[Megathread] Final Fantasy XIV

[Kazgrel]

Ugh...really hoping the maintenance earlier this morning clears up the random lag and 90k errors I've been getting over the past week and change. It would happen any time I tried doing anything besides check retainers or gardening; particularly frustrating was getting Secure for my FL roulette (a first time for me) only to 90k 4 times in a 5 min span. All other online apps/games (put in a couple hours on Diablo 3 due to the 90k shit, 0 dcs/lag there).

Semi-related to the maintenance, preferred world statuses have changed. If I'm correct, Omega went from being congested/locked all the way to preferred...that's a heck of a jump. 3 of the 4 OG preferred realms for NA (Couerl, Goblin, and Zalera) are back to preferred also. They've also updated the Road to 60 buff to be in effect for 90 days as of creation of a character on those servers, so now people won't have the run yanked out from under them by making a new character on a preferred realm only to lose the buff a couple days/weeks later.

[Faroth]

I haven't logged in for weeks now... I really want to play around with Bard's Perform a bit, but I've been working on other stuff and just haven't had time to log in or pick up a controller otherwise. No games... days turn to weeks.... my will weakens...

Have to finish converting my dad's old records to mp3 to give him a portable hard drive with 'em for Christmas, so that's taking time and while they're recording I've been sorting through hundreds of video games, boxes, manuals, controllers, etc. a friend and I bought in a huge lot.

I'm off the week between Christmas and New Year's. You know what I'm doing that entire dang week?! GAMES GAMES GAAAAEEEEEMMMZ!

Still need to finish leveling my crafting so I can make all the stuff for my personal house!

[Graeham]

Omega is finally open?

Blergh. It needed to open months ago for me to transfer there - I'm much too settled on Cerberus now.

[StrawberryZebra]

Guile as a DLC for a Street Fighter game tells me all I need to know about the franchise now.

You can earn characters with in game currency, called Fight Money, which you can earn from completing Story Mode, Trials, leveling up characters and by winning online games. Sadly, other than the large initial amounts you get for the story modes and early level ups, the amount of Fight Money is pitifully small - 50 for winning a game. A new character will cost you 100000 Fight Money, so it will take a while to get there.

I have the distinct impression they were considering a free to play model for SFV, especially given the stingy amounts of FM you get and the amount of in game cosmetic skins you can buy. The Arcade Edition looks as though it's going to fix a lot of the initial complaints, such as no Arcade mode, though the method for acquring new characters, stages etc is going to remain the same.

I will credit Capcom for not resorting to lootboxes. The model for SFV is still awful, but it's not worst of the worst.

Even though MVCI isn't great, they did add Sigma/X AND Jedah so honestly I'm happy (only missing Dmitri). My buddy a huge Marvel/Xmen fan is devastated at the exclusion of previous members.

Iron Tager was top tier and oppressive as shit in one of versions of BB. I still remember picking him (I don't usually play grapplers, my buddy does) against my buddy so it was a mirror match and hit him with the astral finish triple SPD motion. He won't play BB with me ever since.

Pretty sure the X-Men and the Fantastic Four (villains) being absent is a licensing issue. I know that doesn't make things any better, but it is what it is. I would have liked to see Dr. Doom myself.

I only plan on playing MCVI until DBFZ is released. I have been rediculously excited for the game since they announced Android 16. From what what little I watched of Dragonball, most of the fighting was either the usual selection of punches and kicks or beam attacks. Having a character in there that breaks that up a bit is a welcome change of pace. That said, I am slightly worried that we're already getting different versions of the same characters already. It makes me wonder if they're running out of ideas for who else to include. I will be most disapointed if Mr Satan doesn't make it in at some point though .

