been able to solve this problem with sharding and virtual machines since like 2014. The fact that SE was too cheap to develop that capacity is on them. The chip shortage has been going on for over a year, and basically Yoshi put up a post (after i had already purchased endwalker) saying o "oh poopies server on fire". Now they are saying a fix is months out. This represents that SE decided to let their server infrastructure launch a new expansion with zero capacity for returning players. It doesn't get much more business stupid than that, and its a shame because they have a very high quality product here. SE deserves every bit of negative feedback they are getting and the community should NOT be understanding. Technology exists out there to solve this problem, they chose not to purchase it, and they expect us to pay for that decision with our time. A little boohoo from Yoshi doesn't change that, and he should be as mad about it as we are.

[Yahallo]

Im sorry but i totally disagree with you. Wow has been able to solve this problem with sharding and virtual machines since like 2014. The fact that SE was too cheap to develop that capacity is on them. The chip shortage has been going on for over a year, and basically Yoshi put up a post (after i had already purchased endwalker) saying o "oh poopies server on fire". Now they are saying a fix is months out. This represents that SE decided to let their server infrastructure launch a new expansion with zero capacity for returning players. It doesn't get much more business stupid than that, and its a shame because they have a very high quality product here. SE deserves every bit of negative feedback they are getting and the community should NOT be understanding. Technology exists out there to solve this problem, they chose not to purchase it, and they expect us to pay for that decision with our time. A little boohoo from Yoshi doesn't change that, and he should be as mad about it as we are.

I'm sorry but saying that the community shouldn't be understanding is just entitlement. At the very least Yoshi P and the dev team deserve our understanding as I am pretty sure they are not happy with the situation either.

I participated in WoW Legion's launch and remember the usual early expansion issues so I wouldn't say they solved the problem since 2014. Also, the issue only became severe when the 5.5 wave of WoW refugees appeared, that was the main point when FFXIV's population growth exceeded their expectations by an unprecedented margin and it happened this year in the summer. If the numbers were around their projected numbers, we would probably see another Shadowbringers level of launch. Furthermore, the current setup for the servers allowed for an incredibly smooth experience once you are in game. The main reason why queues are long is due to the number of people wanting to play exceeding the limit of each world, which is set at a specific limit to ensure the game runs smooth. Regardless of tricks like sharding and virtual machines, there is still a hardware limit.

The main issue people are stating are 2002's during queue. However, based on the explanation for it, where it is caused by network instaibility/packet loss which is related to the amount of network traffic, how someone's connection is routed by their ISP, etc. It sounds like a fundamental networking issue rather than a FFXIV specific problem. The only real solution is either waiting for less players or more hardware.

Furthermore, you had a chance to refund the Endwalker expansion, even if you only listened into the last announcement they made before Endwalker, you had a month to let your sub lapse. The Yoshi P and the FFXIV devs have gone well out of their way when you consider how most other games handle these type of situations.

Fact is, there are no practical solutions. I suspect this so called "fix" is just a bandage fix or is sacrificing some sort of server stability to try to accommodate additional people. Unless they were able to acquire the server hardware they needed somehow, I don't think much will change. We can look at the result of the last fix, where they just increased the capacity for the login queues. It honestly didn't really do much as the fundamental problems still existed with there being just too many people trying to login and not enough space in the game servers to accommodate everyone, thus people are stuck in the queue longer and there is such a large amount that it increases the chances of things like collisions.

[souldonut81]

I'm sorry but saying that the community shouldn't be understanding is just entitlement. At the very least Yoshi P and the dev team deserve our understanding as I am pretty sure they are not happy with the situation either.

I participated in WoW Legion's launch and remember the usual early expansion issues so I wouldn't say they solved the problem since 2014. Also, the issue only became severe when the 5.5 wave of WoW refugees appeared, that was the main point when FFXIV's population growth exceeded their expectations by an unprecedented margin and it happened this year in the summer. If the numbers were around their projected numbers, we would probably see another Shadowbringers level of launch. Furthermore, the current setup for the servers allowed for an incredibly smooth experience once you are in game. The main reason why queues are long is due to the number of people wanting to play exceeding the limit of each world, which is set at a specific limit to ensure the game runs smooth. Regardless of tricks like sharding and virtual machines, there is still a hardware limit.

The main issue people are stating are 2002's during queue. However, based on the explanation for it, where it is caused by network instaibility/packet loss which is related to the amount of network traffic, how someone's connection is routed by their ISP, etc. It sounds like a fundamental networking issue rather than a FFXIV specific problem. The only real solution is either waiting for less players or more hardware.

