8 replies to this topic

[PASHA]

Hello Mechwarriors and PGI staff,

In the last month I've made a grand journey in moving from Canada to Australia. Playing from Ottawa, I was used to a gratifyingly smooth 30 ping. However, upon settling in Sydney I'm now sympathizing with each and every Oceanic Mechwarrior. I'm considered lucky with a 240 ping.

As someone who's experienced game play on two sparse continents, I can genuinely say that playing in Australia, well, sucks. It's terrible. Zooming takes nearly a full second; gameplay becomes very sluggish; light Mechs are a lot harder to hit and if you do manage to, the hit will likely not register; and there are more bizarre hit detection anomalies. Of course considering the sheer distance involved it makes sense.

However, will this always be the case for myself and all other Oceanic players? The almost unbearable gameplay is enough to ward us off and never want to speak of MWO again. And that is really unfortunate.

I've tried so many different things like changing DNS servers, tweaking TCP settings, updated drivers -- you name it. But of course that was all to little or no avail. I want to keep MWO alive here.

After all, a wider player base means wider recognition -- and wider recognition means a wider player base.

So I implore someone from PGI to join it discussing the matter. Are there talks of an Oceanic server in the near future, or is there anything at all to be said on the subject? Your insights would be most greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

-A Mechwarrior/Battletech lover, Zellkai

Edited by Zellkai, 09 March 2014 - 04:27 AM.

[The Gunman]

You should have seen it before HSR was introduced....

[N E R E V A R]

Back when there was no HSR, any weapon took a full second to fire. But yes, an oceanic server would be awesome, especially now that my internet went from 270 ping to 400 cuz right now, the game is just completely unplayable.

[Appogee]

I've been playing at 240 ping since the game started.

You learn to cope, but I find myself wondering how good or bad I'd be if my ping was a quarter of that.

I'm not sure whether I'd be better because I'd be able to hit more reliably, or worse because I'd presumably also be able to be hit more reliably.

[Pataine]

Yes added the server and one for the EU and take host state out.

[PASHA]

Believe me, if some of the Oceanic players played a few matches in North America and experienced what the game was supposed to be like, I guarantee your reaction would not be any less than astounded.

But seriously, is PGI ever going to comment on this? It just seems like they don't care otherwise. Or has PGI ever made a comment in the past? I can't find anything.

[Mookan]

The problem with dedicated Oceanic servers is that they will have poor population, especially late night/early morning.

Many other games that have had Oceanic/South east Asia servers eventually closed them and merge them back into west coast US server as there is little point in spending the resources on underused services.

I play from Australia with a 250-300 ping, which seems to be about the same for eastern Europe, but it's not unplayable. Yes lights are hard to hit and you will occasionally take damage without knowing why but it is something that is adaptable.

But I do feel for the OP as suddenly going from a predictable game to one that requires aiming well ahead of any target will make the game feel odd.

Edited by Mookan, 09 March 2014 - 03:46 PM.

[PASHA]

Itheseus, on 09 March 2014 - 05:58 AM, said:

Back when there was no HSR, any weapon took a full second to fire. But yes, an oceanic server would be awesome, especially now that my internet went from 270 ping to 400 cuz right now, the game is just completely unplayable.

When I played from North America we'd hear of and see people with high pings. But it was always difficult to get a feel for what kind of gameplay they were experiencing. I can tell you now that it's bad to put it simply. Piloting a Mech in Oceania compared to in North America feels like your piloting in quicksand; reactions are slower and sluggish.

I assume that Oceania has a high turn-over rate playerbase. With what they're dealing with, I honestly don't blame them. Were I not in a competitive Clan and pugging instead, I'd - dare I say it - put MWO on the shelf too. It's just too frustrating.

[Mekwarrior]

Yes been playing from South Aus with 250 ping the whole time. Quite similar to Quake 2 with 33k dialup.

One issue with the new hit detection I wonder about is... when you are piloting a light mech near two or more enemy mechs you seem to take a lot of hits. I assume it is because you are effectually in two places at once (from the perspective of each enemy mech if they have different pings). Does this make sense? lol

Better wait for quantum entanglement instantaneous networking computers to simplify things since it doesn't look like there will be any Oceanic server (people have been asking for one for years)

Edited by Mekwarrior, 10 March 2014 - 06:01 AM.