Lag on PC NA is so bad the game is unplayable

aussie500 · October 2022

Tonight so far all is good, just the usual aussie lag, nothing major and it is 7pm AEDT, I would be interested in hearing from the other Australians who were a victim of this problem.

Dr_Con · October 2022

Actually saw improvement today, and stream FPS improvement when playing in full screen (non-windowed).

Though I don't recall playing with any nightblades today who were spamming refreshing/twisted path, so that could be it.

(disable this skill until the issue is fixed for Vivec's sake!)

Oh wait, I used my one request on asking them to never do a Dr. Who crossover, could someone else ask for me?

deleted221205-002626 · October 2022

Kappachi wrote: »

I haven't had any lag while playing in PC NA lately which leads me to believe that any problem is with your setup. Surely you have internet issues in other games other than just ESO?

I agree with this.. i been grinding everything hard from pvp to dungeons to dolems to harrostorms dragons and trials.. i havent seen any lag at all ever since server hardware update. other than the refreshing path ability bug when theres alot of people around but techically thats a bug causing a performance issue on player side not lag.

virtus753 · October 2022

Dr_Con wrote: »

Actually saw improvement today, and stream FPS improvement when playing in full screen (non-windowed).

Though I don't recall playing with any nightblades today who were spamming refreshing/twisted path, so that could be it.

(disable this skill until the issue is fixed for Vivec's sake!)

Oh wait, I used my one request on asking them to never do a Dr. Who crossover, could someone else ask for me?

Disabling a popular class skill is not an acceptable stopgap in an RPG, especially when so much of class identity has gone down the drain already in this one.

The fix is forthcoming in two days on PC/Mac. There is no available opportunity to shut off the skill before the fix is implemented.

Kappachi · October 2022

theoriginalpickle wrote: »

tohopka_eso wrote: »

I wasn't going to say internet connection, going off memory of what I've heard in the past. Check your graphics card is updated, if you run add-ons try disabling them then turn on one at a time.
If on wi-fi might want to run a direct connection, also, if going through a router make sure firmware is updated, might need to reboot it as well.

I appreciate the suggestions but its nothing to do with my hardware or my internet connection. I should have added in that im in Australia i spoke with my Australian/NZ guilds and they are all experiencing the same thing right down to the minute long delay there is a problem for Oceanic right now and it doesn't seem to be addressed.

I did lodge a ticket but i dont know if it'll actually do anything.

If you're in australia then of course you lag... your ping to the server is massive. I'm west coast US and there is never any lag in NA servers.

Gruumsh1 · October 2022

Yep. All of a sudden it went crazy in the last three or so days. So bad, I had to get a VPN and re-route which solved the issue for me. I'm in Australia and not sure where the OP is from, but now I see it's not just OZ-potato-NBN.

dem0n1k · October 2022

Kappachi wrote: »

If you're in australia then of course you lag... your ping to the server is massive. I'm west coast US and there is never any lag in NA servers.

So... if you play from Australia you should just accept that the game is always going to have massive lag?
*sigh* It's OK. I have accepted that. ZOS pretty much said the same when they said there would never be an Oceanic server.

Dr_Con · October 2022

spoke with another aussie player today, he says he expects lag but his latency went up by over 100ms ever since the servers were upgraded specifically on the PvE side of things, so even though an aussie may have voiced these complaints does not invalidate them.

Tandor · October 2022

dem0n1k wrote: »

Kappachi wrote: »

If you're in australia then of course you lag... your ping to the server is massive. I'm west coast US and there is never any lag in NA servers.

So... if you play from Australia you should just accept that the game is always going to have massive lag?
*sigh* It's OK. I have accepted that. ZOS pretty much said the same when they said there would never be an Oceanic server.

I don't think you should accept that, but I do think you should investigate the network connections before blaming lag purely on the servers which are running fine for most other players. There's just so much more that can go wrong between server and client the further apart they are. As for an Oceanic server, I imagine ZOS would provide that if it was commercially viable, but it would be 3 servers not 1 because of the multiple platforms, and I seriously doubt the number of players would justify the initial, running and maintenance costs.

NettleCarrier · October 2022

I haven't lagged one bit, and I've been all over the place farming leads.

theoriginalpickle · November 2022

Kappachi wrote: »

theoriginalpickle wrote: »

tohopka_eso wrote: »

I wasn't going to say internet connection, going off memory of what I've heard in the past. Check your graphics card is updated, if you run add-ons try disabling them then turn on one at a time.
If on wi-fi might want to run a direct connection, also, if going through a router make sure firmware is updated, might need to reboot it as well.

