Jump to content
  • Sign Up

Amazon Web Services is ruining the game for Over Seas players.


Vegeta.2653

Recommended Posts

A discussion over on Reddit is about players experiencing higher latency pings, skill lag, and other network issues after ArenaNet decided to move to Amazon Web Services (AWS). In game ping is higher than what it used to be, as well as the game being less enjoyable for some, and even painfully frustrating. The game ran a lot smoother when the servers were located in Texas. It seems it was a more central location for US players, and even Aus, and EU. Now the servers are off to 1 side of the US further away from EU and Aus, making ping jump up higher than ever. Some players even experiencing ping on average of 700. Others which normally got a ping of around 180-230, now are in over the 300's. I'm in MN so I'm basically in the center of it all, but even in my experience the Amazon servers do not run as good as the old ones. I'm not sure if its a hardware issue, network issue from server hops, or what exactly. It just feels like they aren't as stable, reliable, or worth the money to stick with.

I know the move to AWS was to reduce server cost, but with players experiencing this type of Latency issues.. the player population will start to diminish at a fast rate, and any sort of money being made by these players will go with them.

Something needs to be done about this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 56
  • Created
  • Last Reply

I'm located in Indiana, and I've experienced a noticeable increase in lag. It is frustrating to be in the middle of a battle and suddenly the action freezes for a second or two, and then rubber-bands back with an explosion of activity. Many times I see my health go from full to downed in a blink. Other times I click on skills and they blink but don't activate. I can click on each skill in the bar and they all will just blink at me. Other times I can click on a chest and it just ignores me. I can try and mount/dismount and nothing happens...

I thought it may have just been me. I'm glad I'm not the only one that has experienced the increase in lag.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Azure The Heartless.3261 said:

@Vegeta.2653 said:ArenaNet decided to move to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Nani?

Are they running significant portions of the game infrastructure in AWS, or just leveraging it for API / periph applications?

The former doesn't sound like a thing you'd do for a mmo.

Running the game in AWS.

When you do a /IP in game, a lot of the higher ping maps are returning IPs that belong to AWS. Doing pings, I've noticed that the increase in latency for me, is when my traffic hits the Washington (Seattle) area (it's still registered to AWS), it adds 100-200 ms on my ping, every other hop all the way to Virginia, seemed good to me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Fatalyz.7168 said:

@Vegeta.2653 said:ArenaNet decided to move to Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Nani?

Are they running significant portions of the game infrastructure in AWS, or just leveraging it for API / periph applications?

The former doesn't sound like a thing you'd do for a mmo.

Running the game in AWS.

When you do a /IP in game, a lot of the higher ping maps are returning IPs that belong to AWS. Doing pings, I've noticed that the increase in latency for me, is when my traffic hits the Washington (Seattle) area (it's still registered to AWS), it adds 100-200 ms on my ping, every other hop all the way to Virginia, seemed good to me.

That sounds.... less than optimal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Overall, ANet's data shows better ping/uptime for more people than before, slightly worse for a few, and (as with any transition) far worse for a fraction. Additionally, in many cases, the increased latency isn't because ANet is using Amazing/AWS, but because of the transition; apparently some networks are slow to update to recognize the change.

Regardless of what others are experiencing (good or bad), your situation needs its own troubleshooting:

  • Run PingPlotter or similar software to track down the pathing and data loss for your route
  • Send that data to ANet via a support ticket.
  • Optional: also post on the forums (sometimes a fellow player can diagnose the issue)

@"SlippyCheeze.5483" wroteIt's possible that the problem is anet, ... [however] ... the Internet is built in a way that three to five companies handle your traffic, if not more, just inside the continental USA. There are lots of places that the problem could spring from that neither end is responsible directly for. :(

https://www.pingplotter.com/fix-your-network has a good guide for identifying where the problem is, but if you have trouble with that feel free to post screenshots from it and we can help work out where it is.


Further Reading
Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Vegeta.2653 said:The game ran a lot smoother when the servers were located in Texas. It seems it was a more central location for US players, and even Aus, and EU. Now the servers are off to 1 side of the US further away from EU and Aus, making ping jump up higher than ever.

I'm a bit confused how Texas (mid-US) is closer to the EU than Virginia (East Coast). Likely, many EU players use the EU servers, anyway, which only moved a block or so.

I know the move to AWS was to reduce server cost, but with players experiencing this type of Latency issues.. the player population will start to diminish at a fast rate, and any sort of money being made by these players will go with them.

I'm not sure moving from their own (NCSoft/parent company) servers to a 3rd party's servers would reduce costs. It would seem, to me, staying in the family (server-wise) would cost less. /shrug

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am from Bulgaria EU and the game is pretty much unplayable for me. The assets load very slowly and I usually bump into invisible obstacles that have not loaded yet. Maps take forever to load and not to mention LA and DR take usually between 3-7 minutes. And I am sure my ISP is ok and the problem is on Anet`s side :( I am going back to Gw1 until we have some solution. And please someone in Anet to explain what is going on!!! All these problems started a month ago!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Servers went from Central to East Coast US so Oceania players are going to get higher ping.

Honestly this was a stupid move considering there is no dedicated Oceanic server so ideally it would have been a lot smarter to have the server location either remain central US or West Coast to give an across the board better average ping.

