Lag, Lag, Lagity Lag

[deboot]

SSG... here is some constructive criticism regarding "Lag" .... I suggest, that before moving forward with any additional enhancements or content within the game, you make it your #1 priority to dedicate engineering resources that can resolve the lag issues.

Frankly these issues don't just have the downside of effecting the player experience, ultimately it will affect SSG's profits and the longevity of this game.

It doesn't matter how much additional content you add to the game, if the game is unplayable due to lag, this is going to immediately turn away new players and old players alike.

New players that experience these issues, automatically cast this game aside as "Old and dying". It comes across strongly, in more than a few YouTube videos with the title... "Should I play LOTRO in "XYZ Year". The rest of us that have been around for a decade+, debate whether we should move on to other MMO's despite how much we love LOTRO. I can honestly say I took a few year break the last time the server lag issues were as bad as they are now.

I have multiple characters and I REALLY want to play a Warden, but everyone I speak with "in game", says I should hold off on playing a Warden until the lag issues are resolved. The lag is already bad enough on my Hunter, Mini and Champ.... I can't imagine how disappointing the play experience would be when using the Warden gambit system.

I don't really understand where the lag is coming from... My understanding is the servers are on the East Coast U.S., (I am on the West Coast, U.S.) and I have a high bandwidth connection with low latency to any part of the U.S.; I hear it's even worse for European players.

SSG... I encourage you to resolve this issue (The biggest issue), once and for all!

[Boraxxe]

Well expressed deboot.

What still amazes me is the variation in "performance" experienced by players.

On the one hand, I am enjoying game-play now that is better than any I can remember since 2007.
On the other hand, I am responding to a thread titled Lag, Lag, Lagity Lag.

Is it individual settings?

I refuse to believe that I am blessed with some kind of connection-magic.
I have done nothing to earn such.

I have a somewhat old (5 years) rig.

Why do I get good performance and others get ####?

Looking at the "new posts" page and this Thread was directly under another titled "Performance Improved!".

[Pontin_Finnberry]

Lag is on and off for me, it isn't too bad and most of the time I don't get any much, but certain times and areas its bad, I notice you can be in places like Car bronach and get lag but the next area like Pit of Stonejaws will be fine, I do find it strange that questing is fine in one area then as soon as you enter the next you hit a freeze, same with running missions, some are fine others not.

[DoRonRon]

For some of us what we chose to do in game is directed by hitting the O key and our play is dictated by the number on line. If you report no lag for you, then at least qualify it with the number of others playing at the time.

At 1500+ I'll know not to log off and risk a queue coming back on.

Above 1000+ I'll play hunters to avoid mission hand in delay, three of them, and hope the pops are lower in the 2 hours they'll take for instance lock. The yard port to the missions hall is setup in two other yards, not my own (often empty) yard.

Above 800 the delays are manageable and some ports to mission stable guys can mitigate a few runs.

Around 400 and I start to feel I'm getting a similar experience to other servers.

Dead of night and under 200 and I can reminisce of earlier times of the game.

The varying late game area lag I put down to the tech used since missions were implemented. Fast to create a dog to play in. I'm guessing though.

[Neinda]

Depending on the class, adapt your play style to compensate for lag. Sometimes I just plan on skill delays and have rotations where you can pause between skills. Not the best solution and somewhat backward but it helps when you really want to get something done. I was lucky tonight. The mobs I was killing were lagging at the same time as me. We regularly had pauses at the same time. Maybe someday they will address this problem. Makes running instances pretty difficult.

[Daguest]

Well expressed deboot.

What still amazes me is the variation in "performance" experienced by players.

On the one hand, I am enjoying game-play now that is better than any I can remember since 2007.
On the other hand, I am responding to a thread titled Lag, Lag, Lagity Lag.

Is it individual settings?

I refuse to believe that I am blessed with some kind of connection-magic.
I have done nothing to earn such.

I have a somewhat old (5 years) rig.

Why do I get good performance and others get ####?

