Balmung Restriction Discussion

[Vulture]

*Meh* Like I said before, it happened before, it's happening now, and it'll happen again. Different names, same arguments, same insults, same naivety, life goes on and nothing is learned.

Not angry, just tired. So tired. :roll:

QKeK1BjoXgk

[Delilah Scythewood]

*Meh* Like I said before, it happened before, it's happening now, and it'll happen again. Different names, same arguments, same insults, same naivety, life goes on and nothing is learned.

Not angry, just tired. So tired. :roll:

QKeK1BjoXgk

Then kindly stop posting if it's so tiring for you, dear

 

As for AFK timers: GAWD YES. Please. Just. Please...I ran by a few people in ul'dah today who have been standing in the same spot since yesterday evening when I was RPing right next to them when they happened to stop and pop their little red chairs before I moved onward. That's just stupid.

[Vulture]

Passive aggressive condescension isn't necessary dear

That was going to be my last post in this thread.

[Kellach Woods]

First need to identify, concretely, what contributes to the character creation restrictions. We see login queues for high activity, assuming it's for logged in people. Then what contributes exactly to character creation issues? It's obviously different otherwise we'd have queues back to pre-2.2? when the queues stopped being -100502 and it didn't take 5 minutes to login.

 

That's what I want to know, personally.

[Kage]

I mean they had that post a long long time ago where it was explained but as was discussed in the one "please stop afking!" thread.... if it were the case login queues would be shit as well. So there's obviously a difference between how the servers decide things.

 

I would check every day at 4:30am-5am but since my desk is now in the bedroom I can't :>

[Blue]

I know I've said this in other threads of the same discussion, but personally I am wholly against the return of the auto-boot feature. Maybe some of people do not have reasons to want to stay online when afk, and it is "retarded", but I'm sure most have valid reasons.

 

Such as not wanting to stare at the screen with nothing to do while waiting for a 2+ hours long queue (looking at you, Urthr's Fount and Wolves' Den).

 

Me? I like to stay online first and foremost because my group RPs in linkshell, and I like to come back and read the RP the day after (since I'm EU and my group is NA, RP sometimes occurs while I sleep), like a recorded version of my favorite show.

 

I also like to stay online when afk because I have legit and realistic reasons to use beds IC. My character has actual sleep hours!

 

And so on... I don't really enjoy TV anymore and there's little I watch on PC these days. So I like to keep my RP log to read. It's a way to keep my friends close when I can't be there to RP with them. They also love to hear my comments the day after an RP I missed!

 

I -feel- the auto-boot feature may make a temporary return in XIV when 3.0 hits, but it's a huge maybe because currently the total population of the entire game is pretty low (around 2 million registered, only 500k active?). If it returns, it's because Balmung itself is close to reaching capacity during patch days, and it might reach it on 3.0. If that so happens, meh, I'll find ways around it. I'll be sad I won't be able to afk on bed, but no way I'm staying offline :roll:!

[Melodia]

 

Non-RPers are parasites, I don't mean this as an insult but in the literal sense: Parasitism is a non-mutual symbiotic relationship between species, where one species, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host.

 

 

 

I would not normally reply to this but as my wife and son, two of the kindest players in the game, are in fact non-roleplayers, living in Balmung, minding their own business and enjoying the game....I take offense to this. They sell goods on the market, buy items, have a home in Lavender Beds and cause no trouble. Calling them parasites...makes no sense. Why....because they don't rp? Oh well. We all don't rp all the time. I know many here who skillfully crush coil turns and raid and play the MSQ, craft, etc. They aren't roleplaying during those times. I know rp'ers who take breaks. Should they be called parasites simply because they aren't exisitjng soley as roleplayers?

 

This sort of rp elitism is just as sickening as raider elitism. Everyone can enjoy the game as they see fit on any server they see fit. And it's a natural balance that swings one way or the other depending on the population. Stop trying to lump people into categories. Social stratification is not wanted or needed.

 

TL;DR: This clown needs to shut it and stop lumping people into categories. Everyone can co-exist peacefully

[Blue]

 

Non-RPers are parasites, I don't mean this as an insult but in the literal sense: Parasitism is a non-mutual symbiotic relationship between species, where one species, the parasite, benefits at the expense of the other, the host.

