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The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

Gythral8PNC
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The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎17-08-2014 11:29 PM

The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times, the game freeze for a few seconds then does an "Benny Hill" to catch up, only started since the server was moved to Frankfurt & started using Level3.net's routers to route there
most times it is the Frankfurt one that drops ICMP packets, today 2 in London have either changed or are dropping all ICMP traffic (often a sign that they are stressed)
Target Name: N/A
        IP: 159.100.232.171
  Date/Time: 17/08/2014 23:26:00
1    0 ms  [192.168.1.254]
2  40 ms  lo0-central10.pcl-ag01.plus.net [195.166.128.182]
3  40 ms  link-a-central10.pcl-gw01.plus.net [212.159.2.160]
4  39 ms  xe-10-0-0.pcl-cr01.plus.net [212.159.0.192]
5  39 ms  xe-11-2-0.edge3.London2.Level3.net [212.187.201.213]
6  49 ms  vl-3101-ve-127.ebr1.London2.Level3.net [4.69.202.169]
7  49 ms  ae-46-46.ebr1.London15.Level3.net [4.69.159.70]
8  *      [-]
9  *      [-]
10  49 ms  ae-62-62.csw1.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.140.18]
11  49 ms  ae-1-60.edge3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.154.7]
12  49 ms  [212.162.9.150]
13  50 ms  [195.122.154.3]
14  50 ms  [159.100.232.171]
Ping statistics for 159.100.232.171
Packets: Sent = 1, Received = 1, Lost = 0 (0.0%)
Round Trip Times: Minimum = 50ms, Maximum = 50ms, Average = 50ms
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Mathias
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎18-08-2014 9:40 AM

Level 3 issues again. No surprise there. Good luck getting PN to do anything about it though, seems to be a long time outstanding issue on this board...
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Gythral8PNC
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎18-08-2014 10:14 AM

Not just this board, only ever had 1 ISP stand up to Level3.net in the last 14 years & that one has been sold out to the suits & is the same as the rest now Sad
jim:quote
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Gythral8PNC
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎20-08-2014 5:23 PM

Since no-one from PlusNet is even vaguely interested in picking up the issue
Can anyone suggest an ISP the cares about gaming, or any other ways around the issue where if the routing involves Level3 you can forget gaming? Since this is not just a problem with TESO but with other any other game where they are involved.
I raised a ticket with support about it and was told "We dont deal with that!" try this forum, this forum also seems not to deal with it!
As Level3 routing issues were why I joined from another ISP, I feel that I have been missold this service with the CS attitude and no responses here, nearest I've go to a PN replyu is a mod editing my post...
Angry Angry >
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KhromeHound
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎21-08-2014 10:07 AM

Be nice if I could help but never had any kind of experience in the slightest with Level3.
As for the support ticket, they likely just saw the gaming part and panicked it over to here.
And honestly, you may not like the following, but in my experience plus-net tends to be the best for gaming. I've heard every other ISP complained about, never heard anything but good about PN though. + Priority system is nice.
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Gythral8PNC
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎21-08-2014 12:38 PM

One of the reasons I looked at PlusNet was previous experience with them (before the BT buyout), and talking to someone at the end of last year, but now that I've got a issue everyone is hiding!
The issue with Level3 dropping gaming data is not new - been going on for 14 years that I know of - it's the reason I moved ISP to PN but now it's appearing here too, but every mention of it here is ignored, that's not the reputation PN has.
How do I get support?
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Kelly
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎21-08-2014 12:47 PM

Hi,
We've seen the thread.  I'm talking to Network operations about it.
Kelly Dorset
Ex-Broadband Service Manager
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Mathias
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎21-08-2014 1:40 PM