With that aside depending on where you live in Oceania it might be better to play on EU now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Archdevil.1748" said:I am from Bulgaria EU and the game is pretty much unplayable for me. The assets load very slowly and I usually bump into invisible obstacles that have not loaded yet. Maps take forever to load and not to mention LA and DR take usually between 3-7 minutes. And I am sure my ISP is ok and the problem is on Anet`s side :( I am going back to Gw1 until we have some solution. And please someone in Anet to explain what is going on!!! All these problems started a month ago!

Someone from ArenaNet has explained "what is going on"; you can find the explanation in the above quote links. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I used to have constant ping spikes and disconnections with my old ISP, these issues stopped the moment I switched ISP in August. I haven't had disconnections in MMOs or any kind of downtime since then, my ping is a steady 60 (average) in GW2. I'm not saying it's an ISP issue for everyone but that was the problem in my case (EU).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

@"Archdevil.1748" said:I am from Bulgaria EU and the game is pretty much unplayable for me. The assets load very slowly and I usually bump into invisible obstacles that have not loaded yet. Maps take forever to load and not to mention LA and DR take usually between 3-7 minutes. And I am sure my ISP is ok and the problem is on Anet`s side :( I am going back to Gw1 until we have some solution. And please someone in Anet to explain what is going on!!! All these problems started a month ago!

Someone from ArenaNet
has
explained "what is going on"; you can find the explanation in the above quote links. :)

I read the reddit thread and how does this help me? Do you find it normal that a player should use some third-party software to even play their game? This is not normal and I am not the one that should make changes. It is their problem and they have to fix it. As you can see in the forum and on reddit there are enough people complaining about the issue. If they were isolated cases we can always blame the ISP but the reality is that more and more players complain. Mark my words - this will backfire on them and their revenue. Unfortunately when they decide to make amends it will be too late. They will have lost lots of devoted and dedicated players .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Archdevil.1748 said:

I read the reddit thread and how does this help me? Do you find it normal that a player should use some third-party software to even play their game? This is not normal and I am not the one that should make changes. It is their problem and they have to fix it. As you can see in the forum and on reddit there are enough people complaining about the issue. If they were isolated cases we can always blame the ISP but the reality is that more and more players complain. Mark my words - this will backfire on them and their revenue. Unfortunately when they decide to make amends it will be too late. They will have lost lots of devoted and dedicated players .

First, make sure you provide ANet with the data they need to address your issue. Run pingplotter or something similar. That will also help identify if the issue is Amazon/AWS or something else.Besides that, the number of people complaining isn't all that different from the number that complain in any given month about latency. Someone is always convinced that the issue is at ANet's end (spoiler alert: it isn't usually). It could be that Amazon/AWS is worse for people, but (as stated above) their data shows that more people connect with lesser latency than before the change. That includes ANet staff, whose routing distance is nearly doubled (as it sometimes travels through Dallas before heading to VA).

Of course, your latency might have worsened due to the swap of datacenters. But the only way to know that is to trace the route your data flows. So start with that, then send the info to ANet via support ticket.

In short, they can't fix anything unless you provide them with a place to start troubleshooting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if you dont using third party programs , just read the other solution that the Devs gave :

a) Right Click your GW2.exe launch symbol and make a ''shortcut''

b) Right click your newly shortcut and open Properties

c) ....god damm english ..... at the ''Shortcut'' area , theres the ''foldier destination'' ...... where you can change the name ...... you know what just see the pic .....https://imgur.com/rENiXGm

d) at the end part at the line push the ''Spacebar'' of your keyboard ONCE and copy -clientport 443

e) from now on , you must use the Shortcut Version of GW2 , rather than the original GW2.exe

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@"Inculpatus cedo.9234" said:You asked for an official response, and one was provided. I'm sorry to hear you aren't pleased with said response. I don't imagine they are going to change back, but...

Good luck.

Really? Where?

Edit: Do you mean this? https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/7doj1l/anet_can_we_please_get_an_actual_way_of_checking/dpzhpyd/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Mea.5491 said:

@"Killthehealersffs.8940" said:c) ....god kitten english ..... at the ''Shortcut'' area , theres the ''foldier destination'' ...... where you can change the name ...... you know what just see the pic .....

Is that Win95? :scream:

No, its Win7 with Aero Glass turned off. it reduces lag at the cost of looking atrocious.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Azure The Heartless.3261 said:

@Mea.5491 said:

@"Killthehealersffs.8940" said:c) ....god kitten english ..... at the ''Shortcut'' area , theres the ''foldier destination'' ...... where you can change the name ...... you know what just see the pic .....

Is that Win95? :scream:

No, its Win7 with Aero Glass turned off. it reduces lag at the cost of looking atrocious.

Woah... Tricky.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@smsarasin.3468 said:I'm located in Indiana, and I've experienced a noticeable increase in lag. It is frustrating to be in the middle of a battle and suddenly the action freezes for a second or two, and then rubber-bands back with an explosion of activity. Many times I see my health go from full to downed in a blink. Other times I click on skills and they blink but don't activate. I can click on each skill in the bar and they all will just blink at me. Other times I can click on a chest and it just ignores me. I can try and mount/dismount and nothing happens...

I thought it may have just been me. I'm glad I'm not the only one that has experienced the increase in lag.

Indiana here as well. My ping usually sits around 50. But I also those lag spikes as well. Randomly. I'll be attacking something and then everything goes still for 10 seconds, then I rubberband with either the mobs dead, or myself. Sometimes it'll happen every few hours, sometimes every few minutes. Peak times or not seems to make no difference. Glad to know its not just me!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...