Do Events really have to be a LAG fest ?

[popps]

This thread is an attempt at discussing Events and their design.
I hope it will be possible to keep the discussion civil and everyone who want to participate provide their opinions.



Why are Events held ?

Well, I would imagine to entertain players and have as many participate as possible.

Now, when a whole lot of players participate, which is a good thing, what can happen ?

The large number of participants creates inevitable LAG.

The problem becomes WORSE when the Event is Designed to occur in a small area and forces a whole lot of participants to clog each other in such a small area creating an unplayable lag for some.

Can it get worse ?
Yes it can....

It can get even worse when the Event is designed with a limited number of MOBs which all of the players need or may want to all target or attack because this means packing all those players in the proximity of such MOB(s) making it hardly possible for many to target the MOB(s) and LAG so bad that several players almost have hard time controlling their Avatars.

Can it get worse ? It can.....

It can get worse when the MOB(s) are designed to cast in an extremely lagged area a lot of area spells affecting walking like wild fires or fire flames, for example.

So we have players, lagged to the extreme, who can hardly walk the area and have high damage flames they cannot escape.

The Event may therefore become for many, who do not happen to have high end hardware or the fastest connections out there, a nightmare to play.

Are Events like these the correct way to go ?

Not in my opinion.

I have no doubt that those players who have expensive hardware and very fast connections can get a lot of satisfaction from these Events, but ny argument is that "if" Events are intended to entertain a large participation, then their Design should be directed not as much towards the fewer with better hardware but towards the more with average hardware.

How ?

Well, since LAG mostly occurs when packing too many players in a too small area, Events should therefore be designed so as to span over a Large Area thus scattering players all over it.

How ?

Well, what brings all of the Event participants into a small area, packing it, and creating unplayeable LAG to some, is the limited number of Event MOBs. Having fewer MOBs with a whole lot of hit points that require a high number of players to kill them, force the packing of a high number of participants in a too small area thus resulting in a perfect LAG inducing recipe.

So, to my opinion, an Event designed to be more playable for more players should be designed with several MOBs, each of them powerfull but not too uber powerfull to require too many players to be killed which would create LAG in the area, and it should have these MOBs spawn in separate areas well distant from each other so as to reduce as much as possible the concentration of participants and the consequential LAG.

The current event was handling gems to the top damagers and an artifact to participants who were able to damage the MOBs.

Since quite a few players were unable to receive anything, not even the Doom artifact nor the cloak, this shows again how the design of the Event packing too many players in such a small area thus creating so much LAG can make the Event unpleasant and hardly playable for several participants.

A good number of players who yet took their time to participate to the Event yet walked out empty handed because the environment and the dynamics of the Event made it so that they were unable to inflict any damage to even qualify for the "participation token"...

Having Events designed over large areas and with less powerfull MOBs distanced from each other and requiring less players to kill them, would allow, IMHO, to make it a much more playable Event thus allowing more participants to have fun playing it.

I can understand that in order to bring challenge MOBs are made extremely uber tough and with a gazillion hit points that they require a thousand players all there to kill them, but I totally disagree with this approach because it becomes only playable for those with the best hardware and connection and thus, counters the goal of an Event, that of being of an entertaining value for as many participants as possible.

I hope sincerely that in the future Events will no longer be designed in this way and that we will see Events that are no longer a LAG fest and can truly be entertaining for the highest number possible of participants.

So, I hope to see Events spanning large areas and with MOBs less powerfull so to require a lower number of participants to kill them avoiding any LAG problem that could make the Event unplayable for some participants.

 

[Fink]

Hiya Popps!

Do Events really have to be a LAG fest ?

Yes! Bring it on.

I'd rather be lagged in the thick of something than sitting around at "full speed" wishing something would happen. Just think how bad it was years ago on dial-up with actual heavily populated servers, compare that to now, & consider how good we have it.

Lag = part of the internet experience. Just how the freedom of owning a car gets you into traffic jams.

 

[JC the Builder]

It is impossible to design an event that will please every player. One time events such as these will always run into issues, especially when they prove popular and attract a lot of participants.

It is very difficult for Event Moderator events to be run over a large area because they are only direct by a couple people at a time. Sometimes only by one person. For an event to have in several locations it either takes immense planning or be pre-scripted (which means developer created).

Also your call for more wide-area events is what the developers have already been providing. They did the new Treasures of Tokuno. They had the month of slime dyes. The invasions. Etc.

 

[popps]

Hiya Popps!

Do Events really have to be a LAG fest ?

