Data Centers/World Locations Info from the LIVE Letter

[Soukyuu]

there is no benefit to what you describe. You also dont seem to understand that moving individual server cluster components apart from each other increases server response time and we're back at square one.

The only times an area server has to read or write to the character DB is when you save/load your game. During your game session, your savestate is being updated periodically in case you disconnect or crash. This updating taking a few more milliseconds doesn't change anything.

Otherwise, everything happens regionally, so yes, it has a benefit you refuse to see. Prove me wrong.

[Alhanelem]

...what? So everyone who played XI outside of Japan lost?

Yes. Everyone outside of Japan was at a disadvantage, especially in the days of HNMs and claiming. Since shit like that doesn't really happen anymore, it's not as big of a deal as it used to be, but it still exists to this day.

The only times an area server has to read or write to the character DB is when you save/load your game.

This is an MMO. Your game is being saved and loaded constantly. Data is written whenever it changes and is read whenever it is needed, which is all the time. As such, this has the potential to slow down your response times even when you're on the server physically near you.

Otherwise, everything happens regionally, so yes, it has a benefit you refuse to see. Prove me wrong.

So what happens when people from area in region server A move to an area in region server B? You can't have the different parts of the server spread all over the world. Different people will lag at different times and the lack of consistency makes this even worse. Your suggestion just makes no sense whatsoever. This is what your proposal sounds like to me:

Lobby server [japan] <Everyone connects to this to access their character data
Area server 1 [NA] - contains la noscea
Area server 2 [EU] - contains thanalan
Area server 3 [JP] - contains the other stuff
All of these combined are one game world.

So, say I'm currently in Limsa. I get the fastest response time, because the limsa server is physically located near me.

Then I decide to go to Gridania. On top of a longer delay in area change, now my response time is slower, and I'm at a disadvantage.

Are you saying that this is fair because different pepople will be at different pings at different times and this all balances out? If so, can I have some of the drugs you're taking?

[Jynx]

Yes. Everyone outside of Japan was at a disadvantage, especially in the days of HNMs and claiming.

So that's why my North American colleagues outclaimed Japanese people all the time. Because they had a unfair....wait what?

[Alhanelem]

So that's why my North American colleagues outclaimed Japanese people all the time. Because they had a unfair....wait what?

I'd like the total data on all the HNMs you've ever been at and the number of disticnt groups at each one and the nationalities of each as proof, along with proof nobody in your shell was botting. Oh wait, you can't give me that, so don't waste my time with your vague "statistic."


Lots of people say "all the time" but the truth is they didn't really claim statistically more often than they should have for the number of groups present.

Later on in the games life they revised the claiming system and this somewhat reduced the response time advantages, but it was far from perfect and cheaters could still game the system.

[Jynx]

So how did any of this give Japanese players a massively unfair advantage?

I'd like you to prove to me that everyone who claims it was so unfair that they didn't just suck at claiming. Seriously .1-2 seconds isn't that big of a advantage if the average human can't even react in the time frame.

[Alhanelem]

So how did any of this give Japanese players a massively unfair advantage?

I'd like you to prove to me that everyone who claims it was so unfair that they didn't just suck at claiming. Seriously .1-2 seconds isn't that big of a advantage if the average human can't even react in the time frame.

The burden is on you to prove that your LS outclaimed JP groups statistically more often than would be mathematically expected based on the number of different groups present. "Suck at claiming" is subjective and can't be proven.

The average human can act in that time frame, what are you smoking? And it's not like you press the button once at just the right time, you're spamming it. And most people can press a key more than 5 times in a second.

I also like how you superlative-ize my words. I didn't say "massively" unfair advantage. Unfair advantage is unfair advantage, whether it's "massive" or not.

[Jynx]

Let me get out my mystical part charts that don't....why are you even asking for it?

because you know that for some odd reason I didn't chart my claim %'s? Your running on fumes with this strawman it's as anecdotal as any evidence you can throw at me. You can't prove wether the few MS's made any difference as much as I can prove it didn't.

Let's not get into a circular argument about this and waste eachothers time. I'm just going to say the time-lapse made little to no difference for my shell that had members from around the world at all times of day. Something NA shells outclaimed me when I was with japanese players sometimes I outclaimed JP shells with NA players, I never seen any massive imbalances you seem to perceive from this.

Of course it's all anecdotal and you could say you never got a single claim from a Japanese linkshell because of the lag and be just as "Right" as I am.

Also no the average human can not respond in .2 seconds although at worst the response lag could be near .5 seconds depending on your own connection issues as well. I'd rather they design the game away from litteraly twitch based gameplay.

If you need .3 seconds of response time to be competitive your doing it wrong.

[Alhanelem]

because you know that for some odd reason I didn't chart my claim %'s? Your running on fumes with this strawman it's as anecdotal as any evidence you can throw at me. You can't prove wether the few MS's made any difference as much as I can prove it didn't.

This isn't a strawman. You made a claim, but you can't back it up. Therfore, your claim is in all probability dubious. The fact that you're backpedaling out of the argument just backs this up further.

You're totally right about ancedotal-ity. That's why it's pointless to bring up such things like "oh, i outclaimed JP all the time!" There is no meaning to the statement whatsoever.

Also no the average human can not respond in .2 seconds

I guess I'm an above average human then. Thanks for the compliment, I guess.

[Jynx]

This isn't a strawman. You made a claim, but you can't back it up. Therfore, your claim is in all probability dubious.

I guess I'm an above average human then. Thanks for the compliment, I guess.

No the claim is anecdotal, much like your claims that Japanese players had overwhelmingly advantages.

And yes you do fall in the beyond normal human reflexes if you respond to snap stimuli faster than .2-.25 seconds. Good for you, so you are telling me that .05 seconds makes a big difference in a MMO?

[Alhanelem]

No the claim is anecdotal, much like your claims that Japanese players had overwhelmingly advantages.

The claim that japanese players had advantages is not anecdotal. It's factual. They have lower ping times therefore htey have lower response times therefore they have a higher chance to beat a non JP player to the claim. The difference is not drastic, but any difference at all should be considered unacceptable.

Lower ping is an advantage, whether you like to think it is or not.