Server Issues and Limitations

[Sorel]

I think the problem with providing information specifically in regard to server issues/crystal tools is that if they start releasing information about what core problems they are encountering, a) it provides an advantage for competition, b) it provides a selling point for other software engine developers to take business from SE, c) the community doesn't really need to know about it... That, and of course industry secrets, etc, etc... The lack of information seems to be more of a business decision, and doesn't really have anything to do with them not wanting to provide the community with more answers.

It would be somewhat lame, but I would accept it if they actually came out and said:

"We cannot implement X feature because of various server issues that we cannot discuss due to RMT/security/corporate espionage risks."

But their not even doing that.

And it's not like we are asking for detailed explanations, IP addresses, or blocks of code here. A sentence or two with nouns other than "server" and "issue" would be enough. But they're not even giving us that.

Use your words, SE. We're not kindergarten students or silver-haired grandmothers. If you happen to use a word that we don't understand, we'll Wikipedia it and get the idea.

[Belial]

It would be somewhat lame, but I would accept it if they actually came out and said:

"We cannot implement X feature because of various server issues that we cannot discuss due to RMT/security/corporate espionage risks."

But their not even doing that.

And it's not like we are asking for detailed explanations, IP addresses, or blocks of code here. A sentence or two with nouns other than "server" and "issue" would be enough. But they're not even giving us that.

Use your words, SE. We're not kindergarten students or silver-haired grandmothers. If you happen to use a word that we don't understand, we'll Wikipedia it and get the idea.

It could very well be that they are literally not allowed to discuss anything. It's called confidentiality, and even though I agree that yea, even a simple few sentences would prove useful, it could very well be something that just simply isn't allowed due to trade secrets. It's very similar to how certain court cases are handled. Yea, someone could come out and squeek a bit of information without causing any real harm, however they are not allowed to discuss even the most mundane aspects due to confidentiality.

[Sorel]

It could very well be that they are literally not allowed to discuss anything. It's called confidentiality, and even though I agree that yea, even a simple few sentences would prove useful, it could very well be something that just simply isn't allowed due to trade secrets. It's very similar to how certain court cases are handled. Yea, someone could come out and squeek a bit of information without causing any real harm, however they are not allowed to discuss even the most mundane aspects due to confidentiality.

Reminds me of a quote from a book I once read.

Catch-22 states that agents enforcing Catch-22 need not prove that Catch-22 actually contains whatever provision the accused violator is accused of violating.

[Delsus]

I would. And when I was on that plane that was delayed for 40 minutes from Boston to Florida, everyone aboard appreciated the candor of the pilot. And when we saw the maintenance guys come onboard and go into the cockpit, no one freaked out about it because they new what was going on on why they were there.

More information is always better than less information. We're not children. We're adults. I think we can handle it.

Pilot "This is your captain speaking, we apologise but we are due to arrive at *insert destination* 40 minuets late but we seem to have lost all but one engine, it seems to be caused by a fuel leak."

As if that wouldnt cause a panic thousands of miles in the air.

Now tell me would you understand if SE said "we apologise for the bad latency issues, we have has a consultant in and have been advised that we should change the priorities on all out routers because they arent load balancing enough, Also they have suggested that we reconfigure all routers to use OSPF.

We were told that spanning tree was not functioning correctly which alos impieded the performance of out network.

That is just a small amount jargon that would be in a letter they would tell us. if you know what OSPF, Spanning tree and the specific reasons priorities matter and how routers perform load balancing then its ok, but this kind of letter would go into that much technical detail only a few players will understand because you have to be educated in routing and switching to know what there talking about.

If you havent been educated in networking (to a level that you would get a job in the field) you will not understand any of it and wont care about it, this letter will be addressed at the minority of the playerbase and therefore probably is not worth the time to write.

And on the rough timeline comment, it has been done before and people rage when it doesnt come, example Yoshi-P says he will try to release a letter every 2 weeks (which is rough) and people start raging when it doesnt come out exactly 2 weeks to the day since the last letter, which will happen with these problems if they say "we aim to have the server issues sorted out by december" the word aim means its when they want it done by and makes a rough timeline, however some people will read it as "we will have the server issues sorted out by december" and will rage on the 31st december when they are not done.

