Worst weekend for game reliability ever

[Deputy276]

Here's a list of the wonderful things WG presented me with this weekend:

#1. "Server overload". First time I have ever seen this message in WoWs. Included with this joyous notification was a message that I should 'come back later and play'. Are you kidding, WG? I buy 2 Prem CVs for a considerable chunk of change and want to enjoy them and you tell me to piss off and come back later? Not a very smart message to encourage future purchases. How about something like "We're sorry, but we are using cheapass servers and they can't handle the load. Please keep trying to get in the game". 

#2 Ping spikes. All game every game. Probably a bonus to #1.

#3 Lag and warping. What fun that is. You suddenly "transport" across the water due to a dimensional shift. Then you are blasted because you are out in the open and the bots are suddenly in front of you.

#4 Freezing. Not the cold weather freezing...the freezing where suddenly the game just stops. When it finally starts back up you experience #3.

#5 Disconnects. Again...probably related to #1. Just after you hit the Battle button everything freezes and then you are presented with the Sign On screen. If you are lucky, you are able to reconnect in one try. If not repeat and retry. 

 

In-battle chat was loaded with complaints about all of the above, and so was the general chat while in port. So it wasn't just me enjoying all the "fun".

If this is the kind of performance WG gets out of their servers for a weekend where most folks are setting off firecrackers or bar-b-queing or doing something other than playing the game, then WG is in deep poop. They better hope they DON'T increase their player base because it's obvious their servers can't handle the present load. And before someone says a whole lot of people are playing, sorry, but no. It was common to have the team with 1-4 bots on it. And that was in PvE, where daytime play on a weekend is almost never populated with bots. WOT used to have this problem and WG blamed it on the players having bad connections. When they finally admitted it was their garbage servers, they upgraded them and the problem disappeared. WG should have already learned their lesson that doing servers "on the cheap" is a bad idea. 

 

[Theodosivs_Imperator]

I had hideous lag yesterday, as well as plenty of server overload messages. The last straw was when I took my Alabama out for a spin and suddenly ping started spiking at 6000 (that's right, six thousand), making the match unplayable while I drove helplessly around in circles. It was so bad that I quit playing for the rest of the day (and I double checked my modem and connection speed to verify the problem wasn't at my end. 

[SedatedApe]

From what I've read and researched, #1 doesn't seem to be related to the others.

BUT....there are several posts concerning #1.

I haven't personally experienced this issue.

 

BUT (again) several times over the weekend, #2 through #5 did happen to me during my gameplay.

This morning, however, it's NON-STOP!

I'll get disconnected a couple time and get back in to ask in chat if anyone else having same problem...just to get immediately disconnected, again.

Lag, warping, and freezing makes the game -play totally impossible.

This happens about once a week/10-day period. Not related to weekend (today is Monday) or special events.

 

 

I had high hopes for some Ranked battling this morning, but......

[surratus]

I seem to recall a post within the last month regarding the ping spikes.  As I remember the poster did a pretty thorough investigation to pin point the problem, then offered up a workable solution, and I think it had something to do with the new game launcher.  Sorry, I know that's not much help but a quick search of the forums might yield something. Until WG gets things sorted out....

Found it. 

 

[m373x]

50 minutes ago, Deputy276 said:

Here's a list of the wonderful things WG presented me with this weekend:

#1. "Server overload". First time I have ever seen this message in WoWs. Included with this joyous notification was a message that I should 'come back later and play'. Are you kidding, WG? I buy 2 Prem CVs for a considerable chunk of change and want to enjoy them and you tell me to piss off and come back later? Not a very smart message to encourage future purchases. How about something like "We're sorry, but we are using cheapass servers and they can't handle the load. Please keep trying to get in the game". 

#2 Ping spikes. All game every game. Probably a bonus to #1.

#3 Lag and warping. What fun that is. You suddenly "transport" across the water due to a dimensional shift. Then you are blasted because you are out in the open and the bots are suddenly in front of you.

#4 Freezing. Not the cold weather freezing...the freezing where suddenly the game just stops. When it finally starts back up you experience #3.

#5 Disconnects. Again...probably related to #1. Just after you hit the Battle button everything freezes and then you are presented with the Sign On screen. If you are lucky, you are able to reconnect in one try. If not repeat and retry. 

