It is looking bad for Australian players

Jemila Profile Options #1

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UPDATED OP:

With the backing of a few gm's and some bright minds, the thread has been remade here

http://tera-forums.enmasse.com/forums/general-discussion/topics/Australianand-others-latency-support-thread?page=1#post-190284

It has a more positive outlook and is aimed at supporting fellow gamers. This thread is being discontinued pending removal.


UPDATED OP: Petition to show En Masse interest for a west coast server to help reduce Australian / other latency. It isn't the best medium for it, but for now it is a start. It won't instantly get us a western server, in fact we may never achieve that. But it doesn't hurt to try :)


http://www.thepetitionsite.com/381/826/046/west-coast-server-for-en-masse-tera-online/




As you all know, and this has been stated in other threads already this game seems devoid of GCD or spell queuing. It is part of the whole "action" system.

Result is your attack speed is directly related to your latency.

Here are some examples
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbRuXAnYing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg4lSdRqCp0

Early results tested by other players such as Yanoflies in
http://tera-forums.enmasse.com/forums/general-discussion/topics/Optimization-of-netcode?page=1 places the difference between 50ms and 350ms at a 100% attack speed variable.

That's right, if you are at 350ms and above fighting a player with 50ms. They will attack 100% faster then you. Pve implications are also apparent.


However what really seals the deal for Australians is the location of the server.

http://tera-support.enmasse.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/263
Our servers are located in a Savvis datacenter in Chicago, which we selected because it has world-class infrastructure and facilities that are designed to avoid single points of failure that could lead to outages.

After extensive research we picked Savvis and AboveNet for bandwidth provisioning because they're both excellent Tier 1 service providers. While we could have selected bandwidth providers that provide cheaper service, MMO players would be able to tell the difference in terms of the quality of their gameplay experience - the providers we selected have excellent latency and service characteristics.

And we chose Chicago, again after extensive research, because it is a major peering hub that's near the "center of population" of the United States and Canada. Based on our testing, it has some of the best connectivity and lowest latency to the greatest number of players in North America.


Servers are located in Chicago. Also it is pretty clear we weren't taken into consideration with the location of the data centres at all. They say as much themselves. I don't say this in a "oh the injustice" way. I say it how it is, we are open to access but are not a major part of the companies focus in any way.

I have some of the best public internet you can get in Australia. Most Australian gamers do, or try too! I hit American soil at 140-170ms by disabling interleaving on a limited slot Annex M agile exchange, but that is about as good as it gets for an Aussie. However the location of the server forces us to move through America to the data server. This takes the ping from somewhere in westcoast(such as Los Angeles) ~170ms to ~250ms at Chicago.

However what this translates to in game is actually 220-400ms(lowered it from 240-220)

It fluctuates a lot. As seen in this youtube video I took myself. I have been watching it all day and it often sits at 300-400ms and will occasionally quiet down to 240-250ms. Excuse the frame rate, region screen recording does that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4q7_0oZ3Fw&feature=youtu.be



Long story short, we can't hope to be competitive(definitions of competitive vary) from Australia due to the nature of this game + server location choice. As a competitive player, I don't like going into situations knowing you are losing from the start. In other mmo's there are mechanics in place that can help an Aussie stay competitive. But in tera online the best thing about this game is also going to be what prevents an Aussie being anything but mediocre.

Now as always, levels of skill will always help alleviate disadvantages, quit often with sheer effort you can overcome such a disadvantage. But it will always be a limited effect as once you start to hit fellow skilled players, the one with the latency to enable them will have clear advantage. Once again this games greatest perk is one that also makes latency stand out more then normal.


Test the latency for yourselves :) post in this thread or
http://tera-forums.enmasse.com/forums/general-discussion/topics/Optimization-of-netcode?page=7

Help petition for at least a westcoast server if we can't get one in Australia. Nocking off 100ms would go a long way.
Edited by: Jemila about 1 year ago
Jemila Profile Options #2

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Oh... btw

http://tera-support.enmasse.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/211

Will there be servers located in Australia or Oceania?
We would love to support players in the southern hemisphere by locating servers there, but at the present we only have TERA servers in North America. That being said, we’ve had players from Australia participate in our testing process and TERA is quite playable from there, so if you’re interested we would encourage you to give the game a try.


We are "quite playable" fair or competitive... maybe not.
Yanoflies Profile Options #3

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I understand nothing is probably going to be done. But I at least would like to see EME acknowledge the issue -- and at least be honest about it. "Quite playable from here ..." is far from the truth.

A west server is probably going to be a possibility though, so that's what I'll be most hoping for.

PS:

@EME: We're also paying customers! Don't disregard us!
Suroh Profile Options #4

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That's funny I have five friends currently playing out of Brisbane and have no problems what so ever :P ( not saying their isn't a problem ) take it slow I'm sure this will be solved before the game goes live
Gallus Profile Options #5

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I feel your pain, living here in Hawaii, even with proxy tunneling service I still get 150-200ms, which sucks by US standards.

But I'm fixing the problem by moving to the east coast in a few weeks. Tera is worth it.

