Data Center Travel is ruining server Party Finder

[Sqwall]

They know they should make cross DC PF and DF. Massive changes in server structure are unfortunately not easy.

I agree, and I think transparency would be greatly appreciated if it's something that can be done, or simply isn't possible. Just let us know what the limitations are, or if it's something that can be done...just not right now.

Then maybe it would help stem some of the distain around DC travel and it's affects on server/FC communities.

[littlehobbit13]

Well, remember, being off home-world means everything is restricted. Not just friends, but your fc, linkshells, house, retainers. These are, I would argue, basic gameplay elements that are being limited when you're off world.

This continues to be my biggest complaint about the unintended consequences of DC travel. Not all player experiences are now equal. I'm paying the same sub as someone on Aether, but because I'm from Crystal I'm now forced to choose between content I want to enjoy and basic game functions. Whole game features -- retainers, timed nodes, island sanctuary -- are inaccessible to me if I decide I need to use PF to prog a fight, but players on Aether don't have to give up a single damn thing to get a working PF.

having to wade through all these prompts, and queues just to have a functioning party finder is not a good experience.

Same. Some days I'm not sure what I want to do in the game, and I'd like to just see what other stuff is going on that maybe I want to jump into. But that doesn't really work anymore. It feels like so much of my activity has to be PLANNED now and I hate that. Hell, I was progging a raid with some folks the other days, we were on Primal the time before so I transferred over ahead of time only to find out we needed another person this time so we were going to be on Aether, so I had to do DC travel TWICE more just because you can't even go straight from one foreign DC to the next; you always have to rubberband back to your own homeworld before you can go elsewhere. All those DC travel prompts three fricking times just because we needed a functional PF. Not a good experience.

1. Crystal is known as the default roleplay DC, you won't find much raiding there in general.

Except that's not really true. Crystal had a perfectly good and decently populated raiding scene pre-DC travel. I know because I used it. And if anything, it's the fact that basically all combat PF activity has disappeared supports that, because all the people who want to do that content (raiders) are now over on Aether all the time. Crystal is known for RP, but it's hardly the ONLY thing players there are interested in.

I don't want to go to Aether. I want the game I pay for to work. And I don't want to have to be burdened by the fact that I don't play on Aether. I don't want to play on Aether.

This is how I feel about it. It's not about going to Aether. It's about being FORCED to go to Aether. If I wanted to play on Aether, I'd have picked a homeworld there.

[Sqwall]

This continues to be my biggest complaint about the unintended consequences of DC travel. Not all player experiences are now equal. I'm paying the same sub as someone on Aether, but because I'm from Crystal I'm now forced to choose between content I want to enjoy and basic game functions. Whole game features -- retainers, timed nodes, island sanctuary -- are inaccessible to me if I decide I need to use PF to prog a fight, but players on Aether don't have to give up a single damn thing to get a working PF.



Same. Some days I'm not sure what I want to do in the game, and I'd like to just see what other stuff is going on that maybe I want to jump into. But that doesn't really work anymore. It feels like so much of my activity has to be PLANNED now and I hate that. Hell, I was progging a raid with some folks the other days, we were on Primal the time before so I transferred over ahead of time only to find out we needed another person this time so we were going to be on Aether, so I had to do DC travel TWICE more just because you can't even go straight from one foreign DC to the next; you always have to rubberband back to your own homeworld before you can go elsewhere. All those DC travel prompts three fricking times just because we needed a functional PF. Not a good experience.



Except that's not really true. Crystal had a perfectly good and decently populated raiding scene pre-DC travel. I know because I used it. And if anything, it's the fact that basically all combat PF activity has disappeared supports that, because all the people who want to do that content (raiders) are now over on Aether all the time. Crystal is known for RP, but it's hardly the ONLY thing players there are interested in.



This is how I feel about it. It's not about going to Aether. It's about being FORCED to go to Aether. If I wanted to play on Aether, I'd have picked a homeworld there.

This is exactly how I feel.

[Ardeth]

This continues to be my biggest complaint about the unintended consequences of DC travel. Not all player experiences are now equal. I'm paying the same sub as someone on Aether, but because I'm from Crystal I'm now forced to choose between content I want to enjoy and basic game functions. Whole game features -- retainers, timed nodes, island sanctuary -- are inaccessible to me if I decide I need to use PF to prog a fight, but players on Aether don't have to give up a single damn thing to get a working PF.



