Ping time

Erymylis

How is everyone else's ping time to the server? On average my ping time to all IRE games sits around 130ms. That may not be a big problem for the bulk of you living close in relative terms to where the servers are actually located but from someone on a different continent it is really making my gameplay with IRE games these days somewhat unsatisfactory. I am not a computer inept and I understand that there is several thousand miles between my home and the servers, and whilst that doesn't effect MMO's and other mutiplayer games because of how the client keeps in sync with the servers over great distances, it is somewhat noticeable on a MUD. 100+ms server lag makes for a bad meeting. I don't see any way around that other than a server in Europe. Do any other of you fellow European's play through large ping times?

For me personally, it is akin to frame skipping in graphical games. It is so visible to me as a player that I am waiting a certain period of time for a response from the server. 100+ ms is noticeable on a MUD. Try typing a few directions to move rooms in quick succession and you will notice that those bits just don't hit your connection quick enough to be fluid.

Ushaara

I'm usually in the 140-160ms bracket, but it can be and often is worse. Can't say it detracts from my playing all that much though, as it's the only speed I've known. Though now you made me wonder how much faster is it for non-europeans?

Rivius

My ping is similar to Ushaara's usually, though I've seen it higher around 8pm est or so, going above 200. No idea why, but it happens.

Erymylis

Interesting. Well, I'd expect those in North America to have a lower ping providing they have a decent internet connection on the whole and their internet isn't clogged up whilst they are playing. If I play games with servers based somewhere in Europe, I can be looking at a ping time of 20-30ms. Now I know of a European based mud known as Godwars II. Everything is much, much more snappier because the ping time is so low to the server. I don't actually play the game, I just used it for reference during testing.

I suppose I shouldn't complain too much, and believe me, it isn't that I am complaining as much as stating a fact. You just have to wonder how much of an impact that must be in PvP or difficult mobs. Those extra milliseconds on a MUD seem to make a big difference in comparison to a MMO like I said in the above post. I am not entirely sure where in the US the Iron Realms servers are but I expect it is even worse for us European players if they are on the west coast..

Ssaliss

I think they moved the servers to the eastern US. Not sure on their exact location though; I just know I went from 180ms to 130ms a couple of years ago or so.

Erymylis

I suppose in a round about way that makes me feel better that there are a lot more players on par with my sort of connection to the server. I wish it could be better but if it can't be then at least I know there is more of us playing through the same delay

Eritheyl

Mine varies a lot. It can be as low as 70, but sometimes it jumps up to 250. Usually hovers in the middle around 110-140.

Elanorwen

Eritheyl said:

Mine varies a lot. It can be as low as 70, but sometimes it jumps up to 250. Usually hovers in the middle around 110-140.

Mine tends to do the same, although I'm normally down under 20ms... there are times when it slows down a fair bit with no apparent reason.

Erymylis

Elanorwen said:

Eritheyl said:

Mine varies a lot. It can be as low as 70, but sometimes it jumps up to 250. Usually hovers in the middle around 110-140.

Mine tends to do the same, although I'm normally down under 20ms... there are times when it slows down a fair bit with no apparent reason.

20ms.. oh how I envy you

Enyalida

Mine just about hovers in that ~120 range also. It's usually not noticeable at all, unless it really spikes. I find a slight lag to be much more distracting and debilitating in a graphical game, where you often need to be within a more loosely defined range, and have to do things like target fluidly, where a fraction of a second of lag can really make a difference.

Eventru

My pings usually come in 86-90. I couldn't tell you if I'd ever notice it. 100ms is .1 seconds - even at 150ms (.15 seconds) I can't imagine it's actually that noticeable, unless there's just a ton of information.

I don't think there's much that can be done to improve connection speed, tbh - that's largely dependent on the 'route' it takes through the internet. And, if my understanding is correct, wouldn't a European server mean an entirely separate game?

I think all the IRE servers are hosted together in north-central U.S., anyways. Used to be out in Cali but it moved a few years ago, as someone observed.

Enyalida

It's only really noticeable if you're doing something that requires you to trigger off a line before your opponent can, like a single dreamweaver trying to use possess. At that point, it comes down to a flat comparison between your ping and theirs.

Erymylis

Eventru said:

My pings usually come in 86-90. I couldn't tell you if I'd ever notice it. 100ms is .1 seconds - even at 150ms (.15 seconds) I can't imagine it's actually that noticeable, unless there's just a ton of information.

I don't think there's much that can be done to improve connection speed, tbh - that's largely dependent on the 'route' it takes through the internet. And, if my understanding is correct, wouldn't a European server mean an entirely separate game?

I think all the IRE servers are hosted together in north-central U.S., anyways. Used to be out in Cali but it moved a few years ago, as someone observed.