Can you give us more information Kelly, your posts are often very short and lacking in that regard?
Would like to know what Network operations are proposing doing about it, how long it is expected to take to fix etc.
Seem to recall level3 being mentioned as an issue in this thread:
http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php/topic,120077.192.html
Dave from Plusnet's last post in that thread was:
"Yeah, hopefully we can sort out the best path from our side through to them via Level3, ops are looking at that for us, spoke to them this afternoon about it. We'll not look at taking the BT route unless we think that's the best course of action. Will let you know when they've had chance to look at the change and give you an indication of when they can do it."
That was on 25/3 and no follow up was posted describing if or what action was done from Plusnet. Can you also provide an update on that issue?
Regular updates/solutions from Plusnet staff is something which is severely lacking on this board of the forum...
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Kelly
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎21-08-2014 1:44 PM

The issue is that it's not as simple as us flipping a switch to resolve, or in some cases even prove that there is an issue and where it lies. Over committing on fixes is just as bad, if not worse for you guys, than under committing.  I'm trying to get a bit more clarity.

Kelly Dorset
Ex-Broadband Service Manager
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AndyH
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎21-08-2014 2:06 PM

Might be linked to this http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/discussion/125179/performance-issues-on-the-european-megaserver ?
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Gythral8PNC
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎21-08-2014 2:23 PM

Quoting from an ongoing conversation with Zenimax:
"I believe there is some contention/bandwidth issue going on here at certain points and certain times of the day, and it's unfortunate that your ISP hasn't been able to help, I would advise getting in touch with them again to make sure there isn't anything that can be done. The vast majority of our customers from the UK, don't encounter any issues routing to our servers, and of those, most have had resolvable local issues. This has to be worked out between you and your ISP at this point, as there isn't any more I can advise you on, that I haven't done already.

If there is any information your ISP needs from us or anything else, let me know and I can look in to it, for the moment though, everything that has been done to improve the lag in your situation has been done. Really sorry I can't help you out further."
To add that  ae-1-60.edge3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.154.7] drops a a lot of ICMP traffic at similar times to the issues I have, not proof but and indication and the the 2 nodes between London and Frankfurt started drop all ICMP traffic at the exact same time the problem got totally out of hand last weekend ( I think they are the London - Frankfurt linking from memory of Level3's network)
At the time I'm writing this 25% of pings to ae-1-60.edge3.Frankfurt1.Level3.net [4.69.154.7] are getting lost.
But the issues with level3 in London have affected Swtor & TSW as well as TESO.
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AndyH
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎21-08-2014 2:33 PM

I don't think it's an issue with Level3 in London. Looking at the link I posted, it seems like it's an issue for the whole of Europe playing The Elderscrolls Online because there are users in France/Germany/UK all reporting lag issues on that forum.
A router not responding to ICMP pings can be a false indicator because it could be the router is busy and prioritising other traffic. If packets are being dropped on every hop from a certain hop or the latency is increased from a certain hop, then it's a better indicator of a routing issue.
Edit: I should add they have planned maintenance tonight at 3am to fix the issues.
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Gythral8PNC
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎21-08-2014 3:02 PM

Ok look at the numbers of the post, they are tiny compared to the number of users, but we are arguing back and fore with only 2 of the 3 parties, I have a long ongoing support ticket open with Zenimax, I tried to open a ticket here but got nowhere until today.
It could be their server/network.datacentre, it could be Level3 it, could be PlusNet - it has been getting worse from the point it was moved to Frankfurt and at present I am paying both parties for a service I'm not in the least happy with!
Zenimax says it's PlusNet
PlusNet says it's Zenimax
and I do not have a contact at Level3 but I'd guess they'd say ii's Zenimax or PlusNet!
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AndyH
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎21-08-2014 3:19 PM

It has to be more than coincidental though that you're experiencing lag issues and ZeniMax have acknowledged there are performance issues for the two not to be connected.
I am surprised by the response from Zenimax because Level3 carry the majority of European traffic to their data centre. Zenimax will be paying Level3 for this service - so they should know quite quickly if there's an issue.
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Dhaos
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Re: The Elderscrolls Online (EU) utterly unplayable at times

‎21-08-2014 4:34 PM

Anyone tried running a Wireshark test to see if the game is prioritised right after the server move, just to rule it out.
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