Slow Loading NPC's, Quest Updates, Animation Delayes ETC.

[Ditto]

I've been having this problem for a while now. The game seems to either load things slowly, or something is going on between the client, and the server. Often, most noticeable during my servers peak hours (Diabolos), this issue will make itself most known.

For a while I've been wondering if it was because the game recommends a Quad Core Processor, and I'm using a Dual Core (Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz), but to me it seems more like a connection issue or something. Sometimes Quests even take forever to update on an NPC, and the quest complete mark lingers over their head far after I've already handed the quest in, making me wait until it finally updates to grab the next quest.

Mobs tend to either not show up, or disappear randomly, causing me to get hit by invisible things that I cant target. Animations and the sound lags, to where my character will start to slide around, not moving at all, yet still applying skill damage to targets, then suddenly catching up after a while. (I can literally get out my entire rotation before it fixes itself, for a few seconds, then starts again) The sound is choppy and seems to struggle to play, or keep up during stuff like Fates.

I've also had my chance to explore the waters of Limsa Limonsa as well, somehow hitting an invisible wall in the middle of nowhere, then falling through the map.

This is the most irritating thing I have ever experienced in an MMO before, and it couldn't be my connection because my signal strength is always marked excellent, and the severity of it seems to happen around my servers peak moments.

Sometimes if I manage to log in early enough, around 9am - 1pm EST when a lot of people are in school or at work, then stay logged in throughout the peak moments still on that connection, it will be more tolerable. But god forbid I get a random 90k error, or a Runtime error, and have to reestablish that connection.

If this info helps any bit;

ISP: Service Electric
Type of Internet Connection: Cable
Internet Connection Speed: Around 20Mbit/s (Changes to like 7Mbit/s from 5PM - 1AM Est, but always stays 7 or above)
Date & Time: 7:13 PM, 8/30/2013
Frequency: Sometimes; During server moments that aren't considered 'peak'. Always; during peak moments.
Character Name: Echo Arc
Race: Miqo'te
World: Diabolos
Class/Level: 45, Lancer (Dragoon) Has been happening since around the start of Early Access however.
Area and Coordinates: Everywhere. There's no specific spot where this will decide to happen. However, it seems less common on maps where there aren't a lot of people on, such as in dungeons. Though even then it can still occasionally happen, just not as severe.
Party or Solo: Both
NPC Name: Any NPC. They can often take quite a while just to update quests after turning one in, or even begin the dialogue for a quest after initiating it. Often I find myself standing next to an NPC for a few minutes waiting for the Quest Complete mark to disappear, and update to the next Quest that NPC has to give.
Monster Name: Any monster. Some wont appear for about a minute or so, causing you to get hit by invisible things. This especially happens in Fates. In specific, if it helps, Svara has just recently had a serious case with this a few minutes prior to this, where, even though the fight is fairly long, for the entire duration of it she remained invisible. Couldn't target or anything. She appeared for me once, then disappeared just as fast, and did that 3 times or so as I stood there waiting for her to load so I could attack.
In-Game Time: It seems to just happen whenever it feels like it. Most often during peak times. There's not a time when I don't notice even the littlest bit of this problem while playing. It's as if it's almost always there, just not always as bad.
Steps: Simply logging in, and playing the game as anyone would.

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Connection Specs
Type of internet connection/provider: Service Electric (Cable)
Modem maker/model number: Surfboard SB6141
Router: Cisco Linksys E1200

-=-=-=-=- System Information -=-=-=-=-
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name ODYSSEY-912
System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model G41MT-S2PT
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz, 3166 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Award Software International, Inc. F2, 12/6/2011
SMBIOS Version 2.4
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.17514"
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 8.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 8.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 4.77 GB
Total Virtual Memory 16.0 GB
Available Virtual Memory 11.6 GB
Page File Space 8.00 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys
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Browser Information
- Name and version of the browser currently in-use: Firefox
- Internet Explorer Version: 10.0

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A detailed overview of everything that seems to happen (As far as I'm aware) with this problem;

• When using skills, or attacking in general, the animations wont play. Instead, your character will freeze in position, slide around, yet still do damage to that mob. After some time, given the chance to catch up, it will begin to play the animations out as fast as it can, rushing through them to catch up. This is really annoying as a Dragoon where my jumping skills change my position, as the position wont be updated until that animation actually does play out.
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• After turning finished quests into an NPC, even after taking the rewards and getting the completed sign and sound, the quests that NPC has can easily take a while to update to the next quest they have to offer. For example, I finish a quest, hand it in, all is complete. Yet it will still have the green mark above its head as if I still have a quest to turn in. That easily stays around for up to a few minutes sometimes, where if you talk to the NPC during that time, it will give you the regular quest-less dialogue.
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• Mobs (Enemies) tend to take a while to appear, causing you to get hit by invisible things quite often until they do appear. Often when they do appear, such as FATE bosses like Svara, or Odin, they will disappear just as fast, making me unable to even participate.
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• Sound gets really choppy, especially in Fates. It will begin to flicker, cutting in and out constantly, and it will often fall behind, then rush to catch up playing any sounds in it's queue until it does. This happens out of combat as well, giving a low quality choppiness to populated areas within cities that have a lot of background talk, and things going on in general.
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• When in crowded areas, even other players can just up and vanish. When in combat, for example when I was fighting Odin, half the time it looked as if I were standing alone in the middle of the forest with nothing going on, because Odin, nor any player fighting him would appear. When they did, they'd disappear just as fast as if they were being phased.
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• NPC's often take FOREVER to load. I find myself standing near an NPC just waiting for it to appear to hand a quest in, or receive one.
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• During it's most severe hours (Like weekends), while running through a city, everything will refuse to load save for the map model itself. Often you will run into an invisible wall in the middle of nowhere which prevents you from going any further, and if you manage to get around it to continue your regular path, you will fall through the map. This can happen without the invisible wall as well, where your character will sink into the ground when attempting to go up a ramp or stairs, then eventually fall through. (Seems to happen most in Limsa Limonsa)

[jj7777]

Same exact thing with mine and I have similar specs although my internet is a 30mb line and holds true to its speed throughout the day.

[Dev]

Same issue with 50down 5up.. I'll keep 40-60fps most of the time it's happening too..

[Hurtzfield]

Mine only happens when there's a lot of people in the zone. Like it's loading players before NPCs.

[Ditto]

If it helps any bit, I have a video of this happening as well during a Behemoth encounter. It's a really far example of the problem, as during those types of encounters half the server is there, but either way, it shouldn't be happening at all. Certain parts of the game just become unplayable because of it.

[Ceol]

Fighting large FATE bosses like Odin and Behemoth is especially troublesome. Odin roams his FATE area, so as soon as he loads up, he quickly vanishes. I barely have enough time to get a Fire III on him.

You would think after the problem FFXI had with Besieged, the developers would know how to handle load priority. As of right now, I can't even participate in those FATE events because of the lack of thought put into loading objects on the screen. It's baffling how no one thought this might be a problem, even if they didn't expect so many people; they surely should have expected 48 hour boss FATEs to attract a lot of players.

[Peerlmyne]

We appreciate your submission concerning Slow Loading. I have made sure to submit all of your information to the development team to thoroughly investigate this matter, based on your report. Unfortunately, I cannot guarantee that a direct response will be posted on this thread, but I do recommend checking Here or Here for any details regarding the development team's investigation.

Thank you for taking the time to provide information about this error and for playing FINAL FANTASY XIV: A Realm Reborn.