does anyone use WTFast?

[QuinceTaru]

i just found out about this today im getting 40-56% improvement on my ping it makes playing ninja actually fun! its like a whole new game!

[Orrias]

I gave it a go (w/ the free trial); only a marginal latency reduction (i.e. 10-15 m/s less), however, I did see some packet loss during the duration of the trial.

[Craiger]

I gave it a go (w/ the free trial); only a marginal latency reduction (i.e. 10-15 m/s less), however, I did see some packet loss during the duration of the trial.

To everyone that have used WTFast trial and are not impressed, I can tell you that there is a huge difference between Trial version and Premium version.

Trial version really doesn't help much more than giving your connection a better route to the game-server, which can improve your ping by a tiny amount, a huge amount, or not at all... You will most likely reduce the lag spikes and maybe packet loss because of that reroute, but it won't help your connection more than that.

Me using Trial
Off-peak hours: 130-140 ms - some ping spikes[20-30 ms] - a few packet losses
Peak hours: 170-200 ms - tons of ping spikes[50-100 ms] - pretty many packet losses

Me using Premium (chained connection)
Off-peak hours: 105-115 ms - no ping spikes - no packet loss
Peak hours: 110-120 ms - 1-2 ping spikes[<10 ms] - no packet loss

I think you can see the benefits for me pretty clear...

I have used Basic for a while too, and it certainly helps during those peak hours, but the tier 1 network you use with premium is vital for my raiding... and for me personally, it's worth spending that money, even though I really don't like doing it.

[Orrias]

To everyone that have used WTFast trial and are not impressed, I can tell you that there is a huge difference between Trial version and Premium version.

Trial version really doesn't help much more than giving your connection a better route to the game-server, which can improve your ping by a tiny amount, a huge amount, or not at all... You will most likely reduce the lag spikes and maybe packet loss because of that reroute, but it won't help your connection more than that.

Me using Trial
Off-peak hours: 130-140 ms - some ping spikes[20-30 ms] - a few packet losses
Peak hours: 170-200 ms - tons of ping spikes[50-100 ms] - pretty many packet losses

Me using Premium (chained connection)
Off-peak hours: 105-115 ms - no ping spikes - no packet loss
Peak hours: 110-120 ms - 1-2 ping spikes[<10 ms] - no packet loss

I think you can see the benefits for me pretty clear...

I have used Basic for a while too, and it certainly helps during those peak hours, but the tier 1 network you use with premium is vital for my raiding... and for me personally, it's worth spending that money, even though I really don't like doing it.

It's really case-by-case that a VPN is worthwhile for gaming, but having to pay for an additional service to be able to play the game as it was intended is silly.

It's always bothered me that they chose to lie to customers as to the whereabouts of the European servers, as semantic trickery is dishonest. When you have Japanese server in Japan, and N/A servers in N/A, you don't expect the "EU" servers to be in N/A.

Personally, I'm still waiting to see what SE intend to do with their new cash cow in FF14 (vs-à-vis the Cash Shop)...

[Craiger]

It's really case-by-case that a VPN is worthwhile for gaming, but having to pay for an additional service to be able to play the game as it was intended is silly.

It's always bothered me that they chose to lie to customers as to the whereabouts of the European servers, as semantic trickery is dishonest. When you have Japanese server in Japan, and N/A servers in N/A, you don't expect the "EU" servers to be in N/A.

Personally, I'm still waiting to see what SE intend to do with their new cash cow in FF14 (vs-à-vis the Cash Shop)...

They haven't been lying though... The servers have always said "EU recommended", they have never said it was strictly EU servers, hence why there are a lot of Americans on them too. We have also always known that the servers are in Montreal, Canada.

With the state the game was in before launch, I can't really blame them for not spending more money on real EU servers, 'cause I don't think anyone predicted it would be such an success. The reason we get high pings, is down to the awful infrastructure in N/A, and SE can't really affect that.

There are coming real EU servers though, either in the expansion or later, but we will get it (kinda annoying now since I play with people from US and Australia).

Like I said, I don't like having to pay that money for it to work like I want, but I really don't have a choice if I want to keep play the game and enjoy it.

[Orrias]

They haven't been lying though... The servers have always said "EU recommended", they have never said it was strictly EU servers, hence why there are a lot of Americans on them too. We have also always known that the servers are in Montreal, Canada.

With the state the game was in before launch, I can't really blame them for not spending more money on real EU servers, 'cause I don't think anyone predicted it would be such an success. The reason we get high pings, is down to the awful infrastructure in N/A, and SE can't really affect that.

There are coming real EU servers though, either in the expansion or later, but we will get it (kinda annoying now since I play with people from US and Australia).

Like I said, I don't like having to pay that money for it to work like I want, but I really don't have a choice if I want to keep play the game and enjoy it.

I don't know where the "EU recommended" comes from, as selecting a data center on the character creation/ login screen simply state that it is "Recommended for residents of North America[/Japan/ Europe]" depending upon which Data centre you have selected. There is no information pertaining to where the servers are actually located.

Neither on the website does it clarify this point. The closest I could find was "When logging in for the first time, you will be prompted to select a regional data center. Your choice of data center will determine the Worlds you may choose from after creating your character." (http://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodestone/playguide/win/).

Without third party IP tracing, how would anyone have concretely known where the servers were? I'm not trying to get into a harangue with you, I'm just stating that clever word play gives the impression that certain Data Centers are more beneficial for certain parties, else why would you delineate between data centres that a located in the same place?

When a player in the U.S, playing on a N/A server, can perform all of their mudras in one GCD (w/ oGCD abilities too), and I then look at what I'm able to do, then I wonder why I'm paying the same price for my subscription.

I don't know specifically why SE didn't start off with a European based data centre, but as you pointed out, it's most likely to do with money issues...

[Amenian]

I tried the trial, but honestly didn't notice any appreciable difference so stopped using it.

[Kerii]

There is a lot of signal to noise on stuff like this. It works for some people and doesn't work for others. Unfortunately it's not a one size fit all kind of thing. What you should do is pay for one month and monitor it over the course of the month. If you notice a significant improvement then keep using it. If it doesn't help then stop using it and write a feedback letter regarding it's performance. I have not tested it myself, as I have good internet and latency, but a tank I play with couldn't survive standard dungeons without it. Her latency has literally been cut in half. In fact it's such a visible difference that I can finally start doing dps as WHM in most dungeon instances now.

[Azper]

I just started using WTFast (CA resident; free edition for the record) and the biggest difference I see, randomly enough, is in my gathering nodes. I used to always experience a delay in between each gathering attempt, which is largely gone. Aside from that, I don't notice much of a change elsewhere in the game.

[Vurtney]

I'd love to hear some concrete experiences with the premium service, maybe with some stat pictures included.