Unless You're The Host, Your Ping Sucks in MW2

If you thought having three bars out of four for your "ping" in Modern Warfare 2 was a good thing, you may want to think again. A member of the Infinity Ward forums has broken down what those bars actually mean for your ping.

[Pandamobile]

Let's see. I used to have an average ping in my favourite dedicated server of about 30 ms. Now you're looking to get 130 if you're lucky it seems. This is why P2P gaming sucks. 130 ms is a HUGE delay.

[WildArmed]

Yeah. I find it hard to play when ping hits above 30++ on instantaction.com or any PC shooter.
Since you cant tell wat the ping is on consoles, it gets annoying. Games with ping near 100 are pretty bad.

[rob6021]

You're pretty screwed if you're connection is over 200ping.. the game is just too fast paced that a high ping will make a huge difference on your kill count, particularly in MW2 where the guys getting 5 kills or more will unbalance the game even further.

[evrfighter]

lol I bet the anti-lag system is back.

IW completely revitalized the ancient technique of kicking high pings.

to console gamers.

Yes that's like bringing disco back.

[Maddens Raiders]

LOL 10/10

[Saaking]

Another point off for MW2.

[Dark General]

You PC guys just keep getting shafted. Didn't they charge $60 for the PC version as well?

[Carbon]

I had major Lag issues yesterday on the console version. I was back and forth between 1 and 3 bars and it was totally unplaable. The other team had no problem kicking my ass. I ended up having to turn my system off several times and it eventually went away after a while.

[St0]

I've had no problem with ping on Modern warfare 2 for PS3, always have full 5 green bars

"IW and Activision are bringing the lag of the Microsoft's Xbox Live P2P online gaming to the PC FOR FREE."

lol good point, if they can use the same p2p on PC and have it for free, why not free on the 360? Just proves M$ don't really need to charge for live, they're just greedy

[RememberThe357]

With everyday another reason not to pick up MW2. What will tomorrow bring?

[2Spock]

While i will agree having a high ping sucks. But i remember owning everyone on Springfield back in the Q2 days with a 300 ping. While i am playing MW2 on the 360 it plays very well for the most part.

[pixelsword]

I have a $5 hold for it at gamestop, but I'm switching it to something else, or getting my cash back, one.

Maybe god of war III or Alan Wake or something.

[thereapersson]

LOL, good point!

[Bubbles_Kitty_Cat]

"Is it just me, or does this game become less and less appealing as the days go buy?"

It's just you and about 40 people on N4G.
The rest of the millions that bought it are having a blast.

But, carry on...

[Shepherd 214]

actually, for the 95% of you that do not play regularly on Xbox Live like i do, COD4 and MW2 do a very good job for P2P servers, i never lagged in them hardly at all unless it was my own bad connection. I never lag in Halo either, the only big game on 360 in which P2P sucks is Gears of War 2, its horrible. 70-80% of your matches you cant even really tell what is going on.

PC MW2 looks much worse than the consoles though. 360 actually does a good job with the COD series in terms of connection.

[vhero]

MW2 p***es me off they sell 7 million copies and have the cheek to make you host your own games! The least they can do it get dedicated servers for at least 6 months.

[TotalPS3Fanboy]

welcome this new Old Age of 56K Dial Up Modem that IW and Activision is brining to the industry.

[LiquifiedArt]

This is my first cod game and im' like "There is DEFINETLY LAG". Its hard to notice at first, but when your in an "I shot first" situation, its totally noticeable.

I'm playing on the ps3 and have noticed my performance fluxuating pretty heavily while running around.

If you play it safe and sit back and hide (waiting for kills) then the lag doesn't really affect the game too much.

BTW. This game totally lends itself really well to camping. For all the hype, I really do think its uncalled for, but I do agree "aiming" in the game is very easy and so I can see the mainstream/pick up and play, appeal to that.

Still a fun game, but to be given a free pass on its flaws isn't fair.

