I've seen this happen since logging yesterday. There are basically 2 forms.

1. A mob spawns unclaimed but i couldn't attack it for x secs. Basically, the same time as the grievance period before it starts to aggro you (if it does).

2. A mob spawns claimed for 2 secs but you can't attack it. Claim reverts after 2 secs. Basically, falls back under #1. This means, you can't attack it until after the normal waiting period followed by #1. Also, the macro that you set doesn't activate.

Is this happening to anyone else. Could be a bug since they revised the claim system. However, it might be a fix due to the latency people complain about.

Vurin was jabbering on about it on the VN

http://vnboards.ign.com/FFXI_General_Bo ... 215295/?34

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COBRA KAI DOJO NEVER DIES
RIP Shiloh

I'm thinking it's part of their "fix" with people complaining that JP steal all the NM's because they see the spawn on their screen first....

I've noticed similarly while playing my BST this morning, that similar stuff is happening. My main thing I've notice is when my pet dies and I go to charm another, my target EXP monster stays Red for a couple seconds... so if I have another pet standing by, it's pretty easy to not have it stolen now lol

(I'm finally getting the hang of this BST thing ... lol after 20 levels, I can actually solo relatively well finally... Geez)

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46whm / 23blm - 33brd / whm - Rank 5, San d'Oria - 61.3 Woodworking - 12.0 Alchemy
20bst, 18mnk, 11rdm, All Others Unlocked (Lv 10 or Less)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/poster.html?user=322919 (WHM, BRD, RDM, and BST listed)

Those ping arguements always make me laugh. Yes odds are that the average JPN player has a slightly better ping to the server. However, you're talking about a difference of 50ms or so (.05 seconds). Computer hardware and settings are about 1000x the factor than a measly couple ms advantage.

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Character Profile
Mythrandir - Bard *gone*

I agree entirely on that. The part about the BST still exists though. I believe it was posted on VN someone said they were fighting an NM, went to charm another pet, and the NM's name went yellow so he lost the NM to someone else. That would really irritate me. At least now it doesn't work quite the same for that purpose--for that, I thank you, Square! <3

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46whm / 23blm - 33brd / whm - Rank 5, San d'Oria - 61.3 Woodworking - 12.0 Alchemy
20bst, 18mnk, 11rdm, All Others Unlocked (Lv 10 or Less)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/poster.html?user=322919 (WHM, BRD, RDM, and BST listed)

I have one question

if everything stay the same except in adding the split second delay. The only one that will benefit is not the N/A user but the ones who have lower preformance on comupter power (because now you will be able to see the mob draw out 1st and be able to /targetnpc it)

so my question is ... since the JP can voke faster (b/c of lower latency) can you really assume that split second delay in voking it help you at all? If the original theory is true (JP voke faster in 1v1 situation), whatever dalay added will not change the final overcome of the result. It will only mean that JP is getting a split second delay before he/she can claim the mob...

not sure about this patch fix, just my pointaru of view

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Why do people always use this "if everything else is the same" arguement? No two people will ever have the same pulling situation. Just because someone is on the same island as the server does not mean that they automatically ping better to it. When I played Counterstrike in college (I was in South Carolina at the time) there were many times that people in California would ping better to servers in Philly and New York than I would. Using the logic found in most of these whine threads, that wouldn't happen. If you're really that concerned about winning a voke war then configure your game like you would a first person shooter. Set the resolution to 640x480 and turn off every graphics option you possibly can. Get rid of all those other programs running in the background. Also, your computer hardware itself will determine how fast models load. I load models about a second faster than my girlfriend yet I have about twice the graphics options turned on. Why? Because I used my tax refund buying some nice whizzbang toys for my computer. There are so many other factors that any minor ping advantage is just background noise.

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Character Profile
Mythrandir - Bard *gone*

Until you actually see a provoke fest, you won't understand it how seriously screw up the ping is to JP and to US. When you have 12 people and you still lost to 4 people in a provoke fest, that's how screw it is. It's not that we can't voke fast, it is when the mob spawn, it is spawn as claimed. My computer is close to top of line you can find speed/graphic wise. I still can't beat jp in a provoke fest. I don't know how well the new change will effect us, but most of it, I think they just make BST even more powerful now. Just so you know, I hate BST.

we love you too Peejo.......

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46whm / 23blm - 33brd / whm - Rank 5, San d'Oria - 61.3 Woodworking - 12.0 Alchemy
20bst, 18mnk, 11rdm, All Others Unlocked (Lv 10 or Less)
http://ffxi.allakhazam.com/db/poster.html?user=322919 (WHM, BRD, RDM, and BST listed)

Peejo, what resolution were you playing in and how many graphics options did you have on?

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Character Profile
Mythrandir - Bard *gone*

1024x768, most of graphic options off except monster->you

What graphic options did you have on (ie bump-mapping, textures, etc.)

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Character Profile
Mythrandir - Bard *gone*

They are all at minimal due to if I dont, dynamis = lag hell.

There's no point to prove who's right or wrong. You will know when you are high enough to do LS vs LS camping on HNM.

How is that any different that person vs person down in Giddeus? (Honest question, no smartass intended).

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Character Profile
Mythrandir - Bard *gone*

Peejo is right..... and u guys are pretty far off on your estimates.

