This occurs in 1.11B but has been around at least since 1.10, and I've only observed it on battle.net realms.
Many people seem to have trouble getting kicked out of their game after a period of time, after which they aren't able to rejoin any game (including their own) or make new games. I've had this happen a number of times and have noticed a pattern, though I don't know how to prevent it.
Portals are one of points in the game where the character state gets saved. Portals include the Town Portal and various map entrances, such as to a cave, crypt, or temple, or even an adjacent map. I suspect portals are linked to the problem, but I don't know if they are the cause.
Typical Case:
I play in a game for an hour or two, doing full clears and any quests that happen by. Suddenly the action freezes, but I'm still able to run around; I just can't leave the current map or active area. The action may resume after a noticeable delay, upon which all returns to "normal", but inevitably the delay will occur again. The end result, sooner or later, is that I time out and see the dreaded Connection message. Boom, I'm back in a channel.
Note that this pause is not like the lag spikes I sometimes get where the server keeps going but the client falls behind. With these pauses, everything is stopped. (I can move my character as mentioned previously, but he/she can't leave the active area and can't interact with anything.)
I try to re-join my game, but I am informed that it no longer exists. When I try to re-create the game with the same name, I am informed that a game with that name already exists. I try to create a game with a new name and end up looking at a static loading screen for about a minute, and than am greeted with "Failed to Load". No kidding. I get the same treatment if I try to join someone else's game. After about 10-15 (or maybe 30) minutes, it seems to clear up and I can create or join games again.
Upon entering a game, I check my character. Interestingly, the character's state has been reset to where it was when I entered the last portal before the game died. Any items I picked up from the time I entered the portal until the game died are gone. Same goes for any experience gained.
I've had this scenario play out countless times, and it always seems to occur after taking a portal. I can stand in one area for hours without losing the game, so long as I'm doing something once in awhile. But if I take a portal, sooner or later things go awry. It's like there's a misfire somewhere and the server fails to set a flag or something, and the game ends up shutting down without my knowing it.
Last night I tried to leave the game as soon as the first "pause" hit, thinking maybe the game wouldn't time out if I left it. Wrong. All I did was quicken my inevitable journey back to the channel. The game, it seems, was already on death row. Did leaving the game early save me from not being able to join/create games? No. Same old routine.
As I stated at the outset, this problem has existed at least since 1.10, and continues to this day. It's obviously not a problem in singleplayer, but sure gets annoying on the realms. I was || this close to solving a quest last night, after traipsing through the jungles of act 3, and got that blasted Connection message. My character's state upon entering a new game? You guessed it, exactly as it was when I entered the Spider Cave (through an entrance portal). The game let me collect items and kill monsters on my way to the sparkly chest in that cave, but apparently the server had already decided it was "game over". Sadly, there's no way I know of to pre-determine if the game is thusly judged. All I do know is that, sooner or later, taking a portal is going to end my game and I'll have to replay some amount of it to regain lost ground.
Many people seem to have trouble getting kicked out of their game after a period of time, after which they aren't able to rejoin any game (including their own) or make new games. I've had this happen a number of times and have noticed a pattern, though I don't know how to prevent it.
Portals are one of points in the game where the character state gets saved. Portals include the Town Portal and various map entrances, such as to a cave, crypt, or temple, or even an adjacent map. I suspect portals are linked to the problem, but I don't know if they are the cause.
Typical Case:
I play in a game for an hour or two, doing full clears and any quests that happen by. Suddenly the action freezes, but I'm still able to run around; I just can't leave the current map or active area. The action may resume after a noticeable delay, upon which all returns to "normal", but inevitably the delay will occur again. The end result, sooner or later, is that I time out and see the dreaded Connection message. Boom, I'm back in a channel.
Note that this pause is not like the lag spikes I sometimes get where the server keeps going but the client falls behind. With these pauses, everything is stopped. (I can move my character as mentioned previously, but he/she can't leave the active area and can't interact with anything.)
I try to re-join my game, but I am informed that it no longer exists. When I try to re-create the game with the same name, I am informed that a game with that name already exists. I try to create a game with a new name and end up looking at a static loading screen for about a minute, and than am greeted with "Failed to Load". No kidding. I get the same treatment if I try to join someone else's game. After about 10-15 (or maybe 30) minutes, it seems to clear up and I can create or join games again.
Upon entering a game, I check my character. Interestingly, the character's state has been reset to where it was when I entered the last portal before the game died. Any items I picked up from the time I entered the portal until the game died are gone. Same goes for any experience gained.
I've had this scenario play out countless times, and it always seems to occur after taking a portal. I can stand in one area for hours without losing the game, so long as I'm doing something once in awhile. But if I take a portal, sooner or later things go awry. It's like there's a misfire somewhere and the server fails to set a flag or something, and the game ends up shutting down without my knowing it.
Last night I tried to leave the game as soon as the first "pause" hit, thinking maybe the game wouldn't time out if I left it. Wrong. All I did was quicken my inevitable journey back to the channel. The game, it seems, was already on death row. Did leaving the game early save me from not being able to join/create games? No. Same old routine.
As I stated at the outset, this problem has existed at least since 1.10, and continues to this day. It's obviously not a problem in singleplayer, but sure gets annoying on the realms. I was || this close to solving a quest last night, after traipsing through the jungles of act 3, and got that blasted Connection message. My character's state upon entering a new game? You guessed it, exactly as it was when I entered the Spider Cave (through an entrance portal). The game let me collect items and kill monsters on my way to the sparkly chest in that cave, but apparently the server had already decided it was "game over". Sadly, there's no way I know of to pre-determine if the game is thusly judged. All I do know is that, sooner or later, taking a portal is going to end my game and I'll have to replay some amount of it to regain lost ground.