[thereapersson]

That's why people love this game so much -- it's n00b friendly, with an ungodly amount of aim-assist.

[dkgshiz]

Its the PC version.

[cyborg6971]

I think your problem is lack of sunlight, empty carbs, scoliosis from sitting on your moms couch for long periods of time thinking about why your life has become as empty as your grossly exaggerated avatar on your dashboard. That represents the person you once were and have the potential to be if you would just sell your xbox.

[ZBlacktt]

Aw ok, so now the SP mode is the shortest ever. Now the online sucks too? So what is it again about this game that made everyone go crazy to buy it? There was lag issues in COD4 as well. Nothing new here at all. Ever play the map BOG in COD4? Man, that was a trip as it would just flash the whole time, lol. Or you could see lag pings every single game from many player's. So nothing new here at all. Welcome to the world of Hype.

[Foliage]

With the incredible GOTY success that is Uncharted 2 with all the rave reviews, the Western media were quick to pretend like the 360 had something of value to play. They tried to hype Forza, but despite the somewhat high review scores, the game was awful. Most of the players are already on other games, the value just isn't there. So they were desperate, and with a lack of quality exclusives to cling on to, they settled for overhyping a multi-platform game.

Unfortunately COD fell well short of Uncharted 2 in both single and multiplayer.

[ZBlacktt]

Yeah, some of us get it, lol... :D I'm still over here just kicking ass in UC2 online. I will be level 60, lol... I'll hit 49 today. The stats page here list the levels wrong ( says 56 when I'm 48 ) and the stats below are not always up to date. I reported the bug to ND. They are always awesome in there response times. But I know I have over 25,000 kills with my game avg in Co-Op's at 106 a game.

But yeah, leveling up in this range takes FOREVER, lol. Like $700,000 points to 49 and it seems to go up $100,000 per level. So when you get into the 50's. It'll be over $1,000,000 points per level...insane.

http://www.naughtydog.com/s...

Here's my highest kills in a single game on Normal. When I was level 46. The other guy was level 44. Yes, that's 186 kills and 1 death. I went to go try and save him and we both were killed :(.

http://i29.photobucket.com/...

[ZBlacktt]

LOL, 3 disagree on my post of my stats on UC2 online.... Jealous much you 3? Sigh...kids here.

[SolidSystem]

Why were we suppose to be happy about IWnet again? wait, it was suppose to be a better experience than servers?

wait the 360 version is the only one working? IW shows their true colors as a developer.

[poopface1]

IW and Activision have been slacking lately so it doesnt surprise me that they are not providing enough servers to even get PVP working. Thats sad. Its even worse because they took away the PC gamers ability to provide their own servers.

I really like it so far for consoles. 360 didnt have any problems, and most people on live have had 4 or 3 bars since Ive been playing on tuesday. Once they add more servers the PS3 version will be great too, but taking away dedicated servers for PC will always be a stupid move by IW.

[Fishy Fingers]

Well I wouldnt play any game unless I had 3/4 of the bars which would equate to 60ms based on this article. Who would play a game with only one red bar? It's not so much the host advantage against you, more you lagging all over the map.

[SolidSystem]

however he is the server, his computer is the one telling everyone else including you where you really are from what i gather.

so you arnt just moving all over the place. your responses, and what you get back from the server are just delayed, and choppy.

[cyborg6971]

Yea but most of the peeps I play against that have 1red bar are the worst players and can't even get to the top three for kills or points. Maybe that's why they keep playing. Imagine how bad they would be on a lan or with no lag at all.

[Unicron]

Is this for PC or console? I actually find MW2 MORE accurate/responsive on PS3 than MW1.

[SolidSystem]

its the PC version, he mentioned steam in the article.

[SolidSystem]

-_-; how can people disagree with me when he mentions going into your steam folder and changing settings?

[dirthurts]

Are idiots who don't read the article.

[Pandamobile]

The article was aimed at the PC version, but the console versions have the same issues.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

This is the kind of crap console gamers have to go through all the time, I feel sorry for our pc brethren.

