Getting started off playing MMOs as a South African can lead to a lot of frustration since servers are usually hosted in Europe of the United States. I’ve got experience multiple games, running multiple ISPs and purchased a different tunnels, so I thought I’d share my findings and hopefully this will help out some newbies.
With this guide you should be able to maximise your connection and obtain pro status playing internationally. I have managed Gladiator on World of Warcraft on US servers with these tips.
Take note that this is mostly focused at MMORPGs located on international servers and not based on local servers!
Choosing the right ISP:
You want an Unshaped connection.
I don’t want to go into too much technical detail, the important thing is a Shaped and Unshaped connection.
On Shaped connections ISPs will be ‘throttling’ your data depending on what service it is. An example is that you might browse at close to full speed, but a torrent will be very slow. An Unshaped connection will not have these limitations.
Unshaped connections are usually your ‘pay per gig’ or Capped accounts, whereas the Shaped connections are usually your Uncapped accounts. Check with your ISP for details.
I don’t want to recommend a specific ISP or share any negative remarks I have regarding some, however I will say that I once went the ‘Business’ route and paid a lot of money for a ‘Premium’ business connection and it was no better than a general Unshaped connection. For me it was a huge waste of money.
Kbps (kilobits per second) is NOT kb/s (kilobytes per second)
Never forget this and keep this in mind.
Kilobits is often used when demonstrating your speed, like a www.speedtest.net test, but this doesn't mean that you will download at this speed!
To go from kilobits to kilobytes, you need to divide by 8. So if you have 1000 kbps, it is actually only 125 kb/s.
Selecting the correct server to play on:
This is very important as it usually impossible to transfer from one location to the next.
You will usually have a choice of servers from the US or Europe.
Europe is a lot closer than the US so for the best speeds, you need to pick a server from Europe! The closer the better.
I have usually 300-400ms on servers from the US whereas servers from Europe can be half that!
Using a Tunnel service:
This is a tunnel which usually significantly lowers your latency as well as prevents spiking. Some users report that they see no difference, so I would test run a trial version before paying for one. I have had remarkable results (the difference between ‘laggy’ gameplay and a smooth connection) and am more than happy to pay a monthly subscription.
An example of such a service is WTFast (www.wtfast.com). Try the Trial before subscribing!
Choosing the right 'class':
When it comes to MMORPGs, you will generally have melee (close hand-to-hand combat) classes and range (shoot from afar) classes (types of characters you can play).
Playing a melee class is incredibly difficult, if not close to impossible, with lag. You will encounter a number of server errors such as "You are not close enough to target" meanwhile on your screen you are right on-top of your target. This is due to the lag between your client and the server.
You should choose to play a range class instead of a melee class so that you can have more of a pleasurable experience. It is far more forgiving for people with lag.
Healer classes, which could be considered range classes, are also less forgiving that melee, but if you lag spike and someone dies people will be on your case. As a Range DPS (Damage per second/damage dealer), all you will be losing out on is a bit of damage in a lag spike.
Guides and tips for specific games:
There are fan sites and databases for majority of games which usually contain all the information regarding the quest, item, enemy etc. These will be very helpful to check regarding something you might be stuck on or tips on how to level quicker.
Beware of spyware!:
Like I said in "Guides and tips for specific games" there are also websites that try catch a user and infect them with keylogging software which they will use to steal your account.
You should always have a virus and malware detector running as well as perform weekly scans.
NoScript for Firefox is a great addition to security and I only use Firefox now because of it.
Improving and Troubleshooting lag:
When playing, be sure to ‘kill’ processes that are often transmitting or receiving data. Things like self-updates for software will slow your connection down.
I personally ‘kill’ anything that is not required by the operating system to try and maximize my speed.
Never use a Wi-Fi connection, only connect wired ethernet:
There is far too much packet loss (I think its packet loss, don't know Wi-Fi too well). You will only create additional problems.
Strictly only connect through a wired connection.
