Data Center Travel is ruining server Party Finder

[Sqwall]

Cross Datacenter Travel is ruining far more than the Party Finder. It's everything.

I will die on this hill, but I think the person who green-lit the idea of Cross DC Travel is a moron. They have created a sweeping issue that effects everyone from their own home DC's population and down even to their chosen Free Company and their friends list. It's the crappy gift that keeps on giving!

"Your Duty Finder dead? Go to Aether."

"Your Party Finder dead? Go to Aether."

"Your Free Company is dead? Well, go to Aether."

I don't want to go to Aether. I want the game I pay for to work. And I don't want to have to be burdened by the fact that I don't play on Aether. I don't want to play on Aether.

This is pretty much the consensus that I'm reaching. Yesterday was a treat when I saw 4 EX's in the PF, which allowed me to get some practice in with SAM under pressure. It was a rough experience, and was forgetting my filler GCD to line up for the 2 min.

All that said....it WAS still better then having to DC travel. Just logged in...checked the PF...joined up...within maybe 2 min. DC travel would be close to maybe 6 min of just clicking and waiting. And still no guarantees that the EX I was looking for was in PF, and I would have to make my own.

Just way to many barriers to DC travel being an efficient alternative to giving us expanded choices to completing content. DC travel is great for trying out different communities, looking for an FC maybe, or just a change of pace. DC travel works great for all that. However, when you are trying to complete content and sometimes it takes hours to get a party together, well that's just a waste of my time, and others joining the party. No wonder people are just sliding over to aether just to get in a place where the population is due to this practice of abandoning communities just out of shear annoyance.

I'm not saying it's something that's got to go...but SE really needs to examine this closer, and find a way to keep the communities and FC's together. I dread the day when my FC decides to move to aether just being fed up with que times and PF gather time. The day that I have to pay for a permanent transfer to a DC out of my time zone...is probably the day I just stop playing...what's the point if you don't have friends to play with.

[Kuroka]

The joke is something simple like time limits would have helped already....

[Jeeqbit]

It didn't used to happen in the past, for sure. I assumed it started happening because it sometimes would wipe parties due to healers not healing or mitigating well, or the enemies not being killed before reaching the boss. At the minimum item level it's a tough mechanic where the strategy can involve dragging it away, so they probably got it from guides or from doing it when it was new.

[Tsurayu]

It didn't used to happen in the past, for sure. I assumed it started happening because it sometimes would wipe parties due to healers not healing or mitigating well, or the enemies not being killed before reaching the boss. At the minimum item level it's a tough mechanic where the strategy can involve dragging it away, so they probably got it from guides or from doing it when it was new.

Yeah. Probably.

I'm just not a fan of having to change an entire way an encounter is handled just because a few people in the party are being lazy or incompetent. No one else's fault that the healer(s) aren't paying attention. It's possibly to heal through every single Platinal reaching the Bone Dragon if you time your heals properly. Maybe I'm just an elitist jerk at heart, I also get annoyed when people piss and moan if Phlegethon is tanked in the middle of the arena instead of near B's pad. You have time to move for Ancient Flare no matter where the boss is if you are paying attention. *shrugs*

[Jeeqbit]

I also get annoyed when people piss and moan if Phlegethon is tanked in the middle of the arena instead of near B's pad. You have time to move for Ancient Flare no matter where the boss is if you are paying attention. *shrugs*

I think that is not about time. It's about making it more obvious to people who don't know what cast bars are that the boss is doing something significant, because it runs to the middle to cast it. If it's already in the middle then this isn't noticed by players occasionally.

[Doozer]

I think that is not about time. It's about making it more obvious to people who don't know what cast bars are that the boss is doing something significant, because it runs to the middle to cast it. If it's already in the middle then this isn't noticed by players occasionally.

They have to learn somehow. People are too accustomed to playing lazily in stuff like CT that they fail those same mechanics later on. I still can't believe I see people try to stack up multi-stack mechanics because they see people do it in Syrcus Tower. The game only gets more complex from there, so people should start looking at cast bars.

[OliverQ]

Have the Devs ever acknowledged that they're aware this is a problem now and it's killing off all DCs but the raid DC? Or are they just pretending it's not an issue?

[Saraide]

Have the Devs ever acknowledged that they're aware this is a problem now and it's killing off all DCs but the raid DC? Or are they just pretending it's not an issue?

They know they should make cross DC PF and DF. Massive changes in server structure are unfortunately not easy.

[Sqwall]

They know they should make cross DC PF and DF. Massive changes in server structure are unfortunately not easy.

I agree, and I think transparency would be greatly appreciated if it's something that can be done, or simply isn't possible. Just let us know what the limitations are, or if it's something that can be done...just not right now.

Then maybe it would help stem some of the distain around DC travel and it's affects on server/FC communities.

[littlehobbit13]

Well, remember, being off home-world means everything is restricted. Not just friends, but your fc, linkshells, house, retainers. These are, I would argue, basic gameplay elements that are being limited when you're off world.

This continues to be my biggest complaint about the unintended consequences of DC travel. Not all player experiences are now equal. I'm paying the same sub as someone on Aether, but because I'm from Crystal I'm now forced to choose between content I want to enjoy and basic game functions. Whole game features -- retainers, timed nodes, island sanctuary -- are inaccessible to me if I decide I need to use PF to prog a fight, but players on Aether don't have to give up a single damn thing to get a working PF.

having to wade through all these prompts, and queues just to have a functioning party finder is not a good experience.

Same. Some days I'm not sure what I want to do in the game, and I'd like to just see what other stuff is going on that maybe I want to jump into. But that doesn't really work anymore. It feels like so much of my activity has to be PLANNED now and I hate that. Hell, I was progging a raid with some folks the other days, we were on Primal the time before so I transferred over ahead of time only to find out we needed another person this time so we were going to be on Aether, so I had to do DC travel TWICE more just because you can't even go straight from one foreign DC to the next; you always have to rubberband back to your own homeworld before you can go elsewhere. All those DC travel prompts three fricking times just because we needed a functional PF. Not a good experience.

1. Crystal is known as the default roleplay DC, you won't find much raiding there in general.

Except that's not really true. Crystal had a perfectly good and decently populated raiding scene pre-DC travel. I know because I used it. And if anything, it's the fact that basically all combat PF activity has disappeared supports that, because all the people who want to do that content (raiders) are now over on Aether all the time. Crystal is known for RP, but it's hardly the ONLY thing players there are interested in.

I don't want to go to Aether. I want the game I pay for to work. And I don't want to have to be burdened by the fact that I don't play on Aether. I don't want to play on Aether.

This is how I feel about it. It's not about going to Aether. It's about being FORCED to go to Aether. If I wanted to play on Aether, I'd have picked a homeworld there.