Same. Some days I'm not sure what I want to do in the game, and I'd like to just see what other stuff is going on that maybe I want to jump into. But that doesn't really work anymore. It feels like so much of my activity has to be PLANNED now and I hate that. Hell, I was progging a raid with some folks the other days, we were on Primal the time before so I transferred over ahead of time only to find out we needed another person this time so we were going to be on Aether, so I had to do DC travel TWICE more just because you can't even go straight from one foreign DC to the next; you always have to rubberband back to your own homeworld before you can go elsewhere. All those DC travel prompts three fricking times just because we needed a functional PF. Not a good experience.



Except that's not really true. Crystal had a perfectly good and decently populated raiding scene pre-DC travel. I know because I used it. And if anything, it's the fact that basically all combat PF activity has disappeared supports that, because all the people who want to do that content (raiders) are now over on Aether all the time. Crystal is known for RP, but it's hardly the ONLY thing players there are interested in.



This is how I feel about it. It's not about going to Aether. It's about being FORCED to go to Aether. If I wanted to play on Aether, I'd have picked a homeworld there.

Unfortunately, everyone else sees it the opposite way. It's totally normal and exceptible to not play on your home server. Back when it was limited to our DC, I thought it was a dumb idea then. Now it's infinitely worse. And it effects everything from how you interact with basic functionality down to player behavior. Why would I invest in Dynamis when I have to go to Aether to get anything done? I know I'm beating a dead horse, but I shouldn't have to DC travel. Fix your game!

[Tsumdere]

This continues to be my biggest complaint about the unintended consequences of DC travel. Not all player experiences are now equal. I'm paying the same sub as someone on Aether, but because I'm from Crystal I'm now forced to choose between content I want to enjoy and basic game functions. Whole game features -- retainers, timed nodes, island sanctuary -- are inaccessible to me if I decide I need to use PF to prog a fight, but players on Aether don't have to give up a single damn thing to get a working PF.

Exactly this. Being isolated from FC + not being able to access retainers I pay for is horrible. It's kind of ruined our FC dynamic and we've had to move everything to Discord because we're fragmented constantly. Our house is also empty because no one has time to redecorate because we're on Aether all the time.

We have an objectively lesser experience than Aether players.

[LianaThorne]

Except that's not really true. Crystal had a perfectly good and decently populated raiding scene pre-DC travel. I know because I used it. And if anything, it's the fact that basically all combat PF activity has disappeared supports that, because all the people who want to do that content (raiders) are now over on Aether all the time. Crystal is known for RP, but it's hardly the ONLY thing players there are interested in.

Fair enough if this is true, I just have a different experience. I used to be on Primal at the beginning of Endwalker (pre-DC travel) and had people in my circle/FC get called over to Crystal to fill PFs since they weren't able to get them filled for 30m+, as in they specifically had alt characters (leveled or paid) to help fill raid parties on Crystal.

So, I believe you that it had a raid scene but I don't believe, in my opinion, that it was ever really on the same scale as Primal/Aether. DC travel definitely demolished it though and turned it mainly into the RP-centered DC it is now with, in my opinion, public access to Balmung and other NSFW hubs leading the charge. The explosion of clubs during Covid + DC travel really screwed up a lot and at this point, unless the devs actually step in, I don't think it's ever going to recover.

Kind of wish DC travel was never a thing and just cross-PF was created in its place as someone who is also on Crystal now and would like to not have to sit in a queue to have a chance to raid lol.

[TaleraRistain]

I agree, and I think transparency would be greatly appreciated if it's something that can be done, or simply isn't possible. Just let us know what the limitations are, or if it's something that can be done...just not right now.

Then maybe it would help stem some of the distain around DC travel and it's affects on server/FC communities.

They do say that. Look at the second post of this thread.

I'm a software engineer too and it's never good enough for us to either say it can't be done or can't be done right now because we get the "But if you just-". I hate the word "just". It's minimizing the work that goes into these changes behind the scenes and carrying implications that someone isn't doing something that someone else wants because of choice rather than whether that thing is possible or something desirable. And if we try to give a simple layman's explanation then someone with a tiny bit of coding or infrastructure knowledge picks apart our argument because we didn't provide the 10 hour full explanation with diagrams and a Powerpoint.