Possible timer for open world AFK'ers?

[JinnKyuuketski]

This really isn't a new subject about how many, many, and I mean MANY players will log on to the game and just go afk. I don't mean a 5-10 afk. I'm talking hours if not days being afk.

How does this affect me? Well, it doesn't just affect me. It affects others as well.
Especially when the server decides to randomly kick those that are actually playing the game, trying to get things done. And yet, the afk'ers are not affected? They still sit there AFK in the same spot for five (5) days?

Of course I will get comments like, "Get better internet" or "Maybe it's your ISP" or something other to the degree to where it is something on my end. Which I can guarantee you that it's not. lol

I'm not sure how much space/data it takes up for one player to go AFK. Which I'm sure isn't much. But when you have hundreds of others going AFK, when you have players trying to get into the game but can't because someone is hoarding server space, then that is where it becomes a problem.

[JinnKyuuketski]

So, is there anyway in the possible future to place a timer on for someone to be AFK?
I mean, you already do it in dungeons/instances to where they have 10 min until they are kicked for it. So why not in the open world?
I would say that a 30 min, or even and hour, for an open world AFK timer. That should give that player plenty of time to AFK, do what they need to do, and then come right back. If not, they simply get kicked and just simply log right back in. But by them being kicked, it opens up more for people to get in or to not get kicked themselves due to a server congestion.

[Neri]

They used to have this function, but decided to get rid of it since there were many complaints.

[TiaHariberux3]

They used to have this function, but decided to get rid of it since there were many complaints.

Wrong they had this function to secure a smooth heavensward release (same with instanced areas on bigger servers) after everything went to normal they just removed it again and Im sure we will see smth similiar at stormblood release again.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Wrong they had this function to secure a smooth heavensward release (same with instanced areas on bigger servers) after everything went to normal they just removed it again and Im sure we will see smth similiar at stormblood release again.

Not entirely true. It was active up through 2.1 or 2.2 i believe/

[Lambdafish]

This functionality exists, and is wholley unnecessary. The devs turn this feature on at the start of an expansion when the influx of players is at its highest and worlds are constantly full, any other time it is not needed.

You will get comments like "get better internet" because this is not an issue with the AFK people, this is an issue between your system and SEs system. Blips happen on both ends, and kicking afk people will do nothing to stop your problem, because the two are unrelated.

[Madepossible]

I think this is a good alternative for high populated servers like Balmung or Gilgamesh during high peak hours.

[Pintsized]

How does this affect me? Well, it doesn't just affect me. It affects others as well.

No it doesn't, AT ALL, your problems are most likely your internet route to the servers in spite of your assertion, as someone already said .. the server's DON'T RANDOMLY KICK PLAYERS!

The only time AFKers are an issue is when the servers can't handle the number of players trying to log in, and that only happens these days when new major content is released and even then it's nowhere near as common as it was when the game was new.

[Dzian]

No it doesn't, AT ALL, your problems are most likely your internet route to the servers in spite of your assertion, as someone already said .. the server's DON'T RANDOMLY KICK PLAYERS!

The only time AFKers are an issue is when the servers can't handle the number of players trying to log in, and that only happens these days when new major content is released and even then it's nowhere near as common as it was when the game was new.

That's not entirely true. The sole reason iddyllshire is as laggy as it is and takes so long to load for many players is the sheer number of people afk there... that has nothing to do with internet route to servers.
Mor dhona was exactly the same in ARR but the problem magically vanished when the afkers all left and went to afk in iddyllshire..

That said I wouldn't be against an afk auto log timer but it would depend on the time limits involved.

If i'd just finished gathering cuprites and had about half an hour to kill before I could go back and get chysahl greens. I quite often just afk and clean the house a bit, make a start on dinner or something so if I got logged off after 30 minutes. just before my nodes started spawning again i'd be pretty annoyed with it.

If i'd gone to work and left my game running though it wouldn't really bother me in the slightest if it auto logged me out after 2-3 hours of inactivity.

some queues I can imagine could be a problem, but they could add a simple prompt every hour or so. for players to check if they're still queuing... that could lead to less of those queues where you're at 23/24 players and always one who doesn't hit the ready check. then it takes 10-15 minutes for it to ding again.

[HyoMinPark]

That's not entirely true. The sole reason iddyllshire is as laggy as it is and takes so long to load for many players is the sheer number of people afk there... that has nothing to do with internet route to servers.
Mor dhona was exactly the same in ARR but the problem magically vanished when the afkers all left and went to afk in iddyllshire...

That also doesn't haven't anything to do with the servers, but with your system, and how much it can handle. For example, my PS4 was so incredibly laggy every time I would teleport to Idyllshire, and I would take forever to log in. My FC mate, who plays on PS3, took even longer to load in. I recently switched to a gaming PC, and my load times are almost instant, and I don't see hardly any drop in my fps. So I don't really see that as a reason to implement an AFK timer. Because that's not an issue in regards to the servers, but one's own system limitations.

Honestly seeing all the AFKers doesn't bother me. Because they don't affect my game at all. Like others have said, the OP's random disconnects are not caused by too many people AFK, or the servers just randomly deciding to kick them. It's something related to their system, their connection, or something on the route between them and the server. And AFK timer won't solve their issue.

I suppose they could be useful for highly populated servers, but I don't play on any of the closed servers, so I don't know if there are queue times or such on a daily basis for those that do. Probably the only time they're useful is for expansion releases when everyone is wanting to get on and play. I could agree with turning them on then.