I appreciate the suggestions but its nothing to do with my hardware or my internet connection. I should have added in that im in Australia i spoke with my Australian/NZ guilds and they are all experiencing the same thing right down to the minute long delay there is a problem for Oceanic right now and it doesn't seem to be addressed.

I did lodge a ticket but i dont know if it'll actually do anything.

If you're in australia then of course you lag... your ping to the server is massive. I'm west coast US and there is never any lag in NA servers.

We have a little bit of lag but not up to a 1000 ping there was very specific issue.
<snipped for Baiting>

TaSheen · November 2022

Oy. I live in the US, not all that far from the servers. But I have 999+ lag all the time, since I live in an area - basically the "back of beyond" - where my only connect available is satellite. Other than dialup. Yeah.

Then again, I have friends and family in AU and NZ, none of whom are having serious lag right now. I'm not sure who their ISPs are, though I certainly can ask (but they're.... not real forthcoming about stuff like that, for whatever reason).

Dr_Con · November 2022

virtus753 wrote: »

Dr_Con wrote: »

Actually saw improvement today, and stream FPS improvement when playing in full screen (non-windowed).

Though I don't recall playing with any nightblades today who were spamming refreshing/twisted path, so that could be it.

(disable this skill until the issue is fixed for Vivec's sake!)

Oh wait, I used my one request on asking them to never do a Dr. Who crossover, could someone else ask for me?

Disabling a popular class skill is not an acceptable stopgap in an RPG, especially when so much of class identity has gone down the drain already in this one.

The fix is forthcoming in two days on PC/Mac. There is no available opportunity to shut off the skill before the fix is implemented.

You think I don't expect it to be an unpopular change? It's irresponsible of a game developer to knowingly allow an ability that can crash clients into their game, disabling the skill until it gets fixed, or reverting it to a version that wasn't causing problems, should be the first step once a game breaking issue is uncovered.

Rowjoh · November 2022

I get the occasional freeze and crash to desktop every week. A couple of freezes have locked the computer completely and had to do emergency shutdowns. Others unfreeze after about 10 seconds.

The freezes happen mainly in PVP (no surprise there) but crashes happen randomly anywhere, anytime, including when pressing the play button on the launcher which happens every 10 days or so.

Same on both servers.

This on a hi-end purpose built 18 months old gaming PC, all drivers upto date. Broadband/int connection is excellent (London UK). I have no issues whatsoever with any other game, program or app.

MrGarlic · November 2022

We've been through this in 2018. Now it's back.

Open a command prompt and do a tracert to 198.20.198.100 and follow the white rabbit to the ESO servers.

ESO/ZOS is using Akamai again which is where the latency to the USA from OZ/NZ is.

(Cut and paste from my tracert )

45158.syd.equinix.com [45.127.172.107]
po110.bs-a.sech-syd3.netarch.akamai.com [23.57.108.243]
a72-52-1-155.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com [72.52.1.155]
ae120.access-a.sech-syd3.netarch.akamai.com [23.57.108.249]
a72-52-63-158.deploy.static.akamaitechnologies.com [72.52.63.158]

Why, oh why is my trace going to Sydney from New Zealand when there is a perfectly good shorter route across the pacific.

Akamai is the reason.

The latency started to worsen a couple of months ago.

It is awful, but still better than we were getting 3 years ago when we were being routed through Europe via Hong Kong resulting in 350-400 pings. That was before Akamai opened a Prolexic DDoS scrubber in Sydney reducing my ping to 300ms. Still worse that when I started playing the game when it was 210-220ms.

This poor ping won't change any time soon while Zos continues to use Akamai.

References:
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/439549/oceanic-lag-now-300-400-ms-even-with-a-vpn-was-250-300/p1
https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/436992/high-latency-at-akamai-com/p1
https://www.akamai.com/products/prolexic-solutions

ZOS_Bill · November 2022

@theoriginalpickle

If you have already started a ticket, you are welcome to post it here and we can check on the current status.

AramDol · November 2022

This has been a persistent coming and going issue for years. There is some broken hardware in ZOS's datacenter, somewhere around 5% of people from Australia will get load balanced onto this broken hardware and the game will be unplayable until the next server maintenance when the server gets restarted, and the load balance allocation gets redone.

The only consistent thing about it, is ZOS pretending it isn't a thing, despite the threads that get started every fortnight. Absolutely shocked you got a ZOS reply this time, but prepare yourself for the deafening silence when it comes to doing something about it.

theoriginalpickle · November 2022

AramDol wrote: »

This has been a persistent coming and going issue for years. There is some broken hardware in ZOS's datacenter, somewhere around 5% of people from Australia will get load balanced onto this broken hardware and the game will be unplayable until the next server maintenance when the server gets restarted, and the load balance allocation gets redone.