 

 

 

 

I would not normally reply to this but as my wife and son, two of the kindest players in the game, are in fact non-roleplayers, living in Balmung, minding their own business and enjoying the game....I take offense to this. They sell goods on the market, buy items, have a home in Lavender Beds and cause no trouble. Calling them parasites...makes no sense. Why....because they don't rp? Oh well. We all don't rp all the time. I know many here who skillfully crush coil turns and raid and play the MSQ, craft, etc. They aren't roleplaying during those times. I know rp'ers who take breaks. Should they be called parasites simply because they aren't exisitjng soley as roleplayers?

 

This sort of rp elitism is just as sickening as raider elitism. Everyone can enjoy the game as they see fit on any server they see fit. And it's a natural balance that swings one way or the other depending on the population. Stop trying to lump people into categories. Social stratification is not wanted or needed.

 

TL;DR: This clown needs to shut it and stop lumping people into categories. Everyone can co-exist peacefully

 

The fun fact is that without non-RPers, we would have a much harder time. Quoting myself from the official forums:

 

I may pull an odd duck now, but while I have been preaching for an RP server for a long while, I'm starting bit by bit to see that at the very end, a server of -only- roleplayers would struggle to keep going. Roleplaying is an activity that takes high amounts of time and usually gives nothing back in terms of progress of the server's economy or status within the game's advancement overall (meaning, endgame content). A server without non-RPers would probably end up being with an inflated economy, with only few people farming and providing the market with items and materials (because most of people would be busy RPing, and RP takes time), and with very hard times in finding help for difficult content (because most of people would be busy RPing, and RP takes time). Duty Finder can only do so much to help that, and everybody knows the bad reputation DF pugs have in endgame content.

 

So, while I am mainly a roleplayer and have a sour eye for those who grief RPers and what they do, I don't think I could have a stable server's economy and community without non-roleplayers. I think Balmung is as close as how an official RP server should be in order to be functional.

[Kage]

Just imagine the cost of the Extreme Primal drop items or the First Coil items (Allagan Leather etc). Without people on Balmung farming stuff for lights or drops, etc the demand would be sooooo much higher for such items with probably much less supply.

 

And I... doubt you'd have the same quantity of crafters + desynthesizers if it was RPers only. Some of us wouldn't even be on the world in the first place because we only started to RP months after we started playing.

[Kailia]

Well I posted a thread up on the official forums. Man the pigheadedness of some of them repliers O_o Telling people they shouldn't have alts, or to go play on another server away from their friends, it's ridiculous.

 

Link to the Thread

[Blue]

Well I posted a thread up on the official forums. Man the pigheadedness of some of them repliers O_o Telling

people they shouldn't have alts, or to go play on another server away from their friends, it's ridiculous.

 

Link to the Thread

 

You should put this link in the RPC Request to the devs thread too, so that anyone can take an extra look at it in the future as well! (Seriously, it's so hard to make our voices be heard, I made that thread to try and gather support from all the RPC. For some things it seems to be working!)

[Naunet]

Man the pigheadedness of some of them repliers

 

My favorites are the ones who clearly have no clue what alts are, how they work, and how they are different from simultaneous logins.

 

FFXI-->FFXIV white knights are hilarious.

[Kailia]

Man the pigheadedness of some of them repliers

 

My favorites are the ones who clearly have no clue what alts are, how they work, and how they are different from simultaneous logins.

 

FFXI-->FFXIV white knights are hilarious.

 

Yep, there's one that seems to think character space is the problem with the server. No. It's the amount of connections! I suspect if SE would get off their butts and actually ban the hundreds of black mage teleport hacking bots, we'd see the server unlock more often.

 

Just the other day was in an RP with friends in the drybone inn, and a pack of like 6 or more lalafell black mages appeared, and began to leap at a phased npc, creating a weird after image effect since they all look exactly the same, then they did the leap again to the end of the bed, then disappeared.

 

But what got me laughing in that thread, is the guy blaming the small rp community for the issues. In the greater scheme of things, rpers make up at most 15% of the server I believe. I encounter more PVEers than I do RPers.