Now you guys understand why I started hating IW a year back? Yeah

[SolidSystem]

why a year back?

[mastiffchild]

Think though. All the hype, all thje sales, all OUR money and still we're limited to 18 player matches with skill killing , lag hungry P2P crap.

Can anyone rell me again just why P2P is OK for the biggest MP(or any kind of game) game of the year? It's 2009 people-why are we allowing IW to go bckwards, ruin our experience and THEIR game just for extra profit. where is OUR value? FFS the guys who bought this game have done the beta and QA and payed for the privelege! It's totally unacceptable and no other industry would dare present it's consumes with such wonky goods and outdared rech. Disgrace and worse that we allow it time and again. When we going to grow some valls or teeth and demand some value for money, games that work and the optimum server type for our online gaming? We pay a LOT to be gamers and it's time we began asking that we get some quality in return and not allow IW(or whoever) to pass us off with P2P. It's outdated and only there to cut costs for them-sod the experience gamers det that pay their wages , eh?

Sometimes I wonder about the "gaming community" I really do.

[Time_Is_On_My_Side]

Ping is determined by the host's connection, not so much whether the hardware is capable of smooth internet. So for example if you have a bad connection the number of packets will be lower to everyone else, and usually the more people the worse it can get (when having a bad connection to the internet).

Warhawk is a perfect example of this because each PlayStation 3 can hold their own servers, hence why they have ping numbers before entering a server. Plus it also helps to have a good connection as well or you won't receive information as smoothly, lol.

[ZombieNinjaPanda]

@Solid
I got Call of Duty 4MW a year back, I couldn't play that game for that whole time, it has only started working for me now, so I was raging against Infinity Ward before.

@Booch
Not multiplatform games, and I play a lot of those, however games like Resistance 2, killzone 2 have dedicated servers.

@mastiff, that's exactly how I feel. The biggest game of 2009, made by the best developers in the industry, who also happen to have made GOTY last year, and also made billions of dollars, can't afford to even give dedicated servers?

@Someoneplays
This is truth, yes I know this, however, when it comes to multiplatform games, Console gamers normally get shafted and stuck with P2p connections. Very rarely do companies ever supply dedicated servers for the consoles if they're third party.

Yeah, that was the nice thing about warhawk was that the lag was minimal even with all the crazy things going on.

[2Spock]

Well UC2 does not have dedicated servers.

[Time_Is_On_My_Side]

That's your ping, I always thought that was your signal strenght completely different from ping.

[ballsofsteel]

true. to give an example i just went 68-21 when i was the host then another game where i wasn't host i went 38-23.

[Pennywise]

10/10 - GOTY! lmao. People need to WAKE UP!

[Raoh]

aaaahhh good ole peer to peer network..

true innovation...

don't forget when you partner yourself with microsoft they demand that you cater your network around xbox live.. this is the main reason IW took this road.. and this is what people pay for in LIVE... if your an xbox gamer you should not be complaining as you elected to pay for this service so its in fact exactly what you want.

[2Spock]

Well i haven't never had any problems with live. So i get what i pay for, glad you summed that up for me.

[TitanUp]

well if you have one red bar that means your lagging so badly you can't react to being shot but the person playing could actually be decent if they had better connection to host.

[Rowsdower]

do you mean i've just spent the last few weeks listening to you people b*tch and moan about boycotting the game on PC, and now that you purchased the game anyway fully knowing how much you would hate it, your gonna b*tch and moan about the very things you said would stop you from buying the game in the first place.

at this point I wish you had really boycotted the game.

boring.

[DaTruth]

Are you like the 4*General of MW2 defense force!

Secretary of MW2 defense!

[dillydadally]

Ok, I know I probably have the best situation (xbox 360 in the US with a good Internet connection) but I've noticed a substantial improvement in lag in the game over mw1. I still had horrible lag problems with mw1 even with my connection. No problems at all in mw2. I don't even have to lead someone due to lag like I used to. I've told my other friends with 360's there is normally no lag problems in mw2. Are other 360 US players having these lag issues?