I suspect many people don't feel 'lag' in the same way that you would a graphically intense game, however I am quite sensitive to delays in any form. Anything above 100ms is always noticeable to me unless of course the client compensates by averaging out things in between network packets like is common in MMO's to replicate fluid gameplay even when there is a lengthy delay between packets. I am not sure how that can be achieved with MUDs because the model seems to be strictly send-wait-receive without any sort of partial computation in between.

Of course, multiple instances of any IRE game would need to be run in order to have servers spread out across the world. Obviously that isn't practical for any, if not most MUDs.

Enyalida said:

It's only really noticeable if you're doing something that requires you to trigger off a line before your opponent can, like a single dreamweaver trying to use possess. At that point, it comes down to a flat comparison between your ping and theirs.

Precisely. Take something like influencing which I enjoy doing. Say you want to trigger another ego attack when you regain equilibrium, or even in some cases manually, you sometimes end up with the mob attacking you back even though you have had balance on the server side for .5 of a second before it did. However, the time it takes to do a round trip from the server in which it tells you that you have equilibrium and you acting upon it means they have the time to attack you.

It is an example, but not necessarily a big deal and just means you need to quaff double the amount of bromide to compensate for your lost ego.

Enyalida

Whoa, if you're having to pingbattle for influencing, you need a lot more charisma. You should have a solid second (way more than normal latency) to get in an attack before the enemy can, or more. The places where pingbattles happen are actually somewhat rare.
EDIT: Especially considering that any time it's PvP, they're going to on average have the same ping as you, so it evens out. PvE is very simple and generally pretty safe in Lusternia, there isn't much you absolutely need to be RIGHT ON TIME for (within a tiny fraction of a second).


You can also set up a stratagem system to completely sidestep that, so that you automatically enter that command sever-side when you get back eq.

Erymylis

I suppose that is why I said it happens sometimes, meaning when you get spikes of even higher ping 500+ms, that is half a second which you can regain equilibrium/balance server side and yet see no evidence of it on your end. In that case there is a decent chance that spike of lag will happen just as you receive balance. My point was never to claim that I want it lower, it was simply just me saying that it is noticeable to me and I just wanted to see what other people thought. In particular my fellow European's since I suspected most people in North America will have a smaller ping time, naturally. And the overriding fact was that it has as a result made me want to play IRE games less and less over the years. It isn't anything that the developers have done

Aye, there is definitely a case for that by queueing it up server side instead of relying on your own home brewed triggers and a good case at that.

Alacardael

Hmph. First world problems!

South-east Asia (Philippines):

Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:

    Minimum = 229ms, Maximum = 351ms, Average = 266ms

Elanorwen

If ego battles are really giving you trouble, I'd say it might be worth trying to grab some lessons in combat and getting stratagem, then running your trigger off of current attack to add next influence action as a stratagem. That should eliminate any lag that's less than your equilibrium time.

Veyrzhul

130 ms is not high. It's noticeable, but there are really muds other than Lusternia where it matters a lot more. I can see it having an impact in group combat when your curing is running at full speed and will simply work a bit more smoothly without a delay, but since you're not exactly in the slow department with 130 ms, it's all good. If you're regularly getting spikes of 500+ ms, on the other hand, it might be better to remove the cause for that, if you can (maybe the problem is the provider?).

Vadi

130? You have it easy.

I'm in Australia, the my ping is stable at 230-250ms.

Erymylis

Veyrzhul said:

130 ms is not high. It's noticeable, but there are really muds other than Lusternia where it matters a lot more. I can see it having an impact in group combat when your curing is running at full speed and will simply work a bit more smoothly without a delay, but since you're not exactly in the slow department with 130 ms, it's all good. If you're regularly getting spikes of 500+ ms, on the other hand, it might be better to remove the cause for that, if you can (maybe the problem is the provider?).

My provider is rock solid. I live right next to the local exchange so I don't get degraded performance. I get full download/upload speed as advertised at all times. I also ensure that I mitigate any chance of excessively high pings by being wired rather than wireless. Like I said, if the server was in Europe I'd be sitting happily at 20-30ms consistently. At any rate, those .5 of a second lag spikes only happen once in a while so it isn't too bad.

Vadi said:

130? You have it easy.

I'm in Australia, the my ping is stable at 230-250ms.

Now I feel bad for you! Ha. That would be painful if it sits around there consistently. A quarter of a second a round trip? Mmm.. maybe too much for my liking.

EDIT: Oh, and I know I may be coming across as the type of player who goes around complaining when their computer isn't sitting above 60fps at all times but honestly that is not what I intended for this thread to be about. Just wanted to make that clear. It's just interesting to see how it affects other players and from what I gather, not really all that much in the grand scheme of things. It's interesting.