Yes! Bring it on.

Question.......

What is the difference between an Event with 50 participants all of them attacking at once a MOB with, say, 1,000,000 Hit points and an Event with, say, 15 participants all of them attacking a MOB with 150,000 Hit points ?

The ratio will still be the same, 1 participant to deal for 10,000 Hit points but the second type of scenario will see way less lag.

May I ask you what type of hardware are you using to play the game and how fast a connection are you using ?

 

[Coppelia]

Question.......

What is the difference between an Event with 50 participants all of them attacking at once a MOB with, say, 1,000,000 Hit points and an Event with, say, 15 participants all of them attacking a MOB with 150,000 Hit points ?

The MADNESS!

 

[jack flash uk]

This thread is an attempt at discussing Events and their design.
I hope it will be possible to keep the discussion civil and everyone who want to participate provide their opinions.



Why are Events held ?

Well, I would imagine to entertain players and have as many participate as possible.

Now, when a whole lot of players participate, which is a good thing, what can happen ?

The large number of participants creates inevitable LAG.

The problem becomes WORSE when the Event is Designed to occur in a small area and forces a whole lot of participants to clog each other in such a small area creating an unplayable lag for some.

Can it get worse ?
Yes it can....

It can get even worse when the Event is designed with a limited number of MOBs which all of the players need or may want to all target or attack because this means packing all those players in the proximity of such MOB(s) making it hardly possible for many to target the MOB(s) and LAG so bad that several players almost have hard time controlling their Avatars.

Can it get worse ? It can.....

It can get worse when the MOB(s) are designed to cast in an extremely lagged area a lot of area spells affecting walking like wild fires or fire flames, for example.

So we have players, lagged to the extreme, who can hardly walk the area and have high damage flames they cannot escape.

The Event may therefore become for many, who do not happen to have high end hardware or the fastest connections out there, a nightmare to play.

Are Events like these the correct way to go ?

Not in my opinion.

I have no doubt that those players who have expensive hardware and very fast connections can get a lot of satisfaction from these Events, but ny argument is that "if" Events are intended to entertain a large participation, then their Design should be directed not as much towards the fewer with better hardware but towards the more with average hardware.

How ?

Well, since LAG mostly occurs when packing too many players in a too small area, Events should therefore be designed so as to span over a Large Area thus scattering players all over it.

How ?

Well, what brings all of the Event participants into a small area, packing it, and creating unplayeable LAG to some, is the limited number of Event MOBs. Having fewer MOBs with a whole lot of hit points that require a high number of players to kill them, force the packing of a high number of participants in a too small area thus resulting in a perfect LAG inducing recipe.

So, to my opinion, an Event designed to be more playable for more players should be designed with several MOBs, each of them powerfull but not too uber powerfull to require too many players to be killed which would create LAG in the area, and it should have these MOBs spawn in separate areas well distant from each other so as to reduce as much as possible the concentration of participants and the consequential LAG.

The current event was handling gems to the top damagers and an artifact to participants who were able to damage the MOBs.

Since quite a few players were unable to receive anything, not even the Doom artifact nor the cloak, this shows again how the design of the Event packing too many players in such a small area thus creating so much LAG can make the Event unpleasant and hardly playable for several participants.

A good number of players who yet took their time to participate to the Event yet walked out empty handed because the environment and the dynamics of the Event made it so that they were unable to inflict any damage to even qualify for the "participation token"...

Having Events designed over large areas and with less powerfull MOBs distanced from each other and requiring less players to kill them, would allow, IMHO, to make it a much more playable Event thus allowing more participants to have fun playing it.

I can understand that in order to bring challenge MOBs are made extremely uber tough and with a gazillion hit points that they require a thousand players all there to kill them, but I totally disagree with this approach because it becomes only playable for those with the best hardware and connection and thus, counters the goal of an Event, that of being of an entertaining value for as many participants as possible.

I hope sincerely that in the future Events will no longer be designed in this way and that we will see Events that are no longer a LAG fest and can truly be entertaining for the highest number possible of participants.

So, I hope to see Events spanning large areas and with MOBs less powerfull so to require a lower number of participants to kill them avoiding any LAG problem that could make the Event unplayable for some participants.

Do we need the flannel? do we need your input as if you are an expert? NO


simply question Do Events really have to be a LAG fest ?


a one line post poops would have been enough

lets have an answer from the DEV'S and no quotes and opinions from you

 

[Viper09]

Do they have to be a lag fest?
No.

