When do you think the inactivity kick from server will be removed?

[Sebazy]

A bunch of people AFKing all day long in Limsa increases load times and stresses the systems of those with weaker set ups. Not to mention it heavily influences the log in queue for more highly populated servers. New character creation is also restricted in part by the number of people active (read: logged in) on the server at a given time. Also, the queue for visiting another world is influenced by the amount of people online on that world. When it was first introduced i went to look at marketboards cross world and couldn't actually get back to faerie for several hours, for example.

Ty for the good response <3

The crowding in social hubs such as Limsa is a fair point and this is imho the biggest sole issue with allowing people to sit logged in for extended periods. I can't really comment on cross world as I never really use it and I've not really observed how times fluctuate with it. As far as the log in queues? I disagree though. I'm firmly of the opinion that the current RMT bot plague should be the focus of your ire here. They place far more load across multiple aspects of SE's server farm. I'll touch on this a bit more as I answer your response.

Maybe you could answer my question now, if you don't mind. Why do so many people feel the need to stay logged in for extended periods they're not playing?

Of course.

It's really quite straight forward, many people use this game as a social hub. Some to the extent where the game is effectively a glorified IRC client to them, this was something that the likes of UO, Everquest and FFXI capitalised on massively back in the day. Say what you will about people that do this, it's far from a rare trait.

It's really important to note that from SE's corner, an idling AFK player is literally free money. Modern online client/server games have been excellent at assuming clients are idle until they are not pretty much as far back as the likes of Quakeworld and you can actually use that game to demonstrate my points made here if you are so inclined.

Basically, an idle character will be sending simple keep alive packets and little to nothing else. Meanwhile, that client will be receiving movement data from other characters in a much simplified 'digest' form every second or so. This is another aspect of the net code that can actually be clearly seen in action by using stock Reshade and it's net code detection on the MXAO filter. Idle in a place where no one is moving and you can actually see the MXAO effect cutting in and out due to the stop start nature of the network traffic this game generates in those situations, Idle in a quiet secluded area and the MXAO will be on almost entirely due to you generating almost zero network traffic. Now, try to use it in a dungeon or boss fight and the MXAO will almost never come on due to the much larger volume of traffic (And thus server load) in these situations. It's not a small difference, rather, it really is night and day. For all of the flaws in this games rather slow net code, it's impressively efficient.

Interestingly, minions generate quite a bit more traffic than their owners in these situations, thus why I guess SE has never been too keen on truly making them persistent.

I'm not going to say that people standing around in Limsa aren't going to tank the frame rates on lower end systems. But it's easily demonstrated that they are not responsible for generating significant loads on the servers. It makes sound sense for SE to embrace these people as they really are literally a free lunch for them. Doubly so if they get hooked on the glamour game.

Leaving your system on idle for long periods isnt good for it.

With a quality PSU, decent cooling and regular cleaning it's really not a problem for modern hardware to run under load 24/7. The electricity bill on the other hand though.....

[monk-dps]

With a quality PSU, decent cooling and regular cleaning it's really not a problem for modern hardware to run under load 24/7. The electricity bill on the other hand though.....

You be shocked how little a PS4 pro uses as far as power. My power bill isn't even above 100 bucks. Tho really only one room in my apt is used and that's the bedroom with my PS4 and oled tv which is never off. Only time my system goes off is the forced updates. Tech is really good nowdays. Then again I think I'm just lucky with playstations as my PSX was on nonstop for a year nonstop because I didn't have a memory card. Playing FF7 without a card and beating it back in 98 was hell. I really hate when bosses use final attack because of that year.

[Sebazy]

You be shocked how little a PS4 pro uses as far as power.

Very true. My gamestream/transcode box uses about as much energy at the wall as my living room lamp did before LED bulbs. A mid range PC or console is going to be far lower still.

[Mavrias]

Ty for the good response <3

It's really important to note that from SE's corner, an idling AFK player is literally free money. Modern online client/server games have been excellent at assuming clients are idle until they are not pretty much as far back as the likes of Quakeworld and you can actually use that game to demonstrate my points made here if you are so inclined.

Interestingly, minions generate quite a bit more traffic than their owners in these situations, thus why I guess SE has never been too keen on truly making them persistent.

Itrimmed for char limit

Thank you for the concise response.

RMT bots are absolutely a more major issue. But the lesser of two evils is still an evil. I never said that it was a major issue for square's server loads per say (we've come a far cry from SB launch) simply that for lower end PCs and to an extent PS4s it adds to client side frame rate drops and lag. I'm fortunate enough to have built a PC this year but, before i was playing on an older PS4 and absolutely had issues loading into major cities.

Additionally, SE has made it clear that they want to limit the amount of people logged into a singular world at a time, bots add to this as well, but there were log in issues before the bot population exploded to the degree it has.

You're talking to me about server jargon, that i never mentioned but i appreciate the insight on that. Though i would like to point out that the freest money square gets is when youre sub is active but youre not logged in at all.

As for those using the game as a social or chat room, thats fine and all if youre actually chatting in game but then again if you are doing that the game wont read you as afk. If you want to be constantly connected to your FC or linkshell and see everything that there is to talk about, theres discord for that.

The wear is slow on higher end builds sure, but for other PCs and PS4s it can absolutely become an issue. I didnt mean your computer would explode if left on too long, but its longevity could be affected. Also yeah rip that electric bill lmao.