 

In-battle chat was loaded with complaints about all of the above, and so was the general chat while in port. So it wasn't just me enjoying all the "fun".

If this is the kind of performance WG gets out of their servers for a weekend where most folks are setting off firecrackers or bar-b-queing or doing something other than playing the game, then WG is in deep poop. They better hope they DON'T increase their player base because it's obvious their servers can't handle the present load. And before someone says a whole lot of people are playing, sorry, but no. It was common to have the team with 1-4 bots on it. And that was in PvE, where daytime play on a weekend is almost never populated with bots. WOT used to have this problem and WG blamed it on the players having bad connections. When they finally admitted it was their garbage servers, they upgraded them and the problem disappeared. WG should have already learned their lesson that doing servers "on the cheap" is a bad idea. 

 

I'm gonna paraphrase you from another topic and say: "WG is a business, they are here for $$. They are not some professional video game maker that has to be stable and have perfect servers just for your enjoyment"

[SedatedApe]

So m373x...if this was a professional video game, it would be returned for store credit or a refund.

Would you then, with your reply, say people who experience these issues, repeated....just remove the game from their computers and move on to better (more stable) things?

I'd be happy to forward your intended reply/hidden meaning, to WG when I send a report of the problems I'm having, as stated--#2 thru #5.

 

"Snarky is never helpful", my old CPO, RMC Osborne....1981/84

[MrKilmister]

I got discoed several times as I was queuing into ranked battles yesterday.  Other than that, ranked battles or what I witnessed within, particularly last night and early this morning was like a newly discovered lost Hieronymus Bosch painting. 

 

 

[capncrunch21]

Can confirm.

I also got the Server Overloaded message this weekend and had never seen it before, as well as just getting DC'd in an Operations just now (and of course killed by the time I re-connected - to end up losing because I wasn't there to help).

Very frustrating. What ever it is you did WG, fix it.

[FayFay731]

My friend seemed to be lagging this weeked. Bummer for him because the was such a nice exp bonus.

[Deputy276]

Well I hate to say "misery loves company", but it's nice to know I am not alone with this mess. Confirms it's not a problem at my end.

 

M373X: businesses become and stay a success by supplying a reliable and dependable product. Would you buy a car that shut off every couple of miles for no apparent reason? If this is an "amateur" video game, I sure would like to see what a PROFESSIONAL video game looks like. And an unstable game affects more than just my enjoyment. It affects the hundreds or thousands of players trying to play the game. 

 

I can also say that I have never in the past experienced the level of malfunctions I had over the weekend. An occasional disconnect, yes. I will take the blame for that. But I have a 50MEG cable modem connection and I did as others have and tested it with Ping Plotter. No problems showed up from my equipment or provider. 

[CylonRed]

1 hour ago, Deputy276 said:

 Confirms it's not a problem at my end.

Actually it would not "confirm" this in reality by objective standards, HOWEVER, it is very likely to be a routing issue more than anything else can WG cannot in any way influence the routing.  All of the ping plots posted by others in the last couple of weeks do show that some folks have weird routing to Europe before heading back to the US.  Routes are dynamic - your ISP maybe able to force a new route but they likely will not do that without some evidence the route is an issue but there is no guarantee that the new route would help or that the ISP will try and force a new route.. 

[Fitzwalrus]

I had a LOT of lag problems this weekend (which usually rarely happens to me) but did not experience any of the other problems mentioned.

Glad to know it wasn't just me, but sorry you all had such difficulties.

[Taylor3006]

Oddly enough I had only one problem this weekend with the program crashing and I was connected for a long time each day for three days. Really unusual for me, I generally get a program crash every few hours. Did not really notice any lag, was an enjoyable weekend of play for me.

[Deputy276]

19 hours ago, CylonRed said:

Actually it would not "confirm" this in reality by objective standards, HOWEVER, it is very likely to be a routing issue more than anything else can WG cannot in any way influence the routing.  All of the ping plots posted by others in the last couple of weeks do show that some folks have weird routing to Europe before heading back to the US.  Routes are dynamic - your ISP maybe able to force a new route but they likely will not do that without some evidence the route is an issue but there is no guarantee that the new route would help or that the ISP will try and force a new route.. 