Looking at the "new posts" page and this Thread was directly under another titled "Performance Improved!".

There is connection lag and FPS lag. Most people confuse the 2 even though they look different and are caused by others things entirely.
FPS lag is when your screen and controls are unresponsive and like stuck in honey. Turning the camera is slow and full of hiccups, that kind of things. This is either a computer issue (IE potato computer) or a poorly optimised game that will have #### FPS no matter the computer.
Connection lag (IE lag) means the actions on your screen freeze or you rubberband (IE rewind back to somewhere you used to be some time ago, like war steed used to do after rohan release all the time), but overall the camera is just fine. You can click on your skill and so on and the game say you did click immediately, but nothing happen. Mob and your character look at each others lovingly while playing generic idle animations.This is either your internet connection or the game server (or something in between, which happens at times).

The biggest issue ATM is server lag. In EU, since the end of Codemasters, we lost the EU server, so it was never super good. But it was playable. I took a break with Mordor and came back around january. And it was laggy as hell. I thought initially it was a bad day, but the day kept going on and on. And never stopped since.

I'm using optical fiber connection in a city, so my internet is just fine. I can download a game in minutes on steam no issues whatsoever. Plus, lots of people are mentioning the lag, and even LOTRO devs are acknowledging it, so it's 100% on their end.


As to why you don't see it, it could be many things. First, it seems the lag spike/freeze are area based. So in Mordor, it's usually super bad. But say you play in the Shire, you may not get any lag. Or vice versa. Also, maybe your connection is ######, and you always had lag anyway. Or maybe you just got used to it.

[Boraxxe]

There is connection lag and FPS lag. Most people confuse the 2 even though they look different and are caused by others things entirely.
FPS lag is when your screen and controls are unresponsive and like stuck in honey. Turning the camera is slow and full of hiccups, that kind of things. This is either a computer issue (IE potato computer) or a poorly optimised game that will have #### FPS no matter the computer.
Connection lag (IE lag) means the actions on your screen freeze or you rubberband (IE rewind back to somewhere you used to be some time ago, like war steed used to do after rohan release all the time), but overall the camera is just fine. You can click on your skill and so on and the game say you did click immediately, but nothing happen. Mob and your character look at each others lovingly while playing generic idle animations.This is either your internet connection or the game server (or something in between, which happens at times).

The biggest issue ATM is server lag. In EU, since the end of Codemasters, we lost the EU server, so it was never super good. But it was playable. I took a break with Mordor and came back around january. And it was laggy as hell. I thought initially it was a bad day, but the day kept going on and on. And never stopped since.

I'm using optical fiber connection in a city, so my internet is just fine. I can download a game in minutes on steam no issues whatsoever. Plus, lots of people are mentioning the lag, and even LOTRO devs are acknowledging it, so it's 100% on their end.


As to why you don't see it, it could be many things. First, it seems the lag spike/freeze are area based. So in Mordor, it's usually super bad. But say you play in the Shire, you may not get any lag. Or vice versa. Also, maybe your connection is ######, and you always had lag anyway. Or maybe you just got used to it.

Thanks for the input.
I have experienced lag and the other troubles. I was also here when Minas Tirirth first adorned our screens. That was unplayable. I would log in and goof with things for maybe 20 minutes and then give up for the day.
I'd keep coming back until it was playable.
What we are having now is not like that. It's not everybody seeing the same failures.
What I am sure of is that the folks that get paid at SSG to deal with this stuff know this as well as I do. That's what they get paid to know.
I think some folks may be under the impression that everybody is suffering with this "lag" as it's so easily called.
It is not everybody. I play on several servers. Lately, I have been playing on Shadowfax and that may explain why I have been a bit on the happy side.
But even when I play on Crick or Landroval I don't see extremely bad performance. I get some issues when in heavy pop areas and when new content is released. But generally, no.
Something strange is happening.

