Why no regional servers?

[gifthorse]

I'm sorry to be the one to ask, but why do we not have regional servers?

Problems with global servers:

• Limits the potential of combat pace and response-times due to latency/ping
• Half the player-base speaks another language and it becomes difficult to interact with them (therefore ends up being more exlusive than inclusive)

The issue with latency is probably the biggest one. It places a lot of restrictions on how involved they can make combat, unless they shift more of it server-side (but that just opens up room for exploits). Last night I was doing leves (and I hadn't played for a while and forgot how unresponsive things were) and only then did I realise just how terrible the delay was.

It's just not as fun as it should be when your character does not do what you're telling it to do.

While I think it's a novel idea to have global servers, the benefits are so minor as compared to the problems it causes.

[Arcell]

Because they're stupid. We've had this discussion before.

[gifthorse]

Because they're stupid. We've had this discussion before.

Sorry, didn't catch that. Did you mean SE is stupid or did you mean regional servers are stupid? If I'd have to guess, I'd assume you meant the former.

[Majidah]

I love meeting people from all over the world and talking with the japanese crowd using the translator.
I wish people would be more open minded.

A regional server would only manage to make the server dead during certain hours of the day. While a global server keeps it alive 24/7. So you know that if you wake up suddenly at 3 am on a tuesday, you can get on and do something with people.

[Radaghast]

Because it's easier and cheaper for them to lump everyone onto the same server.

[Verecund]

Hopefully the PS3 released does well enough on both sides of the globe to warrant this addition.

[Arcell]

Okay, you got me there.

I don't see the need to segregate the servers by region at this point in the game. Why split an already small community up? What's wrong with communicating and cooperating with a global community? With auto-translate you can overcome the language boundaries most of the time and honestly I've met quite a few people from non-English speaking countries who speak English. Honestly while I don't personally play with tons of people, I'd rather not have that choice made for me. There are also "unofficial" region servers, isn't that enough?

[Cairdeas]

Hopefully the PS3 released does well enough on both sides of the globe to warrant this addition.

It wont it goes against SE's buisness practice for XI and XIV.

[gifthorse]

Okay, you got me there.

I don't see the need to segregate the servers by region at this point in the game. Why split an already small community up? What's wrong with communicating and cooperating with a global community? With auto-translate you can overcome the language boundaries most of the time and honestly I've met quite a few people from non-English speaking countries who speak English. Honestly while I don't personally play with tons of people, I'd rather not have that choice made for me. There are also "unofficial" region servers, isn't that enough?

The biggest issue isn't the language-barrier anyway, it's the latency. I can speak japanese and italian both to some extent so I can get by and cooperate with people from other countries. However it's still difficult and unless you are perfectly fluent you still can't engage with them 100%. But as I said, latency is probably the biggest issue. Having the servers in japan means that every other country that isn't japan has terrible response-times connecting the servers, giving us unreasonable delays that we shouldn't have.

And unofficial regional servers do nothing to assuage this problem.

[gifthorse]

It wont it goes against SE's buisness practice for XI and XIV.

I think there comes a time when you have to put aside tradtion and custom in favour of common sense and practicality. If they continue to develop content around poor latency, they essentially tie one hand behind their back.