official World of Warcraft

[_neutrino Veteran]

Load time

Your load time is slower than mine and I have a 5200 RPM drive, What Ram do you have, perhaps that is your bottleneck?

[Shaun N.]

If you have a metric assload of ram (6 GB+) and play on a large screen with high quality settings you may be getting crashes or bits of stuttering in crowded places. This post about modifying the wow.exe file may be a solution for you.

It solved my crash-to-desktop issue, maybe it'll help your stuttering problem: some people posting in that thread have indicated as much.

I linked to the blue post that says "You won't get banned for this", you'll want to read over the entire thread which includes links to applications to enable use of more memory, some discussions about he risks, and people discussing the problems they've had/solved with it.

Your milage may vary and all that.

Been using this for a while now. It's nice to see a blue post about it

[treemonster]

If you have a metric assload of ram (6 GB+) and play on a large screen with high quality settings you may be getting crashes or bits of stuttering in crowded places. This post about modifying the wow.exe file may be a solution for you.

It solved my crash-to-desktop issue, maybe it'll help your stuttering problem: some people posting in that thread have indicated as much.

I linked to the blue post that says "You won't get banned for this", you'll want to read over the entire thread which includes links to applications to enable use of more memory, some discussions about he risks, and people discussing the problems they've had/solved with it.

Your milage may vary and all that.

that sounds like me. thanks. i was going to ask the windows forum about trying to manually enable superfetch for wow or something.

Your load time is slower than mine and I have a 5200 RPM drive, What Ram do you have, perhaps that is your bottleneck?

this is faster than my hdd, which was was slightly(subjectively) faster than evn's hdd video.

seriously you guys, if you want to say your slow hdd is faster than my ssd, then please make a video measuring load time.

what's not seen in my ssd videos is my add ons, which mare or may not be a factor, on start up that take up 25mb(recount surprisngly is actually the heaviest of them at ~10mb, carbonite is at ~8mb)

this is also the busiest part of org. i logged off near the portals in org the other night and when i logged back in the time between the bar loading up and the game appearing seemed shorter. but even in the spot the video is in, notice how the toons are loaded up as soon as the load screen disappears.

subjectively its slow for sure, but it's really only like 30s from toon selection screen to the bueiest part of org with all toons loaded. maybe i need to hunt down evn's videos to show you guys.

so after as much research on teh subject i could do and in relation to me trying to track down fixes to my bsod's, stutters and fps drops in that spot in org, i think they're all related and other than the fix evn just posted, i'm just going to have to wait for a patch from blizz, which from some of the post sin teh tehc forums on wow forums indicates this is typical for high end systems right after an expansion launch, and in previous cases got patched which improved or eliminted these issues.

[_neutrino Veteran]

Im not saying that the SSD has not improved things Im just saying that during the loading sequence it is loading that data into Ram and if you have slow ram you have slow load times. Obviously the faster the HDD the faster it can get data to the ram however, if the ram is slow then it cannot load into it faster. Keep in mind we are not really talking about that much time here only a few seconds.

[treemonster]

my ram is ddr3 1600mhz. even if it was 1066mhz it wouldn't cause a noticeable slowdown like that. it's corsair dominator kit so it's prety high quality, and this machine has done very nicely(typical for the hardware) in previous games, even when they really pushed hte hardware.

this is evn's hdd video. iirc he has similar system compared to mine in what would matter for load times:

this is his ssd video. it's about twice as fast as mine on the load screen. but the bar moves about the same speed. his just doesn't wait after the bar is filled.

http://www.youtube.com/user/touchymcfeel#p/u/10/Qt6mxsCpkv0

it only loads slow on first load into that spot in org during primetime. bg's 5mans lk and vanilla raids loading is about 5s(subjective).

the same goes for my stutter, fps drops and bsod's, all of it only happens in that spot in org during primtime. which is why i think it's related.

my guildie thought his BSOds were caused by win 7 x64, downgraded to 32 bit, and thought it was fixed, but wrote me to tell me he got another BSOD.

when i posted on wow tech forums on teh weekend there were abotu 10 threads or so on the first 10 pages that were possibly related rulling out posts from people with intel IGPs.

[Tharp Daddy]

Any place has an article on this? I use TW (Roadrunner) and would like some more info.

http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/08/13/time-warner-cable-customers-experience-world-of-warcraft-trouble/

http://consumerist.com/2008/08/time-warner-cable-responds-to-world-of-warcraft-disconnections.html

If you want to read some more there's a couple long, LONG threads on the forums that people report the same problems, such as here

TW claims it's not their fault (considering it started after traffic shaping i guarantee it is), but since it's ONLY Time Warner users who have the issue it's certainly not Blizzard's fault.

[treemonster]

i just finished reading that thread about the LAA thing. i'm going to give it a go. i think other than needing to back up the unmodified wow.exe and implement this every new patch, there isn't alot of cons inivolved, and it ptoentially at the very least fixes the crashing assuming this is the same problem i have.

anyways i had a thought for a question to evn in relation to the ssd thing, did you install windows fresh to your ssd? i've just realized that the stutter at least could be disk thrashing as windows unnecessarily uses the virtual memory for w/e reason.