[QueenFrejyalen]

We should all probably stop paying any mind to that person who clearly just wants all our attention.  I know they said something very rude and cruel, but quoting them keeps bringing them back and derailing a perfectly good conversation.  =<

 

 

 

 

I hadn't really thought that people might be using the ability to AFK to read other people's RPs.  That honestly never crossed my mind, and I can see where that would be useful.  But I still have a hard time saying that's a good enough reason for there not to be an AFK timer.

 

I mean you could still totally afk like that for a while!  If the AFK timer were set at...say 2 hours?  You could walk away for 2 hours and come back to tap the controller quick.  x3

 

But I do think that removing AFK'ers after a certain amount of time is one of the best ways we can help the server.  Sorry that it might ruin some people's methods, but I'm not sure what else SE can feasibly do to fix some of the clogging issues we have on Balmung.  =[

[Kellach Woods]

Once saw someone AFK for a week.

 

That is a mite bit excessive.

[Kage]

As I said before, you will only alleviate the congestion a little bit. I'm not even sure it can be a substantial amount because people will find ways to bypass the kick. Or they already know the ways to do so.

 

Start a craft. Start a conversation with an NPC. Start a dialogue with an item like the cutscene journal. Start the dialogue with an aetheryte. The list goes on.

 

It will not solve anything.

[Kellach Woods]

I'm surprised the AFK kick did not override these options back in 2.0 actually.

[SessionZero]

But I do think that removing AFK'ers after a certain amount of time is one of the best ways we can help the server.  Sorry that it might ruin some people's methods, but I'm not sure what else SE can feasibly do to fix some of the clogging issues we have on Balmung.  =[

I have to agree with this. The last thing I would want to do is interrupt anyone's methods of RP but, quoting one Mr. Spock, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."

[Kage]

I'm surprised the AFK kick did not override these options back in 2.0 actually.

Instead of the random many Chaired players all about the world we're going to see them all chaired next to aetherytes, NPCs, or can't see them cause they're in the Inn.

 

Then they might be stuck in crafts all over the world. With a chair next to their name with their tools out at 10/80 progress on their craft.

[QueenFrejyalen]

As I said before, you will only alleviate the congestion a little bit. I'm not even sure it can be a substantial amount because people will find ways to bypass the kick. Or they already know the ways to do so.

 

Start a craft. Start a conversation with an NPC. Start a dialogue with an item like the cutscene journal. Start the dialogue with an aetheryte. The list goes on.

 

It will not solve anything.

 

I may have missed it on another page Kage (I'm sorry to ask you to repeat), but it looks like you and Unnamed Mercenary have a better understanding of servers than me.  I know very little about them.  Did you have any suggested fixes?

 

(Again, sorry to ask you to repeat.  Or even just tell me what page it was and I'll go back?)

[Kellach Woods]

Instead of the random many Chaired players all about the world we're going to see them all chaired next to aetherytes, NPCs, or can't see them cause they're in the Inn.

 

Then they might be stuck in crafts all over the world. With a chair next to their name with their tools out at 10/80 progress on their craft.

 

Yeah, that's what is surprising to me. You'd think an AFK kick would bypass all that good shit but nah, seems they put "if you have a window that has loss of movement you CANNOT be forcefully logged out" thing in the game.

 

Which is really weird when you think about it. Almost makes me wonder if the GMs can terminate a server connection if you're in that state. If I was QA over there, I'd be testing that up in a jiffy.

[QueenFrejyalen]

I'm not super familiar with server structures beyond what I've gleamed playing MMOs and through my job, but it really feels it's less of a problem with the server than a design decision when it comes to the lock.

 

Is there any difference between creating a character and logging on one? There shouldn't be that much of a difference.

 

Hmm yeah if there were a different between logged in characters and ones that were simply created, that could be a better use of the server restriction.

 

I think some more people were talking about that above and I agree with that idea.

 

I think part of the issue with that is that characters are created locally on the machine first. THat's why we can save appearance data and then select a server. SE would need to factor that in, which would require a recode of the lobby server. (maybe for the better?)