As for Tager specifically, the game changed too much around around him and he didn't get ways to keep up. The same is true of Ragna, Jin, Noel etc too. I'm pretty sure they're even using the same Sprites they started with! The newer characters like Es and Nine have both more tools and better tools. Izayoi in the initial version of CF was complete and utter bullshit too, just like Kokonoe was in Chronophantasma. It's a big part of why I've usually prefered GG, the balancing seems to be much better from version to version, without too many stand out over/underpowered characters.

I do have my fair share of complaints about ArcSys, most notably how they handle online play and their lack of English dubs recently, but I can't argue that they make top-notch fighters and DBFZ looks to be no exception. My hope is that DBFZ is a huge break through for ArcSys, and we start seeing them marketing GG more outside of Japan. As long as they don't resort to doing anything stupid, like having Sol Badguy as a guest character, I wouldn't normaly bring it up but after Noctis in Tekken you can never quite be sure...

Omega is finally open?

I jumped to Omega at the start of Stormblood to escape the 2 hour long queues in Odin. That lasted all of 48 hours before the queues in Omega were hitting the 3 hour mark. Oops.

On the bright side, the queues have gone but Omega is still a reasonably busy server. I've got no interest in owning a house here, but having a thriving AH and plenty of choice of Free Companies and such is always a plus in my book.

[Wrecktangle]

Got to go kill A4S 4 more times for my sword . Good thing it's pretty brute forcible now though. Only have to respect 2 mechanics. @Katchii and I need to pick back up on it again!

It will complete my glamour. Then I just need some of that neon sky blue dye. I wonder how much it is on MB, not paying cash for it, then I'll have my Moonlight Sword looking glamour setup! it even glows like it!

I will credit Capcom for not resorting to lootboxes. The model for SFV is still awful, but it's not worst of the worst.

Honestly though - I wouldn't be opposed to lootboxes in the sense that if they reward colors, costumes, and characters, etc. and are earned by "leveling" up characters similar to how HotS/OW does it. They just need to not be scams and actually let you get things.

Because as a pretty active League of Legends player back in the day I stuck to champions I liked. I very rarely branched out. HotS lootboxes have incentivized me a ton to play characters I normally wouldn't. There's something to say for that model. I can't imagine being the only one. It could get me to play characters in SFV that I normally wouldn't touch.

Pretty sure the X-Men and the Fantastic Four (villains) being absent is a licensing issue. I know that doesn't make things any better, but it is what it is. I would have liked to see Dr. Doom myself.

I only plan on playing MCVI until DBFZ is released. I have been rediculously excited for the game since they announced Android 16. From what what little I watched of Dragonball, most of the fighting was either the usual selection of punches and kicks or beam attacks. Having a character in there that breaks that up a bit is a welcome change of pace. That said, I am slightly worried that we're already getting different versions of the same characters already. It makes me wonder if they're running out of ideas for who else to include. I will be most disapointed if Mr Satan doesn't make it in at some point though .

What system are you getting it on? I'll be getting it on PS4, if so we definitely need to play. The DBZ universe is enormous and there's ton of characters and references, the issue is that not all of them are interesting or have a lot of fighting time where they can pull material from. I also imagine they want to hold back a tiny bit for the inevitable GOTY edition/rev 2 shit.

[Aruhen]

Well I just found out they have Distant Worlds in a few days here in Toronto...

http://www.ffdistantworlds.com/concert/30th-toronto/

I'm incredibly sad now... if only my health wasn't taking up all my energy these days I'd have probably noticed this earlier before tickets were sold out. Fuck my life.

[StrawberryZebra]

Honestly though - I wouldn't be opposed to lootboxes in the sense that if they reward colors, costumes, and characters, etc. and are earned by "leveling" up characters similar to how HotS/OW does it. They just need to not be scams and actually let you get things.

Level up boxes of that kind wouldn't be too offensive, although I question if a fighting game would be the right kind of game for them. Generally speaking, most players are invested in playing one or two characters. Three at the most. Unboxing an awesome skin for a character that you're not already invested in playing feels something of a let down, and the larger the roster becomes the larger the chance of that happening.

