The Bonk Of Denial

Minyassa · October 2017

All right, I'm sort of at my wit's end here, and asking my techie friends did not produce any results so I will ask here. I have a chronic issue with being too late clicking on things...when I'm first. What I mean is that if I am at the head of a number of people competing for a one-click item, like a node or chest or anchor pin, I can be yards ahead of everyone, get there first, spam the E key, and still get the "bonk" sound that means someone else has somehow gotten to it first. Now, I figure this is something to do with the screen not showing me people's real positions, it would have to be, wouldn't it? From my angle it looks like the game just automatically passes over me for whoever gets to something second. That couldn't possibly be what's really happening. So the question is, WHY am I seeing this happen consistently? It really looks, from where I'm standing, like the game just refuses to let me click on things if there is anyone else there, ever. But I have no trouble with skill lag in combat or dodge-rolling or clicking on things instantly or anything else that requires speed-clicking if no one else is there. I would welcome any theories. I would welcome actual knowledge even more! If you have any idea why I seem forever consigned to be bonked with the denial hammer, I want to know so I can stop angsting about it...I mean, it's really getting old to never be able to click anchor pins unless I solo a dolmen, and so forth. Thanks in advance.

VaranisArano · October 2017

This is usually caused by lag between the client and the server.
If you are getting the message on the screen "Someone else is using this" it may be that the correct location of people isn't registering or that they targeted the node before you did. When I have heavy lag, I'll often see my group in Cyrodiil "rubberband" to other positions. If you don't see the message, but the node doesn't respond right away, I usually have to press the E key several times before the animation for harvesting occurs. That being said, your competitors may simply be better at targeting the node; I've had plenty of times when I thought I got there first but the other person got the node. i need to make sure my targeting reticule is on the node, not just near it when I'm approaching and I usually forget.

Minyassa · October 2017

I thought at first that it was a targeting skill issue, but after a few months of this, I feel that if it were, I'd occasionally "win" one. I don't, ever. I'm not talking about it *feeling* like I never get the thing if there are other people. I'm talking about 100% of the time I do not get the thing if someone else is going after it. That's beyond a skill problem--you'd think that my utter fail at managing to click on a key would actually show in other ways, like in combat or in lockpicking or racing, jumping, etc. Nope, it's *just* when there's a unique node or item and other people are after it. So I think your lag idea might be it. If there is a way to measure that, I don't know of it, but I'd like to.

Kahina · October 2017

High latency. I get this as well. It really shows up at the Dolmen.

Minyassa · October 2017

Thanks, now I know what to look into specifically!

VaranisArano · October 2017

You can activate the framerate and latency to show up on your screen in the Settings, that's how I tell when I'm experiencing a lot of lag. If i see skills not working right, random slowing down, or rubberbanding, I'll check the framerate and latency there. Low Framerate and high latency is usually correlated with periods of lag for me.