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Final Fantasy XIV Suffers Massive Server Issues Last Night, Square Enix Pulls MMORPG From Sale To Co
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Final Fantasy XIV Suffers Massive Server Issues Last Night, Square Enix Pulls MMORPG From Sale To Combat Congestion | MMORPG.com
To say Final Fantasy XIV is popular would be an understatement. Since earlier this year, the MMORPG has had a huge influx of players jumping into Eorzea, congesting the servers. With the recent release of Endwalker, this has only intensified, leading Square Enix to once again pull the MMO from sale to stem the tide of players joining in and slamming the servers beyond capactiy.
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These new servers they are now talking about, are for the new Oceanic Data Center that was already planned for god knows how long! These players have been waiting for years and had to play on JP or NA servers!
This is not going to solve the insane queue times in the European region for example.
Europe is the only region with just 2 Data Centers and needed a 3rd Data Center for several years now.
It has been a queue disaster with each expansion release in this region and for a very long time, each game server has queues 24/7.
So each game server in the two Europe Data Centers have been at full capacity since before COVID began and they have done nothing!
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The server/congestion issue really isn't all SE's fault. There has been a shortage of hardware for over a year now. Can't buy new servers if they aren't being made. Same with GPUs.
The company I work for has completed multiple large data center migrations world wide this year, (and last) using all new hardware without any significant signs of delay that I can discern.
Still, it's a nice problem to have, maybe Amazon can offer to share or sell the many extra ones NW has now.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Queues are now forming everywhere from Gamestop to Walmart to buy the last few copies of the game before they run out!
I just hope all of this doesn't continue to boil over into the new year, because it will be disappointing to see an MMORPG that's gathered so much momentum lose it to server issues. A self-inflicted wound.
It seems to depend on who you work for and where your company is located, because I've heard some are not having as much trouble securing the hardware, while others are on a really, really long wait list for it, so I really don't think they are lying.
But no! Somehow it's SE's fault for not pulling semi-conductors out of their magicians hat.
They've been secretly stashing these and it's about time they put them to use.
Or...it is a world manufacturing issue that is affecting multiple disciplines, one of which is the gaming industry.
Not welcomed, but it is what it is.
LOL! Server production continues as usual, just at a slower pace due to component shortage. You can very much buy new servers!
Do you see shops out of new laptops, phones, PC's, screens, etc? They all have much of the same components that go in servers.
I work in IT and can tell you plenty customers of mine are buying new servers continuously and still get them delivered. Just a week or two delayed. A month at most for very specific hardware.
SE is lying out of their arse and just use COVID and component shortage as a convenient excuse this time around! They did not have this same excuse with last two expansion releases.
Especially Stormblood's launch way back was a complete mess with endless queues as well back then (in Europe at least), that did not go away until more than a month had passed and people either quit again and/or reduced their playtime.
I still remember I gave up after two weeks being stuck in queues for hours to get in.
So please.... give me a break with SE's continuous excuses. It's starting to get old by now.
PS. GPU production is actually not that much affected. The problem is not component shortage, but bitcoin miners buying all the new cards up in bulk and so creating a shortage and driven up the prices of the new cards to insane levels. Previous gen GPU's are also still being produced and easily available at normal prices.
The laptop GPUs of the new RTX30xx cards are unaffected and I had no trouble buying a new Asus gaming laptop with RTX3070 card for normal price this summer.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/toyota-suspends-production-two-more-factories-2021-12-10/
But ignore the facts and carry on with the blame game.
Its cheaper to temporarily stop production, sent employees home for a while with financial government support, then continue production at a very slow rate, pay full employee salaries and so reduce your profits.
Its a lot of politics and economics at play here, so you have to take a lot of these company statements with a grain of salt and see the nuances.
Tesla was smart for example, saw the shortage coming and quickly switched to microcontrollers and is as such unaffected by this component shortage and continues to produce cars at full capacity.
https://insideevs.com/news/505188/tesla-not-affected-chip-shortage/
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/business-tech,-development-and-manufacturing/latest-updates-semiconductor-chip-crisis
The components are used in a wide variety of applications from auto through to personal computing.
In the automotive link above they highlight the widespread shortage affecting multiple industries.
Of course they are customized for specific applications, but you need the base materials to start with, and that's the core of the problem.
https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/04/arista_juniper_q3_price_rises/
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
The core of the issue here is that they all finally jumped on the EV bandwagon and releasing more and more electric car models. Especially this year has seen a huge surge in demand, not anticipated by these car makers and now they struggle to secure enough chips.
The factories producing these were not prepared for this either and can only make so many at a time. Compounded by the semi conductor shortage.
On the other hand, the electronics market ( PC, laptop, server, phone, tablet, etc ) are much more predictable and went on business as usual as much as possible during the pandemic end kept with their continuous orders through the entire pandemic. Yes factories were closed for a month or two/three during the early days of the pandemic, but that's it.
The only issue they face currently, due to the semi conductor shortage, is a delay with some new product releases due to manufacturing in semi conductor industry still playing catch up. This will most definitely drive up prices for new orders, when they run through their backlog.
Either way, they manage to manufacture most of their products at a reasonable rate believe it or not, since they secured their orders well in advance. Which cannot be said from the car industry.
Just look at Apple, Samsung, Asus, Acer, etc. Do you have trouble getting the latest iPhone or Samsung Galaxy? Nope!
Like I said. You have to read a lot of these company statements with a grain of salt, as there is a lot of politics at play here.
In a lot of countries, companies/shops/bars/restaurants/etc only get financial "COVID" support if they have to close down/halt production and sent employees home. So think about that for a moment and let it sink in.
The core issue in that article is NOT that they cannot produce new network equipment. After they run through their current supply, they will have to buy new chips at increased prices (due to demand)! That's it!
It's all about bottom line and passing the buck to the customer by raising the prices of affected products to protect their margins. Which is nothing new and happened plenty times before in past economic crisis's, etc.
But again, nuances here again. Even though some chips had their price increased up to 200%, doesn't mean a network router suddenly becomes 200% more expensive.
It's just one of many components that go into a router, server, etc. So the end price of a specific product might raise by as little as 5-10%.
So not as dramatic as you think. I have seen this in server prices the past year. Yes they are a bit more expensive, but not by "that" much that customers stop placing orders.
If you look at the consumer electronics market, not much has changed at all in prices for phones, tablets, laptops, PC's, etc.
( Desktop GPU's the only exception due to bitcoin miners )
Again, typical clickbait internet journalism at work here. Over dramatizing for those precious clicks!
No joke, I recently ordered a BMW and since mine was delivered they have removed options, changed package availability ect due to the shortages. Some are just parts shortage, others due to chip shortage. When I put in the order XM radio was blocked as an option, but obviously they got some more receivers in.
I wonder if it's just the base game they've disabled, my buddy has been playing for a week and a bit now and is flying through the story. He'll need to buy Endwalker soon
Apple stated that they missed out on $6 billion in profit due to chip shortages: https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/28/22751418/apple-q4-2021-earnings-supply-constraints-chip-shortage
Despite having queues, FFXIV's servers have not gone down unexpectedly since Endwalker's launch. So obviously, they are doing something right. They just don't have enough capacity.