Rubberbanding/Lag as of 5/17/2018

[Gaealiege]

I've been playing the game since last April and had no issues with lag (outside of the DDoS situations). Suddenly on 5/17/2018 I now have permanent all day lag within FF14.

This lag is exclusive to the game. No changes were made on my end to the game or my PC. The lag is still here this morning and presumably is here to remain.

When checking my latency specifically within FF14, it jumps from 74 on average (in any other game) to well above 200. This isn't really a tolerable situation, so it must be resolved or I'll be getting refunded/chargebacked for my sub money and moving on to other games.

[Einmimiria]

Good afternoon and thank you for posting on the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

I'd like to get some more information regarding your connection.

Please provide:

- Platform (PC, PS4, Mac)
- Are you disconnected at any point? Or is it only the lag issue?
- Type of connection (wired or wireless)
- Other programs running while the game is playing (if any)
- Frequency at which issue occurs
- Everything you have tried to resolve the issue

We hope we can be of assistance in helping you enjoy the exciting world of Final Fantasy XIV!

[Gaealiege]

- PC (windows 10)
- I am never disconnected, purely the term known as "rubber banding" where things stop then rush to catch up 1.5-3 seconds later.
-Wireless connection which works flawlessly in EVERY other video game I play.
- Chrome sometimes
-The frequency is 100% since the 17th of this month.
- I have opened the ports you suggested, reset router (ha!), contacted my ISP before I knew better, and now I've tried multiple VPNs.

The issue happens at the exact same point each time. The NTT node on the way to the Aether data center. I can stream multiple movies simultaneously while playing Paths of Exile without a single hitch, but if I have nothing open and try a chocobo race in FF14 it's like I'm playing on a satellite/dial-up connection.

This issue is clearly not on my side and the ubiquity of the issue in the technical support area suggests it's a larger issue that SE needs to resolve on their end.

This is beyond frustrating. I played the game for a full year, bought all the CEs, and have spent extra money on your cash shop mounts. Then out of the blue, the game is suddenly not playable. I don't want to leave the game and take my decades old static group with me, but I will if it's not resolved in a timely fashion. I'm sure SE would love it were we to continue paying for an unplayable game, but that won't happen.

[Ariellendera]

Hello Gaealiege, Thank you for your response.

Our teams did do a investigation and came to the conclusion that the Data Center was not the cause of the issue you are describing. The issue stems from the route which your connection takes to reach the Data Center. This is something we unfortunately cannot control.

It's an unfortunate situation and we wish there was an easy way to solve it, however, there is a limit to what we can do to assist. We suggest contacting your ISP and filing a report with them.

Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

[Gaealiege]

Your team's conclusion is bogus. SE pays for the ISP network of NTT America. They can choose to pay another provider to route directly to their servers.

I've spoken with my ISP and their version of handling the situation is the same as yours. "Someone else's fault, not ours." The typical response of gigacorporations in this country.

Your response tells me all I need to know about how SE will handle this situation. They won't. So what I'm going to do is stop giving you money. I've canceled my subscription renewal along with my wife's.

[Zephanoa]

Hello Gaealiege, Thank you for your response.

Our teams did do a investigation and came to the conclusion that the Data Center was not the cause of the issue you are describing. The issue stems from the route which your connection takes to reach the Data Center. This is something we unfortunately cannot control.

It's an unfortunate situation and we wish there was an easy way to solve it, however, there is a limit to what we can do to assist. We suggest contacting your ISP and filing a report with them.

Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

This is somewhat misleading as a response. SE does have influence for the routes starting at NTT which several of us have pointed out. . Our ISPs control stops when it is delivered to your internet provider's router.

[Einmimiria]

Thank you for the reply Zephanoa.

I don't see how this statement is misleading though. Square Enix cannot control the individual route you will take from your PC to the server, nor do we have control over the equipment the upstream ISP is using. Thus, if you are having a routing issue, Square Enix can't re-route you.

Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

[dark494]

Thank you for the reply Zephanoa.

I don't see how this statement is misleading though. Square Enix cannot control the individual route you will take from your PC to the server, nor do we have control over the equipment the upstream ISP is using. Thus, if you are having a routing issue, Square Enix can't re-route you.

Thank you for visiting the Final Fantasy XIV Technical Support Forums.

Square Enix partnered with NTT, the ISP provider, to provide the current NA datacenter and routing network currently in use. Square Enix is NTT's customer. The problem lies with NTT's routing network. Square Enix is the only one with influence to deal directly with NTT to resolve the issue of poor service to their datacenter.

I cannot make this any clearer. This problem needs to be addressed by Square Enix, not us. This isn't about the upstream ISP's. This is about the downstream ISP provider of your own datacenter.

[Artuir]

The problem is, though, that Square Enix has the stance that it is something on our end. So there is literally no route for us to take to resolve the problem. I've even tried contacting NTT directly about their packet loss issues and stated Square would need to contact them directly to resolve it.

Take a look at this: https://i.imgur.com/YCZ7kxJ.png

See those red lines? That means no information is getting through to the game servers due to the route (through NTT's servers, which is the culprit here). I could not play the game at all. Nearly the whole raid and my whole FC was impacted.

Square, you've got to contact NTT to fix this. It is not the game servers at fault, but who you peered with, and only YOU can put pressure on them to fix this. Talk to your networking guys instead of just closing this stuff on the forum as a customer/isp issue. That is not the problem. This is causing severe connection issues for a large percentage of your playerbase. NTT won't talk to anyone else and ISPs will not fix this! Neither will clearing cookies or restarting routers or whatever other advise you've given thus far. This is on you. Not us!

[Mesarthim]

I don't see how this statement is misleading though. Square Enix cannot control the individual route you will take from your PC to the server, nor do we have control over the equipment the upstream ISP is using. Thus, if you are having a routing issue, Square Enix can't re-route you.

You can but you won't. It involves very little effort to actually contact your ISP to solve this issue but you guys keep throwing your hands up going "Oh there's nothing wrong with the data center thus nothing is wrong."

You've had ALL EXPANSION TO FIX THIS. Contact your ISP. Solve it. Are you guys paid to lie to us or help?