MMORPGs moving to 1-10 MS server side polling

[reality_check]

A certain well known MMORPG has recently disclosed that, in its 6.0 build of the game, it will be reducing server-side polling to 1-10 MS intervals.

Compare to FFXIV where 300 MS is the standard.

It will potentially update character positions 300x faster than what FFXIV is currently doing server side.

Newer content does a better job not to highlight the ridiculous delay in between FFXIV client and server, but it's still noticeable.

It would be nice to hear that FFXIV development team is working on some technology to reduce lag between client and servers.

[Mahri]

Agreed. If I had to name the biggest problem this game has on a constant basis, it's that delay -- not an issue with game design, or itemization, or whatever, just an omnipresent irritant that plagues every aspect of play. You can get used to it, but it never ceases to be a frustration.

To be sure, fixing it will probably end up being an extremely expensive, labor-intensive process, but I'd imagine even the devs agree that it would be worth the investment to improve the quality of gameplay here. I hope it's on the table somewhere, and that the SE's higher-up accounting suits understand why such an upgrade will be worth budgeting for.

[Fyrebrand]

I remember this GIF going around early on, possibly back when the game was in beta. It's still a 100% accurate representation of what goes on in this game, and it consistently makes me feel like I'm still playing a beta version of FFXIV.

Spew excuses about my internet connection or system specs all you like. The fact remains I have played lots of MMOs, some more action/timing intensive than FFXIV, and none of them behave anything like this.

[Wobi]

Here is a fun thing to consider, only in more recent years have ISPs jerked around server traffic like they have been doing. Depending on the time of day I play I get a wildly different experience going to the same servers over in Canada. This is the cost for not raising more hell about Net Neutrality, expect things to get worse until Gigabit internet is more ubiquitous and it might balance out a bit. Currently though they have us as well as SE by the balls.

Also polling position that often is absolutely unneeded, 1-10 ms is far faster than any human can react and it just wasting bandwidth/resources.

[HakuroDK]

I remember this GIF going around early on, possibly back when the game was in beta. It's still a 100% accurate representation of what goes on in this game, and it consistently makes me feel like I'm still playing a beta version of FFXIV.

Spew excuses about my internet connection or system specs all you like. The fact remains I have played lots of MMOs, some more action/timing intensive than FFXIV, and none of them behave anything like this.

That is odd. I don't really get this type of thing at all. At least not anymore. There was a huge stink about this very early on in 2.0 and it was addressed. I think the latency was something like 600ms before, but it got cut in half sometime around 2.15, I want to say.

Not saying situations like the above don't exist anymore, just that the reason's no one really complaining about them anymore is that it's a rare occurrence.

[Roris]

Funny, back in 2.0's launch and even a bit before during beta the official response was that 300ms was "the norm" and "global standard" used by most MMOs and that faster speeds weren't possible. Maybe now that the one MMO that everyone keeps blatantly copying over and over except in the places that actually matter is, is increasing its responsiveness even more, they'll actually copy that responsiveness for once.

[PureEclipse]

I remember this GIF going around early on, possibly back when the game was in beta. It's still a 100% accurate representation of what goes on in this game, and it consistently makes me feel like I'm still playing a beta version of FFXIV.

Spew excuses about my internet connection or system specs all you like. The fact remains I have played lots of MMOs, some more action/timing intensive than FFXIV, and none of them behave anything like this.

How is it a 100% representation still? I do remember this during the initial beta phases and launch itself but um....I haven't seen that time of delay issue in, well, a long time. I think a key note to take from that GIF is.....wait for it....

PS3 Limitations.....there, I said it.

[TheMoonflow]

I believe it is a million dollar + investment.
Probably something this other mmo can afford due to being one of the biggest mmo's on the market for 10 years.
I'm not saying SE cannot afford such an investment, but they probably consider more carefully if it's a good business move for them.
As long as they can mask the problem, they can continue to get away with spending a huge amounts to fix it.


I should add though that I unsubbed for 6 months because of this very issue.
So it is costing them money.
Though perhaps not millions...

[DefendPopPunk]

I remember this GIF going around early on, possibly back when the game was in beta. It's still a 100% accurate representation of what goes on in this game, and it consistently makes me feel like I'm still playing a beta version of FFXIV.

Spew excuses about my internet connection or system specs all you like. The fact remains I have played lots of MMOs, some more action/timing intensive than FFXIV, and none of them behave anything like this.

Lol I remember that GIF, and yeah it was mostly a problem in beta. As for lag in general, it really makes crafting annoying sometimes especially when you're hitting the same rotations for a long period of time. There's always that wait and it makes using macros really difficult, at worst impossible.

[TheRogueX]

Also polling position that often is absolutely unneeded, 1-10 ms is far faster than any human can react and it just wasting bandwidth.

Eh, this is just server-side polling. Faster server-side polling means more accurate and better overall response time in the game. A 1-10ms polling interval means positioning will be *extremely* accurate, and that's a good thing.