Is queue time just a part of the normal game now?

[Mazora_Espeon]

Seems a little...weird of a response.

You know, some of us are on servers where we don't have to worry about getting AFK booted. Hell happened to me three times today for idling outside my apartment while watching professional league matches. Managed to instantly log back in everytime.

I am going to have to assume you AFK exploit based on your response tone.

I know I did. Nearly everyone was in Balmung. The community is a large part of the continued problem.

It's not a weird response, it's called a scolding. And just as Ayer had said above, I too have no problem admitting that I have exploited the AFK Timer Penalty, but it was to make lunch, use the restroom, take a shower. At the most, I would be gone for an hour and then come back to play again non-stop for 3-5 hours or even longer since I currently have the time. What I don't do is leave my character logged in overnight because unlike those people, I actually do enjoy my sleep and I wake up early the next morning to login and play the game. And because of the state on things on Balmung, this is what it has come down to with everyone exploiting the AFK Timer Penalty to avoid having to get stuck in the long 3k+ queue cause by an influx of people trying to login.

And exploitation of the AFK Timer Penalty isn't the only problem. That's only one part of the situation. The other problem lies with SE's part to limit the number of people that can be online at a given time and moderating the rate at which people log into the game to avoid causing stress on the servers and preventing them from having a meltdown. And the grievance is the players who dislike having this kind of restriction place on them coupled with the fact that Square Enix should have solved the problem long time ago. Unfortunately, their means of resolving the issue is to get people to move off the large populated servers. Except, doing such a thing lies an even bigger problem. It has been over four years since the launch of FFXIV: A Realm Reborn and within that four years, these large populated server have become a developed community (kinda like a developed country/world). People has since build connections, made friends and even some have considered each other "family" (to whatever extent that sense of family is to them). And grant it, this may be a game, but the people sitting on the other side of the screen is real. There feelings, emotions and thoughts. IT'S ALL REAL.

So like others have said, it's basically Square Enix giving other people a huge slap to the face saying... "Get the **** out or deal with it!" And so the people exploiting the AFK Timer Penalty is there way of dealing with this. Some people in the Balmung community feel that it's because of the people on the server's fault for the long login queue, while others feel that it is Square Enix fault for not taking care of these issues/problems to begin with and had allow the server to get this far. And I would guess that it was Square Enix's reason to not stop letting people transfer because they may have wanted people to play with their friends. Not to mention that they were getting money for the transfers anyway so it was a win for them. But now... what you're seeing the consequences of allowing server transfers with little to no limitations. In the end, the question who's fault is it that's causing this issue and where the blame of responsibility lie in this situation. The truth of the answer would be no one since both parties would be guilty.

However, the subject I'm talking about isn't about login queues, it's about people complaining about not having a more strict AFK Timer Penalty and then coming back around after things have all settled to complain about the AFK Timer Penalty, saying how they don't want that kind of restriction. This is what happened during the FFXIV: ARR launch. People dislike the AFK Timer Penalty especially those who played a DPS class because those people would go AFK while waiting for their instance to popped since it can take possibly hours for them to queue up. Of course, this was also because of the lack of people doing old previous content. And so now... This is where the status of the situation is at. SO... in conclusion, my point is that no one better complain about something and then come back and saying they want to take it back. That is what I'm saying. And no offense to you, but you're not even on Balmung so I would personally appreciate if you get off my back. Please and thank you!

[Brownondorf]

Just had to wait 50 min to log in the game, i start a frontline game, we were winning and close to finish with 1400 point and BAM error 90k. i try to log in again and claim my win... 1200 in queue... THIS IS INFURIATING

[Elamys]

If you get DCed, you should have a short time to reclaim your spot in game, just like you can reclaim your spot in queue. I live in the country, my internet connection isn't that great, it drops sometimes. WoW was able to do this during Warlords; why can't SE? I sit through a three hour queue, and get disconnected from my internet for 5 seconds - congratulations, back of the line.

Also, sick of hearing the "lol just transfer off Balmung" excuse. There are FAR too many people exploiting the AFK timer now, and more to the point, my friends are here, my medium Mist house, on a prime plot, is here. I'm not going to transfer my main. But is it too much to ask for people to log out when they are done playing the game? Then people tell me "just do the same" - I remind you that, again, I don't have the most stable of connections, nor do I WANT to do that.

