A Guide About Ping!

[Whirlzap]

A Guide About Ping!

After looking over some of my farming experiences and guides, I noticed that one important factor to a successful farming run was missing.
This factor was the connection to the PL server in Texas and the amount of lag caused by its quality.
In Pocket Legends, there is a little counter at the bottom left of the screen that shows you something called Ping with a number and a colored circle.
This guide will explain what Ping is, what it represents, how to get a lower Ping, and how it ultimately affects your CTF/PVP games and dungeon runs.

What is Ping?

Ping is a term to define a computer network administration utility that is used to figure out the reach-ability of a host network by its IP through measuring the time (in milliseconds) that it takes for information, in the form of data packets, to be sent and received by the host network to/from a destination, which is in this case, your iPod/iPad/iPhone/Android, etc.
To reword this, it is basically a measurement of the average time it takes for a command to be sent from your device to the Spacetime Studios' server and back; the round-trip.

What is Ping measured by?

The PL client displays Ping with a colored circle to the left and a number to the right.
The number to the right is in units of ms.
Ping is counted using ms, which stands for milliseconds.
For a file transfer, milliseconds is the average measurement unit.
A millisecond is the equivalent of 1/1000 of a second.
On a network speed test, you will see Ping with milliseconds after it such as this example: 45ms
While in reality Ping is never constant, as connection speeds are always changing, the PL client will update Ping only every 10 seconds.

So what does Ping have to do with Pocket Legends?

Whenever you press a command such as Blast Shot or press Open Stash, a command is sent to the Pocket Legends Server and then is sent back. Ping measures the time that it takes for this command to process, and is recorded at the bottom left of your screen.

The concept of Ping is as such: the higher your Ping is, the slower your connection is; the lower your Ping is, the faster your connection is.
When your connection via Internet(Modem and Router) encounters some traffic, the ping number at the bottom of the screen will increase. As the connection returns to normal, the Ping will decrease. The lower Ping you have, the better connection you will maintain.

Because every network connection speed is constantly varying, Ping will never remain the same.
However, if your Ping increases and decreases within a constant frame, then you have a steady connection.
If your Ping tends to jump to incredible heights at random times, then you have an unstable connection.

At the bottom of your screen you will notice a color next to the ping number.

This colored circle will either be green, yellow, or red.
If there is no circle visible, that means you have gotten a lag spike and you may disconnect any minute- which is...very bad.

A green circle means you have an incredible, fast and steady connection and ping number ranges from 1 to about 300.

A yellow circle represents a moderate connection and ping number ranges from 300 to about 600-700.

A red circle means you are on the verge of lagging badly, and ping number ranges from 700-2000.

Once surpassing that limit, you will have no colored circle and experience delayed lag spikes.


Why do lag spikes occur and Ping increase? How do I avoid this?

Ping is always changing and should maintain a constant or similar rate if you have a good connection.
Sometimes it will get to be in the thousands, but will return to being steady if there is just a simple lag spike.
If you do get disconnected, it is probably because your network connection got lost or turned off.
A way to fix this is to restart your modem/router.

While it is impossible to always avoid lag spikes, there are multiple reasons as to how Ping can be affected.
-Multiple users on your network will make Ping rise.
-Any storms or bad weather will make your connection slower.
-You may have other programs/apps running in the background of your device, which may slow down your overall gameplay.

To test your current connection, get a laptop/PC and go to Ping Test.net and find your Ping. Be sure to find the network host located nearest to Spacetime Studios facilities in Austin, Texas.

Is it ever possible to obtain 0 Ping?
Yes, this is technically possible.
To achieve this, you must either be playing Pocket Legends on STS' official server, which is not allowed except for official employees, or hiding in their facility's basement.

So, why does this little guide matter to me? Why don't I just let ping do what it wants, and just play with it?
And finally, tell me the point of this guide: How does ping affect my PL gameplay?

Well, you can always go and suffer from ping, there's nothing you can actually do to affect ping massively unless you can change Internet Service Providers or get a faster connection.
However it WOULD be good to know what the little number at the bottom left of your screen does. That's a good reason, right?
But to the main point of the guide, at last.
How DOES ping affect my gameplay?
In my opinion, there IS NO gameplay without a good ping. If you are disconnecting every few minutes while running a dungeon, go find a better connection; it's probably not worth the hassle!
In farming, you want to be efficient and punctual. You want to do fast runs! To do this, you need to be able to move fast and have your skills hit fast! Bad Ping will freeze you or make you lag for a few seconds. These seconds WILL build up in the large run.
Another factor is when you solo a boss. A simple two second lag spike from bad ping could get you killed at Magnetic Golem or Gurgox.
ALWAYS make sure your ping number is low and steady before challenging a boss, ESPECIALLY if you are soloing!
A good Ping for farming is around low yellow or green colored.
Finally, Ping also has a huge effect on PvPing.
A friend once said, "In PvP, every second counts towards the outcome of a match."
These are wise words that I respect. Treasure every second, because it matters a lot.
In conclusion, whether ping matters a lot or a little to you, the end result of your farming runs or Arena matches will have Ping deeply embedded inside.


I hope this guide helps you better understand what Ping is; a complex utility of measurement, not the sound a ping-pong ball makes.