Thread: .3 Second Positional Update Delay (Requesting Dev Response)

Originally Posted by WintersMoondancer

One way to change it is to change the casting times on certain abilities/spells by the bosses. Add that .3 or .5 to the casting time, giving the client a better chance to give the player a bit better information. Of course those with "perfect connections" would cry out about this since they like to claim lag doesn't exist.

That would simply band-aid the underlying root cause, which is that there is a built-in latency to every positional calculation in the game because of the way they have architected it. While I think SE would be reluctant to rearchitect how positioning is synced, it is really the only right way to handle it. Have the client only pass keystrokes, let the server figure out where you are. That same server also knows when the AOE will finish, so there should be zero lag between the two. This should also prevent the mass teleporting going on, as bots couldn't inject a new position into the position info being sent.

Originally Posted by Spielman

That would simply band-aid the underlying root cause, which is that there is a built-in latency to every positional calculation in the game because of the way they have architected it. While I think SE would be reluctant to rearchitect how positioning is synced, it is really the only right way to handle it. Have the client only pass keystrokes, let the server figure out where you are. That same server also knows when the AOE will finish, so there should be zero lag between the two. This should also prevent the mass teleporting going on, as bots couldn't inject a new position into the position info being sent.

Band aid is better than just bleeding to death, though. Adding another 0.3s to all troublesome abilities would at least make this game appear to be like any other MMORPG in terms of consistency.

The person with the excellent diagram also noted something along these lines with the timestamp idea. The problem with the timestamp idea, and giving .3 seconds leeway to all AoE abilities before they actually hit you is twofold:
1 - You should get IMMEDIATE feedback whether you have been hit or not hit
2 - What you see on your screen should be the definitive version of the AoE and your position in it

If you add in these artificial delays to the AoE "hit", then we end up with a stuttery experience in terms of when we see actual damage. If these ideas were implemented, then you wouldn't know if you got hit by the AoE until .3 seconds after it looked like you got out of it. So basically, you're going to watch yourself die OUTSIDE of the AoE sometimes. Think of the fall damage delay we already experience.