Furthermore, you had a chance to refund the Endwalker expansion, even if you only listened into the last announcement they made before Endwalker, you had a month to let your sub lapse. The Yoshi P and the FFXIV devs have gone well out of their way when you consider how most other games handle these type of situations.

Fact is, there are no practical solutions. I suspect this so called "fix" is just a bandage fix or is sacrificing some sort of server stability to try to accommodate additional people. Unless they were able to acquire the server hardware they needed somehow, I don't think much will change. We can look at the result of the last fix, where they just increased the capacity for the login queues. It honestly didn't really do much as the fundamental problems still existed with there being just too many people trying to login and not enough space in the game servers to accommodate everyone, thus people are stuck in the queue longer and there is such a large amount that it increases the chances of things like collisions.

Hahaha, calling me entitled w/e. There is nothing entitled about expecting a software as a service provider to provide the service they are selling. a 30 minute que is manageable. A 3 hour que is a complete failure and is essentially a non functional service. Legion launched in 2016. Shadowlands also launched during the pandemic, and despite having more people, did not have this issue. There is clearly a technical solution. Tech team knows they messed up, thats why our lodestone posts are 4 pages of random server error tweaks. No one cares about them fixing the 90000 error really, what they care about is adding server capacity so that we dont have to sit in que when something happens. There are a lot of hops between my computer and their servers, they cant stop interruptions from happening and the information they are posting is complete garbage/ window dressing. They know they messed up and thats why they posted before the wall even hit. I actually want to play this game, i dont mind personally paying the sub and waiting a few months but a lot of people are not in that position financially. Failing to this level at server provision, however, and then getting your customers to come apologize for you is a real feat. I dont have to persuade you, the reviews after a month or two of these ques will be merciless and they know it. They better figure something out soon. The current situation is untenable, and i dont think its going to start to bleed off until after christmas given the emergence of Omicron.

[Yahallo]

And how long have they known about all the extra players and the pre orders for Endwalker I am in IT as well its called a shortage but there is stock coming still they had plenty of time to get some servers just being cheap.

The main influx of players that really pushed things past the limit was during the summer. They had already been working on the Oceanic Datacenter which was delayed to February 2022; so it sounds like some of their orders were delayed. Yoshi P stated that despite being willing to pay marked up prices, they were not able to secure additional servers. So this shortage is closer to a depletion of supply. Maybe this so called stock you speak of isn't compatible for one reason or another? Or maybe it isn't as plentiful as you think it is, perhaps it isn't anywhere near enough for the scale the game needs it to be.

Hahaha, calling me entitled w/e. There is nothing entitled about expecting a software as a service provider to provide the service they are selling. a 30 minute que is manageable. A 3 hour que is a complete failure and is essentially a non functional service. Legion launched in 2016. Shadowlands also launched during the pandemic, and despite having more people, did not have this issue. There is clearly a technical solution. Tech team knows they messed up, thats why our lodestone posts are 4 pages of random server error tweaks. No one cares about them fixing the 90000 error really, what they care about is adding server capacity so that we dont have to sit in que when something happens. There are a lot of hops between my computer and their servers, they cant stop interruptions from happening and the information they are posting is complete garbage/ window dressing. They know they messed up and thats why they posted before the wall even hit. I actually want to play this game, i dont mind personally paying the sub and waiting a few months but a lot of people are not in that position financially. Failing to this level at server provision, however, and then getting your customers to come apologize for you is a real feat. I dont have to persuade you, the reviews after a month or two of these ques will be merciless and they know it. They better figure something out soon. The current situation is untenable, and i dont think its going to start to bleed off until after christmas given the emergence of Omicron.

Just comparing the number of players isn't the correct manner; rather you have to compare the growth rates. FFXIV had an explosive growth rate in the past year, surpassing all of their projections. They were not expecting so many people to move from WoW to FFXIV. FFXIV growth rate was unprecedented. WoW has lost players over years. Also, if you look at the server error tweaks, they are just bandaid solutions; they are simply trying to mitigate the issues as much as they can, but none of them actually solves the root cause because the solution to that is not a technical solution. All of these errors existed before Endwalker came out. What is the main difference between now and then? The number of people trying to log in and play.

Just because they can make some minor tweaks as a stopgap doesn't mean a technical solution exists. The root cause is a lack of servers and they do not have the means to get more servers due to the chip shortage. The entitled part comes from not taking into account factors like the chip shortage and essentially expecting people to somehow do the impossible.