The only consistent thing about it, is ZOS pretending it isn't a thing, despite the threads that get started every fortnight. Absolutely shocked you got a ZOS reply this time, but prepare yourself for the deafening silence when it comes to doing something about it.

Thats actually insightful apart from the rest of the US player base saying just deal with it.

I'm surprised i got a response at all.

megg8612 · November 2022

I'm on east coast. I've played before patch no issues at all with lag. Just logged in and lagging so bad I'm moving after I stopped pressing buttons to move...

Belidos · November 2022

Since the update my ping to the NA servers has gone through the roof, i used to get 150 to 180 ping from the UK to the NA server, but since the patch i'm getting 400+ minimum, and most of the time around 800. It also takes me about half a dozen tries every time to actually log onto the NA server because it constantly times out.

Belidos · November 2022

Note: no issues with the EU server, it's just gotten really bad since the last patch logging into NA from the UK.

blktauna · November 2022

East Coast US here and I get 200+ ping on the NA server on off times. Primrtime cyro I am never under 120ms sometimes at 200+ms I do better on EU sitting at 110ms

HiveMind3006 · November 2022

I am boiling right now. Finally managed to get a good group together to tackle Scalecaller Peak. The last boss is almost dead and 'CRASH' kicked out can't get back in - no monster set for me.
This crashing has been happening all day but getting progressively worse as the day has got on but I was always able to get back online until now. I am on PCNA playing from UK.
The message I get when I attempt to log in is 'Lost Lobby Connection'.
I have reset my router each time and up til now this appeared to work but not now.
I can use the internet and have tried BB speed checks and all seems fine it's just ESO I am having issue with.
Seriously annoyed, just as I thought I had finally got my Zaan's Monster set Grrrrr

Kappachi · November 2022

blktauna wrote: »

East Coast US here and I get 200+ ping on the NA server on off times. Primrtime cyro I am never under 120ms sometimes at 200+ms I do better on EU sitting at 110ms

Where can you even see your ping in-game?

Jaraal · November 2022

Kappachi wrote: »

blktauna wrote: »

East Coast US here and I get 200+ ping on the NA server on off times. Primrtime cyro I am never under 120ms sometimes at 200+ms I do better on EU sitting at 110ms

Where can you even see your ping in-game?

Type /latency in the chat window.

SilverBride · November 2022

Kappachi wrote: »

blktauna wrote: »

East Coast US here and I get 200+ ping on the NA server on off times. Primrtime cyro I am never under 120ms sometimes at 200+ms I do better on EU sitting at 110ms

Where can you even see your ping in-game?

There is also a setting that displays this all the time at the bottom of the screen.

HiveMind3006 · November 2022

HiveMind3006 wrote: »

I am boiling right now. Finally managed to get a good group together to tackle Scalecaller Peak. The last boss is almost dead and 'CRASH' kicked out can't get back in - no monster set for me.
This crashing has been happening all day but getting progressively worse as the day has got on but I was always able to get back online until now. I am on PCNA playing from UK.
The message I get when I attempt to log in is 'Lost Lobby Connection'.
I have reset my router each time and up til now this appeared to work but not now.
I can use the internet and have tried BB speed checks and all seems fine it's just ESO I am having issue with.
Seriously annoyed, just as I thought I had finally got my Zaan's Monster set Grrrrr

UPDATE!
I spent yesterday going through all of ZoS' support pages suggestions and nothing helped.
Finally submitted a ticket with Support and that is currently going through it's process.
I was signed up for a trial last night as Tank, I didn't think it would be fair to expect 11 other players to put up with my Lobby Disconnect issues so I said to the raid lead my intentions, She advised me to come on heals as not as impactful if I dropped.
Suddenly I get Total Recall, remembering when I first came to ESO the 'friend' who talked me into trying it out had told me he had horrible connectivity issues with ESO and the only way he could maintain connection was to use a VPN.
I have a VPN but rarely use it- yea I know I should I am just forgetful and I thought for gaming purposes it would give me a slower connection as its your signal rerouted through another and encrypted, or that's how I understand it- which doesn't mean a lot.
Anyhoo I turned on my VPN and holy moley my latency which usually sits just under the 200 mark is down to under 150 my FPS (Yea [snip]?) is much improved and I haven't had a single drop since! Moral of the story, use a VPN.
If any tech minded person cares to explain in layman's terms how this should be I'd be very grateful.
In the meantime I will just enjoy my newfound better connection and put it down to the cyber pixies who we all know run our PC's and thank them profoundly! Pixy Power!!

[edited for profanity bypass]