Re: Crazy queue times

Brian Trosko <btrosko@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
Brian Westley <westley@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
kerri@xxxxxxxxxxxxx writes:

need to upgrade their hardware. The max # of players that a server
will handle hasn't been upped since the game went live 3 years ago.
They should be able to handle twice as many on a server now.

If the traditional metric of computing power doubling every 18 months is
used, then they should be able to handle 4 times as many players after 3
years.

Only if having 2N players requires just twice the computing power
as N players, which I rather doubt.

Why? Seems like pretty linear scaling to me. You'll have some non-linear
overhead from interaction (100 people can trade items amongst themselves
in more than twice as many ways that 50 people), but I'd expect that to be
pretty minor. 100 people running around killing mobs and picking up loot
and chatting would seem to require about twice as much computation as 50
people running around killing mobs and picking up loot and chatting.

I just doubt it would be linear; probably not as bad as N^2.

And I think the primary limiting
factor is keeping Shattrath lag livable for someone on a low-end
machine.

Yeah, but that's nothing to do with the server.

Sure it is. If a server has 4x the population, Shattrath is
going to have roughly 4x the population at any one time, and that
will increase the lag on client machines. It doesn't matter if
the server can handle 4x the population, the lag will get worse
for users, because a faster server doesn't speed up the user's
57.6K modem or his hard disk as it loads up graphics for 4x
the number of people in town.

If anything, I wish they'd do a graphical update to allow people with
higher-end machines to get more out of it. 120fps, and I *still* don't
see huge things like Fel Reavers until they're almost in bow range?
Silly.

Because then people with better hardware would see mobs farther
away than people with not-as-good hardware; this affects PvE and PvP
game balance.

You CAN see the static environment farther.

---
Merlyn LeRoy
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Age of Conquerors Internet TCP/IP Connection for Direct Play
    ... I'm in Alexandria and we would like to play a game ... Both machines are Windows XP SP2. ... > Server 47624 -> Client Highport SYN, ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.games)
  • Re: Crazy queue times
    ... will handle hasn't been upped since the game went live 3 years ago. ... They should be able to handle twice as many on a server now. ... Posted using Android Newsgroup Downloader: ...
    (alt.games.warcraft)
  • Re: Crazy queue times
    ... will handle hasn't been upped since the game went live 3 years ago. ... They should be able to handle twice as many on a server now. ... Merging would be pretty much not possible as it would create too much ...
    (alt.games.warcraft)
  • Re: Big Thanks to MGC Organizers And....
    ... the Video Game Legacy "Museum" and a ton of stuff going on. ... year attending and my second for bringing machines. ... under hours of constant play just give me a shout back. ... I can't turn it over twice when I set it on 5 ball! ...
    (rec.games.pinball)
  • Re: Crazy queue times
    ... will handle hasn't been upped since the game went live 3 years ago. ... They should be able to handle twice as many on a server now. ... Only if having 2N players requires just twice the computing power ...
    (alt.games.warcraft)
Loading