[ANON86364]

So about a week after launch of Cataclysm, I was pretty excited to be getting my crafted Elementium Stormshield after maxing out Blacksmithing. Much to my disappointment, the shield's graphic does not work. I opened a ticket describing the issue and I was told it is a known problem. I thought to myself maybe it was the fact that I was a Tauren Paladin and something funky just isn't working right yet. So a few weeks go by, no fix, and I decide to go back Blood Elf for Arcane Torrent, however meager the mana return is, it is still useful. Also, I had an inkling/hope that I would be able to see my shield. The deed was done, and I still do not see my shield and another Tuesday has gone by without a fix. With people starting to get all kinds of new Stone Drakes, it is getting to be a little ridiculous seeing the players shrunk and hanging under their belly.

I'm not too frustrated, but just a little disappointed. Even though these are strictly cosmetic, I would still like to see them fixed. Blizzard: I am disappoint.

[Xilo]

http://wow.joystiq.com/2008/08/13/time-warner-cable-customers-experience-world-of-warcraft-trouble/

http://consumerist.com/2008/08/time-warner-cable-responds-to-world-of-warcraft-disconnections.html

If you want to read some more there's a couple long, LONG threads on the forums that people report the same problems, such as here

TW claims it's not their fault (considering it started after traffic shaping i guarantee it is), but since it's ONLY Time Warner users who have the issue it's certainly not Blizzard's fault.

Those are back from 2008... I don't play any more, but when I did, my ping times were generally around <30ms. I'm on TWC as well.

[Stokkolm]

So, i found out why my connection has been so shoddy lately in WoW. It seems that Time Warner has put in Traffic Shaping, which means that during the peak hours (or the times i'll be playing), all bandwidth for video, audio, etc is throttled severely. This effects WoW which leads to a horrible ping, constant lagspikes, and DCs. It makes it so i can pretty much not raid or pvp during peak hours. Does anyone happen to know of a (preferably free) proxy or what not i could use? I was looking at this article but sadly i don't have a computer i could use that's not connected to my ISP.

Check out smoothping.

It's not free, but it helped my connection out a ton when I was in Afghanistan.

[Tharp Daddy]

Those are back from 2008... I don't play any more, but when I did, my ping times were generally around <30ms. I'm on TWC as well.

They have popped up again, quoting a blue post here

"What may or may not have been known here prior to the decision to implement new features with 4.0.0 is kind of irrelevant to the issue at hand. Even if we knew which ISPs may do rate limiting or other QoS measures, the policy map actually used by those ISPs is not public knowledge. As we are not the Customer of Record for either the local ISPs nor their backbone providers, we have no real right to request that data.

The technology being used today was available for any and all to see once we released the 4.0.1 PTR, months ago. At that time, there was no noticeable issue with thresholding, and the local ISPs could clearly see the type of traffic being transmitted via the multitude of clients logged on to our public test realms and beta servers. We would have had no reason to suppose that it seems a few ISPs (and it is definitely just a few, even if some of them may be the larger ones[Time Warner]) would have a policy map in place that would cause drastic issues for some of our valued customers. :(

Just to be clear, our protocol use didn't change, the packet size didn't change, the packet type didn't change, and the port use didn't change. All that seems to have changed was the traffic pattern, and that was enough to evidently make some routers angry. :/"

[treemonster]

try battleping.com

[Tharp Daddy]

We tried a 25 man tonight, we have 7 members who use Time Warner and all 7 of us constantly DC'd, every single fight. So now i know it's definitely not me, it's all TW users who are having issues.

[the evn show]

We're trialing replacements for raiders because people on time warner don't want to come and wipe us.

Someone should explain to applicants that doing worse DPS is fine, getting killed by fires is not.

Also, if you want both of your non-heroic BIS trinkets to drop, grind out tol barad to exalted.

I got one, but felt guilty accepting the second and gave it to a friend.

[treemonster]

Also, if you want both of your non-heroic BIS trinkets to drop, grind out tol barad to exalted.

I got one, but felt guilty accepting the second and gave it to a friend.

i'm not sure i understand this, TB rep affects drop rates or the QM has nice non heroic BIS trinkets and you got 2 trinket drops from raiding?

[the evn show]

i'm not sure i understand this, TB rep affects drop rates or the QM has nice non heroic BIS trinkets and you got 2 trinket drops from raiding?

It's a sarcastic snap at RNG. The boss who drops the best piece of gear for you will only drop it after you've rep grinded/crafted/bought a second-best choice.

In my case I'd been farming TB rep for the stupid +hit trinket. I'm at 20.5k/21k, so I'll hit exalted in an hour when we defend and be able to purchase it.

Tonight we've had every trinket in the game drop including both of my best-in-slot options. Had I known they were going to be available tonight I'd have

never gone to that god-forsaken hell hole.