Except...most folks including myself, DIDN'T have any of the problems I listed before the recent 2 patches. There is another weird glitch showing up that many are experiencing and that is ribbons and fires showing up BEFORE the shells even hit the target. I find it impossible to believe that it's everyone's ISP problem that is responsible for this problem. It is happening among folks that AREN'T being routed through Euro servers. You can cheer lead for WG all you want. I went through this same garbage in WOT UNTIL they improved their servers. 

More complaints of a similar nature listed here. And WG has acknowledged it and is supposedly looking into it:

 

[GunnerC68]

yes refunding us our premium would be nice since they delivered us the Stinking Turd!!  I always love how they want to question our systems?  Ah we didn't have an issue until the update and now we have massive drops and horrible lag!!   It's like being on a broken down commuter train where they keep saying they are sorry for the inconvenience ,

  

[CylonRed]

6 hours ago, Deputy276 said:

Except...most folks including myself, DIDN'T have any of the problems I listed before the recent 2 patches. There is another weird glitch showing up that many are experiencing and that is ribbons and fires showing up BEFORE the shells even hit the target. I find it impossible to believe that it's everyone's ISP problem that is responsible for this problem. It is happening among folks that AREN'T being routed through Euro servers. You can cheer lead for WG all you want. I went through this same garbage in WOT UNTIL they improved their servers. 

More complaints of a similar nature listed here. And WG has acknowledged it and is supposedly looking into it:

 

It is not cheerleading - it is bringing common sense into the discussion as a former programmer, software support and game support for other online games and current software QA professional.  They are looking into - last thread I read on it - with the odd routing but in reality - unless they have a SLA with company they won't have much chance to do anything. 

Things like - "my speed is great/I tested the speed of my line  - can't be my problem" and "others have it therefore I know it is not me" is simply - simplistic and very likely incorrect and is in no way confirmation of anything till all other sources are rules out.  That would include hundreds of potential issues that could cause things like this. I have worked thru many of the same issues with various games as well - sometimes it took 2 weeks or more to find the issue; with..... routing.  When a small fraction of folks have an issue - out of a lot of players - then the chances it is outside WG skyrockets.

[Deputy276]

12 hours ago, CylonRed said:

It is not cheerleading - it is bringing common sense into the discussion as a former programmer, software support and game support for other online games and current software QA professional.  They are looking into - last thread I read on it - with the odd routing but in reality - unless they have a SLA with company they won't have much chance to do anything. 

Things like - "my speed is great/I tested the speed of my line  - can't be my problem" and "others have it therefore I know it is not me" is simply - simplistic and very likely incorrect and is in no way confirmation of anything till all other sources are rules out.  That would include hundreds of potential issues that could cause things like this. I have worked thru many of the same issues with various games as well - sometimes it took 2 weeks or more to find the issue; with..... routing.  When a small fraction of folks have an issue - out of a lot of players - then the chances it is outside WG skyrockets.

Yeah yeah it's very complex and us dumb players are all clueless about what is REALLY going on. Horse manure. Same crapola they tried to spoonfeed us in WOT. It doesn't fly any more. The problem started up 2 patches ago and it is still going on. You can swim in De Nial all you want. But the more it exists (and we haven't even heard from players who aren't on the forum) the more it will hurt WG's sales and player base. BTW...my name is Al Gore and I INVENTED the internet. Best thing about it is you can be anything you want to be. No way of disproving it. 

[Daiichidoku]

same, since 6.6 lotsa lag and stuttery frame rates, almost headache-inducing

 

patch 6.7 did nothing to change it, WoW is rapidly losing its appeal to myself, and im sure many others, just due to this alone...but i guess WG doesnt have the time or money to be able to fix this

 

[GunnerC68]

can't play at all once total players is above 6000,  so after 9pm (pacific time zone) it drops below 5000 and the game runs like normal. I have NEVER been dropped from so many games as I have since the update .  

  

[Taylor3006]

I spoke too soon, game starting to crash quite a bit now. Every time so far I have played Ops (Newport) it craps out. Get a few crashes in PvE now as well. I knew I shouldn't have said it was working fine for me, I jinxed it.