 

It should be noted, there have been times when a map has been so congested, new people cannot enter it. Most recently, Mor Dhona when 2.5 hit. So we definitely can have map-wide congestion problems. I don't know much about how the underlying architecture of the servers was designed, but assuming we can't instance each zone to multiple servers, we'll keep running into this as an issue as time progresses. Who knows if say, Northern Shroud and East Thanalan are on the same server or not?  The only possible fix I could see would be to try to separate each zone to a different server, but that wouldn't really work either because a given zone's population could spike. It wouldn't be a proper use of resources. Especially if we assume more fights like Behemoth or Odin could happen. 

 

I am assuming that we'll be getting a server overhaul when 3.0 launches, however. First, because the EU datacenter. Second, for all those new maps. I'd say a large population of the PVE-only players will likely AFK there, reducing load on our main cities and surrounding area. And, assuming the 3.0 content is indeed housed on different servers, that should increase the server capacity for new characters. Maybe.

 

All very interesting points, I did not know that the 3.0 content was to be housed on a different server!  =Oc  And I can definitely see where the new maps will be the new place to commune for higher players, thus freeing up the other areas.  But yeah, putting everything on separate servers sounds both tough and like it would be negated by specific cities/areas being more heavily populated.

 

Maybe I see a lot more congestion than others because of still being on ps3 (I know, I know...please don't say anything ;^; ) but what about for PC players?  Have any of you really experienced much lag or been barred from entering an area that was too congested?  Do you have issues when you try to contact a retainer from the bells in Mor Dhona?  I've had the system cancel out on me because there's just too many people there.  

 

I guess what I'm asking is, how bad is the server lag for other players?  For me, it can be pretty bad.  I plan to switch to ps4 OR PC (when my tax returns come in) and it'd be nice to know if there's a better world out there, so to speak.  

[Kellach Woods]

On a good PC, I have zero problems with server lag except in very specific moments where everyone has problems.

 

I have a 30 down 10 up connection and have a ping of 25 to the server though, and I'm wired (which does make a difference.)

[Kage]

I only have ideas based on what I've seen the servers/worlds operate. Since we don't know concretely the percentages of the population (who's online, what is online), it's harder to know what truly locks it down. Right now? Concurrent logged in people seems to be the forerunner considering that maintenance has a time when people squeeze through

 

For all I know, RMT sees Balmung as the big thing to sell gil in. And yet, I only get about 3 tells a week from RMTers. That's a big difference from the beginning of the game when I got like 20 a day. Why did they stop advertising as much? Is there less activity here? other worlds get -much- more RMT tell activity and their bot pics are -much- much more obvious (not that it isn't in Balmung but they always have loads more than what I experience in open world Balmung).

 

Edit: PC all the way. I built it to play games I liked. The only times I've had issues were when I had faulty RAM (Franz and Mcbeef herself can attest to it) and faulty internet connection. Wired helps but it doesn't help when the wire itself for the service is bad. Lag is only an issue when others do.

[QueenFrejyalen]

I only have ideas based on what I've seen the servers/worlds operate. Since we don't know concretely the percentages of the population (who's online, what is online), it's harder to know what truly locks it down.

 

For all I know, RMT sees Balmung as the big thing to sell gil in. And yet, I only get about 3 tells a week from RMTers. That's a big difference from the beginning of the game when I got like 20 a day. Why did they stop advertising as much? Is there less activity here? other worlds get -much- more RMT tell activity and their bot pics are -much- much more obvious (not that it isn't in Balmung but they always have loads more than what I experience in open world Balmung).

 

I can attest that the RMT activity on the lower-population servers is much, MUCH worst than on Balmung.  I'm not kidding.

 

On Lamia server I used to get at least 15 tells a day, depending on how often I went into a new zone that number could double.  I had to keep emptying my blacklist of names that were NOT being removed from the game just to make room for the newer, more persistent ones.  Do not attempt the suffering of the low populace servers because it almost feels as if SE is completely ignoring their cries for help.

 

But yes, I think that if we could at least know what affected the servers (as you say, who/what is online?) then maybe we could determine how to fix the issue..