So, what changed on the server? @Devs

[Ucamaeben]

I think has has something to do with removing energy.

[frynoodlez]

In case STS wants a specific example... In hauntlet second room there is a mage on the right side. During Jan 11-Jan 17, once that mage was killed, another mage spawned in its place almost immediately, like maybe in 0.5 seconds. Now, however, it takes like 2-3 seconds for that mage to spawn. In other words, there is a DELAY of the spawning of that mage, whereas during the Jan 11 - Jan 17 time period, there was almost no delay in that spawn. This makes Hauntlet times IMPOSSIBLE now (unless REALLY REALLY LUCky run).

[MasterP]

The leaderboards should not be reset just to adjust a few times where 2/3 maps at most where different. In the broader aspect of things, everyone enjoyed better ping throughout, therefore everyone should have had similar footing in terms of doing new times. Don't forget that others have run legit times before the update,which far outway the few minor (impossible to-do times now). A simple solution would be to just revert the times as they were before the update changed everyone's ping. Or to implement this (better ping update again) so everyone has equal footing.. But resetting the LB all together is a bit of a drastic measure.

[frynoodlez]

The leaderboards should not be reset just to adjust a few times where 2/3 maps at most where different. In the broader aspect of things, everyone enjoyed better ping throughout, therefore everyone should have had similar footing in terms of doing new times. Don't forget that others have run legit times before the update,which far outway the few minor (impossible to-do times now). A simple solution would be to just revert the times as they were before the update changed everyone's ping. Or to implement this (better ping update again) so everyone has equal footing.. But resetting the LB all together is a bit of a drastic measure.

As mentioned in this thread before, it only affected maps with delays (as you pointed out). Resetting JUST those maps is not a drastic measure. It's obvious and simple. And fair. Comments?

And btw, I don't think the timed have that much to do with ping —*it has to do with the literally map delaying mob spawns, like hauntlet and southern seas (ping = 1 still wouldn't make southern seas possible).

[Thewolfbull]

"Here's what I noticed: Ping, on average, was 33% lower during this time period. I personally went from 150 ping on average everywhere to under 100 ping on average everywhere. Other players I have discussed this with noticed the same thing. The game felt more responsive as a result, and inputs to the server registered more quickly than they would normally otherwise register.

Who noticed: After having talked with some players, only timed Leaderboard runners actually noticed the snappier, more responding server. There were several people who claimed that "jewel farming is nerfed" or "gold drops in maus is lower now" or even that "mobs are harder to hit", but could not explain why it felt that way."

Noticed the same, it was quite obvious for me as i'm constantly used to seeing yellow ping on my HUD 300-350. Being from South Africa, to get green ping 266-284 stable,everyday, was quite amazing. So it seems there are ways for the server/game to be snappier and ping to be more responsive as Darren mentioned.

Why can't we have it like this all the time? It benefits players living far away from the server. There are other games which have recently added options to help players have a better gaming experience. Things like SPEED MODE / Increased Framerate. Which are meant to help get better ping and stability. Perhaps Sts can look into something, in terms of sharpening the servers ping response/stability, to benefit all.

Regards

Ryvz (Gimmmeeeee Greeeeen Pingssss)

+19099999187272271 better ping for all!

[danley]

tl;dr: Could a dev explain why the server responded much more quickly between January 11, 2018 and January 16, 2018, and understand & possibly fix the issue so it does not happen in the future, and could they also reset LB times (again) for the season?

My hope for this post is to get some kind of response from somebody at SpaceTimeStudios who has access to the back-end servers who can explain what happened will respond to this post with information, and dish out the appropriate fix to the issue mentioned below.

As commented in the sneak peak Here, what happened to the game server between January 11, 2018 post-update and January 16, 2018?

Here's what I noticed: Ping, on average, was 33% lower during this time period. I personally went from 150 ping on average everywhere to under 100 ping on average everywhere. Other players I have discussed this with noticed the same thing. The game felt more responsive as a result, and inputs to the server registered more quickly than they would normally otherwise register.

