NA/EU Server Congestion: The Problem & A Solution for Devs (PLEASE READ)

[Verrilee]

I started playing on a japanese worlds yesterday and haven't had any problems, but I expect later I will if for no other reason than the time difference. She'll probably become my "I need to escape and go solo for awhile" character because during my prime time the server population is scarce.

The idea of just having all worlds listed so the population can sort itself works for me, except we can't sort ourselves since we can't tell what the load on any of the worlds is. I know companies don't like to list their population numbers these days, but even just a word or graphic designation for population level would help.

[dukedudeston]

I totally agree with OP.
This game will fail again if this problem isn't fixed soon! The saying always is, Bad News always travels faster then good, people always would complain about something rather then say how good it is. The game is fantastic, yeah it could do with a few tweaks here and there I am sure, but these servers could be the death of ARR.

You can say all MMO's have these problems, and "welcome to MMO launch" but remember, Beta Test stages where designed to help sort these problems out, the final beta, was a stress test, where not only were they trying to max out server load, but also give people a taste of the game! They want to fix these issues FAST, they have a NDA in place during the EA, this is why, but the NDA will be void when servers open in just over a day and a half! All the hard work, will be ripped to shreds, within hours!

[Cobyn]

Login Limitation After Emergency Maintenance (Aug. 25): Follow-up 3
We have confirmed that the issues on the North American/European data center Worlds have resurfaced. Therefore, we have placed a severe login restriction in order to stabilize the servers.

While you may continue to have a difficult time logging into the game, please note that the issue is being addressed, and new updates will follow as additional information becomes available.

We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience that this is causing everyone for an extended period, but we would like to ask for your continued cooperation to make this a stable environment.

[MisterPuddin]

My recommendation would be to implement a rationing system:

[I'm not sure if the queue already works this way or not (probably not), but it would ensure that people can at least play for a little bit.]

I think, for the most part, when people log in, they stay logged in for quite some time (I was on for like 8 hours straight the other day). This would be fine if no one was waiting to get in, but when you're flooded with so many users, only a select few can enjoy the game.

If there's a queue in effect, the server should disconnect the users that have been logged in the longest (this would also kick the assholes who sit there afk-ing). Those disconnected users can then simply put themselves onto the end of the queue and wait for an available spot (which shouldn't take too, too long).

This would ensure that EVERYONE can at least play the game at some point. No more of this nonsense login blocking that's taking place.

Of course there are some additional parameters to consider:

- Don't DC people that are in transition
- Don't DC people in an instance
- Give someone at least (say) an hour before they're force-DC-ed by the server
- Wait (say) 5 seconds before the server force-DCs someone
- etc

I think this would be much easier to do than the original proposal, which requires some serious server architecture overhauls (sharing accounts across all data centers, sharding, normalization, etc etc) - although this would certainly relieve some of the congestion problems.

Perhaps SE could consolidate servers into smaller "networks" that could share their data - so if there's 25 data centers, put 5 data centers on a "network = 5 "networks". You connect to a "network" and then select a server. The data center with your data on it transfers that data to the server that you selected. Presto! This is how high volume services handle this problem on the back end (facebook, twitter, etc).

With this much congestion already (and it's only going to get worse after a full release), SE needs to seriously consider these "Big Data" concerns.

I think SE has rolled out a fantastic game, but they've done a shoddy job with communication and server management (at least on the non-JP end)

Sorry for rambling and thanks for reading.

[EmiliM]

My recommendation would be to implement a rationing system:

I'd disagree with you and say this is not an amusement park ride. There is no point in kicking people off so others can play for fairness's sake. You're going to end up with one group of pissed users or another, it's all the same.

The solution I suggested would require some reconfiguration for sure, but it would definitely cost less at least in the short-medium term than adding and operating entirely new servers, and it's far better for the health (not to mention community) of all existing servers in the long run (far less concern about under- or over-utilization of regional servers).

I remember SE having to explain their head off to unhappy users about splitting up the servers during beta 3: very few, if any, people asked for it, and many 1.0 players in both Japan and NA/EU were very unhappy about being torn apart from their friends overseas. SE tried to explain the merits but looking back at it now, I really hope they realize it was all a big mistake.