[2Spock]

Plays great for me.

[Kakihara]

Ping? So he's like, an enemy character or something? Those evil North Koreans.

[Rocco Siffredi]

The only version which suck online is the PS3 right now..

360 version online = best experience you can get

[cyborg6971]

That's funny cause I've been playing all of the game types and spec ops with my friends online since tuesday. The invite friend snafu on the ps3 wouldn't be a problem for you rocco cause you have no friends to invite.

[trancefreak]

Amazing!! A person who buys a $199.00 console all of the sudden thinks hes in the big boy club!

[Ninjamonkey]

Ive got the game for the 360 and Ive played a few games online.

No lag issues whatsoever. The game seems to find good matches.

All Ive noticed are great guns, perks, killstreaks and brilliantly made maps.

[JonnyBigBoss]

Shame really, but I don't notice the issue on PS3. I'm having a blast.

[LiquifiedArt]

And its definetly there.

I notice my killing ability fluxuating pretty heavily. If I sit back and camp then there will not be any difference. If you happen to rush around then you'll end up with lots of "But I shot him 10 times in the head WTF!" moments.

It is most definetly true.

The people i talked to say they don't lag, but they just don't percieve the delay. Its clearly there and when your host, you'll have a noticeable advantage.

[Close_Second]

...that 130ms is too slow. Try gaming in NZ where we constantly get connected through to players hosting in the US or Europe and our ping is anything between 200-400ms.

This is why I want to be able to limit my game searches to NZ and Australia. Lag always ruins on-line gaming and MW2 does nothing to address it.

[gtamike123]

owned

[Digitaldude]

Can anyone tell me how the online is like on PS3?
Do they use the same P2P system as COd4? cause i got pretty bad lag on Cod4.
Would it be different on MW2?

[Pandamobile]

It's the same as the COD4 multiplayer.

[Digitaldude]

Ah god, thats a kick in the crotch.
I probably wont even buy it anymore.
I'm having way too much for with Uncahrted 2 anyway.
Bubble for you good sir.

[dillydadally]

Are you sure it's the same as COD4 on PS3? I have it on xbox 360 and there's a substantial improvement in the amount of lag in games over COD4. In COD4, I used to have to lead people not because they were far away but because the host always recorded them slightly ahead of where I was shooting, even if they were 5 feet in front of me. No such problems in COD6. In fact, I've had near perfect gameplay since I started. I'm the type of person to pay really close attention too to lag problems. I have a 360, not a PS3, but I did notice someone earlier in these comments say they had a PS3 and had no lag problems.

Overall, I've been very impressed with the new network code in COD6 and have definitely noticed an improvement over COD4. Obviously the PC version has some issues, but I'm not sure if that's the case on consoles for most people. Would be a good question to post perhaps on IW's forum for PS3 users.

[STRAIGHTASL]

360 ONLINE IS P2P SUCKS!

[Pandamobile]

Every version of MW2 is P2P.

[Thoreau]

the game is lagg'oriffic. some times i put many bullets in a fool but he doesnt go down, only to look at the kill cam and i have not put one shot in....

[NecrumSlavery]

The PS3's XMB invites are faster than LIVE. It's by far a top knotch on PS3 and running faster than Killzone 2 online too.

[trancefreak]

Killzone 2 is so bloody realistic its hard to play other fps games.

[Dead_Cell]

And I've been annihilating Free-For-All all day.

[TheDeadMetalhead]

I wouldn't know the difference. Every game I play lags terribly because my ping's like 250 or something on a GOOD game. @_@

But anyway, IW just keeps screwing us over, nothing new here. Uncharted 2 FTW.

[gen1680]

I've got the game for the PS3 and it runs fast and smooth. I'm pretty happy with it overall.

[Mizz_mai]

i thought they were the same until i bought the 360 version eeeeewwwwww lol