People are bitter and toxic, don't let it get to you. It's just a game, have fun!:
People are incredibly rude and bitter online. You will most likely get sworn at and have horrible things said to you. Shrug it off and don't let them get to you. They forget you are only playing a game and take things far too seriously.
With this guide you should be able to maximise your connection and obtain pro status playing internationally. I have managed Gladiator on World of Warcraft on US servers with these tips.
Take note that this is mostly focused at MMORPGs located on international servers and not based on local servers!
Choosing the right ISP:
You want an Unshaped connection.
I don’t want to go into too much technical detail, the important thing is a Shaped and Unshaped connection.
On Shaped connections ISPs will be ‘throttling’ your data depending on what service it is. An example is that you might browse at close to full speed, but a torrent will be very slow. An Unshaped connection will not have these limitations.
Unshaped connections are usually your ‘pay per gig’ or Capped accounts, whereas the Shaped connections are usually your Uncapped accounts. Check with your ISP for details.
I don’t want to recommend a specific ISP or share any negative remarks I have regarding some, however I will say that I once went the ‘Business’ route and paid a lot of money for a ‘Premium’ business connection and it was no better than a general Unshaped connection. For me it was a huge waste of money.
Kbps (kilobits per second) is NOT kb/s (kilobytes per second)
Never forget this and keep this in mind.
Kilobits is often used when demonstrating your speed, like a www.speedtest.net test, but this doesn't mean that you will download at this speed!
To go from kilobits to kilobytes, you need to divide by 8. So if you have 1000 kbps, it is actually only 125 kb/s.
Selecting the correct server to play on:
This is very important as it usually impossible to transfer from one location to the next.
You will usually have a choice of servers from the US or Europe.
Europe is a lot closer than the US so for the best speeds, you need to pick a server from Europe! The closer the better.
I have usually 300-400ms on servers from the US whereas servers from Europe can be half that!
Using a Tunnel service:
This is a tunnel which usually significantly lowers your latency as well as prevents spiking. Some users report that they see no difference, so I would test run a trial version before paying for one. I have had remarkable results (the difference between ‘laggy’ gameplay and a smooth connection) and am more than happy to pay a monthly subscription.
An example of such a service is WTFast (www.wtfast.com). Try the Trial before subscribing!
Choosing the right 'class':
When it comes to MMORPGs, you will generally have melee (close hand-to-hand combat) classes and range (shoot from afar) classes (types of characters you can play).
Playing a melee class is incredibly difficult, if not close to impossible, with lag. You will encounter a number of server errors such as "You are not close enough to target" meanwhile on your screen you are right on-top of your target. This is due to the lag between your client and the server.
You should choose to play a range class instead of a melee class so that you can have more of a pleasurable experience. It is far more forgiving for people with lag.
Healer classes, which could be considered range classes, are also less forgiving that melee, but if you lag spike and someone dies people will be on your case. As a Range DPS (Damage per second/damage dealer), all you will be losing out on is a bit of damage in a lag spike.
Guides and tips for specific games:
There are fan sites and databases for majority of games which usually contain all the information regarding the quest, item, enemy etc. These will be very helpful to check regarding something you might be stuck on or tips on how to level quicker.
Beware of spyware!:
Like I said in "Guides and tips for specific games" there are also websites that try catch a user and infect them with keylogging software which they will use to steal your account.
You should always have a virus and malware detector running as well as perform weekly scans.
NoScript for Firefox is a great addition to security and I only use Firefox now because of it.
Improving and Troubleshooting lag:
When playing, be sure to ‘kill’ processes that are often transmitting or receiving data. Things like self-updates for software will slow your connection down.
I personally ‘kill’ anything that is not required by the operating system to try and maximize my speed.
Never use a Wi-Fi connection, only connect wired ethernet:
There is far too much packet loss (I think its packet loss, don't know Wi-Fi too well). You will only create additional problems.
Strictly only connect through a wired connection.
People are bitter and toxic, don't let it get to you. It's just a game, have fun!:
People are incredibly rude and bitter online. You will most likely get sworn at and have horrible things said to you. Shrug it off and don't let them get to you. They forget you are only playing a game and take things far too seriously.
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