How to beat the Lag?

[XOblivionX]

To tell the truth...ive no idea wut defence has to do with bone spear damage...however ive often found that bone spear dishes out more damage to the weaker monsters whit no defence (like cows and fallen) and less damage to the ones with higher defence... :blink:

[ldw]

From all the other replies (1000ms+ ping??) I'd have to say something is wrong there.
I used to be on dialup and one of my play buddies still is. He gets consistenly around 400-450ms occasionally spiking up to 600-700. This is on USWest which is by far the largest realm AND we are both 10000 miles away (other side of the planet just about).

From my own personal experience I can tell you that anything > 500ms feels *sluggish*.

I'd like to see where the bottleneck is and try to improve it (i.e. bad modem or modem config, slow isp etc.)

If you could please run this command while you modem is idling:
(connected up to internet but not downloading/playing anything)

(for win2000/xp): start->run->cmd
(for win98): start->run->command

c:\> tracert xxxx.battle.net


where 'xxxx' is either east, west, europe or asia depending on your realm.

... and post the results here if you would.


Note 56k modem (TCP/IP connection) has an inherent latency of around 200ms between local end
(your computer) and the ISP's end.

The latency from local ISPs in my area and uswest are around 200ms so best ping for my area is around
400ms on 56k dialup.

[Premezilla]

Hail Premezilla,

There's plenty you could use...

Hail...
Greetings.
Well Met...
Aiya...
Konichiwa...
Gutten Tag...
Ic grete þe...

:D

Word up Elric,

Thanks for the tip. I think you can probably tell which one I've decided on....
sorry it's not one of yours, but I just realized it not too long ago. Thanks by the way!
(P.S. Moderators/staff I know this is off-topic but I thought it unneccesary to create a whole new thread just for the sake of choosing a greeting.....)

[FoxBat]

I dunno, something just seems wrong, when lag compensation is elevated to strategy. Sign of the game, I guess... :P

[Elric of Grans]

Hail Premezilla,

OT posts are quite fine. You may want to shrink that sig though: it's HUGE!

[Occhidiangela]

OK, Shockwave is only available in WereBear Form, Hurricaine in human form. Should he be switching back and forth between forms? A bit micro intensive, but I suppose some folks like that. That bit is a matter of choice of style, not quality. However, if in a laggy environment, delays in switching makes this approach appear poorly suited to the problem in question.

Defiance is a good choice to complement WereForm, but Holy Freeze, with the exception of a few Act V sorts, does better than Defiance, IMO, since it slows down the monster attack delivery rate: if the monster only attacks half as often, you have effectively cut chances to be hit in half, possibly less, since you kill faster per his number of attacks on you and yours when he attacks less often over a given period of time. On the other hand, WereBear/Defiance Merc/Really High DR equipment is a pretty good approach, but the typical lack of a shield on a Druid, in order to speed up your own killing speed via two hand weapons, may reduce the effectiveness of a defense heavy build. Item dependency is a key issue here. If it takes you longer to kill the foe, he gets more chances to hit you.

And as to that tripe about hiding behind a Barbarian: between a Grizzly Bear and an Act II or Act V merc, you

a) get lag warning from the 'freezes in the middle of a move' you can detect on your merc
B) you have a meat shield or two

No need to hide behind others, the key is to pay attention to what you are doing.

A merc and any other summonable, being run by the server, is your first tip off that you have just hit a lag spike, before the fps number changes. This is a key HC survival issue for me on my dial up connection. When the merc freezes, either TP or Esc out, and rejoin or sit in town, depending on what the severity of the lag is. My ping is typically from 120-440, depends on a lot of factors, and I usually average 240-260. Works just fine.

Other lag resistance approaches include massive amounts of -Damage to items, -%Damage to items, and the Reduce Magical Damage items. High resistance is of course critical when faced with elemental attackers in a laggy environment, so as to avoid the one hit kill.