Talking about how "if you AFKed before the expac you can't complain now" is a false equivalency. There was no real need for an AFK kick prior to this expansion, which is why they added one now. And there is a difference between AFKing to take a shower or grab lunch, and AFKing while you're at work and sleeping, and not playing the game for 8+ hours.

Lastly, no, character creation was NOT "permanently locked" on Balmung during Heavensward as people are saying. Character creation on Balmung was locked when there was a server queue. So, yes, it was sometimes possible to actually create a new character on Balmung.

Current queue at 3:55PM Central: 3,278. I've been in it for 30 minutes, it started at 3,475. People are simply not logging out.

[Azurymber]

Right now on Balmung it's a 3.5 to 4 hour wait. That seems excessive for any game. The thing that worries me is that SE hasn't said anything about it other than "change servers or wait."

It's going to be like this for the next month+. Asking people to wait 4 hours to play a game seems problematic. Further, you can't really leave your computer during that 4 hours because you can DC from the queue, and if you get in and aren't around you get auto-kicked after 20min.

[MichiKyou]

You better make sure I don't catch you AFK'ing in the future once this problem/issue is resolve. And I will ask anyone that you know if you have ever been AFK'd in the game and if the answer is yes, then you have nothing to say. And that goes to ALL of you who play this game regardless of what server you are on. Everyone is included!

Hilarious, the only time I have ever abused the log in queue, was because I fell asleep at my desk while leveling fishing from 61-2.
I log out each night because I usually cant sleep with the sound of my PC on.

[EdwinLi]

During 3 AM to 12 PM PST, the queue time is instant queue due to not many people online during that time.

However, after 12 PM to 3 AM PST, the queue has increased back to over 1K or more area.

It is most likely the current issues is that there are too many people AFKing on retainers and crafting for over hours, maybe even for 24/7, taking up spots in the server that could be used by active players. Most likely due to fear going around now that they may not be able to log in due to long queue time as a result of what happened on day 1 and day 2 of early access.

[Alisyn]

Queue for Balmung right now is 4200. That's easily 3-5 hours of waiting for someone to get on. Overpopulated server by choice or old school transfer, that amount of time to wait to get into a game you pay a monthly sub for is just ridiculous.


Also, turning on each other when it's honestly SE's fault for not locking down Balmung transfers months/years ago is just silly.

[stanrir]

I am on faerie and I constantly struggle with the insane 11 person queues. Oh the humanity! Lol

dont let them know about our queue times you will bring them to us and then we will suffer from big queues!!!!!

[Keridwyn]

Queue for Balmung right now is 4200. That's easily 3-5 hours of waiting for someone to get on. Overpopulated server by choice or old school transfer, that amount of time to wait to get into a game you pay a monthly sub for is just ridiculous.

Played on a high pop WoW world years ago and had queues that long during expac release. It was a reason I went low pop when I started playing FFXIV.

[Voltyblast]

I agree with the OP: Sure I am on balmung too but I've been waiting for over a week in hope the situation could get better, only to be "welcomed" with a 4k players in queue. If this is SE way to tell me that I should move, alright I'll move...out of the game and play something else!

I mean, I like staying in Balmung because it's where I played all of these years and it gives me a nostalgia feel, since it's where i began all along and i had no clue it was the rp server either (I randomly found out on forums since the cities were filled with spammer bots...remember that?). Sure the rp is nice too but it's the fact that I've played with so many people during ARR - and then see them leaving during the HW fiasco - that makes me wanna stay here. I have made an alt on Omega while this issue gets fixed but I'm honestly growing tired of playing an alt "because I can't log in to my server". Plus it's 551 quests that I have to endure with this alt just to reach the endgame of Stormblood (129 with my main) so I'd love to do it just once.

I wish SE would start fixing this somehow, and already if I may add: Wow had this issue too but we got rewarded with free days and that was a nice gesture, while here not only we had Raublock, pipin savage and the (supposedly and timely convenient) DDOS attack, but now we got a constant congested server?

I should've listened to my instinct and not bother at all....even my friend, who wanted to play the game, is basically thinking to return wow. And I'm guessing most people will say it's my fault for being on balmung because Balmung is evil or something....well all I can say is ¯\_(ツ)_/¯