[Sorel]

Now tell me would you understand if SE said "we apologise for the bad latency issues, we have has a consultant in and have been advised that we should change the priorities on all out routers because they arent load balancing enough, Also they have suggested that we reconfigure all routers to use OSPF.

We were told that spanning tree was not functioning correctly which alos impieded the performance of out network.

That is just a small amount jargon that would be in a letter they would tell us. if you know what OSPF, Spanning tree and the specific reasons priorities matter and how routers perform load balancing then its ok, but this kind of letter would go into that much technical detail only a few players will understand because you have to be educated in routing and switching to know what there talking about.

And it's not like we are asking for detailed explanations, IP addresses, or blocks of code here. A sentence or two with nouns other than "server" and "issue" would be enough. But they're not even giving us that.

Use your words, SE. We're not kindergarten students or silver-haired grandmothers. If you happen to use a word that we don't understand, we'll Wikipedia it and get the idea.

Again ... we not asking for every explicit detail of the problem. Just some further explanation other than "server issues".

It's almost like we're back in the old Hiromichi Tanaka days.

Interviewer: Many players have complaints about <<fill in the blank>>. What are your plans to address them?

Tanaka: We cannot say at this time, but please look forward to it!!

Now with Naoki Yoshida at the helm, communication about fixes to current issues and future plans has become much much better, EXCEPT when it comes to the subject of "fixing server issues" ... which BTW is preventing half a dozen other game issues from being resolved.

Seriously, what's up with that??

[Delsus]

Again ... we not asking for every explicit detail of the problem. Just some further explanation other than "server issues".

It's almost like we're back in the old Hiromichi Tanaka days.

Interviewer: Many players have complaints about <<fill in the blank>>. What are your plans to address them?

Tanaka: We cannot say at this time, but please look forward to it!!

Now with Naoki Yoshida at the helm, communication about fixes to current issues and future plans has become much much better, EXCEPT when it comes to the subject of "fixing server issues" ... which BTW is preventing half a dozen other game issues from being resolved.

Seriously, what's up with that??

The server and network problems are probably technical and if they were going to give us inforemation about it they would have to go into detail rather than get a completly ambiguous comment like "we have noticed problems with the router/server/switch/firewall configurations and are working to correct them" if I got that (being educated in networking) I would know that it could take anywhere from a few weeks (if they knew the exact problem and has everything completly documented) to a few months and I would need to know more, a router config for a large company could have hundreds of commands that need to be sifted through to fix somthing.

Sometimes it is alot easier to wipe a configuration and start from scratch, but that can bring the network down if it isn't done carefully, and takes awhile to get clearance which is why companies rarely do that, they take the time sifting through the commands.

Again all they can say is "we know there are server/network problems and we are working to address them" or give us details about the problems even the smallest detail about a network can open it up to hacks, who needs IP configs if they give us one protocol they use I can use nslookup to get the ip of one of thier servers then launch a ping sweep of thier whole network through that open port from one protocol they leaked.

If you think they can give us more info without giving us info then give me an example that isnt just "we know there are problems and we are working to resolve them"

[Reinheart]

There is one part on last nights YoshiP's post when he was explaining to the JP guys that data storage method isn't the way some players think and that he tried to explain it so players can understand using basic terms... which wasn't really important doesn't talk about actual server so didn't translate it but the last last part of his post he put I see from reading some of the comments on the forums some of you do networking as main occupation, will be looking forward for your resume.

Maybe they don't have enough server engineers still which is delaying it more?

[Delsus]

There is one part on last nights YoshiP's post when he was explaining to the JP guys that data storage method isn't the way some players think and that he tried to explain it so players can understand using basic terms... which wasn't really important doesn't talk about actual server so didn't translate it but the last last part of his post he put I see from reading some of the comments on the forums some of you do networking as main occupation, will be looking forward for your resume.

Maybe they don't have enough server engineers still which is delaying it more?

Lol I would love to work on the networking side for ffxiv, but I would need the money to relocate to Japan which costs alot from the UK.

[Keftenk]

I'd imagine that its a horrific nightmare trying to work for Square...or working with Square. Either or is probably as equal of a pain.

[Delsus]

I'd imagine that its a horrific nightmare trying to work for Square...or working with Square. Either or is probably as equal of a pain.

I bet it wouldnt be that bad, well once you get past the 24hrs in the office to get the next patch out intime or suffer the dissatisfaction of players that rage when a patch is one day late.