Energizeric
11-19-2014, 04:38 PM
Since the Planar Tombs was released last week, I've been disconnected dozens of times. From Saturday to Monday, I was disconnected every time I tried to do a run through any of the tombs. Then yesterday I read a suggestion in this forum that stated possibly the sorcerer skill Time Shift was causing the issue. Sam posted that it was not true, but I figured anything is worth a try....
So yesterday, after two unsuccessful runs with a party consisting of a warrior, rogue, and 2 mages (including myself), I suggested to the other mage that we both stop using Time Shift and see if things are any better. And guess what.... we finished that run without a disconnect. On the previous 2 attempts, multiple players had been disconnected.
Now I do NOT think Time Shift alone is causing the issue. I've now done a ton of testing, and here is my opinion on the matter:
I'm not sure why, but it appears that the STS servers are having issues handling more extreme situations, perhaps due to a recent increase in the number of players playing AL? Or new servers? I can't say the exactly what has changed because I don't have that information, but here is what I am experiencing.... Any time the pulls become really large we start to experience some lag... Then if the intensity continues for some time, eventually disconnects result.
When running non-elite tombs like WT4, the pulls are indeed large, but they are over quick as those mobs die fast. So maybe some lag, but the disconnects don't occur nearly as often. But because Planar tombs is elite, the mobs don't die fast, so we tend to experience multiple AoE skills being used at the same time over and over again, which causes more bandwidth to be needed to keep up with all that's happening.
Time Shift is the longest and most intense of all the AoE skills, so that tends to cause the most stress on the server. Fireball also does, but its effect does not last nearly as long as Time Shift.
While this is certainly not a solution to the problem, nor will it eliminate all disconnects, you will most likely have better chances if you run without using Time Shift, or even Fireball for that matter. The problem is that without either of those 2 skills, a sorcerer doesn't provide much help to the party. So in my case, I keep using Fireball, but I eliminated Time Shift and I'm having better luck staying connected now. I'd also suggest not running with multiple sorcerers in the party.
So yesterday, after two unsuccessful runs with a party consisting of a warrior, rogue, and 2 mages (including myself), I suggested to the other mage that we both stop using Time Shift and see if things are any better. And guess what.... we finished that run without a disconnect. On the previous 2 attempts, multiple players had been disconnected.
Now I do NOT think Time Shift alone is causing the issue. I've now done a ton of testing, and here is my opinion on the matter:
I'm not sure why, but it appears that the STS servers are having issues handling more extreme situations, perhaps due to a recent increase in the number of players playing AL? Or new servers? I can't say the exactly what has changed because I don't have that information, but here is what I am experiencing.... Any time the pulls become really large we start to experience some lag... Then if the intensity continues for some time, eventually disconnects result.
When running non-elite tombs like WT4, the pulls are indeed large, but they are over quick as those mobs die fast. So maybe some lag, but the disconnects don't occur nearly as often. But because Planar tombs is elite, the mobs don't die fast, so we tend to experience multiple AoE skills being used at the same time over and over again, which causes more bandwidth to be needed to keep up with all that's happening.
Time Shift is the longest and most intense of all the AoE skills, so that tends to cause the most stress on the server. Fireball also does, but its effect does not last nearly as long as Time Shift.
While this is certainly not a solution to the problem, nor will it eliminate all disconnects, you will most likely have better chances if you run without using Time Shift, or even Fireball for that matter. The problem is that without either of those 2 skills, a sorcerer doesn't provide much help to the party. So in my case, I keep using Fireball, but I eliminated Time Shift and I'm having better luck staying connected now. I'd also suggest not running with multiple sorcerers in the party.