Response to Congestion (as of Dec. 15)

[ArkenaeuxBelmont]

Free users have been locked out now?

No new free trials can be registered and Sub users have queue priority over Free Users.

See the post on the Lodestone for full details.

[Hasrat]

All I'm going to say is around this time it would normally take me 2-3 hours to log in. Today 15 min. It's amazing how things change once you don't have a bunch of free to play folks dragging down the servers just standing around in the major cities.

...Free trial users have already been at the back of the line since launch. They're also not completely locked out from these changes, they simply said new free trials would be postponed. Players currently already registered with the free trial are still allowed to play (assuming there is no queue of subscribed players ahead of them).

[ArkenaeuxBelmont]

...Free trial users have already been at the back of the line since launch. They're also not completely locked out from these changes, they simply said new free trials would be postponed. Players currently already registered with the free trial are still allowed to play (assuming there is no queue of subscribed players ahead of them).

However it was specifically mentioned in the Lodestone article about new registrations and possible authentication fraud abuse. It's a good chance that these things might have been related. RMT companies could have been bot spamming new accounts under the free trial to distribute their shady wares in game, and thus bloated the queue more than anyone thought they were.

Honestly there could be any number of reasons, but the queues are lower today on a vast majority of servers. So let's count our blessings at least.

[Risvertasashi]

...quite a few people don't seem to understand how the free trial works.

1. Free trial players couldn't queue well before this. They never could.
2. Free trial players can't trade nor engage in many other interactions - RMT uses paid accounts.

The congestion really isn't related to the free trial. Though I think suspending it is good in any case, as this way new players don't get a negative impression from signing up for something that tells them "sorry, you can't play."

[ArkenaeuxBelmont]

...quite a few people don't seem to understand how the free trial works.

1. Free trial players couldn't queue well before this. They never could.
2. Free trial players can't trade nor engage in many other interactions - RMT uses paid accounts.

The congestion really isn't related to the free trial. Though I think suspending it is good in any case, as this way new players don't get a negative impression from signing up for something that tells them "sorry, you can't play."

Fair point. It's been so long that I forgot about the no trade restriction.

[thereal_aliceanders]

...quite a few people don't seem to understand how the free trial works.

1. Free trial players couldn't queue well before this. They never could.
2. Free trial players can't trade nor engage in many other interactions - RMT uses paid accounts.

The congestion really isn't related to the free trial. Though I think suspending it is good in any case, as this way new players don't get a negative impression from signing up for something that tells them "sorry, you can't play."

Yeah I don't know where you are getting this information but it's false. The were able to log in. Granted there is a laundry list of things that they can't do like buy things, but they for sure could log in during peak hours (until now).

[Bixillarla]

...quite a few people don't seem to understand how the free trial works.

1. Free trial players couldn't queue well before this. They never could.
2. Free trial players can't trade nor engage in many other interactions - RMT uses paid accounts.

The congestion really isn't related to the free trial. Though I think suspending it is good in any case, as this way new players don't get a negative impression from signing up for something that tells them "sorry, you can't play."

Not true, they could log in. My sister plays with a friend in the evening who is on free trial. They could log before during prime hours just lower priority for getting thru the que. Now they cannot log in during prime time hours.

[ArkenaeuxBelmont]

Yeah I don't know where you are getting this information but it's false. The were able to log in. Granted there is a laundry list of things that they can't do like buy things, but they for sure could log in during peak hours (until now).

They are STILL able to log in, they have 0 queue priority though. A sub user will jump them in the line. Effectively making them unable to get through the queue.

If they log in during off peak hours with no queue, they can still get in however.

[EtherRose]

TBH if they are implementing a priority que system.....they might as well make it Legacy player's > Normal player's > Free trial.

[ArkenaeuxBelmont]

TBH if they are implementing a priority que system.....they might as well make it Legacy player's > Normal player's > Free trial.

Except that Legacy and Non-Legacy are both paying the same sub. Hence the distinction break down the devs made between paying customer and non-paying customer.

Breaking it down any further in my opinion wouldn't be a valid idea and just be a trigger for resentment, even if it wouldn't honestly change much. There aren't THAT many legacy players that it would make a gigantic impact.