Servers and Latency

 Do you remember why you chose the server you play on as your home base? In all honesty it has been over six years so the exact reasons for me are pretty fuzzy. I think the platewearer and I chose Eldre'Thalas because of the ones that were available to us at the time it shared our time zone. Or so we thought.  Recently we have been experiencing some crippling latency whenever we attempt to play, especially during peek hours.

Normally when something like this happens you go through the check list.

1. Is there anything running in the background on my PC?
2. Is my hardware having any issues? (Check network card, router, modem, etc.)
3. Is my server having issues?

But these were all coming up fine.

Another common issue people then look at is their service provider. We happen to use AT&T. Since World of Warcraft uses AT&T data centers as their hosts we should have awesome speeds. What could be the issue then?

So we decided to dig a little deeper and discover exactly where our server was located, then trace the connection to see what could possibly be going on between here and there. Low and behold our server was NOT located in the East Coast as we had thought but in Los Angeles, California, WAY across the country. Well THAT might have something to do with it. Sure enough when we log into a server out of New York our connection was SINGING....

So that leaves us with a bit of a delema. If we are on a closer server our latency issues disappear, but HOME is Eldre'Thalas. If it were just the two of us to consider, the faster connection speeds would be the deciding factor, but we have the guild as well. When you have 100+ depending on you, and you have been leading said gang of misfits for almost six years, to just walk away...Add to that the cost of a server transfer, because lets face it, the thought of abandoning Daraia at this point is unthinkable to me. The decision is not so cut and dried.

If you are having latency issues and none of the previously mentioned items seem to fix it check into where your server is located because in 2010 several of them in the US were moved. Then check your connection, places like Speedtest.net can give you a concrete answer as to wither or not your connection is the issue. We were also able to find some help on Wow Interface. (Sorry we only looked at PC stuff not Mac.)

At this point I am just gritting my teeth and bearing with it. Hopefully things will improve in the near future. If not, if Eldre'Thalas is once again offered free server transfers we may be seriously considering a guild relocation.