Who noticed: After having talked with some players, only timed Leaderboard runners actually noticed the snappier, more responding server. There were several people who claimed that "jewel farming is nerfed" or "gold drops in maus is lower now" or even that "mobs are harder to hit", but could not explain why it felt that way.

How does this impact the game: After January 16, 2018, the game seems to have returned to it's "normal ping state". I am now back to the usual 150 ping on the hud at all times regardless of where I am in game, how I configure my router, which game client I choose (I play on chrome) or even which NaCl/Chrome options I turn on or off. As mentioned earlier, Leaderboard runners noticed the ping difference. For Leaderboard times, every millisecond counts. With the server responding more quickly to requests, those who were paying attention took to the Leaderboards and re-ran any map for which this might affect the times (Arena, Hauntlet, most of the crypts maps, a few timing-based Elite maps such as elite Southern Seas, etc). Not to my surprise, the times were vastly improved simply because of the change to the game server's response time. Arena's best time (which has been basically determined to be the best time physically possible) was lowered by 3 seconds with ease, Hauntlet times were reduced by 5-6 seconds with relative ease, and the same can be said for the other maps for which this change affected. There is nothing implicitly wrong with this having changed. However, now that the server is back to responding in the way it did prior to the aforementioned time frame, the faster times are no longer possible. For example, as I know this personally, the Arena time is back to being a "best possible time" of around 1:12 - meaning no matter how fast you can click or kill bosses, even with a perfect run you will only hope to achieve a 1:12.XXX time. If you look on the leaderboard, every time that exists as of the posting of this thread was set within the time frame that I mentioned above, and is also under this 1:12.XXX threshold many of us who run arena consider "the best time possible". I do not have personal experience with many of the other maps for which this change affected, but I can only imagine that a similar story can be told for them as well. I also speculate this change in server responsiveness is what caused others to believe that there was a "jewel farm nerf", "gold drop nerf in maus", or having "mobs are harder to hit", but I cannot confirm this other than anecdotally seeing the correlation.

So, why does this matter: For most players, this means nothing to them. For people who wanted to try a Leaderboard time and was waiting until last minute or otherwise did not take advantage of this time frame, it means everything. As mentioned, there are a number of times currently set on the Leaderboard, which were set during this time frame, that are literally impossible to beat now that the server responsiveness has gone back to its "normal ping state". To put it another way, the people who had times on the board for any of the maps this affected and who were knocked off because of this higher responsiveness leading to lower times, have 0 chance to reclaim their positions on the leaderboard so long as the server stays in its "normal ping state". As one might imagine, this could lead to some angry/discouraged players as they realize they have no hopes of claiming their time back.

What do I think should be done: In all honesty I believe that someone who has access to the back-end server(s) should investigate this sudden change and root cause why it changed, why it changed back, and what we can do in the future to avoid such a drastic change in what is essentially game mechanics. My current theories are that decommissioning a few games reduced the load on the server(s) and more recently, STS executing their "clean up forged energy" script is causing the ping rise. I, however, do not have access to the server logs, so this is simply speculation. Secondly, and this one is dependent on whether or not the server responsiveness can be brought back down to what it was during the January 11-16 time frame again permanently, is I believe the Leaderboards should be reset yet again this season. Much like when the Nightmare set worked in all maps and was considered "unfair for times" after the patch, this difference in timing mechanic, in my opinion, is also "unfair for times" as it results in literally impossible to beat times on the Leaderboard. Now with that said, full disclosure: I am on the board, with times that are now impossible to beat, so if someone suggests I'm "crying over not getting a spot on LB", this is simply not true and I ask that we have a more productive conversation around this fundamental game mechanic change.

So, I hope to hear back from someone who access to the server logs and has looked into this issue and can explain what happened, as well as provide a fix to the problems mentioned in this post.

