The only incentive to get me back to Materia is DC travel.

[LianaThorne]

Better and smoother gameplay, trust me US servers and no vpn is not fun. it cuts down lag.

Ahhhh gotcha.

[Tigerlilley]

Cpmparisons, Tiger.

Be nice.

Here is our last attempt to give feedback. Perhaps you can understand my utter frustration.

[Ralphe2449]

@Liana: FYI pingtest using WTFAST: Start point::

Sydney Australia to:

JP Kujata 130 ms.

US Zalera 170 ms.

EU Phantom 306 ms. - DeNada, DC travel to EU is..not a good outcome.

Result:

JP vs NA 40 ms difference. DC travel OCE - US is viable HOWEVER the vpn / gpn is an additional $10 USD / per month

Yeah, not the best result.

Keep in mind that those numbers are likely also based on location, probably near big city centers directly connected to central lines.
If you are in more regional area like in nothern western australia you get 80ms at Syd servers, dont want to imagine NA.

[Illmaeran]

What is needed is DC travel OCE - NA - EU, to allow Materia growth. Over time, that may itself incentivise further influx to Materia, as those who come to play there ARE NOT cut off from long term friends they have made over the years. As it is now, OCE is an either / or situation, the DC is struggling to cope because they dont have access to the same resources and playerbase as thew new servers elsewhere.

The assumption that being against Region travel equates to being against DC travel isn't a solid argument. Within-region DC travel between logical data centers is a thing now and I believe it benefits the community. When the new DC was added to the Japanese region, a number of people I know chose to stay on their server even though it meant being moved to the new DC. They still come to visit, raid, and play with friends on Elemental regularly so there's no functional difference. Adding new DCs to a region doesn't mean they'll be isolated from the other players in that region. They'll continue to be able to transfer between DCs.

It's the topic of transferring between regions, not DCs within the same region, that started this thread.

What a lot of people forget is that opening the door for people to go from a JP DC to OCE also allows people from OCE to travel to JP DCs. It's abundantly clear that the majority of players on JP DCs do not wish for this.

I recognize there are many reasons why Aus/NZ/SEA players stayed on their established servers and that it hindered Materia's development. However, that situation was completely the result of player's choices and general lack of patience among the player base creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. I sympathize with the situation of people not being able to get groups for things. I'm 12-14 hours behind the people on my DC and am only able to find DF or PvP parties reliably on my Friday night and Saturday mornings, and to a lesser extent on my Saturday night. The rest of the week is challenging during periods where there are a lot of people playing, such as post-patch. These days, with the content lull and lower pool of players logging in it's nigh impossible to get a group except during primetime hours. However, it's my choice to be where I am and to stay there so I accept the consequences of my choice. It's fair to expect people who left their original servers to go to Materia to accept the results of their choice as well. SE taking action that has high potential of significantly upsetting an entire region of players is not a smart move.

I fully, completely, 100% support allowing OCE, NA, and EU to travel between regions for the reasons you've mentioned. Materia DOES need help getting a critical mass population established and I firmly believe allowing travel between Western culture DCs could be a significant benefit.

Edit to add more

Are you the guy we spent about 4 pages trying to explain geography to? The ping for oce players on EU and vice versa is completely unplayable. This is not a option.

I'm 13 hours behind Tokyo, meaning I'm more than half the world away. With rare exception I haven't had issues playing the game due to latency. I sometimes get weird snapshots, but that just means I have to be a better player and anticipate actions more than people with better ping.

[VelKallor]

I fully, completely, 100% support allowing OCE, NA, and EU to travel between regions for the reasons you've mentioned. Materia DOES need help getting a critical mass population established and I firmly believe allowing travel between Western culture DCs could be a significant benefit.

Agree.

That is what we are hoping for. The 40 ms diff isnt a major issue...and please God if they DO enable that we stand a chance of being viable long term. The current situation isnt optimal by any means

. It's abundantly clear that the majority of players on JP DCs do not wish for this.

Yes. Ive seen the translated JP threads, thank you VERY kindly.

[LaylaTsarra]

I fully, completely, 100% support allowing OCE, NA, and EU to travel between regions for the reasons you've mentioned. Materia DOES need help getting a critical mass population established and I firmly believe allowing travel between Western culture DCs could be a significant benefit.

I'm 13 hours behind Tokyo, meaning I'm more than half the world away. With rare exception I haven't had issues playing the game due to latency. I sometimes get weird snapshots, but that just means I have to be a better player and anticipate actions more than people with better ping.

I live on the east coast of the US and play on all DC's and I don't have issues. I do not raid so can't speak for latency there which could probably be an issue. I too fully support letting OCE DC travel between all western culture DC's.

[VelKallor]

Reluctantly, with a great deal of regret, I have moved back to Kujata., I have sold more stuff in a day than I did in four months on OCE,the MB is busy and competitive, DF active and busy...until such time as Yoshi and his team reinstate cross region dc travel, I wont be on OCE.

That decision HURT, as I want to see it succeed as much as anyone else does..I had no choice.

OCE is isolated, connected to no one, it makes zero sense for SE to expect them to stand alone, when ALL OTHER new servers have connections to established communities...look at Dynamis, how long would it survive alone if it had no access to any other of the US servers or their communities.

One of my colleagues above, Illmaeran, very kindly used a phrase that I think is key to this entire issue:

Critical mass.

I also agree and acknowledge the points raised about what the jp community wants..its also a little sad as a lot of OCE are eager and happy to play alongside JP, on many of the Elemental servers the two groups get along well.

NO ONE, including me, is ever asking, nor would we ask, to have a JP server moved to OCE cluster, the resulting disruption would be unacceptable on every level.

Summary:

That said, what is essential now is that this issue be acknowledged by SE, and cross region DC travel be established between OCE and the US clusters. Until this happens, I fear OCE will not be viable in the long term...and that would not only be a crying shame, but also a bitter disappointment to many OCE players who want more than anything else to make that DC successful.

If any of the SE team are reading this, I ask that this be mentioned in an LL, and action taken to ensure OCE does not fail.

[Shibi]

Reiuctantly, with a great deal of regret, I have moved back to Kujata.

Time like this we need "sad" reaction. So, while normally I would give a thumbs up, this time I can't. You get a teardrop reaction instead.

Let's strongly hope you and our other friends who feel the need to leave to get better access to MBs, or copied factory, can return soon with NA travel at last.

I don't think we will ever get JP travel though, I still feel the DC was shoved into Sydney to get us off their precious "mackerels".

[VelKallor]

Time like this we need "sad" reaction. So, while normally I would give a thumbs up, this time I can't. You get a teardrop reaction instead.

Shibi, whilst you and I may not have always seen eye to eye, I have grown to respect your viewpoint. I am hoping against hope that this will only be temporary, that this will be addressed soon. it isnt just the MB either, I got my hest challenge log done in an hour, did an Azys Lla FATE I hadnt seen in months, the PF and DF are busy as hell.

THIS is what is meant by critical mass.

What I dont understand is WHY DC travel was disabled so fast and not reinstated. I get congestion, that was July, this is November. It literally is not in SE's best interests to see OCE fail like this. Servers rise or fall flat on player numbers alone, why it was OCE was started and then left unconnected to anyone is beyond me.

IF this gets addressed, you can bet Ill be back and fast. ( well I have to wait 90 days, but you know what i mean lol )

[Tabmow]

I live on the east coast of the US and play on all DC's and I don't have issues. I do not raid so can't speak for latency there which could probably be an issue. I too fully support letting OCE DC travel between all western culture DC's.

You play in a country that has a vastly superior internet than Australia,