"A Letter To The Producer"

[Noshpan]

I actually haven't raged over the times that I had been booted/unable to log on at any point during phases 2, 3, 4 and early access. Have I been irritated? Yeah, a little. As annoying as it is to read, this is normal for any MMO. Nobody ever expects an MMO to be so popular on launch day and before. I certainly didn't, considering I was in the beta for 1.0 and I absolutely hated what they were doing. I hated that 1.0 had so much potential but the developers working on the game at the time didn't want feedback from myself, and others from all over the world, on how to make 1.0 better.

That being said, the game could use some sort of afk-timer. It probably won't help with the congestion issues a great deal, but maybe it will help a little.

[Nekodar]

4. Due to your inability to prepare for such a massive influx of players and maintain reliable services <snip>
why not try reallocating system/hardware resources from less populated servers to more densly populated

If their market data indicated that they would need to handle X concurrent players normally, and they overprovisioned so they could handle peaks of 2X concurrent players, and they're hit with 5X players trying to get in at the same time, I wouldn't really call it inability to prepare.
They're just hit with way more players than they expected the peak to be at.
(this is just an example, not actual relative numbers)

Even if some worlds are less populated than others, they're all populated way more than expected, so I doubt there are any resources to move around right now.

[Samiby]

I would also like this thread to go all the way up to Yoshida. I hope that this piece will be the motivation the company needs to fix this problem which is a burden to everyone of their precious users. I hate to think of all those poor users that can't log on.

The underlining problem with the huge amount of users logged is that a lot of them are just afk (away from keyboard), and not just for an hour at a time. This can be 6, 8, 10 hours whilst they go to sleep, go off to work or school, or even go watch a couple of hours on Netflix, they leave their accounts logged in to ensure that they still have a place on the server when they come back. For everyone else, this means we can't login, receiving error messages saying that the server is full etc.

I can point out one location, The Hawthorne Hut in East shroud contains a back room that is currently occupied by 20 online users afk, just simply waiting in sanctuary obtaining their rested bonus. That's 20 users that have decided that they've got better things to be doing in real life, and have left their characters logged in so that they can ensure they will still be playing when they come back. On the outside, that's 20 poor gamers who can't login and enjoy their purchased game thanks to these afk members. But also for those of us in-game, we have to suffer with frame-rate drops whenever we look at this building that is densely populated by afk characters, wasting the performance from our graphic cards.

I would like to point out that this is just one room in the game. What about all the hundreds of other rooms in the game that are filled with 10/20 afk characters.

Reading the most recent article on the Square Enix blog http://eu.square-enix.com/en/blog/fi...nsion-digital- I see no mention of introducing a bog standard timer into the game, which as I'm sure everyone can figure out, will allow users to be afk for so long before their account is automatically logged out of the game. If the user intended to come back on the game, then all they would simply need to do is log back in. I'm sure proposing an hour is sufficient to allow users to go to the rest room, answer the door, make a cup of tea etc.

The server would be freed up of hundreds if not thousands of afk accounts, allowing the rest of the world to enjoy this game without having to bump into any of these proposed restrictions, the worst which I believe is restricting users to creating characters on the world of their choice. This I believe is only going to cause more problems down the line. For everyone else who is playing, the game will run much smoother. Yet I don't know how bad this affects the graphics for the ps3 (which I think have been a technical marvel), I'm sure it would help in some way.

The login process needs to follow a gentleman's manners, in that the person in front holds a door open for you to enter, and you would pass on this courtesy to the person behind you. In-game, this would translate to a user logging off, you take their place, and when you log off someone else takes your place. At the minute, with users going afk, it's like they've gotten to this door first and installed a lock, that only they can access, locking everyone else out of that server slot. I've heard plenty about Final Fantasy online being the most friendliest of gaming worlds, but going afk for a long time is a selfish gesture. Giving your slot to someone on the other hand earns you plenty of kudos.

Now the timer is a simple solution, and it's been mentioned many times before. What I would like to do though is draw your attention to why it is important that Square Enix implement this change as quickly as possible.

I can't entirely blame these gamers who do leave their accounts afk. I understand exactly what it's like not being able to log in to the game, trying every 10 minutes with no luck. Knowing that I have to give up and try again the next day is gutting. And when I do finally get in, I'm scared to log off. To think that I might not be able to get on for the rest of the day. I understand why users will leave their characters logged in, to ensure they can get right back into the action for the few spare hours they have during the day. For all the heroic ways I save npcs, for the happiness I get when I sell an item on the market, for the inspiration I get from seeing the world's graphics, instead of coming away from the game satisfied, I log off with trepidation. When will the next time be that I will be able to successfully log in?

Secondary problems now arise from this. For some gamers, they might feel they need to play for more hours then they intended to just to get as much out of the game until the next time they are able to log in. This could be time that's cutting into their chores, sleep or work, and is promoting a unhealthy gaming attitude. The gamer needs to FEEL that they can log off for an hour, ie to go stretch their legs and take a walk, have a wash, make tea and come back knowing that there won't be a problem logging in, because if there is, then next time they may feel pressurised to simply continue playing instead of getting something important done. They should come back knowing that they didn't make a mistake logging off, that they didn't need to leave their pc on and their character afk to continue playing the game.

