Not urgent : suggestion for ammelioration of login queue for the future

[Kahri]

I've noticed that a good portion of new players don't have an understanding of the broad nature of FFXIV's activites both in and out of the game. This lead me to wonder, rather than just staring at a boring queue countdown, whether this countdown page could be improved for the player experience.


A) Somewhere I saw mentioned the possibility of temporary transfers to other servers to avoid the queue on their current one. Perhaps make this suggestion more prominent.



B) Considering that the player might wish to get away from their computer desk and do other activities while waiting:
i) suggest to use the companion app while they wait;
ii) if they want to do other tasks non-FFXIV related, can the companion app link to their game client login countdown and provide an alarm to the player when it reaches a particular point in the countdown?;
iii) can the game client itself offer that same alarm function?;
iv) can the alarm sound type be determined by the individual player to their own preference?


C) If they'd like to do FFXIV related things at their desk while waiting on the login countdown could that page suggest related activities to the player?
i) the option to cycle through the replays of the various expansion trailers;
ii) referring players on to the Lodestone website (I've noticed a good portion of new players are totally unaware it even exists), mentioning to them the character profiles/blogs, the database, (ie not predominently/only the forums, otherwise your bugs page might become overrun with frustrated queue complaints);
iii) In game I have access to my orchestrion, armoire and 'unending journey' replays. If a player logs into their character's lodestone page, is it possible for the player to also access this content outside of the game client, while waiting on the queue? (I hope my highlighting of the orchestrion doesn't pass underneath your awareness );
iv) In game I can access my gathering, crafting and fishing logs in order to plan out my next travelling path around Eorzea. Pre-planning my next crafting session, basically. If a player logs into their character's lodestone page, is it possible to also access these logbooks in order to do the same planning? In particular I'm thinking about how the gathering log lets me link to the game map to see where the gathering spot is;
v) ...I don't know whether to suggest being able to access the recommended activities list through the character's lodestone page.... meh, that's probably unnecessarily excessive.


Edit: I need to clarify re: orchestrion, I mean to be able to play my obtained tracks, not just see the list.

[Kahri]

I'm not sure whether any of the above is possible. I'm also aware that some of these things (alarms, checking online databases other than the lodestone) are possible elsewhere ... I just think that a lot of players (new players in particular) who may be unable to formulate their own solutions to the frustation of waiting in queue, might have that negative experience ameliorated via being offered the above options while waiting.


Finally, in making these suggestions, we need to be clear in the communication with players these suggestions are only made to help with the wait, and not that you're putting their desire to login aside. To ensure that players still feel you're doing your best to ammeliorate the login queue/errors perhaps first have the login countdown, second have a link for the most recent notice on current errors being experienced (as it contains info on what individuals can do to avoid the bugs/error codes), third have the suggestion about a temporary transfer to avoid queues, fourth have the suggestions for other various activities while waiting (as above). In this way players can see their actually logging in and accessing in game content first is your highest priority.

[Risvertasashi]

I think the biggest obstacle is, like a fair amount of the game's bones, it's running on old spaghetti code that isn't easily fixable. Someone recently posted analysis proving 2002 in queue happens with a perfect connection/zero packetloss, but SE has trouble addressing even that.

Personally, I'd support anything and everything that just means I don't have the babysit the queue.

[Kahri]

I'm concerned we may be getting off track here 'Sashi, in discussing the cause of the errors. I'll leave that up to the devs to nut into.


However, for perspective, I'd like to quickly note that I live in a remote location in Australia. My internet is not particularly good. When I login the game client tells me it's 'poor'. (Ouch). Yet I have never once experienced those errors.


I don't play on Tonberry, though I know a lot Australians do.



My point in the above noted detail is, my poor, remote, internet connection to a JP based server has never experienced the problems this person with a perfect connection/zero packetloss has. Perhaps there is something else going on here other than old spaghetti code since we both play with the same game code.


But again, I don't want to get this thread off track from the suggestion being made in the post, and I'm no network/code professional, so I'll leave it at that.

[Risvertasashi]

Ok, let me try again in more detail:

I'm basically saying I like the ideas along the lines of B the most. A is already there to an extent (only within the same datacenter), and C... Well. I'd rather SE put in the effort to resolve underlying causes rather than develop extensive workarounds.

But even though I like B, you mentioned not being sure how possible these things were, and I'm not either - because SE seems to struggle resolving issues that look simple from the outside, even with extensive diagnostic data from the community.

A further suggestion, if SE really cannot resolve 2002 in queue and otherwise make the process more tolerable and accessible, would be to change the sound of the error so it is not the same as the queue refreshing. One would hope this is simple enough...

[Kahri]

C... Well. I'd rather SE put in the effort to resolve underlying causes rather than develop extensive workarounds.

Agreed. That's why I marked the title as 'not urgent'.



Resolving the existing and immediate login issues is !!!urgent!!!



I hope that was enough emphasis.



Making adjustments to the login queue, so it isn't as frustrating, is more of a 'secondary project when you have a moment'.


That said: it might just be that the login issues need particular specialised experts to work on, and they have other staff with some time able to be budgeted to work on it.



After all, things like the trailers etcetera are things that already exist ... they really only need to be linked. And since the companion app and character's lodestone page already give access to a good amount of in-game character data ... would it be that much of a stretch to allow us to access more in-game character data via the lodestone?

change the sound of the error so it is not the same as the queue refreshing.

Wholeheartedly agree. It would be frustration piled upon existing frustration to end up confusing the two alerts because of the exact same sound being used. Can imagine there would likely be a bit of hair loss (ie being torn out) with this.