connection errors

[fawlgaiy]

Update from support

I spent a good 15-20 minutes working with support earlier. I was on the phone with a rep named Daniel and then in chat with a rep named Eddy. Both reps were receptive of what I had to say and I made sure to give them as much information as I possibly could. Daniel let me know that they've been receiving these calls in increasing volume since around 10 AM EST yesterday (Wednesday) morning. I directed him to this post and made sure to let him know that there is more than enough information here to start a proper investigation. I also provided him with the NTT node information such as geolocation and IP address.

It took a bit of doing, but I eventually was able to convince both reps that this was not an ISP issue with Optimum, since they don't have ownership of the node and there is no other internet-related problems, they just happen to have a very large market share in the area which is why most of the complaints have that in common.

I was informed that the information was forwarded to the relevant teams to investigate and hopefully we'll see an official acknowledgement of the issue within the next day by way of a Lodestone post or maybe even a resolution. Keep fingers crossed and please be sure to post any new information if it's available!

Thanks a lot for the awesome work! Posting my trace routes to NA and JP below for comparison:

JP
4 3 ms 3 ms 2 ms 209.216.96.50
5 3 ms 2 ms 2 ms 163.ae12.mpr1.sea1.us.zip.zayo.com [216.200.159.145]
6 3 ms 3 ms 3 ms ae6.mpr1.yyz1.ca.zip.zayo.com [64.125.23.121]
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 10 ms 10 ms 10 ms be2994.ccr22.cle04.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.31.233]
9 15 ms 15 ms 15 ms be2718.ccr42.ord01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.7.129]
10 37 ms 38 ms 37 ms be2832.ccr22.mci01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.44.169]
11 63 ms 36 ms 36 ms be3036.ccr22.den01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.31.89]
12 47 ms 46 ms 47 ms be3038.ccr32.slc01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.42.97]
13 65 ms 65 ms 65 ms be3110.ccr22.sfo01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.44.141]
14 64 ms 64 ms 64 ms be3670.ccr41.sjc03.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.43.14]
15 172 ms 173 ms 173 ms be3696.ccr72.tyo01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.86.138]
16 170 ms 169 ms 170 ms be3050.rcr51.b060372-1.tyo01.atlas.cogentco.com [154.54.91.214]
17 170 ms 208 ms 170 ms square-enix.demarc.cogentco.com [154.18.1.146]
18 175 ms 155 ms 155 ms 219.117.144.118
19 155 ms 155 ms 155 ms 219.117.144.53
20 155 ms 155 ms 155 ms 219.117.144.41
21 157 ms 155 ms 155 ms 219.117.147.194
22 165 ms 164 ms 164 ms 124.150.157.15

NA
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * 13 ms * 100ge0-76.core3.nyc4.he.net [184.104.196.177]
6 14 ms 16 ms 16 ms nyk-b1-link.ip.twelve99.net [62.115.183.157]
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.

[Strider_xiii]

I am on optimum as well. I'll be at my parents home tonight to visit in North NJ. I can test there as well. And I'll try using my phone Hotspot as I bet that works.

[NaiaLalita]

I have several friends in-game who don't tend to visit the forums who are also having the log-in issues. Same exact format:
Connecting to NA servers fails most of the time and IF a connection is made, a failure usually occurs after selecting a character anyway.
Rarely, if lucky, you actually can complete the server connection as well as the character log-in load screen.

Once logged in, me and my friends have practically no issues with the game. It appears to be an issue exclusive to the log-in process and not regular game connection/communication.

I had to leave my character logged in overnight, and obviously had to leave my computer running, to avoid another 4+ hours of login attempts today.

I am supposed to have raid tonight, and that requires datacenter travel to join up with the rest of my group. I am genuinely dreading it, because there's nothing I can do except waste hours of my life trying to get lucky enough to hit "START" at the beginning of a fully random stint of stability on some haywire node along the connection path to the physical log-in servers.

In this case, it's not just MY time (and money, as this is a subscription game) at risk of being wasted. It's 7 other people, too.

[DDRDiesel]

I have several friends in-game who don't tend to visit the forums who are also having the log-in issues. Same exact format:
Connecting to NA servers fails most of the time and IF a connection is made, a failure usually occurs after selecting a character anyway.
Rarely, if lucky, you actually can complete the server connection as well as the character log-in load screen.

Once logged in, me and my friends have practically no issues with the game. It appears to be an issue exclusive to the log-in process and not regular game connection/communication.