Ping time between here and Japan is anywhere from 250-500 milliseconds. I'd assume its more than 250 because I doubt I have a direct route to JPN servers from the East Coast USA.

For any of you that have played first person shooters, or any other quick reaction type game, 250-500 milliseconds is a long time. (That is also known as 1/4 to 1/2 a second).

Now let me address what they are trying to fix:

(BEFORE PATCH)
JPN players and NA players are sitting around spamming their Provoke macro waiting for a monster to pop.
Because of the 1/4-1/2 second time advantage, the JPN players get to see the monster AND provoke it, before the monster even gets to appear on the NA client.

(AFTER PATCH)
JPN players and NA players are sitting around spamming Provoke macros.

Monster spawns, everyone targets it and begins provoke mashing.

Delay ends and someone wins it.

** Now, there is the issue of ping again, when it takes time for the provoke claim to travel to the server, and this could once again lead to a ping war.

UNLESS, somehow they synchronized the monster claim ability to the client side (which i doubt they will do).


Conclusion?
In the end, it is still a provoke war dependant on your ping. However, at least NA players get a chance to target the monster first.
I've yet to try the new system in a provoke war.... so we'll see how it goes.

P.S. I can't stand how people don't know the difference between "lag" and "choppiness". "Lag" is related to latency, and your connection. This will NOT affect your framerate. When you have a crappy computer or there are too many models on ur screen, it is "Choppy" not "Laggy".
But when everyone is warping around, while you are running smoothly, it is "Laggy" and not "Choppy".
First Person shooter fans are all over these details~

Do you always win when you 1 on 1 vs JP?

Also, do you know if the person you are competing with is JP or not? I know a lot of NA camp that place and they all pretend they are JP :p

Trust us, we had almost a full alliance of people provoking for the Lord of Oznonononononozor and ever time a place holder poped we lost. Sure enough once the NM poped... we lost.

2 vs like 10 people.

I was always an avocate of the "theres no lag its skill" on the VN until i saw that.

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COBRA KAI DOJO NEVER DIES
RIP Shiloh

What annoys me the most, is when monsters pop claimed~

went camping yesterday and the emperor poped claimed. Either that or i was just slow, which is a definite possibility >.<

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Sometimes when i take off my pants, yarr stares at me

Is this ok?

Level 65 Dragoon
Rank 9 Sandoria
Woodworking 72.0 Fishing 55.7
Smithing 34.0 Leathercraft 28.4
Bonecraft 22.7 Cooking 11.0

Damn you new posts! I had a nice long one i had to scrape to do this one

I would assume that those 2 people were in one of your competing JPN LS's. I would definately assume that you guys got roasted due to a superior connection. I wouldn't doubt those guys had dedicated systems with a hella connection. Very similar to what we used to do with my old college FPS clan. We had a box hooked up in the IT building right into the main pipe. We stuck our sniper there so he could enjoy a nice 30-60 ping anywhere.

The whole point of my post was an irritation to the "OMFG I got ping-beat" bandwagoners on IGN. I'd be willing to wager that 99% of them were beat due to another factor (notice in my original post I was talking about average players). In situations such as yours you're fighting against people whose lives revolve around this and are willing to throw big money at being on top.

Finally, we'll never now how big of an influence crossing the ocean is until we can compare network quality in the US/NA to that of Japan. I'd be willing to wager that they have a better backbone than we do over here. That's not an issue of crossing the ocean but just being out equipped.

Edit: I was never talking about choppiness. Everything I said with regards to graphics options was to speed the rate at which models are loaded and processed. Sure, as a nice side effect you reduce the choppiness in high population areas but that is not the specific goal.

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Character Profile
Mythrandir - Bard *gone*

Oh, I just went through the IGN forums about it and found a few interesting points:

1- All the people that claim there is no ping advantage are less than lvl 50.

2- All the people that truly complain about the advantage are lvl 75~.

3- If its the case that our computer can't render the model fast enough, then clearly this patch will help.

4- If this spawn claim delay allows everyone to spam claim it, hopefully this will mean that 12 players will beat 4.

P.S. I know mythrandir, I wasn't talking to you directly, but the whole "lag" "choppy" issue is just a general MMORPG player thing. They tend to stick the world "laggy" on anything.

I think you've hit the nail on the head Tooyooo. In the mid to low levels you can still have die hard NM hunters who know what they're doing. However, the people who are willing to spend the extra money to really give them the advantages are the ones who will eventually float up to the 75 level range. Like I said in the last post, it's these people who have the subset that spend ungodly amounts on money on T1's to their houses and insanely powerful boxes.

So what we see happening is that the players with more or less average equipment (the naysayers) are speaking from experience where they're facing the average players in Japan. Now unless I'm wrong you guys aren't dropping insane amounts of money on hardware and dedicated connections. To risk being stereotypical, most of the North American population that would do that are probably in Everquest or another of the NA-based RPG's. So in effect you're now facing off against a totally different demographic that we are. This leads to my original point that it's as much the server location as it is the pure fact that you're being outspent by people who are willing to trade more real life dollars (or yen) in order to ensure they beat you on pulls.

At least that's my theory after reading a bunch of posts on it.

I really do hope that this new patch helps you guys out though. I like being able to see the neat loot I probably won't get for a while :D

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Character Profile
Mythrandir - Bard *gone*