Sorry if this isn't allowed, just want to shed some light and info on the DDoSs. Speculate if you want, this is just what I've gathered.
tl:dr No, they aren't attacking FFXIV "Directly". No, it's (mostly) not Square Enix's fault
NTT stands for Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, basically the Japanese Equivalent of AT&T. NTT hosts ALL of the FFXIV connections. So simply, if NTT goes boom, FFXIV goes boom. This is why it seems like FFXIV gets these attacks more often than other games, because they have no backup when NTT goes down, unlike another game, where if AT&T goes down, Comcast can pick up the slack (or whatever ISP they use).
If you're playing on the NA Data Centers, some way or another, you're connecting to NTT America. Everyone is connected via a slightly different route, and you can check your own route by opening command prompt and typing "tracert 204.2.29.6". Mine is NYC > Chicago > San Jose > Sacramento.
The vast majority of NA players are connected to FFXIV through the Sacramento node (with a few noticeable exceptions for some areas of NorCal and the surrounding states). When the attackers overload the Sacramento node, that's what causes these massive disconnections. But it's not JUST Sacramento, there are multiple nodes that are constantly being attacked, just not large enough to cause the mass disconnects we're seeing, or they're only disconnecting a smaller group of players. For example, Dallas and San Jose both have been getting attacked throughout the week, mostly not enough to disconnect people, but if you're connected on either of those nodes, you may have experienced lag spikes. Or maybe you're in a party and a few people disconnect, but you stay connected just fine; that's probably because there's a node that got attacked that you aren't connected to. This is also why it's only a current problem on the NA Data Centers.
Basically, FFXIV servers are....just fine. There's likely no internal alerts going off that their servers are goofed up, because they aren't; it's an issue BETWEEN us and the servers. If we're an island and they're an island, it's just the bridge between us that's going down, the island (FFXIV servers) didn't like, sink into the sea or anything, it's still there.
So what can you do? Nothing really, and there's not much Sqex can do either. You could play on Materia (which is also victim to constant DDoSs, although much more minor than what NA is experiencing), or go play on an EU alt or something. NTT doesn't put as much priority on its NA servers, which is why Materia is CONSTANTLY under attack, because NTT just doesn't care much about its Brisbane node as much as they care about the Japanese ones. Sqex is apparently in an exclusive contract with NTT to host FFXIV's connections. FFXIV has used NTT for years, at least 8, based on old forum posts complaining about NTT connections, so it's hard to dig up those contracts, but I will try my best to edit it in if I find it. IF they ARE in a contract, there's likely time stipulations and a lot of red tape around breaking said contract, which is likely why there isn't another ISP on the overseas data centers handling connections as well.
Is Sqex going to compensate us? Unlikely, this is something pretty much out of their control in the short term (long term is a different story if they try to break the exclusivity with NTT, but in this moment, with these exact DDoS attacks, it is out of their hands) not to mention the attacks are all very short, at most its maybe 10 minutes lost off your playtime, and most of that is just the time in queue logging on, not actual service disruptions, it'd be a different story if these attacks caused service outages for hours or days at a time.
Are the attackers attacking NTT BECAUSE of FFXIV, or is it collateral? We also don't know, and probably will not know. I assume a giant telecommunications company in the midst of a current attack probably doesn't want to share what information they know, in case the attackers take advantage of that knowledge.
Why hasn't Sqex acknowledged it? They have, in that first news post, but if you're looking for more acknowledgement, what do you want to hear??? Because it's out of their control, at most its just going to be a "idk. it's still happening, sorry" post.