[Nostro44]

It was particularly bad for me last night (Saturday) on Evernight (1000+ players online). I was only questing a 50+ char in Moria with very few players in the area if any. Every operation was painfully slow and this lasted continuously for about the hour I was logged on (21:00 UK time). Every time I fired the first skill at a target I would get "invalid target" because the server hadn't yet registered the change in target. Every time I tried to pick up something there was a 5s+ delay before it started and a similar delay on it finishing and actually registering.

[the7hing]

Well expressed deboot.

What still amazes me is the variation in "performance" experienced by players.

On the one hand, I am enjoying game-play now that is better than any I can remember since 2007.
On the other hand, I am responding to a thread titled Lag, Lag, Lagity Lag.

Is it individual settings?

I refuse to believe that I am blessed with some kind of connection-magic.
I have done nothing to earn such.

I have a somewhat old (5 years) rig.

Why do I get good performance and others get ####?

Looking at the "new posts" page and this Thread was directly under another titled "Performance Improved!".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_WPawcjBgA

Random youtube video. There are plenty.
Seems all players /but you/ have same INDIVIDUAL settings...

Anyway, NO ONE CARES.

[deboot]

I guess I'm not the only one? For reference.... (posted slightly after my my post, regarding lag).... https://forums.lotro.com/forums/show...php?694678-Lag....

It's the most important issue currently... SSG please make it a priority to fix????? You've posted more about the "Pre-Catalina", Mac client being discontinued (or no longer supported), than you've spoken about LAG issues for everyone else.

I'm more than disappointed with SSG for the lack of explanation regarding lag issues that affect the vast majority of the player base.

If anything, just give us a reason why the lag exists and explain how you intend to fix it?????

An explanation would go a long way.

Please stop ignoring the topic and address it "Head On"

[Pavoff]

y.

*** and address it "Head On"

They wont. There is a 10+ pages thread with no blue post. Do you rly expect them to answer/solve this one ?

[River94]

game is a lag festival. sometimes, it completely stops. you can't walk, enemies don't attack you etc. and suddenly, everything is back to normal. it happens a lot for me. we talking about SERVER LAG, not fps problems. yeah, fps sometimes drops, but it's an old engine and all, but server lag is a major issue. specially in harder areas

[DoRonRon]

Can't really tell us they took your money to invest it in making the performance worse to cut overheads. A reasonable business decision at the time. Just not one, of many, we weren't to be trusted with, given the PR slant instead. Daybreak (behind the scenes ofc) reaping those rewards were the carrot to join and later largely takeover at EG7 after all: they're the pros in this game after all, not some excitable wan-a-be. SSG ever under pressure to increase the metric chosen to present to investors as a core strength rather than what it has really become. Between a rock and a hard place.

My take on it anyway.

[cwswim03]

SSG... here is some constructive criticism regarding "Lag" .... I suggest, that before moving forward with any additional enhancements or content within the game, you make it your #1 priority to dedicate engineering resources that can resolve the lag issues.

Frankly these issues don't just have the downside of effecting the player experience, ultimately it will affect SSG's profits and the longevity of this game.

It doesn't matter how much additional content you add to the game, if the game is unplayable due to lag, this is going to immediately turn away new players and old players alike.

New players that experience these issues, automatically cast this game aside as "Old and dying". It comes across strongly, in more than a few YouTube videos with the title... "Should I play LOTRO in "XYZ Year". The rest of us that have been around for a decade+, debate whether we should move on to other MMO's despite how much we love LOTRO. I can honestly say I took a few year break the last time the server lag issues were as bad as they are now.

I have multiple characters and I REALLY want to play a Warden, but everyone I speak with "in game", says I should hold off on playing a Warden until the lag issues are resolved. The lag is already bad enough on my Hunter, Mini and Champ.... I can't imagine how disappointing the play experience would be when using the Warden gambit system.

I don't really understand where the lag is coming from... My understanding is the servers are on the East Coast U.S., (I am on the West Coast, U.S.) and I have a high bandwidth connection with low latency to any part of the U.S.; I hear it's even worse for European players.