Will they be a lag fest though?
Yes

Do you have to make a new post and complain over every little thing you don't like?
No.

Will you make a new post and complain over every little thing you don't like?
Yes.

But you know, like most things in life, that's just the way it is.
If you have a big event going on and in addition to that battle all in one location, expect lag, regardless of the game.

 

[Taylor]

Question.......

What is the difference between an Event with 50 participants all of them attacking at once a MOB with, say, 1,000,000 Hit points and an Event with, say, 15 participants all of them attacking a MOB with 150,000 Hit points ?

Well, in the first scenario, there are more participants and the boss has more hit points. In the second scenario, there are fewer participants and the boss has fewer hit points.

Did I get it right? Am I a winner?

 

[popps]

The MADNESS!

How can the MADNESS be any good when it causes horrible lag to several players preventing them from getting their enjoyment from the Event ?

Besides, how come there hardly is any Event that instead of being based on the MADNESS might be based on searching for clues, with riddles to solve and search for items to bring back to the EM for, say, a Doom quality artifact as a reward ?

What I am trying to say, is that since there do are players out there who have a hard time taking part to these MADNESS Events because they cause too much LAG they can bear with and they are too chaotic, I think there should be also Events for them.

For example, how about offering to players a variety of choices for Events from which to pick?

Some Events will be MADNESS, some will be riddle solving and item searching, some will be less MADNESS and more reasonable spawns....

But players cannot do them all. They need to choose and make their pick.

When attending the Event their account is marked that they participated to that Event and are prevented to have their account participate to any of the other Events for that cycle therefore letting other players participate to other Events.

I do not see why there should be hoarders of Events just because their better hardware and faster connections allow them to. All players should equally have their share participation to the Events they prefer to attend without stepping on other players' feet and causing other players not be able to attend.

When too many players participate to too many Events, that creates problems toi other players who might be made incapacitated to get THEIR share of fun from the Events because of the extreme LAG and dynamics of the Event.

This is, to my opinion, limiting others' ability to have their share of fun as they deserve.

That is why I think the Events should be handled differently.
As of now, they are mainly addressed to those with the best hardware and the fastest connections and it is not right, IMHO.

 

[popps]

But you know, like most things in life, that's just the way it is.

Does that mean that even if things "could" be made better and more fun for more players they should not because "that's just the way it is" ?

If mankind lived by that motto, "that's just the way it is", we would still be living in caves....

Luckily, things DO GET changed and improved.

So, if Events CAN be made better for a larger number of participants and have them ALL be able to enjoy them, I ask, WHY NOT ?

 

[Taylor]

As of now, they are mainly addressed to those with the best hardware and the fastest connections and it is not right, IMHO.

Exactly. Mythic needs to either a) provide us all with the best hardware and the fastest connections or b) punish people who have the best hardware/connections for being so unfair.

We have a right to a) either grow into the tallest stalks of wheat in the field or b) cut off the tallest stalks so that they're even with the rest of us.

 

[popps]

Well, in the first scenario, there are more participants and the boss has more hit points. In the second scenario, there are fewer participants and the boss has fewer hit points.

Did I get it right? Am I a winner?

Unfortunately not because you missed the main and most significative difference: the LAG.

With all those participants all packed in a small area the first scenario will have much worse LAG than the second scenario even if the ratio of MOB's Hit Points per participant is the same (10,000 hit points).

So, the challenge will be the same since the ratio is the same but the first scenario will be unplayable for many more participants than the second scenario.

 

[popps]

Exactly. Mythic needs to either a) provide us all with the best hardware and the fastest connections or b) punish people who have the best hardware/connections for being so unfair.

How about a (c) option as another alternative ?

Provide "different" Events for "different" participants and make them have to "pick" one type of Event for that cycle per account, NOT be able to run them all to avoid Event hoarders....

This way, participants' participation would be diluted throughout the choosable Events for that given cycle and participants could be able to pick what they more prefer and face a reduced LAg environment thus accomodating a wider number of paying customers.

 

[Cailleach]

I enjoy events, and try to turn up where I can, rl allowing. However, there were two very simple things that could have been done last night to prevent the horrific lag that glued me to the spot, caused my client to crash (twice) and got me teleported right out of the dungeon.

1) They could have not spawned the shadow lords so close to the bottle neck that the entrance gate created.

2) There could have been either more than one gate, spreading players around the dungeon, or one gate that dropped us all in a few locations around the dungeon.

My lag was caused just by the sheer number of players on my screen. When I finally managed to move off, the fewer players that were there, the more it improved.

