Data Center Expansion - Questions

[Kyeria]

So, I have a pretty limited understanding of how our Data Centers work and was hoping someone could potentially clear something up for me.

I read that they were Expanding our Data centers for performance reasons and I guess stupidly assumed that we would obtain better performance while expanding our current data centers to allow more players. However, after reading the announcement in detail it appears they're pulling servers from our current Data Centers and redistributing them to new entirely Data Centers. If I'm understanding this correctly the player average base per data center is actually going to decrease, right?

I'm only concerned because if I'm right in my thinking ( And I could be wrong ) the queue times, in theory, could potentially worsen as multiple servers are getting pulled from each Data Center and you cannot queue with people outside of your center. Aether is going from 13 servers down to 8 and queue times can already push 10-20 minutes depending on the duty/raid you select. Can someone reassure/explain to me of what's actually happening and what impact it'll have on us if any?

Thanks!

[WaterShield]

So, I have a pretty limited understanding of how our Data Centers work and was hoping someone could potentially clear something up for me.

I read that they were Expanding our Data centers for performance reasons and I guess stupidly assumed that we would obtain better performance while expanding our current data centers to allow more players. However, after reading the announcement in detail it appears they're pulling servers from our current Data Centers and redistributing them to new entirely Data Centers. If I'm understanding this correctly the player average base per data center is actually going to decrease, right?

I'm only concerned because if I'm right in my thinking ( And I could be wrong ) the queue times, in theory, could potentially worsen as multiple servers are getting pulled from each Data Center and you cannot queue with people outside of your center. Aether is going from 13 servers down to 8 and queue times can already push 10-20 minutes depending on the duty/raid you select. Can someone reassure/explain to me of what's actually happening and what impact it'll have on us if any?

Thanks!

That is correct. Average queue time is about to increase as the same pool of players will now be spread across 3 data centers instead of 2. They are doing this to grant increased stability of the servers during the expansion rush.

Edit: post cap

Others have made points about max number of instances factoring in here. I was unaware that this was affecting queue times given that you can form a premade and instantly queue into anything? This would seem to make it so that max instances isn't the problem.

I could be wrong about this, but my experience up to this point and the logic I just listed doesn't seem to support that being a problem.

[Kyeria]

That is correct. Average queue time is about to increase as the same pool of players will now be spread across 3 data centers instead of 2. They are doing this to grant increase stability of the servers during the expansion rush.

Hmm, thanks for clearing this up for me! I guess we'll just have to see how this pans out, but I'm honestly a little nervous of the long term effects of this decision. However, on the other hand, I'm am glad to see they're trying to remedy the issue that happened with StormBloods launch. I guess there isn't a perfect solution...

[Vidu]

Hmm, thanks for clearing this up for me! I guess we'll just have to see how this pans out, but I'm honestly a little nervous of the long term effects of this decision. However, on the other hand, I'm am glad to see they're trying to remedy the issue that happened with StormBloods launch. I guess there isn't a perfect solution...

Til Stormblood the EU-DC only had 8 servers aswell and queuetimes werent horrible. Unless you're playing at really weird hours (in which case you should probably consider if a japanese or EU server might fit your time-schedulde better in general) you shouldnt be to worried.
8 servers are still quite a lot of people - assuming that the roughly 250k active characters on the NA-servers are spread out evenly about all 3 DCs that still means that you have about 83k people to play with.

[Wilford111]

Will que times really go down though? Sure we'll have less tanks and healers queing in but we'll also have less dps so it evens out. Unless you're talking about 24 man ques, in which, yeah I feel ya.

[Ekinoxe]

Will que times really go down though? Sure we'll have less tanks and healers queing in but we'll also have less dps so it evens out. Unless you're talking about 24 man ques, in which, yeah I feel ya.

Whether it be healers, tanks or dps, a smaller player pool will generally mean longer queue times.

[Rongway]

Whether it be healers, tanks or dps, a smaller player pool will generally mean longer queue times.

No it won't. With fewer people in the queue, the queue needs to put together fewer groups before getting to newer people in the queue.

An excellent counterexample of your point is the period within the first hour after servers come back up and the number of logged in characters is low. Queues for some content will pop faster in that case.

[Ekinoxe]

No it won't. With fewer people in the queue, the queue needs to put together fewer groups before getting to newer people in the queue.

An excellent counterexample of your point is the period within the first hour after servers come back up and the number of logged in characters is low. Queues for some content will pop faster in that case.

Your example is extremely circumstantial. From my own experience, as a newb with only a BLM, my queues pop much quicker during prime time. I mean yeah, sure, if the matchmaking system was overflowing with folks to the point where it can't handle the load then less people would be beneficial. But I don't think that's the case. Especially not at this point in the lifecycle of the expansion. So yeah when Shadowbringers launches I'm sure the smaller server pools will be beneficial to some extent. But in the meantime, I'm not so sure. And my original point was, from a logical stand point, the less people you have, the less opportunity for grouping there will be. That's just simple math.

[Ilan]

Will que times really go down though? Sure we'll have less tanks and healers queing in but we'll also have less dps so it evens out. Unless you're talking about 24 man ques, in which, yeah I feel ya.

Well if you look at what people experienced on the EU Datacenters, then yes. Shortly after the split a tank in my fc was cursing that he had to wait a while to get entry for expert roulette, it wasn't to peak times but it is still not normal to have to wait as a tank in the late afternoon. Keep in mind that they halfed the population on EU so it can be different for NA or it can be the same.

When it comes to the PF and 24man raids, you will definitely feel it.