That said, the game does have plenty of unlockable titles, player card backgrounds and so on that can be applied to any character. Those would be more ideal for level up boxes, since they can be applied to any character the player chooses.

What I absolutely would not want is to open a box with the hopes of having a charater like Akuma inside, and instead getting a dupicate emote of M.Bison laughing like it's Tuesday. Especially if your favourite SF character is only available through lootboxes. That would be a disaster for everyone involved.

What system are you getting it on? I'll be getting it on PS4, if so we definitely need to play. The DBZ universe is enormous and there's ton of characters and references, the issue is that not all of them are interesting or have a lot of fighting time where they can pull material from. I also imagine they want to hold back a tiny bit for the inevitable GOTY edition/rev 2 shit.

Currently planning on getting it for PC - Unfortunately, I don't own a console . I have my fingers crossed that Crossplay is on the cards, it's been nothing but a boon for both Killer Instinct and SFV. It would be a huge help for Fighters in general - They tend to have smaller communities than other genres, and having them spread across 3 different platforms just divides that further.

I admit my ignorance when it comes to Dragonball, the way the TV series was padded with 10 minutes of characters staring at each other, both internally monologging and recapping the events of the past 10 or so episodes was enough to put me off. Obviously it has a massive fan following, but outside of Goku's core friends and Cell, I wasn't really aware of the rest of the cast until DBFZ showed up on my radar. The great thing about DBFZ is that it appeals to both FGC fans and DB fans alike, even friends of mine who aren't interested in Fighters are interested in DBFZ.

If there are lots of fan favourites and hidden references, then that's great for the fans of the show. If there are new and interesting characters added, that's great for Fighting Game fans. Personally, I'm very interested in Ginyu and his team-up special moves despite not knowing about him until his inclusion in DBFZ. I went to watch some of the show with him and the rest of the Ginyu Squad in it to find out that the special moves used in game at the same ones as from the show. Including the body swap super, which I thought was pretty awesome.

The game comes from a place of both respect for the source material and the FGC and so far ArcSys have managed to appeal extremely well to both sets of fans. If they can keep this up while expanding the roster, I could definately see it being a huge break out hit for ArcSys.

And yes, I'm sure we can expect a Rev2/Extend or Super Turbo Ultra Mega Alpha Omega bigger longer and uncut EX edition at some point. Truth be told, I don't really mind paying extra for some extra in game content. Being able to get the upgrade as a DLC rather than as a completely new game as in the past suits me just fine, and ArcSys have always been above board when it comes to that sort of thing in my experience, including both additional story content and characters in their updates. Even if they have kept me waiting for Jubei as a playable character for far too long...

[Graeham]

I jumped to Omega at the start of Stormblood to escape the 2 hour long queues in Odin. That lasted all of 48 hours before the queues in Omega were hitting the 3 hour mark. Oops.

On the bright side, the queues have gone but Omega is still a reasonably busy server. I've got no interest in owning a house here, but having a thriving AH and plenty of choice of Free Companies and such is always a plus in my book.

It's good to hear it's doing well!

[Kazgrel]

Starting to get a bit irritated with this game. The 90k errors and shit I mentioned the other day is still ongoing. Everything I've tested/checked on my end comes out perfectly fine. I only see response drop on tracert whenever it's reached the DC itself (Aether, in this case). I'm at my wit's end with this shit. D3 will only last so long as a side distraction to this.

[Wrecktangle]

Starting to get a bit irritated with this game. The 90k errors and shit I mentioned the other day is still ongoing. Everything I've tested/checked on my end comes out perfectly fine. I only see response drop on tracert whenever it's reached the DC itself (Aether, in this case). I'm at my wit's end with this shit. D3 will only last so long as a side distraction to this.