Anyway, I'd disagree except I just got kicked off 90000 style after being on for a few hours so maybe they are rotating people lol

[Scolaris]

I like what other games have done. Allow gamers to freely switch to another server in-game. Servers were labeled green, yellow, or red based on congestion and people could move their character to a less populated server. Or even when a person ''teleports'' or ''returns'' in FFXIV, that they would be going to their chosen destination, but on a less congested server. People in parties could still talk to party members between servers, and a party member could say "Hey. Everyone move to XXXXX server." Joining instances could teleport you to less populated servers, etc. Let the game itself and the people playing it regulate the congestion. *shrugs* Seems to work for others.

[EmiliM]

I like what other games have done. Allow gamers to freely switch to another server in-game. Servers were labeled green, yellow, or red based on congestion and people could move their character to a less populated server. Or even when a person ''teleports'' or ''returns'' in FFXIV, that they would be going to their chosen destination, but on a less congested server. People in parties could still talk to party members between servers, and a party member could say "Hey. Everyone move to XXXXX server." Joining instances could teleport you to less populated servers, etc. Let the game itself and the people playing it regulate the congestion. *shrugs* Seems to work for others.

Ragnarok Online I think did this. I think that's due to the way the infrastructure is set up. There are obvious benefits of doing this, although there is the downside of being technically complicated and makes it harder for people to meet up. A server status indicator would be useful regardless though.

[Kidogo]

Great points, liked. We need to get some feedback from Square.

[Tsuroku]

The current issue with NA/EU servers, when it comes down to it, is quite simple: there are simply too many people trying to play at the same time. The fact of the matter is, the existing 25 NA/EU servers are basically already near, at, and in many cases, over capacity.

Assuming most Early Access players stick around for official release, the influx of new players joining at that point will almost guarantee the necessity for new servers to be opened up. There is no other way to address this. No queue or server maintenance will resolve the fact that too many people are trying to get in. Yes, eventually the server populations will most likely stabilize, but it will come at a cost of many people having already left.

Meanwhile, the Japanese servers are humming along relatively problem free. This is not because Japanese servers are somehow better, but the result of a simple marketing decision to "designate" these servers, which are physically located in Japan, as "Japanese worlds".

The reality is that the latency difference between a JP and a NA/EU server is mostly negligible for most people. In fact, I'd wager if Square Enix never bothered with separating the servers and simply stated "we have 50 worlds for all players in the world, feel free to join any one of them" we would have a far more even distribution of players across all worlds, and you won't have this issue of the JP servers being underutilized while the NA/EU ones are bursting at the seams. And I would bet nobody in NA would even notice the latency difference of a JP server (and vice versa).

My solution to the devs is to abolish the system of "designating" servers. Simply list ALL servers in a single list for ALL world players. All servers would then be utilized evenly AND you end up with the benefit of a more varied world community that people valued in FFXI.

For now, there needs to be more servers. Once that is done, please allow all existing players to do an optional one-time server transfer to ONLY those new servers, so those who wish to reunite with their friends/family or are willing to leave their current world for a less congested server can do so.

I like this solution, especially the one-time server move. There are likely quite a few people willing to transfer to a low population server, but don't want to start-up a new character and lose progress. If anything, I don't see how this can hurt the current situation.

That said, I am unsure how long it would take to implement this solution, inform the community and then wait to see how it plays out. Its unfortunate, but I think we are too close to launch and to many issues they are currently working on to shift away resources to get something like this going. Hell world transfers were not even going to be an option for another few weeks if I am correct, its possible because they are still working on it.

[EmiliM]

That said, I am unsure how long it would take to implement this solution, inform the community and then wait to see how it plays out. Its unfortunate, but I think we are too close to launch and to many issues they are currently working on to shift away resources to get something like this going. Hell world transfers were not even going to be an option for another few weeks if I am correct, its possible because they are still working on it.

Yes, this would be a major change in the way servers are managed, which will be difficult to implement once paying customers are playing. That's probably why they wanted to have the current system set up during beta (and even then people made a big fuss about it). At the end of the day, I fear those who are frustrated will simply leave, and the servers will stablize and everyone else will just go back to playing and forget about all this. One of the reasons I wanted to direct people's attention to this is because it does more than just address the immediate server congestion concerns, it's a call to reverse their original decision to "split" the servers up and dividing a great global community. Yes, language barriers will present themselves, but at the end of the day, I think the benefits still far outweighs the downsides.