I've been thinking about this as well. It seems just the login is funky, and not the stable connection to the server. That makes me think that the packets responsible for login (similar to SYN-ACK handshakes in networking) are being dropped by the node in question. Once I'm logged in, my connection is stable and I can even server-hop within the datacenter with no issue.

I had to leave my character logged in overnight, and obviously had to leave my computer running, to avoid another 4+ hours of login attempts today.

I am supposed to have raid tonight, and that requires datacenter travel to join up with the rest of my group. I am genuinely dreading it, because there's nothing I can do except waste hours of my life trying to get lucky enough to hit "START" at the beginning of a fully random stint of stability on some haywire node along the connection path to the physical log-in servers.

In this case, it's not just MY time (and money, as this is a subscription game) at risk of being wasted. It's 7 other people, too.

See if your static would be comfortable with transferring to our DC instead. As long as they're not based on the East Coast US then they shouldn't have an issue. I can almost guarantee that once you log out and get back to the character select screen to dc travel, you're going to have an issue

[BettyHarlow]

Hopefully, this gets solved soon! I've never had a reason to join in on the forums lol!

I am not feeling well and I'd love to log in and escape!

[BettyHarlow]

Here is the reply I got.

Alexa 15:33：Thank you for your patience, Emily. We are aware that there are several customers experiencing this issue, however this seems to be an issue with the ISP and their pathway connection to the NA Data Centers in a certain area. You can contact your IPS and inform the of this issue and have them look into it. You can also submit a bug report to the Final Fantasy XIV Bug Forum so we may further investigate this issue: https://sqex.to/vzc



I let Alexa know Other reps are telling us that our ISP doesn't have ownership of the node.

We have no other internet-related problems, and I called Optimum.

[Vateri]

Here is the reply I got.

Alexa 15:33：Thank you for your patience, Emily. We are aware that there are several customers experiencing this issue, however this seems to be an issue with the ISP and their pathway connection to the NA Data Centers in a certain area. You can contact your IPS and inform the of this issue and have them look into it. You can also submit a bug report to the Final Fantasy XIV Bug Forum so we may further investigate this issue: https://sqex.to/vzc

This is essentially the response I got as well. No matter what I tried to say, and when I tried to direct them to this thread I got brushed off and told it's against her policy to check "random" threads. DDRDiesel got reps with actual capacity for empathy thankfully. Might try calling instead of the live chat. Make sure you have all your friends who are also experiencing this issue to please post in this thread if they have not. Going to bring up Naia's point when I call saying that this is not only impacting my time, but also wasting the time of 7 other players in my group.

[BettyHarlow]

This is essentially the response I got as well. No matter what I tried to say, and when I tried to direct them to this thread I got brushed off and told it's against her policy to check "random" threads. DDRDiesel got reps with actual capacity for empathy thankfully. Might try calling instead of the live chat. Make sure you have all your friends who are also experiencing this issue to please post in this thread if they have not. Going to bring up Naia's point when I call saying that this is not only impacting my time, but also wasting the time of 7 other players in my group.

Exactly! Also, how many groups would I (we) have helped today by healing/tanking/shooting everything in sight etc? We are valuable people in the FFXIV world. I suppose I will log into the EU data center and play my newly created character lol

Here was my final reply to the issue. I submitted a bug report and I'll call when it's not quiet time in the house (nap time)


Customer 15:43：I'm connected directly to my router with no luck.

Alexa 15:43：Thank you for this information, Emily. We have indeed been receiving several of these complaints, I can forward this information as well so the issue is looked into. In the meantime please continue trying to access every couple of hours and submit a bug report.

[DDRDiesel]

Here is the reply I got.

Alexa 15:33：Thank you for your patience, Emily. We are aware that there are several customers experiencing this issue, however this seems to be an issue with the ISP and their pathway connection to the NA Data Centers in a certain area. You can contact your IPS and inform the of this issue and have them look into it. You can also submit a bug report to the Final Fantasy XIV Bug Forum so we may further investigate this issue: https://sqex.to/vzc



I let Alexa know Other reps are telling us that our ISP doesn't have ownership of the node.

We have no other internet-related problems, and I called Optimum.

It might be worth reminding them of what I said earlier. Optimum simply has a large market share in this area, but they aren't the only available offering. FawlGaiy mentioned earlier that they are using a Canadian ISP telMAX and has the same issues

[LordCommissar]

Joined forums just to say that having issues as well. Took like 15 attempts to manage to even make it to the char select menu. Really hoping this is a temporary thing since I have raid again next week!

I have been feeling a bit burnt out from this game so maybe this is the cue to cancel my sub lol.