If you read reddit, it's your ISP. FF14 is perfect and in no way shape or form is responsible for the mass amounts of people having issues (not just DDoS either), just genuine issues at the datacenter. I had issues since the move, and I've had issues both before and after the DDoS. I have no issues in any other game, nor any other time of the day, and the only consistent culprit is the node that NTT owns that SQEX rents from them. It's an SLA/contract issue 100% and the only way it will ever get fixed is if SQEX harasses NTT enough to dedicate more resources to expanding their service.

[Granyala]

Hmm wasn't aware that there were issues. Not that terribly active in the last weeks though. :O

[Kazgrel]

If you read reddit, it's your ISP. FF14 is perfect and in no way shape or form is responsible for the mass amounts of people having issues (not just DDoS either), just genuine issues at the datacenter. I had issues since the move, and I've had issues both before and after the DDoS. I have no issues in any other game, nor any other time of the day, and the only consistent culprit is the node that NTT owns that SQEX rents from them. It's an SLA/contract issue 100% and the only way it will ever get fixed is if SQEX harasses NTT enough to dedicate more resources to expanding their service.

Yep, I've made similar posts in threads there concerning it only to get exactly that sort of response. The issues for me only started roughly 2 weeks ago. Even with the DDoS shenanigans, I didn't have many (if any) 90k errors during that onslaught; just a lot of lag, but due to all the shouts I would end up seeing, I knew it wasn't just me. Yet now, as the DDoS is reportedly resolved, the issues for me were exacerbated tenfold.

I did have a noticable lag spike at one point last night playing D3, but it was a single instance of lag and not a constant torrent of disconnects from the game outright. Despite that, having run other games just fine over the past week, I'm confident it isn't on my PC's end, nor my ISP.

Oh well...I'll give it another go this evening and hope for the best. Worst case I'll take out my aggravation with a whole lotta hammer of the ancients.

- - - Updated - - -

Hmm wasn't aware that there were issues. Not that terribly active in the last weeks though. :O

One person in this Reddit thread states they're encountering issues in Chaos DC, but take that with a grain of salt due to a whopping sample size of 1. Just noticed the OP's image is concerning Aether. I almost wonder if Primal would be any better, but I'm 99.9% sure that won't make a difference, since it's located in the same physical datacenter.

Hilarious sidenote: My ping to Chaos is ~30 ms higher than what it is to Aether/Primal. Not that I'd want to pay to transfer my character to EU datacenter, mind you (no offense to our European friends here)

I kinda miss that ~45 ms ping I had to Montreal, although iirc, Primal spent half it's time on fire when it was located there (not literally...I mean it had a lot of technical issues there for whatever reasons).

[Graeham]

Well, the next Live Letter is scheduled for December 15th:

https://eu.finalfantasyxiv.com/lodes...ba5328018820ca

[Kazgrel]

Well, chalk up another day lost due to random lag/90k. I had FC folks on with me though, and we all agree that whatever is happening is weird as fuck.

- I can see everyone else moving around me as if nothing is wrong, even if they are in combat
- I can see chat in game showing up just fine
- I can even respond chat and it goes through as if nothing's wrong (iirc, there was similar with chat channels in WoW, where if you were lagging in game, the chat could still be working fine)
- There was never a hint of lag from me while we all spoke on Discord, just to name one online program that I wasn't encountering any issues
- Other folks would also occasionally get a brief lag spike (all of us at the same time) but no one had something like what I've run into, where I'm locked in place for anywhere from 30 second to 3 minutes before getting 90k error
- Issue was occuring as early as 7 PM my time and was even happening around 11 PM (I logged off at that point to derp around on Diablo 3)

I'm just really glad I happen to be enjoying a bit of D3 right now, because this has been absolutely maddening.

[Wrecktangle]

One person in this Reddit thread states they're encountering issues in Chaos DC, but take that with a grain of salt due to a whopping sample size of 1. Just noticed the OP's image is concerning Aether. I almost wonder if Primal would be any better, but I'm 99.9% sure that won't make a difference, since it's located in the same physical datacenter.

I'm on Primal, it's not better.

