Regional Data Centers and World Transfers (06/05/2013)

[Rionel]

So something that's been on my mind...

I have a bunch of friends who aren't legacy and are joining in for the first time.

Me and my best friend are legacy account and we wanna join up and play with the new batch of folks that are joining us. However, the servers for legacy and the server for new people are separate.

So, either:

1. Would me and my friend have to transfer to a non legacy server for the new folks, or...

2. would the new folks have to transfer to a legacy server, in order for all of us to join up? Or

3. Would me and my friend need to create totally new characters to even have a chance at playing with them?

[Gokulo]

1. You create new characters with new people on new servers.

2. New people create new characters on the old servers where your old characters are.

[Rionel]

Oh! I'm sorry, by new folks I meant the group of friends that are just joining up with me and my best friend.

But if new people can transfer into the Legacy servers, then the issue's solved I think.

I just remember reading that Legacy people can't go into the "new people" servers, so I wasn't sure if it also applied vice versa.

[Gokulo]

I just remember reading that Legacy people can't go into the "new people" servers, so I wasn't sure if it also applied vice versa.

Yeah, the restriction is only for Legacy players. New players can join old servers no problem, as long as the servers aren't full

[Izzy]

This gave me about 18 hops (if I read that correctly) and averaged at about 144ms ping

So your ping to Montreal is 30ms better.

[Iremire]

whoops already posted

[Reve]

I am an EST time zone who's usually in bed by 9:00-10:00EST. I'm wondering if I should just go to Ragnarok which is NA/EU?

[Evane]

From my understanding, duty/content finder should solve those problems, right? Play with whomever you want in whatever region on whatever server.

[Gokulo]

From my understanding, duty/content finder should solve those problems, right? Play with whomever you want in whatever region on whatever server.

It seems Duty finder is Cross-server but not Cross-region (which is standard for any MMO so)

[solracht]

From my understanding, duty/content finder should solve those problems, right? Play with whomever you want in whatever region on whatever server.

The bolded part is not possible. There's no way to send tells cross-server and no way to form parties manually cross-server.

[Takiwaki]

It seems Duty finder is Cross-server but not Cross-region (which is standard for any MMO so)

Was this confirmed?

[Gokulo]

Was this confirmed?

I think I only saw Rein talk about this, so I treated it as confirmed. Anyway, is cross-data center play even possible?

[Cutriss]

I think I only saw Rein talk about this, so I treated it as confirmed. Anyway, is cross-data center play even possible?

That's not really how it would work (assuming they allow it at all). The system would determine which datacenter is the best fit for the players and then everyone connects to that one before getting transferred back.

Basically it's the same way the Ballista tournaments ran, they transfer your character data to a different cluster, everyone connects there, and then they transfer it back. Only this time, the cluster lives in a different building.

[Gokulo]

I'm pretty sure XI has only one data center in one place? What I'm asking is whether the game can actually connect players from two different data-centers. I don't know how that stuff actually works, but I still seem to think that's not really possible.

[solracht]

No game in the market allows temporary data transfer between data centers, as far as I know.

WOW's dungeon finder does not work cross region, and you can't move your character to servers in a different region at all.
GW2 does it a little better: it allows traditional server transfers between data centers, but guesting (temporary character transfers) does not work cross region, and their excuse was the different datacenters.

I wouldn't call it impossible but this game will not be the one to overcome this technological challenge.

[Egon]

Even though JPs did have their own button in FFXI, there were all jerks. I want NA only.

[Cutriss]

No game in the market allows temporary data transfer between data centers, as far as I know.

WOW's dungeon finder does not work cross region, and you can't move your character to servers in a different region at all.
GW2 does it a little better: it allows traditional server transfers between data centers, but guesting (temporary character transfers) does not work cross region, and their excuse was the different datacenters.

I wouldn't call it impossible but this game will not be the one to overcome this technological challenge.

I don't think it'd be a "technical" challenge. Your character data (for the purposes of Duty Finder, single class/job and only the items on your back) probably comprises less than 5 KB in total. Definitely under 100k. Server marks you as "visiting" and sends your data to another server. It doesn't matter what "region" that server is in. I expect the only reason that Battle.net doesn't do cross-region is simply a matter of managing player experience - west coast people will bitch about pings to US East, and everyone will gripe having to go overseas to connect.

As long as the expectation is set correctly, it shouldn't be an issue. XI and XIV players have been used to shitty pings for years, having to connect to a less-favorable data center to do a mixed-region raid shouldn't be a problem.

[Spider-Dan]

The game is supposedly being designed around more reasonable pings (see: the dev-given example of Eruptions), so that solution is not feasible.

[Raldo]

Play dungeon with shitty ping, or play dungeon not at all because no one in your region is online.

I still think the latter option is more desirable, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it.

[Spider-Dan]

Do you mean "die in dungeon because your horrible ping means that necessary battle mechanics are impossible to execute, then run to the forums and complain loudly about broken mechanics"?

Because that's really the end result.