I suggest you go get your green cards.
Yanoflies Profile Options #6

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Suroh on 03/24/2012, 05:03 PM - view
That's funny I have five friends currently playing out of Brisbane and have no problems what so ever :P ( not saying their isn't a problem ) take it slow I'm sure this will be solved before the game goes live


Just because he doesn't feel it doesn't mean it's not there. He doesn't know 'how it should be' so he thinks it's normal. He'll come to know of the disadvantages by end game, most probably.
Thaid Profile Options #7

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This crap is spewed forth on the forums of every online game that gets released. Its ridiculous to ask game companies to force everyone to play at a handicap just because you live on an Island Nation. Its just as ridiculous to expect preferential market treatment. of any kind. If you want a better connection get a better ISP. If there isn't a better option available, invent one, or move off the island. Its that simple. ISPs the land down under traffic shape the holy crap out of every user in order to keep from having to lay out new Oceanic hardlines. If you don't like it stop paying them to bend you over.

I know for a fact there is at least one ISP in Ozzyland that will remove connections to gaming services (as long as you make them aware of it) from their throttling nonsense. Use it or quit yer crying.
Edited by: Thaid about 1 year ago - Reason: POTATO!!!
Yanoflies Profile Options #8

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Thaid on 03/24/2012, 05:52 PM
This crap is spewed forth on the forums of every online game that gets released. Its ridiculous to ask game companies to force everyone to play at a handicap just because you live on an Island Nation. Its just as ridiculous to expect preferential market treatment. of any kind. If you want a better connection get a better ISP. If there isn't a better option available, invent one, or move off the island. Its that simple. ISPs the land down under traffic shape the holy crap out of every user in order to keep from having to lay out new Oceanic hardlines. If you don't like it stop paying them to bend you over.

I know for a fact there is at least one ISP in Ozzyland that will remove connections to gaming services (as long as you make them aware of it) from their throttling nonsense. Use it or quit yer crying.


1. we never said anything related to forcing people to play with our disadvantage
2. op is asking for a US WEST server, even with the best possible internet in residential Australia, the ping is gonna jump by a lot from USW where we reach the US to Chicago
3. ISPs do not 'throttle' 'gaming connections', they are limited by the infrastructure of the interweb and even if they they did spend money creating an (expensive) better route, the physical distance will never shrink. Even a straight optic fiber from AUSTRALIA direct to CHICAGO would show pings of above 100, we're connecting at 2/3 the speed of light, that's as fast as we go right now.

Many players in NA would benefit from a USW server, price doesn't pay a role in the matter unlike Oceanic servers. What's to lose?
Edited by: Yanoflies about 1 year ago - Reason: horrible wording
Jemila Profile Options #9

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Also this is MMO is actually a FPS hybrid with attack speed tied to latency.


Considering how much effort mmo's put into balance, specs, nerfs here, buffs there, rebalancing, encounters balanced on player performance, gear scaling, stat normalisation.

Attack speed benefits of 100% faster makes all the balancing attempts hilarious and negligible. Will hardcore content be balanced on what an American can do? Will they even pay that much attention to the extreme theory-crafting little details when a players attack speed fluctuates so much?

In other mmo's if the guy next to you is even slightly 1% OP there are a gazillion "nerf" posts.

Imagine the outcry on wow forums if the warrior next to your warrior had 100% extra haste.



ENMASSE have given pretty good feedback to players in the past, I would like to know what they think about this. Quotes so far show they don't take Australians into consideration which is why I would like some feedback regarding the massive player advantage disparity, beyond "quiet playable".
Edited by: Jemila about 1 year ago
Thaid Profile Options #10

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Yanoflies on 03/24/2012, 06:31 PM - view
Thaid on 03/24/2012, 05:52 PM
This crap is spewed forth on the forums of every online game that gets released. Its ridiculous to ask game companies to force everyone to play at a handicap just because you live on an Island Nation. Its just as ridiculous to expect preferential market treatment. of any kind. If you want a better connection get a better ISP. If there isn't a better option available, invent one, or move off the island. Its that simple. ISPs the land down under traffic shape the holy crap out of every user in order to keep from having to lay out new Oceanic hardlines. If you don't like it stop paying them to bend you over.

I know for a fact there is at least one ISP in Ozzyland that will remove connections to gaming services (as long as you make them aware of it) from their throttling nonsense. Use it or quit yer crying.


1. we never said anything related to forcing people to play with our disadvantage
2. op is asking for a US WEST server, even with the best possible internet in residential Australia, the ping is gonna jump by a lot from USW where we reach the US to Chicago
3. ISPs do not 'throttle' 'gaming connections', they are limited by the infrastructure of the interweb and even if they they did spend money creating an (expensive) better route, the physical distance will never shrink. Even a straight optic fiber from AUSTRALIA direct to CHICAGO would show pings of above 100, we're connecting at 2/3 the speed of light, that's as fast as we go right now.

Many players in NA would benefit from a USW server, price doesn't pay a role in the matter unlike Oceanic servers. What's to lose?


1. actually yes it is implied a number of ways but I'm not gonna waste time trying to teach you how to communicate
3. Yer delusional if you don't think traffic shaping is real. A direct fiber link from Australia to Chicago be a lightspeed connection. (literally). Last I checked lightspeed is kinda fast. There would be more delay in the time it takes a super computer to process the data packet than the delay between hubs. So shh until you actually know a thing or two about networking.

and back to 2:

Why don't you spend some time and figure out what it will cost you to host a server for Tera on the West Coast. You can contact the hosting company EME hired and you can get an idea of what kind of service you will need. Then you can shop around for that hosting service. Let us know what you come up with.

Edit: The latency between Seattle and the Chicago hosting service (using the same ISP over 5m DSL) is no more than 60ms and 40 of that is the piss poor process they use for swapping communication protocols back and forth for DSL connections. Just FYI.
Edited by: Thaid about 1 year ago - Reason: POTATO!!!