So, what changed on the server? @Devs
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
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