#0 - Feb. 24, 2010, 6:16 p.m.
I previously played on Aggramar (also known as Laggramar), and this server was permanently plagued by lag in Dalaran and usually the other main cities as well. Basically non-stop for 6 months, Dalaran suffered 2-5 seconds of delay in every action you take.
This was not the only problem with inadequate servers, however. During basically all of WotLK's history, we suffered from issues such as "instance capacity reached". This meant that for about one full year, instances couldn't be played during primetimes unless you'd spend anything from 5 minutes to 2 hours running in and out at the entrance. On a daily basis I had groups disband because there was simply no way getting inside instances. Is this acceptable in the slightest? Absolutely not.
Blizzard improved the situation with the instance capacity issues, but when doing so, the rest of the server got a lot more lag from the very same day. It's obvious that the resources they took to improve instances had to be taken from somewhere, resulting in more lag in other places.
Eventually, I had enough of this, so me and some friends decided to change server through character transfers, meaning that we indirectly rewarded Blizzard extra income for providing inadequate servers. Leaving my guild behind, we moved to Sunstrider, and all lag issues were resolved (save the occasionally unplayable Wintergrasps).
Relatively lag free at last! Much more enjoyment from the game and we could even spend time in Dalaran!
But now, two months later and starting this week, Blizzard decided to allow free character moves from other servers to Sunstrider (among others). My new lag-free server is now plagued by the very same lag I experienced on Aggramar. Already guildmates are considering leaving the server, quitting the game or just plain avoiding certain places. Taking a mail out of the mailbox takes 2-5 seconds, and crafting in Dalaran is unbearable. Getting into instances is also getting more difficult.
Now what I'm asking myself, is if Blizzard's intention is for their players to simply deal with the lag and leave it at that? Considering I spent months and months on Aggramar with permanent lag, I'm now starting to experience this very same thing on Sunstrider. This leads me to believe that there's one of two things going on here:
1) Blizzard thinks extreme lag and instance capacity issues is acceptable and ignores it. "This comes with the game. Just deal with it!"
2) Blizzard simply doesn't realize that their servers are inadequate.
I think it's safe to say that the second alternative is not the right one. They should be monitoring their servers quite well and them not realizing the problems with high latencies is unlikely.
If Blizzard would like to disagree with the first alternative, then giving the victims some heads-up on what's going on would be nice. We hear nothing though. Our requests go by unnoticed, and the lag goes on. This brings with it the consequence of us players thinking "this is expected and will not be fixed".
Now, before you say that I'm QQ'ing, that *your* server isn't experiencing these issues, it's *my* connection or that "Blizzard will work it out", there are a number of things you should consider:
a) It is not my connection.
b) Apparently not all servers are having these issues.
c) Blizzard apparently won't work it out. We waited 10 months on Aggramar before we gave up, and it just started on Sunstrider, so I'm not hopeful.
d) Yes, I'm QQ'ing, but for a perfectly valid reason.
Any official response regarding these latency issues and what is being done to get this problem dealt with would be very welcome. Considering I have dealt with them for a year and am paying for a service, that's the least one could ask. Unfortunately, it is most likely this will go by unnoticed just like the latency issues and everything will keep going as if everything's running smoothly.
Thank you for your time.
