PSA: Lag is Lag. Desync is Desync.

Its frustrating to see everything blamed as desync, although I can honestly understand people who dont have a computer/networking background not seeing the difference.

First and foremost, please READ the Dev Manifesto post on Desync. It is a very comprehensive explanation of what action synchronization is. It is two computer programs with exactly the same calculations happening at the same time, and the goal is for them to have identical input and output. When the two programs, for various reasons, end up spitting out different answers due to getting different data (or some vastly more technical factors) this is desynchronization.

While higher latency (ping time) CAN have a direct relationship to desync (as explained in the Dev Manifesto), the direct problem of ping spikes and higher ping causing delay in your actions taking effect effect (i.e. you see your fireball but the mob takes dmg a half second after you see the hit) is not desync, it is lag.

Furthermore, when you have a connection interruption for whatever reason, it is basically an extreme lag. Your PoE cant say anything to the server, not even "Im Gone, Log me Out" if you Quit. The server cant say anything to your PoE, not even "Your connection is gone, you should look into that." WHAT DOES HAPPEN IS TWO THINGS:

1) Your PoE says "Hello?" A bunch of times all while you are trying to keep playing. Your buttons wont do much but you keep moving on your screen. A telltale sign is that mobs stop moving on YOUR screen.

2) The server is also saying "Hello???" while keeping you in game because it thinks you MIGHT still be there, just delayed...but you arent, your connection is gone.

Once enough time has passed, the server realizes youre actually gone and logs you out. Your PoE has its own timer before it realizes the server is gone before telling you that you are disconnected. During the time that the server gives you the "benefit" of the doubt, stuff can happen to your character unfortunately, because mobs and attacks are still processing on the server...it just thinks youre standing still taking it (and it doesn't care why!).

A connection can be interrupted anywhere from your router/modem, intermediate routing hops, all the way to the gateway and GGG's local server routing (obviously that doesnt happen much, and would affect a great many people). For me, it is 99% of the time within the immediate routing of my ISP...as in, my router is fine but the rest of the internrt is gone to me. Obviously has nothing to do with GGG/PoE gateway in that case...

(On a side note, part of me wonders if I even understand this 100%. I mean, if we assume that no one is actually playing with a ping of over 2s to be safe...couldnt the timeout be a lot shorter than it is?)

Can you please stop this posts defending GGG...

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glh5 wrote:

Can you please stop this posts defending GGG...

I challenge you to quote the part where he defends GGG. Go on, do it.

I would say a lot of people say "dsync" for 3 very different things (just to put it simple) :

- FPS drop. In any game, you can blame either your GPU or a bad optimization (or both)
- Lag. Most of the time you can blame your ISP, sometimes the servers. If you're playing hardcore, start to play on a wired connection.
- Actual dsync. Due to various factors that are well explained everywhere on these forums, your client and the game servers could lose sync (small doorway, stun,...).

I desync every single time i use my skill without fail.

Im a multistrike cyclone... go figure ;p

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Morgoth2356 wrote:

I would say a lot of people say "dsync" for 3 very different things (just to put it simple) :

- FPS drop. In any game, you can blame either your GPU or a bad optimization (or both)
- Lag. Most of the time you can blame your ISP, sometimes the servers. If you're playing hardcore, start to play on a wired connection.
- Actual dsync. Due to various factors that are well explained everywhere on these forums, your client and the game servers could lose sync (small doorway, stun,...).

Thank you...I totally forgot about FPS drops...which are neither lag nor desync, and has nothing to do with the internet connection at all. One of my RL friends always says he gets a "lag spike" when his screen sputters for a second and it annoys the crap out of me lol...

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adania wrote:

I desync every single time i use my skill without fail.

Im a multistrike cyclone... go figure ;p

I have never ever understood the point of MS cyclone and I suspect I never will. ;)

MS Flicker on the other hand, totally get what thats all about...

i played MS flicker strike for a while to like level 80 and barely desynced. I think with some game experience you know how to avoid desync anyways, as said, not trying to go through mobs and small doorways which are eventually blocked through mobs.

But afterall i didnt desync more than for example with my LA ranger or whatever. You just shouldnt be so stupid and force the game to desync to then blame GGG, lol.

No. You BLOW guys sugarcoat and underplay the issues of the game all the time. Do you think making up these lame excuses helps the game?

These are the cold hard facts:

- The desync issue is reality. It actually exists. People that say they never desync are lying because they are GGG fanboy or simply blind.
- The desync issue is a major issue driving a lot of people away from the game whether you like it or not. Almost all of the "I Quit" posts mention desync. And that's just the top of the ice berg because most ppl don't post when they quit.
- Even if you are playing in the same data center as the GGG servers you would still desync. This is of course a theoretical situation but blaming it on network hardware infrastructure is really... I don't even have words guys. Desync is purely a software issue.
- The opening post is factually incorrect. It rants on about ping spikes yet people with good jitter (<5ms) still desync.
- The opening post addresses the wrong issue. Wtf? The situation you are describing is a disconnect, which actually rarely happens as the PoE servers are actually quite stable as far as uptime goes. Keepalive / heartbeat packets also have nothing to do with desync.

So to conclude: please no more "guys desync is not that bad" posts. Especially not of this low pseudointellectual level.