Unstable ping

[TofuEgg]

hello i have been experiencing unstable ping while playing this game. normally i would be at 40~ms but recently ive been spiking to upwards of 180ms. I am wondering if this the problem is server side or my internets side? here is the cmd log:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.15063]
(c) 2017 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Users\user>ping 204.2.229.9

Pinging 204.2.229.9 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=137ms TTL=52
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=150ms TTL=52
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=146ms TTL=52
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=138ms TTL=52

Ping statistics for 204.2.229.9:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 137ms, Maximum = 150ms, Average = 142ms

C:\Users\user>ping 204.2.229.9

Pinging 204.2.229.9 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=148ms TTL=52
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=152ms TTL=52
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=181ms TTL=52
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=139ms TTL=52

Ping statistics for 204.2.229.9:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 139ms, Maximum = 181ms, Average = 155ms

C:\Users\user>

[TofuEgg]

heres another cmd log 30 minutes after i posted this:

C:\Users\user>ping 204.2.229.9

Pinging 204.2.229.9 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=34ms TTL=52
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=52
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=40ms TTL=52
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=42ms TTL=52

Ping statistics for 204.2.229.9:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 34ms, Maximum = 42ms, Average = 39ms

C:\Users\user>

What could the problem be?

[hynaku]

Pretty Sure its on there server side. When I did trace once said disconnect was caused by there server. It's ether ddos attacks again or the place they moved the servers to sucks and can't keep them stable.

[worldofneil]

You really need to do a traceroute as that'll show where the problem is. The command for this (based on the IP you're using above) is:

tracert 204.2.229.9

More than likely though you'll probably find it's a node somewhere between you and SE that is having the problem, not SE themselves.

[Exdee-em]

I play on Alexander, a JP world, but I've never had problems with lag until about 2 weeks ago. At first it always happened around the same time each day, but it was negligible, it didn't affect my gameplay in any significant way, and I thought it was just because it was the peak activity time for the server because of all the JP players coming on. Then about 2 days ago, it got really bad. Lag spikes are spread across the entire day now, and sometimes everything just stops for 5-10 seconds, then the entire world goes into fast-forward.

[Riko_Futatabi]

I play on Alexander, a JP world, but I've never had problems with lag until about 2 weeks ago. At first it always happened around the same time each day, but it was negligible, it didn't affect my gameplay in any significant way, and I thought it was just because it was the peak activity time for the server because of all the JP players coming on. Then about 2 days ago, it got really bad. Lag spikes are spread across the entire day now, and sometimes everything just stops for 5-10 seconds, then the entire world goes into fast-forward.

Same issue, right after the 4.06a patch.

[Vshunyi]

Chiming in to say that I've also had really bad spikes since the 4.06a patch. Some of my friends have too. Tonberry server on JP, btw. Ping shot up to around 180-200ms from 60-80ms.

[rulerofsaturn]

I live in Sacramento, CA. Comcast is my ISP and I typically get results like this:

Pinging 204.2.229.10 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 204.2.229.10: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=53
Reply from 204.2.229.10: bytes=32 time=26ms TTL=53
Reply from 204.2.229.10: bytes=32 time=28ms TTL=53
Reply from 204.2.229.10: bytes=32 time=27ms TTL=53

Ping statistics for 204.2.229.10:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 26ms, Maximum = 28ms, Average = 26ms

However, at random intervals between 6pm and 11pm PDT, every night since patch 4.05 I get results like OP. Ping rockets up to 130-160ms and packet loss is rampant. I've traced the culprit to a chokepoint in Santa Clara, as you can see below:

