We interrupt your current server woes to talk about casting

[Hulan]

For those wondering why it is that SE seemingly can't make their game as responsive or as fast as Blizzard or Trion, it may be worth mentioning the obvious again. That being, this is a game served from Japan. For better or worse, any problem that Blizzard has to deal with downstream is going to be compounded orders of magnitude worse for SE servers.

Yoshi-P is saying that they can do better than what they have right now, but light only travels so fast. FFXI handled it by fundamentally designing the game around a 2-3 second delay (long casting times and relatively slow movement obscured the fact that things you saw on your screen were actually 2-3 seconds off everyone else). For whatever reason, FFXIV was not.

[Riaayo]

For those wondering why it is that SE seemingly can't make their game as responsive or as fast as Blizzard or Trion, it may be worth mentioning the obvious again. That being, this is a game served from Japan. For better or worse, any problem that Blizzard has to deal with downstream is going to be compounded orders of magnitude worse for SE servers.

Yoshi-P is saying that they can do better than what they have right now, but light only travels so fast. FFXI handled it by fundamentally designing the game around a 2-3 second delay (long casting times and relatively slow movement obscured the fact that things you saw on your screen were actually 2-3 seconds off everyone else). For whatever reason, FFXIV was not.

FFXIV was not because no other game does it anymore, and the general MMO community is not looking for a game (nor use to one) so sluggish as XI was. The "distance" from Japan to the United States, etc, is not what causes this lag as much as people want to make it out to be; that's an excuse. Go watch any JP video and you will see they experience the same delays NA players do.

And honestly, if SE has launched this game for both Japan and NA / EU and this is that big of a problem, then SE needs to explore placing servers in other countries that will better service players in those countries. Excuses don't sell games.

Sorry if I sound rabid, I do appreciate ALL of the work the current team has put into this game. But for myself, and others, I am concerned all their hard work will be for nothing if this game can't pick up the pace with this server/client delay.

Edit: "Light only travels so fast." It travels at 299,792,458 meters per second. If SE's internet was light its server could be on the sun and still be an instant connection. It's certainly not light, but we're not exactly on 56k internet anymore either.

[Hulan]

To avoid sounding ignorant, I am aware that the physical distance (or even the network distance) is not the primary cause of the lag in FFXIV or even a major cause. But given SE's global servers policy (one I happen to agree with actually), SE will never be able to produce the same experience as a local server is capable of producing in terms of latency. Although on reflection, my original post perhaps came on a little strong. I was only trying to get across that no change is going to stretch that nanosecond of wire.

[SirOleas]

To avoid sounding ignorant, I am aware that the physical distance (or even the network distance) is not the primary cause of the lag in FFXIV or even a major cause. But given SE's global servers policy (one I happen to agree with actually), SE will never be able to produce the same experience as a local server are capable of producing in terms of latency. Although on reflection, my original post perhaps came on a little strong. I was only trying to get across that no change is going to stretch that nanosecond of wire.

That link was very informative. Thanks.

[Riaayo]

To avoid sounding ignorant, I am aware that the physical distance (or even the network distance) is not the primary cause of the lag in FFXIV or even a major cause. But given SE's global servers policy (one I happen to agree with actually), SE will never be able to produce the same experience as a local server is capable of producing in terms of latency. Although on reflection, my original post perhaps came on a little strong. I was only trying to get across that no change is going to stretch that nanosecond of wire.

Can you either link or possibly explain their global servers policy then? Unless you just mean the generalization of the fact their servers are not for specific regions.

As much as I like the fact our servers have all manner of people from all over the world, I don't know if personally that bonus is worth the cost in game performance... it is just not fun to not be able to react to things, and no form of fun PvP is going to exist in this game if that's the case. Laggy, slow, unresponsive PvP is just... bleh. It effectively makes you feel cheated out of your own reaction time and abilities, and forces you to try and adjust yourself to the lag (which some seem to consider part of the game, but I think it's only worth putting up with until 2.0).

Also, touche on the nerdy, it was indeed a very informative lecture (no sarcasm).

[Jinko]

For those wondering why it is that SE seemingly can't make their game as responsive or as fast as Blizzard or Trion, it may be worth mentioning the obvious again. That being, this is a game served from Japan. For better or worse, any problem that Blizzard has to deal with downstream is going to be compounded orders of magnitude worse for SE servers.

Yoshi-P is saying that they can do better than what they have right now, but light only travels so fast. FFXI handled it by fundamentally designing the game around a 2-3 second delay (long casting times and relatively slow movement obscured the fact that things you saw on your screen were actually 2-3 seconds off everyone else). For whatever reason, FFXIV was not.

Well even from Europe I am getting 300 ms latency, this isn't much, what the problem is currently is the server is too slow to process everything causing extra latency.
(for what its worth I can play WoW and LOTRO both with more than 300 ms of latency)

When we move to a better server there is no reason why this problem should exist any longer.

The .3 seconds you mentioned is the delay of movement packet delivery. (The explanation is filled with jargon and tech talk so I won’t write anymore than this.)

Hmmm seriously ??

I really think seeing as the 2.0 client has a working battle system they should disclose how the future battle system will work, especially in regards to animation lock.