Dodgy servers

@Br0kenPiece same experience here sadly the only thing we can do is just jump from one server to another till you find a stable connection

@Br0kenPiece Connection always seems to get worse when it comes to playing ranked. The servers have definitely been performing worse since the last patch.

@Br0kenPiece just a quick note the ping you can see in the title screen is your ping for their casual server(well most of it) it's cause devs can't be bothered to make a proper detailed server lists.

@Daze623 I suppose you mean lobby servers, not casual 🙂. The match servers are not exposed and that's a good thing, more balanced distribution of players, reduced chances of hackers attacking them, less ways for some to cheat their way up by joining high ping servers or to circumvent sbmm by going on servers that tend to be filled with more inexperienced players, etc..

Anyway, ping for lobby server is pretty useless, ping shown on performance display does not tell the whole story (network buffering is not included, ping spikes are hardly visible but can have a lasting effect).

@DoYaSeeMe Lol
Trust me hackers know the servers real address. I know how to find it too but I don't know if it's allowed so I don't do it.

All those reasons can be easily fixed if devs really wanted too.

High ping? Iirc Conan exiles doesn't allow players to join servers that would give them high ping. I'm sure this same system can be implemented in Apex too.

Players targetting inexperienced players? People already do this anyway so why even use this an excuse?

I'm not asking them to show everything cause it would be pointless as not everyone knows what the data shows. What I'm asking for is to show more accurate information as I find it extremely stupid to show a certain ping when in reality it's not the ping they'll get in game.

@Daze623 Hackers can get anywhere, but any step making things more difficult to them is a good one. Anyway, the current system is fine, I don't think anyone wants to get in situations where the closest server doesn't have enough players, the reasonable ones are full and the higher ping ones deny connection. Also, I'm pretty sure the list of available match servers is sorted by ping and it's possible that, even when connecting to a more distant lobby server, to actually get a match server that's quite a bit closer in terms of delay.

Regarding lag, the biggest problem comes from instability. The spikes can ruin the experience, although the average is hardly affected by them. A system limiting ping can mess up the matchmaking but also make things worse whenever there's instability, a more aggressive version even taking players out mid game.

Thing is, I really doubt the raw ping is the whole problem. I sometimes seem to get significant input lag, which might be an effect of underperformance and/or too high/low/unstable network buffering. Also, noticed that streamers often get much a much smoother experience, even at much higher ping than I usually get (I average around 60-70ms on one PC and 30-50ms on another). Wish they'd expose more stuff on a larger performance display, although there's nothing much we can do to change anything.

@DoYaSeeMe "the current system is fine"
The fact that you think this flawed system is fine is honestly scary and is probably one of the reasons why this game is suffering through a lot of technical issues cause they have people like you defending horrible system design.

"any step making things more difficult to them is a good one. "
The only thing they're making it difficult is for normal players to gain a proper and fair match. The code needed to find out what server you're connecting to is easily available out there with just a simple google search. They didn't even bother to put it behind a paywall cause of how easy it is.

"pretty sure the list of available match servers is sorted by ping and it's possible that, even when connecting to a more distant lobby server, to actually get a match server that's quite a bit closer in terms of delay."
We can't really confirm this.Why? it's cause they don't show actual ping.

"Regarding lag, the biggest problem comes from instability. The spikes can ruin the experience, although the average is hardly affected by them. "
Please I know what causes lag spikes. What I'm talking about is this constant 150ms that causes delay that ruins my(and other players) experience. Knowing your ping is really important when it comes to fps games.

"A system limiting ping can mess up the matchmaking but also make things worse whenever there's instability, a more aggressive version even taking players out mid game."
Matchmaking is already messed up anyway. It wouldn't hurt to make it fair for people playing. And why would you add a more aggressive version? You only need to stop people that constantly go over a certain ping from joining no need to kick people out just because they had spikes.

" I really doubt the raw ping is the whole problem. "
Never said it was the whole problem but it's a big part of the problem.

"there's nothing much we can do to change anything. "
Yes there is if we stopped defending stupid system designs and actually called devs out for their laziness things will change. It worked with Caustic's incoming buff right? so why wouldn't it work for something more vital to the games overall health.

@Daze623 I'm not defending the system, but so far it's the most acceptable compromise for this type of game. Over time, other ways have been proven unfair to some players, easier to exploit or circumvent, unsustainable for a long period or unviable financially.

So, you think it would be easier for a player to choose from a list of hundreds or thousands of IPs, that is updated every few seconds, with addresses constantly added, removed or rearranged, and often to have the connection refused because that one server got filled in the meantime. OK...

Server list is always sorted by ping, it's by far the most relevant and efficient thing to use. But it's just not the ping to the client, it's most probably the lowest ping to the lobby server that client is connected to. When the game starts, the lobby server passes the clients to the game server and I think here the routing comes into play. For example, if a player is 20ms from the lobby server and that lobby server is 10ms from the game server, that player most probably won't be 30ms from the game server. If routing is favorable, he'll can get less than 20ms, but otherwise 100-300ms can happen. At this point, it's too late to cut out the players that have considerable lag, because the new match is already initiated. By the way, I think this moment when the players connect to the game is where we sometimes lose some of the teammates, as their connection to the game server timeouts (bad or unstable routing to that game server).

Still, the game can be enjoyable even at 150ms ping, you can find many examples from streamers. A constant ping doesn't cause rubberbanding or stuttering, it's the instability that causes those. For the game to be kept smooth, there is network buffering applied, but too much instability can mess it up badly and the result is hits not registering, receiving too many bullets at once, teleportation, stuttering, sometimes leading up to errors that break the game (physics errors, game logic ,etc.).

What can I say, keep being vocal, take it out on others that have different opinions and refer to hard working people with disrespect. It does work in politics...

@DoYaSeeMe "Over time, other ways have been proven unfair to some players, easier to exploit or circumvent, unsustainable for a long period or unviable financially."
Proof on this claim?

"So, you think it would be easier for a player to choose from a list of hundreds or thousands of IPs, that is updated every few seconds, with addresses constantly added, removed or rearranged, and often to have the connection refused because that one server got filled in the meantime. OK..."
If they do it properly, yes.

"Still, the game can be enjoyable even at 150ms ping, you can find many examples from streamers. "
Maybe for you and those streamers. I hate playing games with high ping.And like I said I know what causes lag spikes so please stop treating me like an idiot.

"What can I say, keep being vocal, take it out on others that have different opinions and refer to hard working people with disrespect. It does work in politics... "
Take out on others? I never once personally attacked you so how do you feel like someone is taking it out on you?
This is the same system that they released the game with. For 7 seasons and almost 2 years there's no improvement to it, yeah I guess they are "hard working".