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

[Tsuroku]

Thank you, that helps. Ive always wondered how the servers got full, or whatever, hard drive space, is each world multiple computers and can be enlarged by adding more space or computers, etc. Sounds interesting. Thanks for your reply.
Can I ask an unrelated question...the forum is only letting me post in the Technical Support forums, not the General or anything else ("New forum post cannot be made due to either you have reached to your daily limit or your main character's level is not high enough.")

I think you have to be level 25 to make a New Thread, but replying to an existing post should be fine.

[Lani]

I play on a JP server and choose to stay as did the rest of my LS. We all played 1.0 and are able to adjust to the latency which is about the same it was in 1.0. Sometimes it is a little better.

[EmiliM]

I hope SE has a plan in place for tomorrow. Because no amount of emergency maintenance or queuing or auto-timeouts will do anything for the deluge of new players that will be trying to get on tomorrow. A full bus is a full bus. There is no way to resolve this capacity issue without making more servers available to NA/EU players. Expanding existing servers is not a good option since it will just make existing game worlds more crowded than they already are. Some areas in the starting cities are already packed like a Tokyo subway train during rush hour.

So either they open up 10 more to accommodate all the new players + allow existing players to migrate there freely, or they get rid of the server labels and perhaps try entice people to join the servers located in Japan.

Either way it's not looking good. So I'm hoping I'm wrong and they have a plan in place. Because if the next few days are going to be anything like the last few days, they're in big trouble.

[VengeanceManatee]

Bumpity bump for the dumpity bumpity.

[Einzwei]

Hey, I'd love to start a thread about this. Wait a minute, I'd need to log in to level to 25 for that.

Nice little catch 22 you have there, SE.

[AmaraoVayash]

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.

JP Data center, 50MS....NA Data center, 250MS....hardly negligible. It would make more sense to add more worlds and/or servers (the actual servers that run this game) to the rack to handle the load.

[EmiliM]

JP Data center, 50MS....NA Data center, 250MS....hardly negligible. It would make more sense to add more worlds and/or servers (the actual servers that run this game) to the rack to handle the load.

Yes, your speed will definitely differ depending on where you are physically located (although by your numbers it seems almost as if the JP servers are a far better choice for you o_0). That is why SE decided to split and label the servers to begin with. What we have here though is the worst case scenario effect of labelling servers like this (lopsided population distribution), even though for most people the actual gameplay differences between servers in the two regions is not that noticeable. My latency averages about 100ms for NA servers and 140ms for JP ones. Funny thing is, because the NA servers are so packed, I'm actually getting better connections/less loading time/less lag on JP servers than on NA ones. If you have played during Early Access at all this past weekend, you have most likely actually just experienced worse response/loading times than if you simply played on a JP server.

If they can add more servers now, that'd be great too. I hope we don't need to scream this in their face any more than we already have and they're actually working their butts off setting them up.

[Ebojager]

Expanding existing servers is not a good option since it will just make existing game worlds more crowded than they already are. Some areas in the starting cities are already packed like a Tokyo subway train during rush hour.

Thanks EmiliM, your post makes allot of sense. I never thought about it that way. Very good point, I'm starting to understand more regarding the game worlds and the servers.

Thanks