Linkshell Community Errors?

This is something I blame on PlayOnline for not having the Linkshell Community server pages working correctly, but any time I clicked queue for update on my character's FFXIAH.com page, normally it would load and refresh within the ten minutes. However, in the past week, I've not been seeing any refreshing at all.

Checking the LS Community website, I've found my character page to be completely inaccessible (only my Linkshell's page can be viewed. Attempting to view my character page presents me with a warning, "The server is currently busy and will be unable to properly transmit data. Please try again later.") Yet I can view other peoples' profiles no problem.

Also of note, when trying to change the URL on my settings page, it erased the URL completely, and I had to stop the LS Community website from going straight to the error page so I could get my URL again. The information I had previously been listing is back, but it's showing 8 days of no update, and I've certainly been on almost every day between then and now.

My question is if there's a way to either fix this issue from happening (I can provide computer/browser specs if necessary if it's on my end), or else, a way to contact PlayOnline about the issue, since I've found no way to do so on the LSC or POL websites. Also, has anyone else gotten this error/problem before, and has it been fixed for you yet?

(Posted in General since I figured the Bugs forum was only for FFXIAH bugs, not ones in general :P )

What apparently happened is that the POL LS site randomly changed your character's profile URL.

It does this sometimes. We have no idea why. We assume that whenever something changes with your character that confuses their database, it simply regenerates a completely different URL. From that point the URL you used previously will no longer work.

The "server is currently busy" error message is actually a 404 Not Found, but POL LS's error handling is terrible and it reports that instead. When FFXIAH.com then attempts to scan/update your profile, it gets the error and it gives up, keeping whatever profile data it had from the last successful parse.

A good way to test this is to log completely out of POL LS, then come to FFXIAH.com. At the top of your character profile to the right side of your avatar image, there is a link to "LS Community Profile". If you click that, it will take your browser to the URL you provided to us in your character settings. If your profile does not come up for any reason, then either your LS Comm profile URL changed, or randomly set itself back to Not Public. (It randomly does this sometimes too.)

The only way to get your character's new URL is to completely log out of POL LS, go back in through the top level time zone select, and re-cut and paste your URL into FFXIAH.com

After testing what you said, Jaerik, I've come to find I can't even go and edit my profile; any time I try to load my profile editor page, only the header image loads, and nothing else. I've cleared browsing histories, caches, cookies, the whole nine yards, and I still get the same error. I don't know what the issue could be, but I did manage to find a bug report page on the LS Comm website, so I shot a message in their direction about it. Until it gets fixed, I'm just going to have to make due with seeing no information for my character.

Thanks for the help though :)

I just did a copy paste for my new url. I figured out today, that I had created second account on LS COMM, when I was trying to change the Linkshell I was in. Anyways, I deleted the old one, then copy/paste the new one under my profile. Hope it works.
I don't know how i created a second profile on LS COMM. Now i know why some info was never loading on this page though.

For some reason it took my link out of my profile, so it wouldn't show my equip/job/crafting skills anymore. I tried to go back to LS Community site and get my link back, but whenever I try to sign on with my ID/PW it tells me its invalid. I'm 100% sure I don't mistype my PW and it's the current one, but I still can't access it. Someone tried to tell me that it's because I'm playing on Vista (Windows XP when I'm in Germany, currently in USA), but I don't think that really makes a difference. I'm not sure what it is, but I know it drives me nuts. I actually have the same problem when I try to access my Account Info in POL. I use EU POL and Windows XP in Germany - American POL and Windows Vista in USA, does that really make a difference? It won't accept my PW. That's pretty stupid. GM told me I'd have to buy an American version so I can access that which is... <.> I can sorta see that being true, but why can I still not connect to LS Community? Oh and I tried it on a PC with XP and had a friend from Germany try it too, not sure if he has Vista or XP.
Am I just dumb and think I'm typing it in correctly, but somehow end up misspelling or has the site been stupid for like 2-3 weeks now?

Sry for venting~

Conchita: Yes, and it's patently HELP I AM TRAPPED IN 2006 PLEASE SEND A TIME MACHINE. I bought FF while living in Japan. Now I live in the US. And I have very similar problems trying to play a Japanese POL account from the United States.

The problem is marketing, billing, and support.

1) Marketing: SquareEnix wants to have contests, events, etc that only happen in one country. If they have a FanFaire in the US, they don't want European players buying up all the tickets and messing things up. In fact, they don't even want European players to know about it. (The same way US customers never see the POL messages about Japanese Fan Faires, for example.) By keeping the POL versions separate, they can offer stuff through POL and ensure that its only seen by eyes in their target market.

2) Billing: FF does not cost the same to play from country to country. It's slightly cheaper for Japanese players because they cost SquareEnix less. (Local connections, no more advertising or store shelf packaging fees, etc.) It's slightly more for European players because they're a newer market and cost more. There's also currency exchange rates, which fluctuate all around, and SE doesn't want to have to deal with supporting a ton of different currencies with only one service. Complicating things even more is the fact that online payment laws re: credit cards, and billing address verification are very different from country to country.

3) Support: When you make a GM call, or call customer service, they want to respond to you with someone who both speaks your language, and is in the same time zone as you. A Japanese GM answering a French players' call makes no sense. You don't want an English player logging into the Playonline LS Comm site and getting a Japanese interface. Etc etc. But that's why when I make a GM call, even playing from the US at 2 in the afternoon, I get a grumpy "night GM" from Japan -- not a US GM -- because of my POL version.

I understand why they do it? Like, why they have to keep the services completely, rigidly separate? But what I don't understand is why they haven't created a way to change from one to the other. There is no way for me to transfer Jaerik from a Japanese POL account to an English one. I have to buy a new copy of the US FF and level up again from scratch, which I refuse to do. So now, I'm locked out of nearly all the US Playonline content -- I have to go through the Japanese site. And if I have a problem (like I lose my password), I have to call Japanese customer service at 3am my time because the US customer service can't access my account records. (And then listen to the Japanese customer service scold me like a child for playing from an "unauthorized region.")

Makes diagnosing and troubleshooting LS Comm site issues in FFXIAH.com a tremendous pain in the ***.

Does all this still impact LS Community site tho? I never thought it would, I just don't see why it won't accept my PW. I even tried to randomly guess through my old PW's I've had before, but none worked. :\
Screw you SE! *shakes angry fist*