[Feedback] Please fix/improve the delay in the game

[Karan_Vess]

Part of the problem is physics. You have a propagation delay from you to the server and back. Mind you, that's just for one bit over the wire. That's before we talk about the transmission delay. These add up awfully quick and only a few of them are something the server can do something about.

The "jump action" is produced client-side for the jumper. It is nearly instantaneous. It is why you can run around still when your link is lost. However, we have the client building the packet(s) to send out to the server showing you jumped (along with any other actions you might send, like your position, etc etc). It bundles all of these packets together and sends them out probably at set intervals. These ARE things they can change. Maybe it is optimized, maybe it isn't.

However, then you have the "over-the-network" time. These are all the switches/routers/underwater cables/etc that connect you to your DC. These are outside of the developer's control. For example, my ping from my location to my DC is 100ms. There is absolutely nothing SE can do about that. Some of this is physics - the propagation delay over a wire. I can't say for sure how much delay they can lower, if any. There is an overhead for each packet sent. If they doubled the frequency at which packets are sent out, the servers might actually handle them slower since they'd need to parse more packets. It isn't clear if there are any gains.

In other words - the excuse is partially physics (outside the control of SE), network transmission delay (out of their hands) and internal packet delay (in their control).

I understand that it may not be an easy fix and may require more than just flicking the "increase tick rate" switch. But other games can do it so I see no reason why this game cannot do it. Wow is a very good example. I've never played it myself but from videos I've seen you can easily tell how responsive it is. When you see another player move, you can have a high degree of confidence that that is where that player actually is.

For your edification:
From a terminal window (windows command prompt on windows), run tracert <ip address of your DC> This will show you the path(s) taken to the DC and where the delay is. You'll likely find that the delays are in the distance between you and the DC or from nodes that are saturated with other network traffic

Tracert shows the round trip for each packet for each hop individually. A game packet will not go from one hop and back and then to the next hop and back, etc. It will go straight through and that's it. Then the server will send the update.
You can get hints with tracert but it will not give you accurate results for everything.

[dspguy]

Tracert shows the round trip for each packet for each hop individually. A game packet will not go from one hop and back and then to the next hop and back, etc. It will go straight through and that's it. Then the server will send the update.
You can get hints with tracert but it will not give you accurate results for everything.

Right, it shows each hop and back. The idea is that all of these delays, aside from maybe the last one (SE's server) are outside of SE's control. The point I'm trying to show you is that the distance (and path) that your data travels between you and SE is the big culprit. Tracert was to demonstrate that if you look at the difference in ping times between hops, you'll see the the delay is between nodes transmitting your data to the DC. If I look at mine, my pings are about 20ms to get from my area to someplace in Atlanta. And then 60ms to get from ATL to CA. SE doesn't control those servers. So my ping of 100ms is mostly due to one leg between ATL and CA and has nothing to do with SE at all.

[Imoye]

As others have been saying, the game servers have terrible tickrates. Shitty servers paired with what is probably 1.0 netcode makes for heavily delayed interactions. Honestly, I'm surprised that a game in 2022 can have such stoneage servers/netcode. This game would be A LOT better off if it was actually as responsive as WoW.

[kpxmanifesto]

I'd like to see a fix for this in the future. The delay is definitely one of the other reasons why some people that come from different MMOs feel that FFXIV's gameplay is clunky. It just doesn't have that crisp response that other games do, although it can be gotten used to.

[Karan_Vess]

I'd like to see a fix for this in the future. The delay is definitely one of the other reasons why some people that come from different MMOs feel that FFXIV's gameplay is clunky. It just doesn't have that crisp response that other games do, although it can be gotten used to.

Definitely. You can get used to a great many things. But living with a huge splinter in your foot isn't optimal.
What I'm hoping for with this thread is to get some support from the community to maybe get the devs' attention. Yoshida keeps saying they do read the forums after all. (I hope that includes the non Japanese ones)

[Syln]

If only they could solve this issue ... it was even worse before for some EU region but after almost 9 years of playing the game i still wish they get rid of that.

[dspguy]

So I ran a quick test between my PC and my wife's PC - same network, wired. Ability usage seems to match my ping of 80-100ms. Whether this be using abilities on a dummy or crafting abilities - I see the animations and messages at a nearly indiscernible time difference. Drawing a weapon is also as quick as other abilities.

Movement though is delayed by more than abilities. It is as if displaying movement to another client is a lower priority than other actions. It seems like they smooth movement a bit. If I strafe back and forth quickly, ultimately not changing my position by much, the other client just sees the "walking animation" but the turning is mostly negated and it can look like I'm moonwalking.

In my opinion, movement being a lower priority makes good sense. Another player's exaction position shouldn't really matter much to the client. The server figures out if a player is "in range" for abilities or stepping in the red telegraphs. If someone ONLY looks at movement, like the jump by the OP, I could see someone thinking the delay is longer than it should be. However, I think movement is a special case. Many other actions taken in game seem to be very quick.

[Insertusernamehere]

So I ran a quick test between my PC and my wife's PC - same network, wired. Ability usage seems to match my ping of 80-100ms. Whether this be using abilities on a dummy or crafting abilities - I see the animations and messages at a nearly indiscernible time difference. Drawing a weapon is also as quick as other abilities.

Movement though is delayed by more than abilities. It is as if displaying movement to another client is a lower priority than other actions. It seems like they smooth movement a bit. If I strafe back and forth quickly, ultimately not changing my position by much, the other client just sees the "walking animation" but the turning is mostly negated and it can look like I'm moonwalking.

In my opinion, movement being a lower priority makes good sense. Another player's exaction position shouldn't really matter much to the client. The server figures out if a player is "in range" for abilities or stepping in the red telegraphs. If someone ONLY looks at movement, like the jump by the OP, I could see someone thinking the delay is longer than it should be. However, I think movement is a special case. Many other actions taken in game seem to be very quick.

This is exactly what I notice in FFXIV character movement not priority..

[Jin-]

It's painful in PvP when you use Purify, it takes so long to activate while it should be instant the moment you press it

[Karan_Vess]

Right, it shows each hop and back. The idea is that all of these delays, aside from maybe the last one (SE's server) are outside of SE's control. The point I'm trying to show you is that the distance (and path) that your data travels between you and SE is the big culprit. Tracert was to demonstrate that if you look at the difference in ping times between hops, you'll see the the delay is between nodes transmitting your data to the DC. If I look at mine, my pings are about 20ms to get from my area to someplace in Atlanta. And then 60ms to get from ATL to CA. SE doesn't control those servers. So my ping of 100ms is mostly due to one leg between ATL and CA and has nothing to do with SE at all.

My ping to the server is 18ms. My tracert to the server adds up to 190ms.
Tracert does not show how quickly a packet gets to the server and back. That's what ping does. Tracert is a good troubleshooting tool to locate a problem but it's not what you should be using here.