Tracing route to 204.2.229.10 over a maximum of 30 hops

  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  CISCO35060 [192.168.1.1]
  2     9 ms     8 ms     8 ms  96.120.86.21
  3     9 ms     9 ms    10 ms  ae221-rur02.sacramento.ca.ccal.comcast.net [68.87.202.201]
  4    14 ms    13 ms    13 ms  ae-2-ar01.fresno.ca.ccal.comcast.net [68.85.120.201]
  5    21 ms    23 ms    20 ms  be-33667-cr02.losangeles.ca.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.93.37]
  6    20 ms    20 ms    20 ms  be-11599-pe01.losangeles.ca.ibone.comcast.net [68.86.84.194]
  7    21 ms    19 ms    20 ms  50.242.151.62
  8    25 ms    25 ms    26 ms  ae-19.r00.lsanca07.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.235]
  9   134 ms   122 ms   130 ms  ae-2.r23.lsanca07.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.237]
 10    23 ms    23 ms     *     ae-12.r22.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.150]
 11    27 ms    27 ms    27 ms  ae-19.r01.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.27]
 12    28 ms    27 ms    27 ms  ae-1.r00.scrmca02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.7.31]
 13    27 ms    30 ms    28 ms  xe-0-1-0-1-1.r00.scrmca02.us.ce.gin.ntt.net [129.250.195.46]
 14    27 ms    27 ms    27 ms  204.2.229.234
 15    27 ms    26 ms    27 ms  204.2.229.10

Trace complete.

This "lsanca07" juncture reliably increases to 130ms+ whenever FFXIV suffers response delays. Does Square-Enix have any influence over NTT to compel an investigation?

[Bakemono858]

Chiming in as well, been having consistent lag all the time since 4.06a. I play on Excalibur and have tested on another server in the same data center and experienced no lag. This is actually the worse I've seen the ping tracing. I have consistently low ping and high dl/up rates through speed tests. I have absolutely no lag spikes in web browsing, streaming or playing any other game.

I live in California and notice the ping is always high when it goes to El Segundo where the corporate building is. I'm assuming it's something to do with the servers there?

1 <1 ms <1 ms <1 ms 192.168.0.1
2 17 ms 8 ms 9 ms 142.254.183.85
3 45 ms 21 ms 10 ms agg62.anhmcapj01h.socal.rr.com [76.167.28.169]
4 11 ms 11 ms 10 ms agg23.cyprcabw01r.socal.rr.com [72.129.21.86]
5 13 ms 15 ms 15 ms agg27.lsancarc01r.socal.rr.com [72.129.21.0]
6 18 ms 15 ms 15 ms bu-ether26.lsancarc0yw-bcr00.tbone.rr.com [66.109.3.230]
7 12 ms 19 ms 12 ms ae2.lsancarc0yw-bpr01.tbone.rr.com [66.109.1.41]
8 13 ms 11 ms 12 ms ix-ae-24-0.tcore1.LVW-Los-Angeles.as6453.net [66.110.59.81]
9 12 ms 12 ms 12 ms if-ae-2-2.tcore2.LVW-Los-Angeles.as6453.net [66.110.59.2]
10 13 ms 14 ms 12 ms 64.86.252.134
11 28 ms 27 ms 28 ms ae-13.r01.lsanca07.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.2.187]
12 14 ms 12 ms 13 ms ae-3.r23.lsanca07.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.106]
13 26 ms 25 ms 24 ms ae-12.r22.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.4.150]
14 41 ms 27 ms 29 ms ae-19.r01.snjsca04.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.3.27]
15 28 ms 28 ms 28 ms ae-1.r00.scrmca02.us.bb.gin.ntt.net [129.250.7.31]
16 * 130 ms 136 ms xe-0-1-0-1-1.r00.scrmca02.us.ce.gin.ntt.net [129.250.195.46]
17 28 ms * * 204.2.229.234
18 * 126 ms 130 ms 204.2.229.10

[Shiiruu]

Same problem here, but mine started a few days before 4.1 was released. I live in Norway. In the beginning it wasn't so bad, it was just 1 second lags that happened once in a while, but every day it got a tiny bit worse, and the last 2 days it has been quite bad. Yesterday I pinged about 2000ms. This is current:

Pinging 204.2.229.9 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=627ms TTL=51
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=595ms TTL=51
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=563ms TTL=51
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=574ms TTL=51

Ping statistics for 204.2.229.9:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 563ms, Maximum = 627ms, Average = 589ms

Pinging 204.2.229.9 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=210ms TTL=51
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=224ms TTL=51
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=226ms TTL=51
Reply from 204.2.229.9: bytes=32 time=234ms TTL=51

Ping statistics for 204.2.229.9:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 210ms, Maximum = 234ms, Average = 223ms

My browser, videos, every other online game works completely fine.