I hope that someone reads this and takes it on board; not as a flame, that's not my intention, but as constructive comment on what could be done to improve events from a player point of view.

 

[Kiminality]

I'm vaguely with Popps here, although I hasten to add not for the "not fair" line, or any of that.

Even without the lag, when events grow too big, with too many people in one area, they become completely unwieldy. The character if the event is lost in the flock, and it becomes little more than a large group monster bash.
Also, when an event grows to such a size, it stretches the technical limitations of the game. I've heard plenty of people reporting multiple client crashes, massive lag, and other performance issues.

 

[Alezi]

popps, is anyone forcing you to participate the events?

Thought so.

 

[Viper09]

So, if Events CAN be made better for a larger number of participants and have them ALL be able to enjoy them, I ask, WHY NOT ?

So if you CAN stop constantly complaining and making the simplest of things so difficult when providing answers by constantly arguing, we ask. WHY NOT?

This is UO. It is a great game and there's probably a lot of things Mythic wants to do and could do if EA actually wanted to start putting more into this game.

 

[Farsight]

I enjoy events, and try to turn up where I can, rl allowing. However, there were two very simple things that could have been done last night to prevent the horrific lag that glued me to the spot, caused my client to crash (twice) and got me teleported right out of the dungeon.

1) They could have not spawned the shadow lords so close to the bottle neck that the entrance gate created.

2) There could have been either more than one gate, spreading players around the dungeon, or one gate that dropped us all in a few locations around the dungeon.

My lag was caused just by the sheer number of players on my screen. When I finally managed to move off, the fewer players that were there, the more it improved.

I hope that someone reads this and takes it on board; not as a flame, that's not my intention, but as constructive comment on what could be done to improve events from a player point of view.

Your issue #1 is a Europa-specific issue which completely killed the event for me there.

I showed up and was promptly glued to the spot. By the time my screen loaded, I was down to half life from the fire fields created by the death of a shadowlord (I think it was the last one, I couldn't even see the entrance gate and had no idea how I got in until the event was finished and I saw the entrance gate), and I couldn't move fast enough to escape the fire fields before they got me. It was quite an embarassing way to die, standing in fields with nothing I could do.

Then I couldn't ressurect quickly enough to get my non-runic armor and bandages back, so I had no chance in the rest of the battle and chose to remain as a ghost until the end-speech.

The event on Catskills was a different story entirely. I was able to get in and a group of us could split from the "main" group long enough that lag became less of an issue. Everyone split up around the dungeon and the EMs dropped a shadow-fiend in the shadowlord's chamber which didn't go away until everything else was killed, effectively isolating that room from masses of people until many people could orient themselves and work their way through the manifestations.

 

[popps]

My lag was caused just by the sheer number of players on my screen. When I finally managed to move off, the fewer players that were there, the more it improved.

The problem is not just players, but players AND their pets.

I have noticed that most if not all Events have a very large participation of players with pets.

Lagwise, from what I can understand, this means that the server has to deal with TWICE the number of players present almost, because it is not only the player characters interacting but ALSO their pets.

A tamer, as I seem to understand, LAGs the area more than, say, a warrior or a Mage because of the pet.

Since Events have such a large number of tamers it is unavoidable, as they are planned and designed to pack a huge number of participants (mostly tamers) all in a very small area, that the Events have so much LAG which make the Event unplayable for those not having high end hardware and very fast connections.

All it would require is plan the Events on a larger area, with MOBs that are less hard to kill thus not needing a thousand of participants and spread them distant from each other.
This way, a higher number of participants will be able to attend without causing too much LAG to each other and make it possible for an Event to be enjoyed by as many as possible.

I hope that someone reads this and takes it on board; not as a flame, that's not my intention, but as constructive comment on what could be done to improve events from a player point of view.

Same here. It is not my intent to flame, I am merely providing a different point of view which disagrees with Events designed and run as the current one.

Unfortunately, if I see how the last Event had Shadowlords spawning in a tiny room which got right away packed with greater Dragons causing lag and making it impossible for participants to even target them and the current Event which again packed a large number of participants in a very small area I ses a trend I do not like nor agree with.

 

[Teeshy]

Oh, I dont know, I can gould to any of the EM events and thoroughly enjoy myself, AND occasionally get "unique" event items on ym 28k dialup, and if that wasn't laggy I don't know what is.

It's about people's enjoyment, not items, and lag or no lag, I always enjoyed the events I went to =) I lag, I die, I res, I go back! All part of the fun!

