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

[HumsterMKX]

edit : ok to the topic, idk they could have some game booster, like blade and soul china that reduce your ping into below 40ms or something like that

man, i reach my daily post limit, so i cant post again tho my lvl is already 50 (3 char), and so i edit my comment

but you... yes you... you there... below me... i see that...

The problem is, if you want a working vpn, you need to pay extra for those tunnelling services. Sure they do improve (I tried difference is less then 30ms, I live in Singapore) your connection, but you need to pay another fee on top of your sub.

So you made your decision?

[Bearssi]

Honestly......

Unless everyone is having the issues it won't be seen as a "huge" problem - I said it before in another topic, the very fact players can play and play without issues while there's those have issues, kind of throws this whole "push" for an answer out of whack.
snip

This issue is something that needs to be addressed. What the players are used to when playing is something that should not be included in a discussion concerning clearly a technical game design flaw, the game needs to work as close to perfect as possible for everyone.

[Blimbeard]

A well written letter.

I for one hope that it helps in getting a response to this issue. I recently cancelled my subscription pretty much solely due to the problems in the two threads that are referred to, but I would love to be able to come back once it has been addressed. For the time being though I find it impossible to justify paying a subscription without any expectation of what if any plans are in place to resolve these issues.

I'd pretty much agree with everything in the letter and would add that as a long term fan and supporter of Square Enix and their games, I sincerely hope that a resolution can be found to the issue at hand, because I would really like to be able to enjoy ARR again.

[Soukyuu]

Honestly......

Unless everyone is having the issues it won't be seen as a "huge" problem - I said it before in another topic, the very fact players can play and play without issues while there's those have issues, kind of throws this whole "push" for an answer out of whack.

There is also the fact we were promised an EU data center and they haven't ever mentioned the "EU" data center being in Canada. European players are being screwed over, but that's nothing new.

I don't know if the reports of Japanese players complaining about lag are true since no one ever linked to them, but if it is, why would the game lag for someone living in a country where low latency fiber connections are the norm? If they are having sporadic lag issues, it's no wonder anyone with a shitty ADSL line will have even worse issues.

If the net code is the issue, clearly it's having issues with some people's ISP routing otherwise you would have no one being able to play this game smoothly, it's just as simple as that. The very fact you state you get extreme lag in Ifrit HM yet in the hundreds I've done (literally..) haven't really seen anyone complain about lag, especially not graphically - People play this maxed out all the time.

Routing issues are part of it, on some days I can play totally fine, on some (probably because of route changes) it's better to just log out to keep my sanity. ISPs can not decide which route your signal will go over, especially not if the routing problems are appearing across the Atlantic!

Again, if they insisted on splitting the community between NA/EU and JP, they absolutely have to make a separate EU data center to at least get rid off the routing issues EU players are having.

The whole 0.3s polling in the netcode might not be what is at fault here, but for those who have the slightest routing issues, it quickly amplifies it into unplayability. They could test what happens if they set it to 0.1, maybe on a public test server to not accidentally break the live servers :P

[Grundy]

Honestly......snip

All I can say is that it was an issue for me, absolutely. As I mentioned, I changed over my MB and CPU - when doing this I did a completely fresh OS install complete with all the up to date drivers. The OS and the game only are on SSD, everything else I install to my HDD's, in my area there is an excellent cable network and I score highly on Speedtest yet I still have lag spikes. As I said I had it on Ifrit and last night on KoH in WP.

I'm no network genius either, all I can testify to is having this issue, something I never experienced in other recent AAA MMORPGs such as Rift or GW2. I know my PC has enough power to run the game at max settings, but by lowering the settings it shaves time, however small, off the lag issues that I have experienced.

You say 'unless everyone is having this issue,' well I can't speak for everyone, but I can say with some confidence that in about three quarters of any DF parties I have been in, that someone has complained or apologised for lag (whether they are using that as an excuse to cover up a mistake I can't tell you), but I [genuinely] think there is something to this that merits investigation. They re-wrote the game in under three years, are you telling me there is no possibility that a corner may have been cut/not means-tested properly in an early coding stage that may have been built on now that is an underlying issue, and that is why there has not been a definitive response? Again - I stress - that is complete conjecture on my part, and I was quick to write off the lag complaints when I wasn't running dungeons all the time so I didn't see it as a problem. Now I have and I can sympathise with others, I can get on MP in BF4 and experience flawless gameplay, but I can't in FFXIV. If I'm paying a monthly sub, I would expect a level of service: do you really think a reply of 'please zoom out,' is adequate?

I enjoy this game immensely, and will no-doubt continue to play it for years to come, but I will admit I hesitate for a second before opening DF as I worry that a mistake made on my part because of this issue will cause a wipe and bring a barrage of insults and venom.

[Soukyuu]

I'm no network genius either, all I can testify to is having this issue, something I never experienced in other recent AAA MMORPGs such as Rift or GW2.

An important point, really. I actually played on the EU servers of GW2 but moved to NA ones (where are those located?) and didn't notice any negative impact. Was I just lucky with my routing? I don't know. I never had to check because the experience was smooth.

[MilkyJoe]

Signed

Please give us some kind of response SE

[Babydoll]

The .3 server check thing needs to go away. If I want to move out of the red circle or w.e at the last second I should be able to. This is really frustrating...

[Shaone]

Routing issues are part of it, on some days I can play totally fine, on some (probably because of route changes) it's better to just log out to keep my sanity. ISPs can not decide which route your signal will go over, especially not if the routing problems are appearing across the Atlantic!

In principal they can, to some degree, through BGP tables. Most won't care though, but mine has been working with ARR players for the last few weeks collecting tracerts and wireshark captures and are rolling out a fix on the 20th of November. Fingers crossed!

In the mean time, using a proxy service has turned the game from rubberband nightmare into a delight to play

(edit: but I still agree SE needs to do more, they have been collecting information from players on lag, they need to start reaching out to the end point ISPs and transit providers to get this fixed, and perhaps even consider changing -their- ISP)

[MageBlack]

Yay! Lets create more threads! Its been working so far, right?

I think they know about it by now... just FYI.