Thanks,
Darren

Yo, Darren! I'm a bit confused. You're implementing that the leaderboards should be resetted. However, from what i've understand, since you mention the issue is during January 11-16, common sense would dictate that the timed records should be resetted/deleted between this time frame, not remove all records. Am I right, or are you nuts? )

[DarrenPR]

Yo, Darren! I'm a bit confused. You're implementing that the leaderboards should be resetted. However, from what i've understand, since you mention the issue is during January 11-16, common sense would dictate that the timed records should be resetted/deleted between this time frame, not remove all records. Am I right, or are you nuts? )

In order of most wanted to least wanted, here is the solution I would like to see:
1. Server ping change is discovered and re-implemented. No times get wiped off the board and all players have a much more responsive game with lower latency (win-win for players).
2. Assuming 1 cannot happen, remove times set between January 11 and January 17, possibly restoring times that were set previously back onto the board.
3. Assuming neither 1 nor 2 can happen, wiping the whole leaderboard while we still have 2 1/2 months to coordinate and reset our times - not preferred, but if the issue cannot be resolved and for whatever reason database management is too hectic to be feasible, I think this is necessary to ensure fairness.
4. Assuming none of the above can happen (and I wouldn't be thrilled if this is the solution), do nothing and just give guaranteed banners at the end of the season to the people who ran maps that were affected between January 11 & 17. Unfortunate as it may be, if nothing can be done about this issue, then nothing can be done and a few maps have been capitalized by a few players.

If nothing else happens, I'd at least like an explanation or something from a dev acknowledging the core issue and what they will attempt to do in the future to avoid these kinds of things happening again.

[frynoodlez]

Here's my question tho @darren etc. Is it really about ping or are the maps themselves INHERENTLY different. Like I mentioned before, in hauntlet, the mage in room 2 would, after killed, spawn another mage in its place almost instantaneously (maybe 0.5-1s delay). Now, however, it's like 2-3s delay. That CANNOT have anything to do with ping (spawnrates should be solely affected by code —*... right?). And in southern seas, mobs literally spawn slower now. So even if the devs made everyone have ping = 1, would that actually change the hauntlet/southern seas? (not too sure about arena because I don't run that).

[|Ares|]

In order of most wanted to least wanted, here is the solution I would like to see:
1. Server ping change is discovered and re-implemented. No times get wiped off the board and all players have a much more responsive game with lower latency (win-win for players).
2. Assuming 1 cannot happen, remove times set between January 11 and January 17, possibly restoring times that were set previously back onto the board.
3. Assuming neither 1 nor 2 can happen, wiping the whole leaderboard while we still have 2 1/2 months to coordinate and reset our times - not preferred, but if the issue cannot be resolved and for whatever reason database management is too hectic to be feasible, I think this is necessary to ensure fairness.
4. Assuming none of the above can happen (and I wouldn't be thrilled if this is the solution), do nothing and just give guaranteed banners at the end of the season to the people who ran maps that were affected between January 11 & 17. Unfortunate as it may be, if nothing can be done about this issue, then nothing can be done and a few maps have been capitalized by a few players.

If nothing else happens, I'd at least like an explanation or something from a dev acknowledging the core issue and what they will attempt to do in the future to avoid these kinds of things happening again.

If you probably would spend as much time as others did in that 11-17 period on maps and not only easy to macrodoor arena I believe you wouldn't go out with all the ping thingy in here that much.
BTW, some maybe 10% of all the maps got new higher timer in that period. None of the upper elites (shuyal and higher) were affected by it. As far as I know it only was Hauntlet and Southern Seas elite. So assuming that almost all maps have been set with pretty hard to beat records is wrong.
Some of the maps me and my team had set between 11 and 17 got their time improved for example yesterday. So yeah, 1 simply does not affect everything.
Just my thoughts

[frynoodlez]

Guys y'all are tripping with this whole ping thing. The maps themselves were affected, and yeah maybe your ping was improved but the ping isn't the reason for any reset IMO. The real reason is that the maps themselves changed (arena after u clicked the button it immediately started the swirling thing, now it delays, Hauntlet the mage spawn delayed, and southern seas the mob spawn also delayed). Literally just reset Hauntlet, Southern Seas, and Arena, and everything will be all g.