 

[popps]

This is UO. It is a great game and there's probably a lot of things Mythic wants to do and could do if EA actually wanted to start putting more into this game.

If I was asking for "additional" content over a resources limited budget then I would understand the complaints.

But I am not.

Events are held whether I like them or not, whether I participate or not.

That is, apparently, there is resources to hold Events or they would not be held.

All I am pointing out is that as they are currently designed and run they are not fun to many participants because they tend to pack way too many participants in a way too small area.

"If" there are resources to hold Events, I am merely asking to please consider designing and running them in a way that does NOT promote the packing of too many participants in a too small area but instead, have them run on a much larger area with MOBs spawning well distant from each other so as to spread the participants all over the place without them causing lag to each other.

If it is possible to have Events thanking to reasources, all I am asking is to please design them more respectfull of those players not having necessarily high end hardware and the fastest connections......

 

[Kiminality]

...AND their pets.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

I disagree.

I disagree about the lag. I get along at these events pretty well. Of course, the lag is slightly higher than usual, but still no problem at all. You should consider the following:

• The more players on the screen, the more load on your computer. A good CPU and enough memory will help. With 2 GHz CPU and 1 GB RAM you should be more than fine.
• The more spell effects, the more graphical load. If your graphics adapter is not older than 5 years, you should not have any problems.
• Many moving objects on the screen require a reliable internet connection. I have an oversea connection to Catskills with >140ms ping, and still have no problem. The connection does not have to be too fast, but reliable.

All this concerns the Legacy Client, of course.

I play the Enhanced Client, and when we entered the caves I was down to 1 frame per 30 seconds; practically frozen. I assume the problem is the spell effect animation (particle effects). They freeze the whole computer, although I have a 256 MB 3D card (not the best, but still good enough for everything else). Thus, I think the 3D effects in the Enhanced Client are not very well programmed. But this is a different story, and the client still is beta.

Otherwise, the event was good, and if you proceeded carefully you'd even survive. But many people prefer to run blindly into their doom like lemmings...

 

[Cailleach]

There was comment in guild chat about the sheer numbers of dragons there last night. I'll confess that mine was amongst them, although, in my defence, I did leave him off screen wherever I could.

Perhaps it could be guaranteed that pet balls will work, wherever the event is, so folks could use those instead of dragging pets along from the start? That's the only reason I took mine from the start, rather than leaving him in the stable and summoning him when I needed him.

 

[Cailleach]

I disagree.

I disagree about the lag. I get along at these events pretty well. Of course, the lag is slightly higher than usual, but still no problem at all. You should consider the following:

• The more players on the screen, the more load on your computer. A good CPU and enough memory will help. With 2 GHz CPU and 1 GB RAM you should be more than fine.
• The more spell effects, the more graphical load. If your graphics adapter is not older than 5 years, you should not have any problems.
• Many moving objects on the screen require a reliable internet connection. I have an oversea connection to Catskills with >140ms ping, and still have no problem. The connection does not have to be too fast, but reliable.

All this concerns the Legacy Client, of course.

I play the Enhanced Client, and when we entered the caves I was down to 1 frame per 30 seconds; practically frozen. I assume the problem is the spell effect animation (particle effects). They freeze the whole computer, although I have a 256 MB 3D card (not the best, but still good enough for everything else). Thus, I think the 3D effects in the Enhanced Client are not very well programmed. But this is a different story, and the client still is beta.

Otherwise, the event was good, and if you proceeded carefully you'd even survive. But many people prefer to run blindly into their doom like lemmings...

It's all very well to tell us what equipment is required to play, but you're not taking into account that some of us simply can't afford to upgrade our PC's. Mine is an almost 5yr old Dell, and it suffers badly at events like this because it just can't keep up. I'm extremely fortunate that a good friend is able, through his work, to get me a much better PC for nothing. If he couldn't do that, I'd still be using this one, because the way money and work are at the moment, for myself and my husband, there's nothing spare for things like new computers. Our only real treat is playing the game, it's what we do instead of going out.

 

[popps]

• The more players on the screen, the more load on your computer. A good CPU and enough memory will help. With 2 GHz CPU and 1 GB RAM you should be more than fine.
• The more spell effects, the more graphical load. If your graphics adapter is not older than 5 years, you should not have any problems.
• Many moving objects on the screen require a reliable internet connection. I have an oversea connection to Catskills with >140ms ping, and still have no problem. The connection does not have to be too fast, but reliable.