Not to defend this huge company, because they probably should have a backup ISP for situations like this, but this is the current reality. If the DDoSs are causing you that much distress, you probably should just....not play for a bit. Or at least don't do any content that's sensitive to time or disconnects (on a side note, I have no sympathy for y'all losing your Deep Dungeon runs because oh my god how has this been going on for more than a week and you're STILL trying to do a run please learn your lesson)
submitted by /u/Cest_bagel_chips
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...
tl:dr No, they aren't attacking FFXIV "Directly". No, it's (mostly) not Square Enix's fault
NTT stands for Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, basically the Japanese Equivalent of AT&T. NTT hosts ALL of the FFXIV connections. So simply, if NTT goes boom, FFXIV goes boom. This is why it seems like FFXIV gets these attacks more often than other games, because they have no backup when NTT goes down, unlike another game, where if AT&T goes down, Comcast can pick up the slack (or whatever ISP they use).
If you're playing on the NA Data Centers, some way or another, you're connecting to NTT America. Everyone is connected via a slightly different route, and you can check your own route by opening command prompt and typing "tracert 204.2.29.6". Mine is NYC > Chicago > San Jose > Sacramento.
The vast majority of NA players are connected to FFXIV through the Sacramento node (with a few noticeable exceptions for some areas of NorCal and the surrounding states). When the attackers overload the Sacramento node, that's what causes these massive disconnections. But it's not JUST Sacramento, there are multiple nodes that are constantly being attacked, just not large enough to cause the mass disconnects we're seeing, or they're only disconnecting a smaller group of players. For example, Dallas and San Jose both have been getting attacked throughout the week, mostly not enough to disconnect people, but if you're connected on either of those nodes, you may have experienced lag spikes. Or maybe you're in a party and a few people disconnect, but you stay connected just fine; that's probably because there's a node that got attacked that you aren't connected to. This is also why it's only a current problem on the NA Data Centers.
Basically, FFXIV servers are....just fine. There's likely no internal alerts going off that their servers are goofed up, because they aren't; it's an issue BETWEEN us and the servers. If we're an island and they're an island, it's just the bridge between us that's going down, the island (FFXIV servers) didn't like, sink into the sea or anything, it's still there.
So what can you do? Nothing really, and there's not much Sqex can do either. You could play on Materia (which is also victim to constant DDoSs, although much more minor than what NA is experiencing), or go play on an EU alt or something. NTT doesn't put as much priority on its NA servers, which is why Materia is CONSTANTLY under attack, because NTT just doesn't care much about its Brisbane node as much as they care about the Japanese ones. Sqex is apparently in an exclusive contract with NTT to host FFXIV's connections. FFXIV has used NTT for years, at least 8, based on old forum posts complaining about NTT connections, so it's hard to dig up those contracts, but I will try my best to edit it in if I find it. IF they ARE in a contract, there's likely time stipulations and a lot of red tape around breaking said contract, which is likely why there isn't another ISP on the overseas data centers handling connections as well.
Is Sqex going to compensate us? Unlikely, this is something pretty much out of their control in the short term (long term is a different story if they try to break the exclusivity with NTT, but in this moment, with these exact DDoS attacks, it is out of their hands) not to mention the attacks are all very short, at most its maybe 10 minutes lost off your playtime, and most of that is just the time in queue logging on, not actual service disruptions, it'd be a different story if these attacks caused service outages for hours or days at a time.
Are the attackers attacking NTT BECAUSE of FFXIV, or is it collateral? We also don't know, and probably will not know. I assume a giant telecommunications company in the midst of a current attack probably doesn't want to share what information they know, in case the attackers take advantage of that knowledge.
Why hasn't Sqex acknowledged it? They have, in that first news post, but if you're looking for more acknowledgement, what do you want to hear??? Because it's out of their control, at most its just going to be a "idk. it's still happening, sorry" post.
Not to defend this huge company, because they probably should have a backup ISP for situations like this, but this is the current reality. If the DDoSs are causing you that much distress, you probably should just....not play for a bit. Or at least don't do any content that's sensitive to time or disconnects (on a side note, I have no sympathy for y'all losing your Deep Dungeon runs because oh my god how has this been going on for more than a week and you're STILL trying to do a run please learn your lesson)
submitted by /u/Cest_bagel_chips
[link] [comments]
Continue reading...