Stability

Since i19 hit, I've seen quite a few players complaining about issues that boil down to game and network stability. I've also been personally affected by some of these same issues.

- 'Inspiration Lag'. -- I and Mrs. Moo have been affected by this. I've seen it happen to other players. Basically, either the game client or network connection between the client and server is losing commands to use inspirations. The inspiration may even appear to be used before popping back into the tray. This is especially noticeable on the new Praetorian Lab maps and when masterminds give inspirations to pets.

I recently watched an experienced team leader die because the game wouldn't accept his use of green inspirations. He wasn't under any kind of status effect; he was just trying to hold agro in a situation with a little more damage than his powers would allow for and was prepared for it, if not for the game's failure. I personally died while stunned on a taskforce despite pounding breakfrees and green inspirations. The game simply never got around to accepting that I was using those breakfrees.


- Frequent crashing to desktop -- Since i19, the game has become significantly more prone to crashing for myself, Mrs. Moo, and all the players I've spoken to. The most common crash is a simple quick exit to desktop with no other symptoms. I've also heard players complain of the typical 'Sound Loop' crash we all know so well, especially in crowded areas. On a recent Rikti Mothership raid, I overheard more than one player warn their group that 'I've got looping sounds and am about to crash.' or something similar.

Since the massive upswing in level 50 TFs, I've seen that it's pretty much expected that at least one person will disconnect per mission.


- Post-TF Market Crash -- One of the best ways to ENSURE a crash is to spend an hour or so on a full team and then go immediately to Wentworth's or the Black Market and attempt to start trading. I heard players complaining about this even before issue 19 was released, but have experienced it several times myself since.


- User-Interface Lag -- This has been a problem since before issue 19 as well, but has become very noticeable after due to the upswing in taskforces and raids. For any kind of power with a long recharge, the user interface becomes significantly de-synchronized with the server on crowded maps. Powers in your tray will show that they're ready to be used even if they're not recharged yet due to a slow server response. Buffs or debuffs show that they're active when not, and vice versa. The infamous 'Mountain Pass' map is the single best place to experience this effect, but I've also seen it during the 4th mission of the same Imperious Taskforce, during Rikti Mothership raids, in the Hive during a Hamidon raid, during Lady Grey's taskforce, especially in the Abyss map and on the last map, and any number of places during Dr. Khan's taskforce, even after the map has been cleared of enemies.

In most cases, this appears to be a problem with the map or enemies on the map since the issue doesn't affect some similarly-sized maps from other taskforces (I've had no such lag on Statesman's taskforce).


- Disappearing Game Geometry -- This is another long-standing issue, but one that's become significantly more noticeable since i19 launched. In certain maps, vast parts of the rooms will disappear and hide any enemies standing there. This is most noticeable in the last mission of Lady Grey's taskforce in the portal room where Herodotus and Honoree appear, but I've also seen it affect the Thorn Tree room and parts of Cimerora's 'Imperial Plaza' map.


These problems are fairly common, and some of them are longstanding, but with the new emphasis on level 50 content introduced with issue 19, they've become exacerbated and are growing more and more frustrating.

It's time for a 'stability' pass on code for both the game client and sever. Please review as much of the game's infrastructure as possible to make it more stable and responsive, especially for teams of eight on an instanced map.

Can't speak to the "crashing to desktop," as I haven't seen any of that at all for... well, a long time.

Could add the Kheld form-switching bug. That one's killed me a time or two. "Switch to human - heal... wait, it didn't switch... *splat*"

The game geometry is just ridiculous. WHY that hasn't been fixed when it causes serious issues (NPCs lose "sight" of you, can't target what's shooting at you, most of the room just disappears, rocks and NPCs disappear in Shard missions villainside) I don't know. It's gone beyond being a bad joke. Hits you in the last mission in Dark Watcher's arc, too (and I think at least one other.)

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Ah, I'd wondered about the inspirations. I'd thought maybe it was just me not clicking adequately.

Definitely have noticed power buttons being out of synch with recharge times during Rikti raids.

I thought Inspiration Lag was all in my head.

Yup, all of those.

Perfectly stable here, but I am plagued by a flickering black textures and shadows in Praetoria and sometimes Villain side with Ultra Mode shadows enabled. Plus the insanely aggressive LOD setting in Praetoria (why yes I love having trees and nearby buildings change models every time I move 5ft). The worst offending area I can think of is the Resistance base with its magical popping metal struts.

I'm starting to think the game engine itself has to a problem with drawing a ton of unnecessary, non-visible objects which really craps out the performance; and the aggressive LOD is the devs way of admitting that they have no way to fix it.

COH fronze twice on a Tin Mage and FOUR times on a ITF. In addition to several market access crashes, and mid mission soloing crashes. It's been like this since I19.

I'm getting a lot of the old "Are you sure you clicked/queued that power? I don't think you did" lag effect, where queued powers unqueue themselves, and clicked powers sometimes don't register.

I'm also crashing a bit more than usual, with a new crash dialogue that I've not seen before: during a mothership raid the sound started to loop, but rather than crash outright and give me the error report box, I instead got a popup saying it thought I was probably going to crash soon and would I like to a) crash now, or b) wait and hope I don't crash. I was still able to keep playing with that dialogue up, but when I selected option b) it then proceeded to crash. I'm unsure what would have happened if I'd just moved the dialogue to one side and ignored it.

Well I won't say the Mac client has always been rock solid, but i19 hasn't done it any favors. Given the new TFs and the renewed popularity of LGTF, I spend a lot of time in RWZ. The exit from the Vanguard base into the zone is a fairly consistent crash producer on my machine. I will either lock up with the screen frozen or simply quit to desktop. This is somewhat disappointing since i18 had improved stability on my Mac.

I've been experiencing an overall performance hit at times since I19 as well. My friend just came back for I19 after a 2 month break and he's having performance issues on his PC also.

Glad to hear it's not just me... I guess.