• 
  
  
  Well, a 3.04 Ghz Pentium 4 with 1 GB Ram and a GeForce 6600 AGP8x 256 MB video card and an ISDN connection which is very reliable although running tops at 128kb speed (2 channells) still could not handle the LAG. The system did not crash but moving or doing anything was almost not possible. Basically unplayable since being lagged in an area filled with wild fire and fire fields means taking more damage that one can possibly deal with, and sure death.
  
  So, while that hardware is not high end it also is neither obsolete. Yet, with such average system the Event was still unplayable because as designed it packed way too many participants in way too much a small area.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

It's all very well to tell us what equipment is required to play, but you're not taking into account that some of us simply can't afford to upgrade our PC's. Mine is an almost 5yr old Dell, and it suffers badly at events like this because it just can't keep up.

You are lucky that UO is still using a stone-aged graphics engine, otherwise you'd not only need a high-end gaming machine, but an expensive 3D accelerator card as well. I am quite sure that the events work well on older hardware than mine.

You just have to accept that in sofware business, a 5 year old machine is just... well... outdated. But that has nothing to do with UO in specific.

You won't have any issues with browser-based games or text-based MMORPGs though.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Well, a 3.04 Ghz Pentium 4 with 1 GB Ram and a GeForce 6600 AGP8x 256 MB video card and an ISDN connection which is very reliable although running tops at 128kb speed (2 channells) still could not handle the LAG. The system did not crash but moving or doing anything was almost not possible. Basically unplayable since being lagged in an area filled with wild fire and fire fields means taking more damage that one can possibly deal with, and sure death.

So, while that hardware is not high end it also is neither obsolete. Yet, with such average system the Event was still unplayable because as designed it packed way too many participants in way too much a small area.

I'm just saying that there may be other reasons beyond EA's influence that cause problems here. I figured that you can improve your system performance significantly when turning off unused Windows Services or tools running in the background. I always do it after installing, which makes my system twice as fast. If you run Vista, you're doomed anyway, cause the system will eat up most of your performance.

When you have lag and others with similar hardware/connection don't, than the problem can hardly be the game.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

There was comment in guild chat about the sheer numbers of dragons there last night. I'll confess that mine was amongst them, although, in my defence, I did leave him off screen wherever I could.

I don't use a tamer there. But, if the game allows us to play tamers, why should they be ruled out at events? That would be strange.

Besides, the dragons didn't cause me any noteworthy lag.

 

[Flutter]

I'd rather be lagged in the thick of something than sitting around at "full speed" wishing something would happen.

 

[Mitzlplik_SP]

Well, a 3.04 Ghz Pentium 4 with 1 GB Ram and a GeForce 6600 AGP8x 256 MB video card and an ISDN connection which is very reliable although running tops at 128kb speed (2 channells) still could not handle the LAG. The system did not crash but moving or doing anything was almost not possible. Basically unplayable since being lagged in an area filled with wild fire and fire fields means taking more damage that one can possibly deal with, and sure death.

So, while that hardware is not high end it also is neither obsolete. Yet, with such average system the Event was still unplayable because as designed it packed way too many participants in way too much a small area.

1 gig of Ram? 256 card...

Doesn`t matter how stone age UO is,those are less than admirable specs. Ram is dirt cheap BUY SOME.

My machine is less than impressive.Its one of those 5+ year old outdated machines someone mentioned.
Win XP Pro
AMD 4000+ 2.4 SINGLE core proc.
4 gigs Ram (3 left after XP uses its share)
512 Nvidia 9800GT
cable interweb.

With my less than stellar machine I manage to run almost lagless thru the events like Luna invasion without any fear of freezing or lag death.

Its YOUR responsability to keep your PC with the times as best you can,not EA`s. If you can`t keep up...upgrade some parts or stop crying about what you have to put up with in the lag department.

Now,go back to your stool and start pondering your next thread,we can`t wait.

 

[R Traveler]

Lag on Europa was server side. I quickly (one step per 5 secs) stealthed to far east corner of dungeon, where no other mobs located. Ressed someone, and tried to kill one SL. With 2 my EV and sometimes SL-revenant there was 6 total mobs on screen. It was crazy laggy. I'v got new box with 2Gb RAM, E5200 dual core cpu, GeForce G210 video with 512Mb video ram. Seen cpu usage around 25-30%. Network connection is 2Mbit.

 

[NewThunder]

Unfortunately not because you missed the main and most significative difference: the LAG.

With all those participants all packed in a small area the first scenario will have much worse LAG than the second scenario even if the ratio of MOB's Hit Points per participant is the same (10,000 hit points).

