2.1 Lag

Noticing that during the early morning hours (3-5am) the problem is pretty much non-existent, but anything outside of that and I'm constantly watching a server full of gate mages jumping from place to place. Tried a Garuda HM last night, she disappeared after the first jump, came back for the second and then disappeared again the rest of the fight...

And I can confirm that it does appear to be 2-3 second spikes of packet loss coming from that same level3 server zeth07 posted.

Just to add my voice to this. I live in Northern VA on FIOS and have the same issue. (as does a friend who lives about 30 miles south, also on FIOS). Only been an issue since 2.1

This is an issue with your ISP's routing partners--it's not exactly something SE did with 2.1. The IP your client uses was likely changed because of how they've reconfigured the servers, which may have triggered your routing to change--but that's about the extent of it.

Your ISP has purchased access to the level3 routes and for whatever reason have changed you to that corridor. This may have happened regardless... could have simply been a change in their policies, which have nothing to do with SE. This is between your ISP and Level3--need to contact your ISP to have them investigate this further on your behalf. Could help a lot if you provide your trace data and request that tier3 or higher look into the matter further.

So you're saying the problem can ONLY be solved on our end, and SE can't/won't do anything to help us fix the problem? I mean I'm fine with calling my ISP and whatnot, but that seems like a lot to expect of the hundreds (at least) of players that are having these issues.

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Originally Posted by vitamin_w

So you're saying the problem can ONLY be solved on our end, and SE can't/won't do anything to help us fix the problem? I mean I'm fine with calling my ISP and whatnot, but that seems like a lot to expect of the hundreds (at least) of players that are having these issues.

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This is a multi-layered system to put you on the world wide web (so you aren't limited say, just to Verizon's own local segments if that is your ISP). You aren't staying expressly on Verizon's lines to get around the Internet. Verizon purchases chunks of routes to use for moving data around the world. You pay Verizon to get on their local segments, and they connect you to the exchanges that link you to other markets (note the cost for this access is worked into what you pay for your internet access to Verizon).

You may actually only be on your ISP's own lines for a few hops, then you get switched to another company for transport to get into another market, and then you may get on yet another company's lines, and finally on the network where the server you want is hosted. This isn't arranged by SE, but your ISP. Otherwise, things would be down for everyone equally, and people wouldn't be resolving it by using VPN/Proxy services to circumvent routing issues and reducing their lag.

Most of the problems are an issue with our internet service providers and their partners, not the game. If your cable/satellite service goes out, you can't get it restored by calling Fox, ABC, or CBS. Sort of the same thing here. SE has no control (nor influence) on your ISP's internal policies or contracts with their service partners. You, however are the paying customer to your ISP, which obligates them to work on stability issues with both their networks and their partner's networks. They <should> be compelled to contact those partners on your behalf, with details about a detected issue on their partner's lines that is adversely affecting quality of service to their own subscribers.

That is why it's important to contact our ISP's with good information. We are seeing the majority of the breakdown--before it gets to SE's end (or even their ISP), while still under the roof of our ISP or their routing partner. Unfortunately, too many people are just calling their local support teams--most of whom are just going to verify that the localized circuits are good. They are told their lines are good on their end, and accept that as "nothing wrong with my internet, it MUST be SE". Localized circuits is not where we are typically seeing the problems. It's off in Dallas, or Chicago, or LA, or Atlanta, or crossing the border and cutting across Canada to Montreal--it's on their partner's lines, perhaps a dozen hops down our route. We don't have a reasonable expectation of being able to contact those partners directly about our problems (they have no agreements with us directly)--but we should be holding our ISP accountable for their decision to use these people, as well as for continuing to use their shoddy routes after we've notified them in detail they are having issues providing acceptable service (ie, with traces illustrating problems).