Letter from the Producer LIVE Part X: Will the netcode issue be honestly addressed?

[Arcaloid]

They should really put this 1st priority after 2.1.
Every time when I just manage to get out of the red zone, I need to hope that I'm not going to get hit, and I don't like that feeling.

[Alcyon_Densetsu]

They should really put this 1st priority after 2.1.
Every time when I just manage to get out of the red zone, I need to hope that I'm not going to get hit, and I don't like that feeling.

Agreed. Two things in this post.

1. Business-wise
News recently confirmed the remarkable boost of SE's financial result for the first six months of 2013, as "profits far surpass what it was expecting for the period. Where Square Enix had originally estimated losses of up to 1.3 billion yen ($13.2 million) for the six months ended September 30, 2013, the company says that it has instead turned a profit, roughly in the region of 2.6 billion yen ($26.5 million)." Furthermore, "looking to the rest of the fiscal year, the company says that it will continue to focus on shifting to the production of online-based titles".

I have been very vocal over the whole FF XIV's netcode issue because it's evidently a dire problem. It would be sound management, bearing in mind this early success, and future online plans, that any revenue SE might have made from this release should first and foremost be used to improve the netcode of this game, in my humble opinion (and, apparently, that of a majority of people, judging by the fact that, again, there is no issue being more discussed; and posts or questions pertaining to it are the most "liked" on this forum). Building a strong network development team for Final Fantasy XIV is a good investment, not only for this IP, but beyond for all online plans. As Thomas Edison said: "There's a way to do it better — find it."

Let me emphasise that: dear SE, please don't give a single cent to your shareholders until this is resolved. Making content, as in any MMORPG, is of the utmost importance as well, but there's little to no point in making too much content when a key system of the game is flawed to a game-breaking degree —we're talking about nothing less than the network component of your flagship online game…

2. Game design
As far as the art of making games is concerned, when a huge chunk of your players say: "I don't like that feeling", "It's frustrating", "It's infuriating" —you know there's a problem.

No amount of great features or formidable designs can make up for flawed underlying systems. There's a bare minimum that gamers expect from a game, and general responsiveness of players' inputs and UI display in a 2013's game should not be subpar to titles a decade older. Especially not in a multiplayer setting. Especially not when pretty much all your competitors do better, or fixed their issues quite swiftly.

[DakkonBriefs]

bump to save Eorzea!

[Alcyon_Densetsu]

As I type this post, 6 days and 21 hours before the Letter from the Producer LIVE Part X.

The questions asking about the netcode issue are now way above any other in terms of "likes".

Will we get an answer?

Even just a polite acknowledgement of the problem, and a commitment to investigate it?

[Bearssi]

With this netcode players will never see whack-a-mole minigame ;(.

[Bixby]

With this netcode players will never see whack-a-mole minigame ;(.

Sure we will. You'll just need to pre-whack.

Lag isn't the issue. The .3s isn't the issue (though it's a large part of it). It's the general lack of lag tolerance that's the issue. Too many things require a round-trip to the server for the client to even respond. There's no reason the server should need to be consulted for spell interruptions. The client knows I'm moving, the client shouldn't even let me start casting. If I've already started, it should be able to stop me immediately, and let the server catch on whenever the heck it catches on. The entire game is just infested with this creeping unresponsiveness that makes it feel clunky, that pulls the player out of the game and into this terrible meta-game of guessing how input is going to be interpreted this time.

But really, I just wanted to say "pre-whack." >.>

[Doson]

It's definitely something on SE's end cuz I know sometimes people get random rubber banding that lasts for a few hours. There's usually someone in my party reporting it at the same time. Then it'll go way and someone else will start getting it. I went though a period of a few weeks after the 2.05 hotfix where I would get it every other day and sure enough, when i asked people there was always someone else getting it. There's no way that It's just a coincidence and that it's on the Client's side. Something on SE's end is causing lag spike for random people.
What's funny is the lag spikes would always go away for me at peak hours. It had nothing to do with my internet; it doesn't do it on any other game. FFXIV usually runs fine for me though. I feel bad for people that have to deal with it all the time.

[MrObject]

What I want is the teleporting hacks those botters have for titan, clearly they're getting away with using them so I should too...right?

Sure we will. You'll just need to pre-whack.

<---classic

[EmiliM]

To be honest, most of the questions that were answered in past sessions of letter from the producer broadcast were from the Japanese forum (to be fair, many of the questions asked by English users were also brought up by the Japanese users), just as how most dev responses on this forum typically consists of a Japanese response to a recent thread in the Japanese forum first, and then an English mod searching for a (usually) dead English thread on the same topic created long ago and then resurrecting it by posting the translated response there.

Having said that, the lag issue was brought up in the Japanese forum before, but no official response was provided there either (the lag issue seems to be far less prominent in Japan, which might have affected the response priority, as the discussion never really took off).　

Anyway, I have added a really succinct question about network lag in the Japanese Ask the Producer X thread. Feel free to Like it if you think it'll help...
http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...=1#post1564839

[TheRac25]

Enough is enough, I would like to hear why dodgy 1.0 server code was recycled when we were told it was being redone from scratch. Another zoom your camera out comment or no comment will just be a mockery.