There is nothing to figure out because there are no practical solutions that will resolve this.

[renachi]

I'm sorry but saying that the community shouldn't be understanding is just entitlement. At the very least Yoshi P and the dev team deserve our understanding as I am pretty sure they are not happy with the situation either.
Fact is, there are no practical solutions. I suspect this so called "fix" is just a bandage fix or is sacrificing some sort of server stability to try to accommodate additional people. Unless they were able to acquire the server hardware they needed somehow, I don't think much will change. We can look at the result of the last fix, where they just increased the capacity for the login queues. It honestly didn't really do much as the fundamental problems still existed with there being just too many people trying to login and not enough space in the game servers to accommodate everyone, thus people are stuck in the queue longer and there is such a large amount that it increases the chances of things like collisions.

Expecting companies to provide the servcies they sell you isnt too much to ask and a customer should only be understanding for a short time. What if your electric company provided this level of service to you? or your internet provider? would you just be "understanding" if your internet was out 6+ hours a day, during the time you primarily use it, and they tell you they cant fix the issue due to a chip shortage and then just offer you 7 days of free service.. since wow, that makes up for the product you paid for not working, right?

[SynTepes]

Expecting companies to provide the servcies they sell you isnt too much to ask and a customer should only be understanding for a short time. What if your electric company provided this level of service to you? or your internet provider? would you just be "understanding" if your internet was out 6+ hours a day, during the time you primarily use it, and they tell you they cant fix the issue due to a chip shortage and then just offer you 7 days of free service.. since wow, that makes up for the product you paid for not working, right?

My internet goes out all the time WITHOUT warning and for hours.
And even if I'm understanding to it when it happens, they don't call, email, or anything to tell why its happened, how long it'll be out, or anything.
If they would offer 7 days free (or ANYTHING really), I'd be very happy. However, they DON'T. I can go days without internet monthly, and never get a single penny back.
And they're the only company in our area. So nope to being able to change to someone else.
Being compensated can go a long freaking way.
Specially when you know what its like to NOT EVER be compensated.

FFXIV on the other hand. Provided a service (Endwalker + sub)
You got the codes and I'm assuming put them on your account, meaning. You got the service.

You were warn many, many, MANY times that this service was going to be interrupted once expansion drops.
You stay subbed, knowing the risk.
And as stated already by another, interruption of service is already covered in the ToS. The ToS YOU agree too when you pay for your sub.

[Osort]

I completely disagree with this assessment. You cannot compare your internet issues to this.

[ApeKing]

My internet goes out all the time WITHOUT warning and for hours.
And even if I'm understanding to it when it happens, they don't call, email, or anything to tell why its happened, how long it'll be out, or anything.
If they would offer 7 days free (or ANYTHING really), I'd be very happy. However, they DON'T. I can go days without internet monthly, and never get a single penny back.
And they're the only company in our area. So nope to being able to change to someone else.
Being compensated can go a long freaking way.
Specially when you know what its like to NOT EVER be compensated.

FFXIV on the other hand. Provided a service (Endwalker + sub)
You got the codes and I'm assuming put them on your account, meaning. You got the service.

You were warn many, many, MANY times that this service was going to be interrupted once expansion drops.
You stay subbed, knowing the risk.
And as stated already by another, interruption of service is already covered in the ToS. The ToS YOU agree too when you pay for your sub.

Yes we knew it would be a rough start. But the incredibly broad statement they used is easily misinterpreted. This is like telling me the car I'm about to buy has some "overheating issues" and then having it burst into fire as I drive it off the lot.

Also back when I had charter they always prorated everyone bill if they had service outages. Sounds like your ISP are jerks <_<

[Rahst]

Expecting companies to provide the servcies they sell you isnt too much to ask and a customer should only be understanding for a short time. What if your electric company provided this level of service to you? or your internet provider? would you just be "understanding" if your internet was out 6+ hours a day, during the time you primarily use it, and they tell you they cant fix the issue due to a chip shortage and then just offer you 7 days of free service.. since wow, that makes up for the product you paid for not working, right?

Yes, actually, it does, since the 'product' you're paying for is the subscription service that gives you access to the game itself. Can't access the game? Free days of access are given, with more likely to come. What isn't working is the access to Endwalker. Endwalker itself is fine. You're not getting a refund on Endwalker, you're getting a refund on your subscription to access it.

Really don't understand how that isn't clear lmao