Data Centers/World Locations Info from the LIVE Letter

[Kiroh]

It is perfectly logical, Soube...

If someone you play with values their server lag over playing with you, it is an absolute prioritization and you are on the losing end. Can't get much more logical than that. It's just that kind of truth hurts to hear. I understand. Doesn't make it any less a reality.

Yes, it is perfectly logical. Absolutely. I am not being sarcastic in ANY way. >_>

[HiirNoivl]

...I hate to be the one to say this... but "latency and lag" are an excuse.

[Starlord]

I'm sure we will test the JP servers and if its worth staying on a JP server, then we can tell them that we don't really "need" the other data centers. That's just a thought though

[cloverkitty]

I am really hoping this is a mis-communication in translations. Because if this is true, I won't quite but I would not be surprised if I start to lose interest in the game.
1. I hate using a content finder to do everything, I prefer to either do it with friends (which btw are in Europe, Japan and the US) or shouts (which are also in Europe, Japan and the US). A content finder just segregates things more and shows that the game will be a collection of lonely instances with a hint of other stuff.
2. This (while not intended) will segregate the world communities, making this 3 games for 3 different regions. Just by the sheer fact that most people are impulse and join groups based on shouts or communications. It was even stated by Yoshi-P in the past that non-JP typically do not use the content search features. So now we are forced to use the feature (and select a language) or stick with the current system and cause a wider rift among the world servers.

While I know it is quite feasible, and I assumed (apparently incorrectly) that the Data Centers would act as hubs to mirror content (much like Final Fantasy XI)
Seems like the more we advance the more we go backwards.

If that happens while I don't plan to quite I would not be surprised due to all of the lost connections to other players across the world I know I would find myself playing less and less until I move on to other things. This is probably the biggest and most devastating announcement of the game, and has really caused me to rethink my future with this game. I will wait until final release to make a final judgement, but lets just hope this is a translation mistake.
2.

[Wynn]

Do you really believe this change will improve upon the gameplay that much? I don't experience much lag at all, besides with the UI and menus. I'm used to playing competitive games with 180ms latency, and it isn't noticeable. They're not tournaments, nor am I a professional, but FFXIV also isn't an E-sport nor does it need lag free gameplay only a professional player would notice.

I personally think the benefit will be greatly outweighed by the separation of players.

Yes... Duh.

Do you really think SE would funnel all the money into regional servers if it WOULDN'T improve gameplay that much for overseas players?

Anyways... said I wasn't going to do this...

Ima go kill Atomos.

Enjoy gnashing your teeth raw.

[Rane]

i think the lags we have now are more due to server architecture than the distance.

ever played an japan mmorpg and experienced that extreme lag issue as well? Phantasy star online for example? no..

I believe you're right. I played WoW on a U.S. east coast server back when I was living in Japan. I never had any problems with latency.

[Darshu]

Also, regarding the second part of your response that someone already tackled above, it's not just about choosing between lag/friends, but the fact that if you choose your friends and they happen to be in a server that's void of most people in your region, your game will suffer greatly. Why did we have to choose things like this?

It's a lose/lose situation anyway you look at it if you have friends from other regions. You can't simply force online friends to move to your server, some people you simply have fun playing with, doesn't mean they are your best of buddies. The linkshell can have up to 80 people, that can play together and tackle on content on a daily basis, and still you'll only really have chance to be friends with 5 or 10 at most. Once you pick your friends and move, you'll lose 70 people you used to have fun with, because they had to choose between their friends too.

I'm also from Brazil and still have no idea where I'm going to go, since lag isn't an issue for me.

[Alhanelem]

This probably would have turned out better if the vast majority of us didn't come from FFXI where everyone was already mixed.

The sort of good news is the content finder matches across servers and can match you up with anyone. So even if you're an english player on a JP server, you can find people to do stuff with through that. It's not exactly ideal though...

That being said, this is a situation where you really can't have your cake and eat it too. You can either have good network performance and likely splitting up of communities, or you can mix everyone together and accept a JP advantage.

[Reika]

i think the lags we have now are more due to server architecture than the distance.

ever played an japan mmorpg and experienced that extreme lag issue as well? Phantasy star online for example? no..

If the new server's architecture will greatly reduce the lag, combined with them making actions more client-side to reduce the lag there, Why even have all of this separation?

I too played WoW from a different contry to the US, freakin Iraq, and the only problem was the slow unstable 500kb connection we were limited to. it wasnt even that that bad with that.

[Dargoth_Draconia]

Worst news ever.. really. It's very sad thing for me.

Correction. Best news ever.