Sorry SE, but endgame won't work if you don't fix something.

[Dannythm]

Where is the question thread for the live letter so we can spam it with this problem?

[FreakinZMartin]

Is Square Enix ever going to listen or what?

[Tierras]

I think the majority have realised that it's a problem now.
... Just the occasional few people thinking they're better than everyone else because their lag isn't AS BAD. Still exists, but not as bad as others. They see it, but they won't admit it.

[Berezo]

I have a fabulous connection, yes this game has the worse positional/delay in any mmorpg i have ever played. Quite sad.

[PerrythePlatypus]

I have a fabulous connection, yes this game has the worse positional/delay in any mmorpg i have ever played. Quite sad.

This x100.
I'm almost one month in, and my time will expire. I'm probably not subbing due to this. I'm not getting cheated out of my time and effort.
Extremely aggravating to move, and still get hit.
You see it all the time in the ability to cast a spell and move before it finishes, and it doesn't interrupt. It's quiet pathetic.

[Alcyon_Densetsu]

Reading the most recent "Letter from the Producer" (#51) and the themes planned for the next "Live letter" (oct.19), it seems as though they're not even addressing the issue. Based on the fact that it's an "accepted bug" and also a topic they did address back in v1 and v2 beta, I have formed the following conclusions.

1. Square Enix is aware of the problem but does not have a working solution for it as we speak.
2. Considering how long they've been aware of the issue, that they still haven't come up with a solution means one of two things: they either don't think this is a serious issue, or they simply don't know how to fix it. The latter could be resulting of two likely constrains: either a technical one, by which they don't have the skills necessary to improve their code; or a budget constrain, meaning they don't have the cash to muscle up their datacenter enough to circumvent this 300ms check (we all know that, to reach acceptable "fixing" standards, this check should happen at least 10 times more often, in the vicinity of 30ms or less).
3. Considering the above, Square Enix knows that simply admitting that they can't fix the issue would be a very short-termed relief: while players would appreciate the honesty at first, they'd likely be very hesitant on continuing to play an online game that is that much sub-par in terms of responsiveness. Therefore, they just don't say a word about it, preferring to be oblivious to the issue, at least publicly.
4. I could think of a few ways to at least improve the situation, typically by implementing client-side prediction, as most AAA online games do from day 1; but again, considering all of the above, and the fact that rewriting netcode is by no means a small endeavour, I wouldn't get my hopes up for such a design improvement before 3.0 at the very best. If Final Fantasy XI is any indication, game-breaking issues of this magnitude may never be fixed.

Should this be true, it is my contention that it's probably the worst way to address such a game-breaking issue: try to bury the issue under the carpet, and probably not even work on it (or very slowly) behind the curtain. They should not only make a grand statement saying that they're doing something, but also and foremost invest heavily into solving one of the most worrying aspect of this game, bearing its long-term future in mind. Should they not do that, most players will simply move on to other games, not without mentioning publicly on various forums/comment threads/to friends that "FF XIV is nice but the network is broken", and should other players still try this game after that, they'll realise soon that indeed the network part of it is broken and, simply put, they'll leave as well.

This game could have millions of subscribers in the long run, it is that good; unfortunately with such poor responsiveness, it's unlikely to be anything more than a niche akin to FF XI, in the vicinity of 500k regular subscribers. For a franchise (IP) that sold above the 200M mark in its 25+ years of existence, I'd call that a failure. Wake up, SE.

[Efrye]

Considering how long they've been aware of the issue, that they still haven't come up with a solution means one of two things: they either don't think this is a serious issue, or they simply don't know how to fix it.

The thing is: As I mentioned in this thread before, they could easily make this issue irrelevant by designing content accordingly. The lag was even worse in FFXI, yet it was never that big a deal in that game.

But no, they absolutely have to copy other MMOs and make this a twitchy AoE dodge fest, come hell or high water. Never mind if it's playable, just make sure people have to keep pressing them buttons every two seconds.

[kayuwoody]

Ok, I hate to be that guy, because I have personally experienced the lag myself. But all of the videos linked in the OP actually show the players NOT leaving the AOE before the cast bar goes off (or in the first link, doesn't show the enemy cast bar). The video examples provided aren't helping the case.

The disconnect between animation and the enemy cast bar is huge (1-2 secs sometimes) and this is something that should be addressed, but it's a separate thing.
The current game mechanic is leave AOE before enemy cast bar finishes, and that wasn't shown in the links provided.

At this point in time, while it's not natural to avoid the mechanic that you can't visually see the enemy doing yet, you can indeed avoid the mechanic based on the enemy cast bar. Of course you're still going to get some latency issues, so don't expect to leave the AOE within a pixel of the cast bar completing and escape either.

[Orsnoire]

Ok, I hate to be that guy, because I have personally experienced the lag myself. But all of the videos linked in the OP actually show the players NOT leaving the AOE before the cast bar goes off (or in the first link, doesn't show the enemy cast bar). The video examples provided aren't helping the case.

The disconnect between animation and the enemy cast bar is huge (1-2 secs sometimes) and this is something that should be addressed, but it's a separate thing.
The current game mechanic is leave AOE before enemy cast bar finishes, and that wasn't shown in the links provided.

At this point in time, while it's not natural to avoid the mechanic that you can't visually see the enemy doing yet, you can indeed avoid the mechanic based on the enemy cast bar. Of course you're still going to get some latency issues, so don't expect to leave the AOE within a pixel of the cast bar completing and escape either.

Yeah, and how are healers supposed to watch a cast bar that isn't visible and move based on that invisible cast bar, hmmm?

They need it to be responsive so that the only way to complete content doesn't involve clunky workarounds (i.e. healers staying targetted on the main boss).

[kayuwoody]

Yeah, and how are healers supposed to watch a cast bar that isn't visible and move based on that invisible cast bar, hmmm?

They need it to be responsive so that the only way to complete content doesn't involve clunky workarounds (i.e. healers staying targetted on the main boss).

You're preaching to the choir. I've been trying to pug this as WHM for a few days now. I've found it easiest to keep Titan targetted at all times, and to heal the tank as my Focus target, and rest of party via the party frames. Essentially all my spells go in order of <mo> <f> <tt>. Knowing the rotation is essential of course, but I still get hit by stuff when I tunnel vision into healing people. Fight's relatively easy if everyone's playing their roles. The upside to all that practice pugging, I think I'm finally at a comfortable place for this fight as healer, where I will only get hit by something if I'm playing badly.