Data Centers/World Locations Info from the LIVE Letter

[HiirNoivl]

why you choose an alleged JP server in the first place?

WEll since technically this is for location and not language, all the Oceanic players would be on the JP server too.

[Xatsh]

My ls operates across 2 time zones EU and NA.

It is a simple fact people will come and go from linkshell due to both ingame and real life reasons so you will always have to recruit.

Unless SE makes dedicated "World" servers it will segregate everyone.

MY linkshell will go to NA, unfortunately it will screw over every Eu player in it. while things will be fine at launch with out a Eu base to rep people over time in 4-6 months down the road I will potentially have to close out the Eu division of my ls due to lack of new Eu players on a NA server after 2.0s launch.

I will also have to break it to my members that events now will no longer start at noon and last to midnight... I will have to tell them to not even bother logging on before 6-7pm est because chances are no one will be there or at least not reliably. The Eu who joined me will be forced to only use the cross world noobfinder, degrading that part of my linkshell more or less to nothing but a horrible social chat channel and nothing else.

This is the stupidest move SE has ever made not having world servers anymore... The it is your choice is not a choice at all. If the majority of NA join a NA server, the majority of Eu join Eu, and the majority of Jp join Jp, the person not following is a fool, because it will ruin their own play experience in the end.

We are trading
1) Better Economy
2) 24/7 ability to group without failfinder
3) Ability to create a multi divisional group
4) reduced risk of a region dying due to lack of say NA/Eu players down the road.

All this for a fraction of a second better lag. Which only benefits PvP........ (Ifrit issues are only partially caused by the latency between servers before that is used as a counter argument)

This is one of the stupidest moves SE has ever made, they are removing one of the elements which made the FF mmos superior to the rest. SE has now official killed the global community with this "Forced" segregation of servers. Many people will be forced to part with their friends, linkshells will be destroyed, all for a near pointless 0.2sec improvement in latency, XIV is not an action mmo 0 latency means nothing.

I have no issues with regional servers but SE must make global servers... emphasis on the must.

[Holy_Dragoon]

You guys are forgetting servers are not region locked. You can pick a server and say were are going to play on server X. Then everyone in your ls can go to that server.

The issue, is that we have members fearing the mass exodus. If we choose to stay Gungnir and it becomes a JP region server, there could be insufficient players from NA/EU. We have members from all over the world. Many have already said they will follow us wherever we choose to go, but fear they will be forced to adapt to a server with more players during their peak playtimes. None of us fear the lag thus far (we have confidence in the new architecture!), but we do fear the community playtime shift.

I'm not saying this is good or bad, I'm just saying it does effect groups that emphasize a global playground such as ours.

[Scratches]

If lag is their excuse, maybe they should stop using sub par methods and the community should actually raise their expectations. Lesser companies than Square-Enix have done such while maintaining the global aspect of the game. Why settle for mediocrity when you could ask for so much more, especially a company with a renown like SE?

"Lesser" companies have 'global' MMOs, where they force everybody to connect to servers that are only housed at one physical location? Really? Like who?

Also, sub-par methods? Last I checked, Square wasn't able to break the laws of physics. Just crossing the Pacific Ocean, from the US, automatically tacks on an additional 100-150ms of latency (fiber optic cables (the stuff internet backbones are made of) have an inherent latency of 5 microseconds per kilometer; do the math). Pinging XIV's authentication servers from here in Miami clocks in at around 210ms right now. Even assuming 0 overhead from the game servers (which is completely unrealistic), that's atrocious... even more so considering they are dead serious about wanting to add meaningful PvP and increasing the intensity, mobility, and tempo of combat as well.
If the game's combat were to stay as slow as it is now, I wouldn't have a single problem with 250-300ms latencies... but that's not the case, now is it.

This is extremly upsetting, many of my friends picked to play FFXI and XIV by extension because they were one of the only games where you could play with people around the world with ease.

Now I'm forced to segregate myself from my friends in other regions wether I care about lag or not, I have friends in NA, EU, JP, all around the world. It's a dark day for me at least.

Whoopie for people who care about .3seconds of lag.

Except you're not being forced to do anything; nobody is. Hyperbole much?

Everyone will still have the ability to play with any other player on the planet, as everyone will be able to make at least one character on every server on the planet. If your "friends", however, decide that they don't want to play with you any more, well... there's really nothing you can do about that. And it's most certainly not the fault of the developers if that's what they choose, let alone your being scared that they'd choose low pings over you.

Also, current servers will continue existing as they do today. The only unclear bit is the availability of server transfers.
Rest easy, though, for if they choose to not make transfers available, you'll be able to use the "But what about the character that you spent so much time on???" guilt trip on your "friends", to coerce them into continuing to play on your current server.

~~~~~~~~

<to no-one in particular:>
Yoshida-san has even said, quite a few times, that the game will change so drastically that current and prospective players will be better served by looking at this situation as 'Final Fantasy XIV as you know it is being shut down (sunset; the end; kaput), and a new game is taking its place (whilst, coincidentally, keeping much of the same story).' I'm paraphrasing, but the takeaway is the same.
If the thought of everybody no longer being forced to only play on JP-hosted servers upsets you so greatly, then this is probably no longer the game for you. XI is still available though, I hear...

ADDENDUM:

I have no issues with regional servers but SE must make global servers... emphasis on the must.

Every server will be a global server -- just located in different areas around the globe. Nothing is changing except MORE servers being added to the world, and, thus, giving players choices.

[dascorp]

How long have you SE know about all the lag problems? Since this game came out.... and this is the solution you came up with? Right before 2.0 is around the corner, really? I am more and more disappointed with you guys. Maybe, you should have thought about these problems before you have actually made the game... Why wasnt anyone on the development team asking all of these questions.... You dont need to be a psychic to see that a worldwide game is going to have lag problems.... come on guys Not blaming the current development team... since they are trying to fix what we have now.

[Malakhim]

I could see how this poses a problem. I'm personally going to wait to see how the server lag is, then make my decision. I can't say I'm a fan of a scenario where the global community is segregated, but I don't really have any specific tie to anyone in any region either.

...Fuck I might just stick with the JP players!

[Starlord]

Every server will be a global server -- just located in different areas around the globe. Nothing is changing except MORE servers being added to the world, and, thus, giving players choices.

Hey Scratch buddy, You have awesome posts when you speak =), but can you give me a description on how you come to this conclusion? because how I'm reading it is, In order to play with people Overseas you have to go to a Data Center that's not in your Country. I am a bit confused.

[Kirol]

So, people in England will be stuck with French and German only. I preferred English/日本語 only, seeing as I could deal with both... Maybe I'll just have to learn French and improve my Deutsch.
Or move to America.

[Yumi_Hibiki]

What about your friends?

I get the impression that some people believe this is a forced move.

IT IS NOT

You can choose to stay right where you are and so can your friends.

People that want to be on a closer server can move to one.

Everyone gets to make their own choice about their own situation.

Just as it should be.

looks like you don't remember the server merge
guess what they announced first?
new servers and everyone can pick one by themselves
that plan got canned very quickly because if the community outcry, i wonder why...
could have to do with the fact that its impossible to organize all your friends to move together and the friends of your friends... and so forth... its just unrealistic
and that was without the "you will play like a god here! for really realz!" label on the servers that will split us for sure now

[KaiTBF]

After much thinking I've decided that I no longer care. I'll chose whatever server I feel like and just deal with it's unique set of problems, whether it be a lack of JP's or a lack of NA players I'll just go wherever the core group I play with goes and have a good time with whoever the hell ends up there with us.