Quote Originally Posted by Alhanelem View Post
Except that the ping difference usually isn't negligible for people outside of Japan. a .1~.2 second difference might not seem like a lot to you, but try playing your favorite client-server action game with a 50ms ping, then try playing it with a 250ms ping and see how negligible the difference is then. Answer: it's not. A ping like that is a massive disadvantage, especially when PvP is concerned.

If I played Team Fortress 2, I wouldn't be caught dead on a server with a 200+ ping. Well actually, I would be, because I'd be likely to get killed by substantially inferior players.

Yes, FFXIV isn't the same kind of intense action game as that- but the point is, ping matters, whether you like to think it does or not.
That is the crux of the argument right there, nobody ever said latency doesn't matter, but for a game like ffxiv, its impact is arguable at best.

Also, trying to use FPS to illustrate the importance of latency when the game in question is a MMO is ignorant at best, and disingenuous at worst, as the game style and mechanic has everything to do with how important latency is to the game. How about you using another MMO to show your point instead like I have?

As I said earlier, in Eve Online, the single most purest, most serious, and most extremely PVP oriented MMO of them all, geographical latency isn't even remotely a concern, despite a significant portion of the game population being located far from the server's location. By your logic, Eve players should be up in arms over the lack of local data centers.