Can we please, have a modernization for the servers. (Specifically, tick/refreshrate)

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

I mean i don't have any specific knowledge about servers and tickrate and how the game engine decides to send these infos and how these things are to change. But i don't understand if it's mainly software, and it's their own in-house software, why they wouldn't change this for the better. I mean obviously i'm aware that it likely requires more "money" or performance from the servers, but it just seems like something i wouldn't want to have in my game if i created it. And the whole gaming market has a higher standard than this so i really don't get it.

But again, i have absolutely 0 idea how it ACTUALLY technically works. I just know the concept behind it.

A lot of that is hard coded into the engine. Much if it is also dependant on ping. It can be difficult to change things like this due to how the systems all interact. It's not just processing power. A higher tick rate means more packets because the clients need to be updated more often on positioning. It's not a simple "change tick rate to 50ms." option.


As far as I know, the game operates on a 300ms position update.





As for aoes and getting hit by them, 99% of the time it's because the boss cast bar finished and you were still in the aoe. Cast bar is what snapshots you. Not the aoe on the ground.

[Jeeqbit]

As for aoes and getting hit by them, 99% of the time it's because the boss cast bar finished and you were still in the aoe. Cast bar is what snapshots you. Not the aoe on the ground.

Indeed but if there isn't a cast bar, you can also generally rely on - if red aoe disappears, it snapshots, as well, and both these things usually align as well if there are both.

Me using tank invuln ability right before getting hit with 5% hp left and dying anyway because of the awful server ticks

That does happen with tank invulns such as Hallowed Ground, but again I've never seen this as some kind of "tick rate" issue but rather that there is a long animation that occurs where your player puts up a shield around them, and once that shield appears around them, the buff gets applied.

Ability effects should just happen instantly and not necessarily be tied to the animation. I know that isn't as lore-friendly but it makes the gameplay more reliable and smoother.

[Valkyrie_Lenneth]

Indeed but if there isn't a cast bar, you can also generally rely on - if red aoe disappears, it snapshots, as well, and both these things usually align as well if there are both.

That does happen with tank invulns such as Hallowed Ground, but again I've never seen this as some kind of "tick rate" issue but rather that there is a long animation that occurs where your player puts up a shield around them, and once that shield appears around them, the buff gets applied.

Ability effects should just happen instantly and not necessarily be tied to the animation. I know that isn't as lore-friendly but it makes the gameplay more reliable and smoother.

Yep. Hallowed going on CD and the effect not finishing is a design choice, not server tick related. The effect is applied after the animation finishes. There are abilities that apply effects immediately.

[Absimiliard]

As for aoes and getting hit by them, 99% of the time it's because the boss cast bar finished and you were still in the aoe. Cast bar is what snapshots you. Not the aoe on the ground.

More like it snapshots you when it's 3/4ths of the way finished. You've got really good odds of getting hit if you aren't already out before that point.

Absolute classic. This is exactly why invulns currently do not work as panic buttons.

Suibolide go brrr.

[Jeeqbit]

More like it snapshots you when it's 3/4ths of the way finished. You've got really good odds of getting hit if you aren't already out before that point.

I disagree. I only had the 3/4ths issue when I was on a low-spec laptop which I determined was adding an artificial 1,000 ms to my ping due to hardware bottlenecking affecting packet processing, a ping which was not displayed anywhere.

With a modern PC, even with 200 ping I can move at 9/10ths of the cast and get out of it successfully 999 out of 1000 times.

[Iselion]

I usually only lurk, but it's astounding to see how many people replying to this thread do not even know what OP is talking about.

Please, do not participate in threads like this if you don't know the difference between Client-Server ping and Server ticks.

[Boblawblah]

I usually only lurk, but it's astounding to see how many people replying to this thread do not even know what OP is talking about.

Please, do not participate in threads like this if you don't know the difference between Client-Server ping and Server ticks.

Seometimez i get bad server ticks, but that's because I live far away from the servers.

[Jeeqbit]

Please, do not participate in threads like this if you don't know the difference between Client-Server ping and Server ticks.

It's always been astounding the number of people who blame server ticks when it's mostly animations delays and ping.

Server ticks are relevant for DoTs because, well, they tick.

[Iselion]

It's always been astounding the number of people who blame server ticks when it's mostly animations delays and ping.

Server ticks are relevant for DoTs because, well, they tick.

This is false. When you provoke a mob, you see it go off, but the mob doesn't immediately run to you, it takes about half a second. Same with with interjects, pushbacks, pull-ins and ESPECIALLY Rescue. This is because the servers are updating slowly to reduce server load. Had you played any other MMOs, you'd have noticed how bizarrely poor FFXIV is in this regard. It feels "sticky" when you switch over.

Now this is not to say animation delays aren't also a factor and to be honest those should go, inconsistent as they are. BLM has several skills that will show damage before the spell even visually pops while Benediction takes a full second from a button press to go off. Astounding that this has not been changed since 2.0 for a skill that is supposed to be for emergency use.

[Jeeqbit]

When you provoke a mob, you see it go off, but the mob doesn't immediately run to you, it takes about half a second.

True.

Same with with interjects

With interject it takes a while, yes, but there are far more responsive abilities showing that they can make them more responsive if they want to, such as Sidewinder as compared with many of Bard's other attack abilities such as Bloodletter or Empyreal Arrow which do a real slow arrow animation before executing.

Tank Stances or Inner Release are also faster compared to a lot of other abilities such as Hallowed Ground.

pushbacks, pull-ins and ESPECIALLY Rescue.

At hunts what you notice with hundreds of players is that it knocks them back using a simple loop that cycles through all the players up to a pre-determined maximum based on proximity and it takes absolutely ages. This maximum also applies to standing in aoes. If you walk far enough away from the hunt with lots of people there but still stand in the aoe, it doesn't affect you.

It's easy to notice in content as well with abilities like Shake It Off where it cycles through all the players to apply it one-by-one, especially in Seat of Sacrifice when you use Tank LB and the LB buff expires on one person before the snapshot.

But in these situations specifically, the loop tick seems like it's not for the server as a whole, but for the specific loop that is knocking everyone back or applying the cast's effect, as if they just added a giant pause in each loop cycle for KBs and other ability effects or their hardware is just overwhelmed in general.

But I still feel that this is something you mainly notice on things that affect a lot of people (like at hunts) and that, to me, the example of Sidewinder vs Bloodletter shows the world of difference there is when they simply don't do the animation thing.

When I play on lower pings, even abilities that seem moderately slow like Rampart are fast enough that double weaving is extremely easy and smooth.

I feel that if they would just address the animation delay issue and apply certain effects clientside (and remove them if the server decides it's wrong), then we could purely focus on how much of a remaining issue server delays are or whether there is a hardware improvement they can make.

Had you played any other MMOs, you'd have noticed how bizarrely poor FFXIV is in this regard.

I agree. They didn't have these animation delays (like my example of Sidewinder vs Bloodletter) because doing that interferes with gameplay and responsiveness. I can see why they would do it for a lore reason but every other game decides gameplay is more important.