Yoshida-san - GLOBAL Servers and Balancing Tweaks Instead of Regional Servers

[Kuzak]

Enjoy your lag as you log into any MMORPG as lag will always exist.

Of course it will.

But by selecting a datacenter that's closer to my location, it will help to reduce the lag to where it's negligible.

I'm not a masochist.

[Jynx]

Enjoy your lag as you log into any MMORPG as lag will always exist.

What are you talking about? Everything will be damn near realtime for these regional server guys. TRUE STORY!

[Kuzak]

What are you talking about? Everything will be damn near realtime for these regional server guys. TRUE STORY!

Indeed, in World of Warcraft I used to play on Blackrock server, which was on the Los Angeles Datacenter IIRC, and I never had any issues with lag.

Local Datacenters are a beneficial change.

[Jynx]

Indeed, in World of Warcraft I used to play on Blackrock server, which was on the Los Angeles Datacenter IIRC, and I never had any issues with lag.

I used to play FFXI on a Japanese server (Only servers) and I never had any issues with lag.

[Kuzak]

I used to play FFXI on a Japanese server (Only servers) and I never had any issues with lag.

Nice, Shiva wasn't too bad either.

[Aenarion]

Of course it will.

But by selecting a datacenter that's closer to my location, it will help to reduce the lag to where it's negligible.

I'm not a masochist.

That's not the case here though, the vast majority of the lag in FF14 is caused by SE's piss-poor sorry excuse of a POS server design. If that's not changed, it wouldn't matter if you're playing FF14 next door to the datacenter, you'd still have shitty lag.

Conversely, if that's fixed, then creating regional servers as a method to combat the current lag problem becomes rather pointless, as they would no longer exist.

[Alhanelem]

That's not the case here though, the vast majority of the lag in FF14 is caused by SE's piss-poor sorry excuse of a POS server design.

Except, that's being fixed too.

Less server response delay + lower ping = hallelujah!

You really don't get it do you? I'm convinced you're just ignoring the point I brought up earlier because you keep responding in the exact same way, you're on auto-pilot or something.

Yes, I do get it, that's why I keep stating it. I don't expect my friends-of-friends-of-friends-of-friends to take any particular action. The chain ends somewhere. The loss to me from my 3rd friend's 4th friend's 6th friend is minimal. I can handle that without losing sleep, play the improved less laggy game for 5 minutes, and forget about it. For nearly all of us, these arent close, real life friends that we're moving from. And if I really feel a need to reunite, I can always create a character on the world they went to.

Friends get broken up by world merges and server transfers just the same, even if we don't label or regionalize servers. It's a fact of life, suck it up and deal with it or don't play the game.

[Starlord]

Except, that's being fixed too.

Less server response delay + lower ping = hallelujah!

Here's on side of the arguement: Screw lag I want to be with other people around the world that I can never understand!

And here's the other side of the Argument: Lag is what we complained about all along and other people still want more lag just to be with other people around the world. That's just absurd!


Teehee

[Rhomagus]

This is the only thing I wouldn't mind. that way, people can have there "International style" Servers and the rest can be Regional based for those that have major issues with latency.

( times that a regional server would be dead, I can take that time to craft/leves/explore/quests that are soloable etc)

This was the strongest point of the OP. They almost lost me when they noted:

Friends and Linkshells will be split and broken, and all of this in the name of the Almighty Gameplay (Lag-Free supposedly).

Sarcastically degrading gameplay, in any game, tells me that someone might have a better time just chatting while watching a movie. Never should you sacrifice gameplay for aesthetics or other satellite qualities of a game. Thankfully I read on and found a great deal with which I could agree. I certainly respect some of the solutions the OP provided.

I did agree with making Global specific servers (though they'll have the same issue as Ragnarok does today, which isn't that much of an issue according to most Ragnarok denizens it's just the lowest population server). The same issues of "community" will arise regardless of this particular feature.

I also agree that, as an RPG, the game shouldn't be as focused on fast twitch gameplay. As an MMO it should be more focused on team communication and strategy but if that's the way they're taking it then reducing lag to enhance gameplay, with any means necessary, is paramount. I would personally prefer if they could bring back the transitional animations as an option at the very least. So those with killer gaming rigs won't have to sacrifice aesthetic quality for gameplay or for those that don't really care for fast twitch activities can still maintain their personal sense of "immersion".

Which brings me to my final point. Giving people the option to choose a server is a good thing. It will always be a good thing. If it destroys a persons "sense" of community then so be it honestly. It is apparent to anyone that if someone's community collapses over a server transition, then that person's "community" wasn't strong enough.

Govern to the individual to make their own choices. If someone's forced to be your friend, I'd be questioning the support structure of said friendship. In that situation, at best, they are probably just an acquaintance. If a "friend" can't stay in contact with someone over a server transition then could they really be considered a friend? Even operating at the most base levels of a relationship's foundation, if a friend can't stay a friend after a server transition then they were just a fair whether friend, at best, in the first place. If that is so, then you should be able to find just as many of these kinds of "friends" on your new server. Even then, the content finder should still operate in a way that you could still play with them. So the complaint of this feature disabling a community is a wash.

The community is one of the few things that is actually put into our control as players, and rightfully so. We all have different ideas of what a community is and what a community should be. I'd wager that most of us have many different communities that we are a part of simultaneously, but it's up to us as individuals to fulfill our role to maintain that community. It's not up to the development team to designate communities for us, and they haven't in any way shape or form. At least not in XIV. We choose the communities we're a part of based on the information we are given. They've promoted avenues in order for us to build communities but they haven't forced us into any particular one.

They did force us into communities in XI for many years. You didn't have a choice of server. You were literally forced into a sub-community upon character creation.

The XIV development team, in this regard, is undoubtedly giving us more than taking away. It's up to us as individuals to maintain our own relationships. We need to learn to differentiate between "acquaintances" and "friends" and proceed accordingly.

[Jynx]

Here's on side of the arguement: Screw lag I want to be with other people around the world that I can never understand!

And here's the other side of the Argument: Lag is what we complained about all along and other people still want more lag just to be with other people around the world. That's just absurd!


Teehee

Yup because that's what both parties are saying exactly. Nice hyperbole.