In the interest of the health of the Lounge, I am going to ask you, please:

If you are going to give advice, raise the quality of your replies. Please? Put some more thought into them.

[Occhidiangela]

For Foxbat:

Given the 'METT-T' analysis of the 'dial up' MP environment, it is a valid question as the lag contributes to the Fog of War in the case of the non-cable folks out here. :)

When all the world is on a Cable modem . . . some one will clog that up with oversized packets, eh? :)

[Occhidiangela]

You got one thing right:

To tell the truth...ive no idea wut defence has to do with bone spear damage...however ive often found that bone spear dishes out more damage to the weaker monsters whit no defence (like cows and fallen) and less damage to the ones with higher defence...

Yep, no idea. :P

Better to remain silent, and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

I am going to play 'Grammar Cop' here, and ask you to raise your level of discourse to that of the Lounge standard, a norm that has developed here over time-- some four years if I read my sundial correctly. :)

'wut' is actually spelled 'what'

'ive' is actually spelled 'I've'

'whit' is spelled 'with' (I 'spazz type' like that frequently myself: been there, done that. 'Preview Post' is your friend.)

Now, show us you can police your own posts, or expect to get your chops busted for being sloppy. It is discourteous to us that you present yourself so poorly in written form. Putting forth the effort to 'get it right' is one way you can show your quality. If we aren't worth your good efforts, then you aren't worth having around here.

[Occhidiangela]

I have never seen it blocked. I can't remember the last time I shot Bone Spears at Diablo, but I am pretty sure they were all like a magical spell from a sorceress: auto hit.

Bone spear damage is classified as 'Magic.' (Hehe, my first Necro built way back when, I thought it was physical, so I would use Amp Damage and Bone Spear. Silly me.) In Hell Diff, you will find some of the Unraveler class monsters Magic Immune, and impervious to any and all Bone Spear or Bone Spirit Attacks. Some Mummy class monsters as well, IIRC.

If lag is the problem, I would suggest adding a Golem to your party, flavor to choice. :) One more enemy for the foe to attack, versus you. (Caveat: this can backfire with Frenzytaurs using your summons to 'power up' and then play Mr Cuisinart on you.) My personal favorite is Iron Golem. YMMV.

Lower Resist would help both your Bone Spear and Skeleton Mages when your lag spikes shrink the way Hemrhoids when treated with Preparation H, and you feel less forced to use Dim Vision. :)

Not sure if your lag allows you to do this, but as you know, Bone Spear pierces, so if you like to move Mr Necro about while the bad guys are Dimmed, you could set up, via tactical movement, optimal shooting angles to hit 'lines' or 'columns' of foes. That will at least get the most damage per shot from the skill.

You sound like a far better Necro Hand than I, te saluto, so my advice is of average value at best.

Oh, and welcome to the Lounge. :D

[ShadowHM]

Every time I hear/read "salutations" I subconciously hear an "OOhhhhhmmmmmmmm" sound in the distance.

And every time I hear/read it, I get a picture of a cheerful and creative spider in my head. :blink:

[WarBlade]

Well even that's better than a piece of poo that says "How-de-Ho!" in various South Park episodes. :unsure:

[Mikedok]

A good lag resistant close combat character is a damage reduction character. Load up a character with - damage taken items. Ammys and circlets can get up to -25 damage reduced each. If you get two of these you have -50 damage reduced already. These items are easy to trade for since not many people care for them. You still have to worry about elemental attacks, but items and skills can fix that. If made right, this build only has to worry about lag around the one hit kill unique monsters.

Good Luck.

[Striker]

Well even that's better than a piece of poo that says "How-de-Ho!" in various South Park episodes. :unsure:

It's "Hi-de-ho!". Say the "Hi" part a few seconds longer than the other parts for the full effect. :)

Mr. Hanky is it's name, too.

I watch too much South Park. :(

*runs off and cries in the corner*