SSG... I encourage you to resolve this issue (The biggest issue), once and for all!

Yep it's horrendous. No more content updates til you fix this. This is correct, new players immediately say "the game doesn't even work"

[PatasdoLeao]

There is a german game who use to do a flexible political about servers.
When the number of players increase, they create new servers. When the number decrease, they merge servers.
And that change happen every six months.

[Vaineater]

SSG... here is some constructive criticism regarding "Lag" .... I suggest, that before moving forward with any additional enhancements or content within the game, you make it your #1 priority to dedicate engineering resources that can resolve the lag issues.

Frankly these issues don't just have the downside of effecting the player experience, ultimately it will affect SSG's profits and the longevity of this game.

It doesn't matter how much additional content you add to the game, if the game is unplayable due to lag, this is going to immediately turn away new players and old players alike.

New players that experience these issues, automatically cast this game aside as "Old and dying". It comes across strongly, in more than a few YouTube videos with the title... "Should I play LOTRO in "XYZ Year". The rest of us that have been around for a decade+, debate whether we should move on to other MMO's despite how much we love LOTRO. I can honestly say I took a few year break the last time the server lag issues were as bad as they are now.

I have multiple characters and I REALLY want to play a Warden, but everyone I speak with "in game", says I should hold off on playing a Warden until the lag issues are resolved. The lag is already bad enough on my Hunter, Mini and Champ.... I can't imagine how disappointing the play experience would be when using the Warden gambit system.

I don't really understand where the lag is coming from... My understanding is the servers are on the East Coast U.S., (I am on the West Coast, U.S.) and I have a high bandwidth connection with low latency to any part of the U.S.; I hear it's even worse for European players.

SSG... I encourage you to resolve this issue (The biggest issue), once and for all!

Dead game bruh. Play SWTOR.

[VincentAC]

I'm used to occasional lag, but lately, it's not just lag, but frozen movement and server disconnects. This can make combat intolerable.
BTW, I'm playing on the Landroval server with a newer computer and graphics system. I play several other online games and don't have this problem there.

[Sakuko]

SSG... here is some constructive criticism regarding "Lag" .... I suggest, that before moving forward with any additional enhancements or content within the game, you make it your #1 priority to dedicate engineering resources that can resolve the lag issues.

Frankly these issues don't just have the downside of effecting the player experience, ultimately it will affect SSG's profits and the longevity of this game.

It doesn't matter how much additional content you add to the game, if the game is unplayable due to lag, this is going to immediately turn away new players and old players alike.

New players that experience these issues, automatically cast this game aside as "Old and dying". It comes across strongly, in more than a few YouTube videos with the title... "Should I play LOTRO in "XYZ Year". The rest of us that have been around for a decade+, debate whether we should move on to other MMO's despite how much we love LOTRO. I can honestly say I took a few year break the last time the server lag issues were as bad as they are now.

I have multiple characters and I REALLY want to play a Warden, but everyone I speak with "in game", says I should hold off on playing a Warden until the lag issues are resolved. The lag is already bad enough on my Hunter, Mini and Champ.... I can't imagine how disappointing the play experience would be when using the Warden gambit system.

I don't really understand where the lag is coming from... My understanding is the servers are on the East Coast U.S., (I am on the West Coast, U.S.) and I have a high bandwidth connection with low latency to any part of the U.S.; I hear it's even worse for European players.

SSG... I encourage you to resolve this issue (The biggest issue), once and for all!

Many leave the Game because of the lag.

How long will it take until the game is on the edge of the abyss. The longer they do nothing about the lag, the more players will leave the game.
With the F2P change came many players though. But a lot of people leave it again because of the lag and the bad performance

When will SSG officially comment on the performance problems and what they intend to do about it ?

[Pavoff]

When will SSG officially comment on the performance problems and what they intend to do about it ?

I can see smth like this comming



WoW players know. Lotro ones will learn soon....