Also the fact that these users are leaving their computers on for such a long length of time inactive is terrible. Going back to the above example. If all those 20 users in that room are afk for 8 hours, that's a total of 260 hours of computing wasted on characters just standing in a room. And again, this is just one room out of hundreds where this is happening everyday! I don't like to think that Square Enix is having some part in contributing to Global Warming by not simply kicking these inactive users from their game. I know some companies pay tax towards how much CO2 they produce, and I wouldn't wish it on Square Enix, specially with the financial situation they are currently going through, but what if someone could take Square to court for having contributing to these emissions...? I don't know what's possible with courts, but you hear all sorts of crazy things in the news about ridiculous lawsuits, which is why I want Square to cover there backs. I want to be playing FFXXV 20 years from now.

I'm no green peace missionary, but for those who think it's ok to leave a computer running idle for 8 hours at a time, please do jump onto one of those workout bikes that show how much wattage your producing whilst you cycle and power your computer yourself for 8 hours. You wouldn't be able to walk for a week. TURN THEM OFF!

I've taken so long writing this that I've forgotten the rest of my points, but hopefully there's still enough here. I'm sure everyone's had enough of reading already. But please Square, something like a timer is surely a quick coding fix, and will save Square millions in additional servers (costs that may come back to the users if they up the subscription amount). This is my first MMO, but I've heard that even the other MMORPGs have systems implemented like this already.

My personal belief is that Square are holding out on upgrades until next week, just waiting for users to reduce their hours on the game and for other players who had little interest to begin with to leave the game entirely, as this will put ease on the servers hugely. For the time being though, it is up to all us gamers to log off when we are done with playing the game, and let someone else on to enjoy it. Working on an honour system, these users will log off around the time that we would want to go back on etc. Let's all be stand-up guys in a stand-up world.

Lastly, I would just like to add about the character creation and restricting world choice. Can not Square instead just recommend which worlds would be better for the user to log in to, by showing ping rates and world capacity. That way the user can make an informed choice on where they would like to enjoy their game, but still allowing others to choose a world that they were already set on as their friends and family are playing in that world.

By the way, throughout the entire time I was typing this letter, I was afk in the game. I can only apologise, but this is me, scared. I'm so scared that I wouldn't be able to log in I've had to go against my own morals to ensure I would still be able to play. Please Square, you have to fix this, you've made me do terrible things

Regards,
Sam

[Kraggy]

"At Square Enix Our Motto IS : Don't Ever Admit There's A Problem"

Given the ENTIRE HISTORY OF ARR is one HUGE 'mea culpa' from SE, facts counter your lie.

ARR is living proof SE admitted there was a 'problem' with V1!

[Reizer]

i do not agree with the theory that they have under estimated the no. of buyers for 2.0

Why? Pls hear me out.

Assuming you go to Mcdonalds. You ordered 20 burgers and handed over the cash. 2 min later, someone from behind the kitchen yelled "Hey we are out of buns!!". Logically you shd refund me my cash for 20 burgers but u did not. u chose to hog it while i linger in limbo while you said "we are working on it". Also, when u decided to accept my purchase of the 2.0, you are crunching those sales numbers every day while you are fully aware of how much server load is available. its simple maths right? put the sales figure beside the figure for the users accessible to servers. apparently one figure is more than the other. n u said u cannot anticipate??!!

totally UNACCEPTABLE!!

[Nekodar]

Reading the most recent article on the Square Enix blog http://eu.square-enix.com/en/blog/fi...nsion-digital- I see no mention of introducing a bog standard timer into the game, which as I'm sure everyone can figure out, will allow users to be afk for so long before their account is automatically logged out of the game. If the user intended to come back on the game, then all they would simply need to do is log back in. I'm sure proposing an hour is sufficient to allow users to go to the rest room, answer the door, make a cup of tea etc.

Regards,
Sam

http://forum.square-enix.com/ffxiv/t...67#post1103367

[tramayne]

"At Square Enix Our Motto IS : Don't Ever Admit There's A Problem"

Can't say I agree with this as they did try to remake the game. While we do have issues now I am trying to have faith that it will improve with time and they will compensate us for time lost.

[TyloRime]

SE's lack of communication is both abysmal and pathetic.

[tramayne]

i do not agree with the theory that they have under estimated the no. of buyers for 2.0

Why? Pls hear me out.

Assuming you go to Mcdonalds. You ordered 20 burgers and handed over the cash. 2 min later, someone from behind the kitchen yelled "Hey we are out of buns!!". Logically you shd refund me my cash for 20 burgers but u did not. u chose to hog it while i linger in limbo while you said "we are working on it". Also, when u decided to accept my purchase of the 2.0, you are crunching those sales numbers every day while you are fully aware of how much server load is available. its simple maths right? put the sales figure beside the figure for the users accessible to servers. apparently one figure is more than the other. n u said u cannot anticipate??!!

totally UNACCEPTABLE!!

Interesting comment. In this instance you would ask for a refund, for the burgers they could not provide, and go on having given up on eating 20 burgers. Given your example you should be refunded for your time - time played. (If you have not played at all then that is a full refund) Not expect to play anymore for the rest of the 30 days of time that came originally with the game. This was what you were thinking correct?

[Barenor]

Good to see we're all getting along ... As I said I'm not stating anything that hasn't already been said by thousands of other people. The fact that they don't institute at least an afk limit timer baffles me. Again, I'm sure this letter just fell on deaf ears... or rather blind eyes? But at least I tried, like so many before me.

For me since we get the first month free, they have 1 month to fix my ability to either load in every time or place me in a queue for my full server so I can try to get in and wait my turn. If they can't establish a fix for that, then they obvioisly don't want my business.... which is fine, there are plenty of others who do... but right now I feel like I'm in an abusive relationship with this game lol. I love the game, and she loves to tease me and make think I can play, spending an hour+ of my time trying to load into my full server every night before I either get in or give up.