Last night had a few 90ks and general lag (220+ms), but no packet loss. I should not have 220ms from NJ to CA though. I had 220ms to AUS, not CA. Should be ~70-90.

Well, chalk up another day lost due to random lag/90k. I had FC folks on with me though, and we all agree that whatever is happening is weird as fuck.

- I can see everyone else moving around me as if nothing is wrong, even if they are in combat
- I can see chat in game showing up just fine
- I can even respond chat and it goes through as if nothing's wrong (iirc, there was similar with chat channels in WoW, where if you were lagging in game, the chat could still be working fine)
- There was never a hint of lag from me while we all spoke on Discord, just to name one online program that I wasn't encountering any issues
- Other folks would also occasionally get a brief lag spike (all of us at the same time) but no one had something like what I've run into, where I'm locked in place for anywhere from 30 second to 3 minutes before getting 90k error
- Issue was occuring as early as 7 PM my time and was even happening around 11 PM (I logged off at that point to derp around on Diablo 3)

I'm just really glad I happen to be enjoying a bit of D3 right now, because this has been absolutely maddening.

That phenomenon is usually indicative of DDoS. The chat server and the game servers aren't the same which is why chat oddly works but gameplay is horrific.

[Kazgrel]

I'm on Primal, it's not better.

Last night had a few 90ks and general lag (220+ms), but no packet loss. I should not have 220ms from NJ to CA though. I had 220ms to AUS, not CA. Should be ~70-90.



That phenomenon is usually indicative of DDoS. The chat server and the game servers aren't the same which is why chat oddly works but gameplay is horrific.

220 ms ping from east coast to the NA datacenters is absolute ass; I believe I get just below 200 to the JP datacenters. 120ish to Chaos DC.

Likewise, my standard ping response to NA datacenters is in the mid 80s-90s, and I'm in the sticks in Georgia. I did see some occasional responses in the 110-115 range, but those were very rare (less than 1% of the response I checked). No doubt in my mind they have something funky going on, whether it's DDoS (which would not come as a shock, since posting a statement "the DDoS has been resolved" likely resulted in a "hold my beer" moment for someone) or some other infrastructure-related issues.

[lawow74]

And with the daily Hunts, I have taken NIN to 70 and completed levelling all classes to cap. So let me just say this...

BWAHAHAHAHA! NO MORE VANU DAILIES! NO MORE VATH DAILIES! FUCK YOU, UHM ALA! FUCK YOU, SUNDROP DANCE! NEVER AGAIN! EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER!!!

[StrawberryZebra]

Honestly, I gave up on trying to level all my Jobs to 70. There's only so much POTD I can take.

Even with the extra EXP ring and Earring, getting to level 30 with some of them (looking at you, Lancer) is a chore. It feels very much like you're taking a huge step backwards from a higher leveled class. It wouldn't be so bad if FATEs gave decent XP and there were more quests, but being stuck with nothing but repetative content just makes it seem to drag on forever

[Kaelwryn]

Honestly, I gave up on trying to level all my Jobs to 70. There's only so much POTD I can take.

Even with the extra EXP ring and Earring, getting to level 30 with some of them (looking at you, Lancer) is a chore. It feels very much like you're taking a huge step backwards from a higher leveled class. It wouldn't be so bad if FATEs gave decent XP and there were more quests, but being stuck with nothing but repetative content just makes it seem to drag on forever

Then do squadron dungeons instead. Its better xp than potd until like 55 (can go all the way to 60 if you really want).

[lawow74]

I did it via POTD to 60 back before SB, it was easier cos I was also chasing getting all the Kinna weapons that existed then, so having a goal besides XP helped. But right now, Command Missions work, long as you don't mind them being the. exact. same. every. time. which is what I liked about POTD, it at least had some variety to it.

You can pretty well AFK Command Mission trash pulls (as DPS), and boss fights you just have to make sure your squad doesn't stand in an AoE.