So, the challenge will be the same since the ratio is the same but the first scenario will be unplayable for many more participants than the second scenario.

This shows you have no understanding of how the game and the subservers work. The more MOBs you place on a subserver the more lag you create. By spawning few harder MOBs the lag is reduced. The main issue is that when so many players enter the same subserver there is going to be lag, the lag is not all client side (some is but not all). Events help build the community, but you seem to not want the community to show up; it would not be feasable to split the event into segments, and I highly doubt EA would spring for the resources. Perhaps you should select a shard with a smaller player base, for on the Larger shards Event will equal Lag. Lag was here in the beggining of UO, it will be here in the end. I look forward to see what trivial item you will complain about next.

 

[Artemyth]

I don't lag at all. In fact, the only times I remember actually *LAGGING* I can count on one hand.

1. Back in the day when running from Britain to Yew took an hour.
2. When Casca took 60 of us down to one tiny room and a special effects explosion went off and we all were pressing ctrl+shift to grab fragments of the crystal.

Didn't lag at this weekend's event though. I do play on a shard that gives me good connection, however.

People are right. Most of it is having a better-than-average computer. Events COULD be split up so there are two objectives to each event... but then you get people whining because they think the grass was greener on the other side. The only thing I can suggest to the Dev team/EMs is to mix up their strategies so they please some of the people some of the time, but not the same some of the people ALL of the time.

In this case, there were three targets to kill, but they were all in the same general area. What if each one was in a separate location? Less lag. Some people like it that way, some people don't. Some like all their eggs in one basket. Can't please all the people all the time xD

 

[Fluffi]

Question.......

What is the difference between an Event with 50 participants all of them attacking at once a MOB with, say, 1,000,000 Hit points and an Event with, say, 15 participants all of them attacking a MOB with 150,000 Hit points ?

The MADNESS!

Exactly!

One of the laggiest events I attended was the "Europa versus the giant-technicolour-horde-minions in the cave under Haven" fight.

Dozens of people in a "dungeon" not much bigger than 2 game-windows.


Lag was awful, but the event was great fun due to the number of people who took part.
Chaos can be amusing.

 

[Thangorodrim]

an ISDN connection

That is your problem, dip****. You are barely out of dial-up speeds.

As usual, your core problem is yourself.

 

[Fink]

Question.......

What is the difference between an Event with 50 participants all of them attacking at once a MOB with, say, 1,000,000 Hit points and an Event with, say, 15 participants all of them attacking a MOB with 150,000 Hit points ?

The ratio will still be the same, 1 participant to deal for 10,000 Hit points but the second type of scenario will see way less lag.

The damage spread is more like:
1x Naked X-Shard Gimp does 20% using Armageddon
2x Suicidal Sampires do 10% each
5x Greater Dragons do 11% each
20x Mages, Bards, & Misc doing 5% between them

As for which scenario is preferable, the one that entertains more people of course.

May I ask you what type of hardware are you using to play the game and how fast a connection are you using ?

I use a P.C., AKA, "Piece of Crap"(tm)
My connexion is "twisted pair" of strings and 2 tin cans, AKA Australian Broadband.

Check out my foaming rants on the Enhanced Client forum for system specs, but I have a 7yo PC and I currently ping 300 to my shard which 50 miles from my house.

 

[Trebr Drab]

Popps, didn't you get your UOnews letter? Let me quote....

"The event was a test for lag. We'd like to thank you all for a successful test, as we have rediscovered the means to bring lag back to UO for that classic UO feel."

After congratulations all around, Draconi responded "Aww shucks, it was just something we threw together."

 

[Lythos-]

I am thankful EM volunteers have taken time from their own playtime to plan and run events for other players.

Lag is to be expected as are multiple deaths. Events are based around not only what the EMs want to do BUT what EA will ALLOW them to do.

A lot of you cannot understand EMs are not allowed to do a lot. They are doing their absolute best with what they have to work with and i for one am proud of each and every one of them.

 

[Yalp]

hey Popps! I'm confused...

you bitched all day about your schedule and the the timing of the event and how being on a weekend (egads) wasn't gonna be conducive to getting the most people of the shard there to participate.. and why can't they replay the whole darn thing.. and blah blah blah.


.... and now you're complaining because you did go (egads) and it was too laggy for your taste!

I must say sir, your daily pancakes and complaining has gotten to newer and newer heights!

