Can we please, have a modernization for the servers. (Specifically, tick/refreshrate)

[Iselion]

I usually only lurk, but it's astounding to see how many people replying to this thread do not even know what OP is talking about.

Please, do not participate in threads like this if you don't know the difference between Client-Server ping and Server ticks.

[Boblawblah]

I usually only lurk, but it's astounding to see how many people replying to this thread do not even know what OP is talking about.

Please, do not participate in threads like this if you don't know the difference between Client-Server ping and Server ticks.

Seometimez i get bad server ticks, but that's because I live far away from the servers.

[Jeeqbit]

Please, do not participate in threads like this if you don't know the difference between Client-Server ping and Server ticks.

It's always been astounding the number of people who blame server ticks when it's mostly animations delays and ping.

Server ticks are relevant for DoTs because, well, they tick.

[Iselion]

It's always been astounding the number of people who blame server ticks when it's mostly animations delays and ping.

Server ticks are relevant for DoTs because, well, they tick.

This is false. When you provoke a mob, you see it go off, but the mob doesn't immediately run to you, it takes about half a second. Same with with interjects, pushbacks, pull-ins and ESPECIALLY Rescue. This is because the servers are updating slowly to reduce server load. Had you played any other MMOs, you'd have noticed how bizarrely poor FFXIV is in this regard. It feels "sticky" when you switch over.

Now this is not to say animation delays aren't also a factor and to be honest those should go, inconsistent as they are. BLM has several skills that will show damage before the spell even visually pops while Benediction takes a full second from a button press to go off. Astounding that this has not been changed since 2.0 for a skill that is supposed to be for emergency use.

[Jeeqbit]

When you provoke a mob, you see it go off, but the mob doesn't immediately run to you, it takes about half a second.

True.

Same with with interjects

With interject it takes a while, yes, but there are far more responsive abilities showing that they can make them more responsive if they want to, such as Sidewinder as compared with many of Bard's other attack abilities such as Bloodletter or Empyreal Arrow which do a real slow arrow animation before executing.

Tank Stances or Inner Release are also faster compared to a lot of other abilities such as Hallowed Ground.

pushbacks, pull-ins and ESPECIALLY Rescue.

At hunts what you notice with hundreds of players is that it knocks them back using a simple loop that cycles through all the players up to a pre-determined maximum based on proximity and it takes absolutely ages. This maximum also applies to standing in aoes. If you walk far enough away from the hunt with lots of people there but still stand in the aoe, it doesn't affect you.

It's easy to notice in content as well with abilities like Shake It Off where it cycles through all the players to apply it one-by-one, especially in Seat of Sacrifice when you use Tank LB and the LB buff expires on one person before the snapshot.

But in these situations specifically, the loop tick seems like it's not for the server as a whole, but for the specific loop that is knocking everyone back or applying the cast's effect, as if they just added a giant pause in each loop cycle for KBs and other ability effects or their hardware is just overwhelmed in general.

But I still feel that this is something you mainly notice on things that affect a lot of people (like at hunts) and that, to me, the example of Sidewinder vs Bloodletter shows the world of difference there is when they simply don't do the animation thing.

When I play on lower pings, even abilities that seem moderately slow like Rampart are fast enough that double weaving is extremely easy and smooth.

I feel that if they would just address the animation delay issue and apply certain effects clientside (and remove them if the server decides it's wrong), then we could purely focus on how much of a remaining issue server delays are or whether there is a hardware improvement they can make.

Had you played any other MMOs, you'd have noticed how bizarrely poor FFXIV is in this regard.

I agree. They didn't have these animation delays (like my example of Sidewinder vs Bloodletter) because doing that interferes with gameplay and responsiveness. I can see why they would do it for a lore reason but every other game decides gameplay is more important.

[Aco505]

This is false. When you provoke a mob, you see it go off, but the mob doesn't immediately run to you, it takes about half a second. Same with with interjects, pushbacks, pull-ins and ESPECIALLY Rescue. This is because the servers are updating slowly to reduce server load. Had you played any other MMOs, you'd have noticed how bizarrely poor FFXIV is in this regard. It feels "sticky" when you switch over.

Now this is not to say animation delays aren't also a factor and to be honest those should go, inconsistent as they are. BLM has several skills that will show damage before the spell even visually pops while Benediction takes a full second from a button press to go off. Astounding that this has not been changed since 2.0 for a skill that is supposed to be for emergency use.

While server ticks play a role, these delays are part of the ability used. Some abilities will register but only deal damage after a specific amount of time has passed. For instance, DRG's Disembowel takes a bit more than 1.5 seconds to actually deal its damage. Meaning that while the damage is registered on button press, if the target disappears or becomes invulnerable after it but before they take the actual hit, you will lose the damage.

If provoke takes some time to actually affect the target, it is simply because the delay between cast and effect is high enough. Some knockbacks push you immediately while others are delayed after the cast bar is finished.

There's also no specific rule as to why some abilities take longer than others. Animations don't seem to have anything to do with it, as actions such as Chaotic Spring take long to finish yet register their damage extremely quickly, whereas Wyrmwind Thrust's animation takes some time and its damage is dealt mostly in sync with it.

From what I've gathered from previous posts on the issue on Reddit, this game's tickrate is not much different from others'. The problem might lie elsewhere. In any case, I enjoy the fact that you react to cast bars and not animations and don't mind this at all. Cast bars are not always present and sometimes their damage doesn't snapshot when they're over, although this is rarer, so you may need to adapt to different situations.

I'd rather get the ping problem related to weaving oGCDs addressed first, as this would make the game feel and flow so much better. See here: https://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/...tions-normally.

I do agree that it is a bigger problem in PvP though and that it should have a specific solution for this mode at least, especially when it comes to Purify or things such as dying due to delays in the damage right after using an action like Sky High.

[Swordsman]

From what I've gathered from previous posts on the issue on Reddit, this game's tickrate is not much different from others'.

Do we have any proof of that outside of screenshots of the usual third-party add-on? Posts on Reddit frequently reference the logs of a specific add-on as "proof" of a client sending out data at a certain rate, but that doesn't mean the server is accepting and registering the data at the same rate.

[Iselion]

From what I've gathered from previous posts on the issue on Reddit, this game's tickrate is not much different from others'. The problem might lie elsewhere. In any case, I enjoy the fact that you react to cast bars and not animations and don't mind this at all. Cast bars are not always present and sometimes their damage doesn't snapshot when they're over, although this is rarer, so you may need to adapt to different situations.

You're missing my point. I don't mind it for things like melee attacks because the number feedback isn't as immediately important pertaining to the gameplay as, say, responsiveness of aggro takeovers, movement mechanics, death saves and heals are. Features and abilities of mechanical import SHOULD be prioritized when they happen. When's the last time you played tank in a dungeon and you had to physically stop in a pack to AoE just to make sure you 1. Actually hit everything and 2. That every mob actually follows you? And speaking of tanks, we've also standardized provoking during casts of tankbusters and not between instant attacks of hard content because provoke is just not reliable enough to trust it. These things should not happen in one of the top MMOs in 2023.

[MuraBoy]

It's always been astounding the number of people who blame server ticks when it's mostly animations delays and ping.

Server ticks are relevant for DoTs because, well, they tick.

No, my friend
We're talking about the tick rate of ffxiv servers... i mean, the rate of information being updated

[Swordsman]

No, my friend
We're talking about the tick rate of ffxiv servers... i mean, the rate of information being updated

Yep, this is what essentially allows slidecasting to happen. A player that's casting can start moving on their screen, but the server will think the player is stationary because it still hasn't yet processed the information that the player has started moving.