On the plus side, I sustained > 20k DPS on magmaw, assuming somebody ran a combat log that should be in the top-10 world wide for that boss.

[treemonster]

It's a sarcastic snap at RNG. The boss who drops the best piece of gear for you will only drop it after you've rep grinded/crafted/bought a second-best choice.

In my case I'd been farming TB rep for the stupid +hit trinket. I'm at 20.5k/21k, so I'll hit exalted in an hour when we defend and be able to purchase it.

Tonight we've had every trinket in the game drop including both of my best-in-slot options. Had I known they were going to be available tonight I'd have

never gone to that god-forsaken hell hole.

On the plus side, I sustained > 20k DPS on magmaw, assuming somebody ran a combat log that should be in the top-10 world wide for that boss.

ahh ok lolz. you'd hate aion with it's don't loot trash mobs at certain parts of the dungeon or before looting x mob or doing x kill to increase loot drop rates of golds(like epics) rituals.

they increased drop rates for 2 weeks in dungeons so bosses actually dropped actual loot more often than not and people actually QQed it was too much like wow's so called loot pinata. :laugh:

and gratz on teh killer dps. i need to getinto a 5man and anaylze my dps on bosses. but i need to learn more about speccing and playing fire first, since i'm being told arcane is gimp.

[the evn show]

I'd argue frost is probably the best primary choice for raiding right now. Your DPS is never going to be better than hunters or locks single target right now, and the control over adds that frost offers is very desirable. Trading a AOE DPS for more control is probably a good idea for the 'hard' fights in the game. Single target frost is very strong.

[Slane]

We tried a 25 man tonight, we have 7 members who use Time Warner and all 7 of us constantly DC'd, every single fight. So now i know it's definitely not me, it's all TW users who are having issues.

Not having a single issue (yet). Right above ya in SC.

[Tharp Daddy]

Not having a single issue (yet). Right above ya in SC.

Odd, my GM is in SC and uses Time Warner and he was getting the same thing also. I wonder what is different for some and not others.

[Tharp Daddy]

So, double post (can't edit old one), but i have a 54 hunter, and a 15 mage. Which one should i level? I'm looking for an entertaining class, and one that can do damn well in pvp (and is fun while doing so). It seems like mages would be pretty interesting in PvP, lots of pew pew and control. But I've yet to meet any pvp hunters on my server who i could question about how they play.

[treemonster]

i've only pvped one hunter i didn't face roll so far. but they are being looked at to buff 2/3 specs and nerf the other. i tried a hunter and didn't like it enough by level 5 to continue. but i'm not a huge fan of controlling a pet either(yeah i see the irony of being a forst mage and saying that).

i really enjoy playing frost, even when we are gimp. play style in pvp is partly proactive, partly reactive. we have a nice toolset to work with, and i don't feel like i'm spamming buttons while playing it, compared to say the first 3 or 4 levels of leveling a DK. it's a mix of having fast reflexes with timing when to use your spells well, and learning when to use what spells.

for me even though i am relearnign how to play it, it's just the funnest most interesting class. the biggest downside for me is the mana mangement component blizz seems to think we find fun. but at least healers share our pain on that point now too.

[_neutrino Veteran]

*troll*

I have Time Warner Road Runner and 3 people (including myself) that play Wow daily and never get DC'd or a lat over 150 while playing.

[treemonster]

*troll*

I have Time Warner Road Runner and 3 people (including myself) that play Wow daily and never get DC'd or a lat over 150 while playing.

haha sounds like the wow tech forum on sunday.

[Tharp Daddy]

*troll*

I have Time Warner Road Runner and 3 people (including myself) that play Wow daily and never get DC'd or a lat over 150 while playing.

http://us.battle.net/wow/en/forum/topic/1021053250?page=57 - thread full of people with connection issues, and majority of them are Time Warner.

i've only pvped one hunter i didn't face roll so far. but they are being looked at to buff 2/3 specs and nerf the other. i tried a hunter and didn't like it enough by level 5 to continue. but i'm not a huge fan of controlling a pet either(yeah i see the irony of being a forst mage and saying that).

i really enjoy playing frost, even when we are gimp. play style in pvp is partly proactive, partly reactive. we have a nice toolset to work with, and i don't feel like i'm spamming buttons while playing it, compared to say the first 3 or 4 levels of leveling a DK. it's a mix of having fast reflexes with timing when to use your spells well, and learning when to use what spells.

for me even though i am relearnign how to play it, it's just the funnest most interesting class. the biggest downside for me is the mana mangement component blizz seems to think we find fun. but at least healers share our pain on that point now too.

I find it funny, when i began playing 5 years ago my first class was a hunter and i loved the hell out of controlling a pet. It may have been due to me being younger, but i thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. Now when i try to play warlock or hunter i find the pet more of a nuisance than a help. I think I'll be sticking with mage, considering a pet is pretty much a focus point of the hunter class.