[Tatman]

Guys y'all are tripping with this whole ping thing. The maps themselves were affected, and yeah maybe your ping was improved but the ping isn't the reason for any reset IMO. The real reason is that the maps themselves changed (arena after u clicked the button it immediately started the swirling thing, now it delays, Hauntlet the mage spawn delayed, and southern seas the mob spawn also delayed). Literally just reset Hauntlet, Southern Seas, and Arena, and everything will be all g.

Other maps were also affected but that's besides the point now. As I said before, at the very least I want an explanation from the devs and I want to know if they are doing something to prevent such stuff randomly happening again in the future.

[frynoodlez]

Maybe other maps were affected indirectly, but the only maps affected DIRECTLY seem to be arena, southern seas, and hauntlet, nothing else. But yes, an explanation from devs/a look into this issue would be greatly appreciated @Devs

[|Ares|]

Guys y'all are tripping with this whole ping thing. The maps themselves were affected, and yeah maybe your ping was improved but the ping isn't the reason for any reset IMO. The real reason is that the maps themselves changed (arena after u clicked the button it immediately started the swirling thing, now it delays, Hauntlet the mage spawn delayed, and southern seas the mob spawn also delayed). Literally just reset Hauntlet, Southern Seas, and Arena, and everything will be all g.

+1 exactly this

[frynoodlez]

I just really want some sort of response from some dev —*it's been a week since Darren made this thread, and just a "we're looking to it" would be greatly appreciated.

[Carapace]

Server latency is always a tricky thing to track down, but in this example the time frame does coincide with our active deletion of Energy Kits and Essence from the server. This process has bow been completed as of a day or two ago so if the problems you were seeing have now gone away it was most likely the energy initiative as it had to batch delete small chunks of data from the database while the server was running.

[frynoodlez]

Hi Caraspace, thanks for the reply. However, I think you may have misread what happened. Jan 11 - Jan 17 was a FASTER period for users, and for the hauntlet, southern seas, and arena maps, the delay of mobs that usually occurs was almost gone, thus making the mobs spawn FASTER. So it can't have been server latency right — the server was faster.

[Tatman]

So, you are saying your energy deletion initiative actually improved the game responsiveness? Well, keep it running 24/7 then lol.

Seriously though, it sounds to me that you haven't looked into the issue at all.

[DarrenPR]

Server latency is always a tricky thing to track down, but in this example the time frame does coincide with our active deletion of Energy Kits and Essence from the server. This process has bow been completed as of a day or two ago so if the problems you were seeing have now gone away it was most likely the energy initiative as it had to batch delete small chunks of data from the database while the server was running.

I very much do appreciate a response to this thread, so thank you. However, I believe the "point" was missed here, as frynoodlez has said. During the affected time window, the server was far more responsive and provided much lower ping than I'd ever seen before. The maps, from a leaderboard-running player's perspective, appeared to have all mobs/objects pre-rendered rather than loaded after a trigger (example: in arena the "pink tornado" that appears when you click through the options to start the next boss appeared immediately upon clicking the button, rather than now where you can finish clicking the button and end up waiting 2-3s before the pink tornado appears). I would not consider the affected time window to be a "problem". The problem is that we had that time window of amazing server responsiveness and then it went away.... the "going away" part is the real problem I'm concerned with here.

Again, I appreciate the response(s) and hope they keep coming.
-Darren

[frynoodlez]

Only 5-10 minutes of reading Darren's post thoroughly and understanding the point and a quick response would be very helpful, as the days are going by with nothing being done about this (time is important for lb runs, because the new season is nearing). We need a response.

[Justg]

We don't control everything in relation to this. We host with Amazon Web Service, and there are many things that we just don't have visibility on. Please let us know if you think things change drastically one way or the other, and we will try to look into it to keep your play experience as smooth as possible.