Aether Data Center and Balmung - an observation from today

[Random0]

Today, June 25th, Balmung was the ONLY world on the Aether Data Center with greater than double-digit login queues based on my scoping out other worlds to migrate to.

Even Gilgamesh. Yep. Just tried it at 9:04PM Pacific. Gilgamesh players in queue : 21. And then I got onto the server before I could get a chance to hit the cancel button.

Balmung at 9:07PM Pacific. Players in queue : 1164.

Mateus at 9:08PM Pacific. Players in queue : 1.

So, if the Aether data center's lobby server was the target of the DDoS attack then all worlds would have similar queues. This being not the case, either a) the DDoS attack is targeted specifically at the Balmung hardware or b) far too many people are circumventing the auto AFK kick via various means (which are all over this forum) which artificially inflates the active user count resulting in a massive login queue.

If the situation is a) then all that can be done is to wait for SE to implement appropriate countermeasures - and then curb stomp some script kiddies. If the situation is b) then this problem is a short term one entirely of our own making which can be resolved by taking the server down for 'emergency maintenance' to force everyone utilizing the afk workaround offline. Maybe even patch that loophole in the process so everyone doesn't just do the same thing when they get back on.

Since the other worlds aren't having login issues (at least at my observation tonight) then it could very well be that Balmung isn't having issues either - we just can't see it because of everyone holding their place on the server out of a perceived fear of not being able to get back in.

tl:dr - Aether Data Center worlds are fine, AFK placeholders artificially inflating Balmung's login queue - thoughts?

[Roda]

Yeah the rate at which the queue moves is definitely making me think it's at least somewhat caused by the afk exploiters.

[Keridwyn]

Coeurl native here, only time I ever saw big numbers (triple digits are huge for Coeurl) were the 16th and the 18th. Since then things have quieted down and it is rare to see a queue unless it is something like 5.

I think you have an afk issue going on sadly.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Yeah, its definitely caused by the people on the server lol.

[Syfurion]

Siren resident here. Absolute worst queue I've personally seen was around 500 or so, and that was on the day of EA beginning. It would in fact seem a Balmung players worst enemy is indeed the other Balmung players.

[Tillie]

Resident Balmung player here.

It is absolute hell trying to log in during peak times. The housing servers are literally down half the time (aka, people can't get into their houses) because of AFK people hiding inside.

Idfk why no one is looking into this glaring issue. I literally can't wrap my head around it, and the only solution that I'm coming to is that they are letting this continue to further exaggerate the server's limited capacity to try and force people off of the server.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Resident Balmung player here.

It is absolute hell trying to log in during peak times. The housing servers are literally down half the time (aka, people can't get into their houses) because of AFK people hiding inside.

Idfk why no one is looking into this glaring issue. I literally can't wrap my head around it, and the only solution that I'm coming to is that they are letting this continue to further exaggerate the server's limited capacity to try and force people off of the server.

It becomes a networking limitation, not server power. all you need to see this is when you start seeing people DC'ing in heavily populated areas. their connections cant handle it, even with the game culling players.

[Gyson]

Resident Balmung player here.

It is absolute hell trying to log in during peak times. The housing servers are literally down half the time (aka, people can't get into their houses) because of AFK people hiding inside.

Idfk why no one is looking into this glaring issue. I literally can't wrap my head around it, and the only solution that I'm coming to is that they are letting this continue to further exaggerate the server's limited capacity to try and force people off of the server.

I'm pretty sure that's exactly it. The goal is to increase the population on underpopulated worlds by reducing more heavily populated worlds. Any obvious QoL fix that threatens that goal isn't going to happen.

And, yes, Balmung is totally shooting itself in the foot right now with the tricks to thwart the AFK timer. At this point the queues would probably be under 100-200 on Balmung if players would just log off when they're going to be away for an extended period of time. But no one is willing to do that until everyone is willing to do that, and (understandably) nobody trusts anyone else to do it. So, instead Balmung's community is creating its own personal login queue hell at this point, and SE is getting those population boosts to lower population servers it so desperately wants.

[Rokke]

Log in queue was +4k today and it took over 4 hours for me to get in. Even when the expansion was in EA, the queues weren't this bad :/

I wish the afk kicker was a little smarter. Theres always tons of afk crafters in Kugane.

[Uielyave]

SE please fix the player afk glitch. spending 4 hours in Que i painful when you work a full time job and have hardly any time to play