 

[Deb]

Hey Popps, As much as you complain about this game why do you still play?
Maybe a nice game of Chess might be better for you. No lag, no pets,
no craftables and no armor to worry about. And only one other person to
contend with.

 

[canary]

That is your problem, dip****. You are barely out of dial-up speeds.

As usual, your core problem is yourself.

You know, this is a CRAZY notion I'm going to throw out, but you don't have to disagree with someone by being nasty. Yes, most of popps posts are negative, but retorts like yours aren't exactly unicorns and moonbeams either. Last time I checked he was allowed to post anything as long as it wasn't offensive to the community at large. Creating a response to him in what is, essentially, a troll post does nothing.

If you don't like it, no one is forcing you to read his posts. There is an 'ignore' feature available. I've heard it works wonders.

 

[Lokibee]

Lets just look at this realisticly....
You want this to be a constructive thread and yet you start your I dont have a conection worth of the game whining and complaining RIGHT off the bat.
Well the players and the staff are NOT responsible for your lack of funds for a decent cable or dsl broadband connection sorry...
Second the staff that do these events are doing them for us the last thing they deserve is some whining little fool coming on here and trashing the hard work they put into making the game a bit more interesting....
No to be constructive You have options...
1) Play another Game if this one is so bad for you
2) Stay away from the events if you dont like them
3) Quit whining and play the game youll get alot more enjoyment from it
4) Get a better internet conection


With that note to all and sundry a good day!!

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

The problem is not just players, but players AND their pets.

I have noticed that most if not all Events have a very large participation of players with pets.

Lagwise, from what I can understand, this means that the server has to deal with TWICE the number of players present almost, because it is not only the player characters interacting but ALSO their pets.

A tamer, as I seem to understand, LAGs the area more than, say, a warrior or a Mage because of the pet.

Thats correct. Atlantics event was 90% Tamers, 10% Archers. Most of them using Greater Dragon, several using 2-5 slot combinations. That alone practically doubles the mobiles in the area. We all know why everyones on Tamers but its the 'Elephant in the room' of UO.

 

[popps]

Lets just look at this realisticly....
You want this to be a constructive thread and yet you start your I dont have a conection worth of the game whining and complaining RIGHT off the bat.

How so ?

This game started for dial up modems and, that I know of, the minimum connection speed has never been set as a low limit to play, to Broadband.......

That is, the game still supports lower speed connections.

"Supports" meaning, also players with lower connections are allowed to play and entitled to enjoy the game, to its fullest.

Sure, a lower speed player cannot compete with a broadband player in PvP but at least in PvM a slower connection subscriber should NOT be precluded to play parts of the game.

I do not really understand why on earth some people can only see Events as a mass, chaotic piling up of participants and their Greater Dragons all causing more or less LAG.

How come that NO OTHER form of an Event is seen as possibly being of equal if not more fun to a wider number of participants but that chaotic, messy and cluttering piling up of participants and their Greater Dragons ?

Well, I do not know about others, but I for one happen to think that there can be other types of Events that could be fun, perhaps even for more participants, WITHOUT necessarily having to pack a huge number of participants in a few squared tiles area.

I was hoping that this thread could constructively help in finding other designs of Events different from those where all of the screen gets cluttered and many can barely walk but apparently there is not much interest to support the improvement of Events in UO.

Oh well....

 

[canary]

Yu know though, popps, that is less UO's problem and more with your ISP provider and/ or the package and speed you've chosen through them.

I mean, from the way it sounds most people were hit with lag pretty bad, and I think most would also agree not containing it in a small space would be more beneficial to lag as a whole.

 

[Yalp]

Thats correct. Atlantics event was 90% Tamers, 10% Archers. Most of them using Greater Dragon, several using 2-5 slot combinations. That alone practically doubles the mobiles in the area. We all know why everyones on Tamers but its the 'Elephant in the room' of UO.

So it's moving into a bashing tamers thread now..

 

[Lord GOD(GOD)]

So it's moving into a bashing tamers thread now..

'Elephant in the room'

 

[popps]

Yu know though, popps, that is less UO's problem and more with your ISP provider and/ or the package and speed you've chosen through them.

I mean, from the way it sounds most people were hit with lag pretty bad, and I think most would also agree not containing it in a small space would be more beneficial to lag as a whole.

So you support or do not support the spreading out of MOBs for future Events in order to have them less chaotic and less messy like when they are packed in a small area ?

 

[canary]

So you support or do not support the spreading out of MOBs for future Events in order to have them less chaotic and less messy like when they are packed in a small area ?

LOL I agreed it would be more beneficial.