Desync and why it's fixable

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Fire_Kid wrote:

Wait but what happens in party play? Wouldn't that create even more problems because the monster AI is on your client, but then can't it also be different on everyone else's client?

Well it's the same AI on every client (and if someone hacks it on their client, the only thing they'll get is a lot more desync). But what you mean is player positions would be (slightly) different on different clients, because Player B is a full ping behind on Player A's client and vice versa; it's the same AI given different inputs and thus yielding different results.

And yes, that is a problem.

In terms of monster movement, the current system makes monsters desync a lot when you interact with them, but much less when other players interact; the system I'm proposing would make monsters desync a lot when other players interact with them, but much less when you do. To put it another way: if you're a ranged kiting character and you're partying with a melee tank, what will probably happen is that almost all of the tank's desync will be transferred over to you. I wouldn't say the situation here is necessarily worse, and for some playstyles it may be better, but overall I wouldn't call it an improvement or a downgrade; it's a transference.

In terms of monster skill use (such as attacks), my suggestion opens up new possibilities in terms of desync going bad. Not knowing where Brutus is actually standing is bad; I'll admit that seeing that he's attacking your party member, when he is actually be attacking you (if you're nearby) is even worse.

However, there are steps available to alleviate this issue. Here are two examples (there may be more, hitherto undiscovered):

• While keeping each individual client in charge of its own monster AI, have the server designate targets. For example, the server might not be telling Brutus what to do, but it will be telling him to go after Player A, at the exclusion of other targets. When the server wishes to switch targets, it could send a timestamped message to all clients indicating the switch, including the server's current estimation of their latency. The server would continue on the old target for a brief time after sending the message (likely 400 milliseconds); the clients would use the timestamp to apply the target switching an even briefer delay (400 milliseconds minus latency, immediately in the case of >200ms latency) after the server began the command, thus remaining about a half ping ahead. This would ensure that all clients agree on which player-sided entity the monster is pursuing/attacking, and any kind of hack to provide a fake latency would do nothing but make the hacker desync worse.
• The failsafe option: The game could simply suspend player-sided AI in the case of multiplayer. This would mean that multiplayer desync wouldn't be any different than it is now, but singleplayer would be improved.

One thing to consider is that, due to the fact that minor desyncs could still occur in singleplayer under my suggestion (because latency fluctuates — desync would not be caused by high or low latency, but by fluctuating latency), the server-designates-target plan might still be a good idea even in singleplayer situations. For example, it might be upsetting to find that a monster was actually attacking you when, on the client, it appeared to be attacking one of your zombies. Desync as a whole would occur radically less often, but that doesn't mean we want it to be even worse when it does occur.

I hope the above shows that I'm not blindly hopeful in my suggestions, but instead much more grounded.

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Temper wrote:

I'm pretty sure GGG made it clear that desync will be a permanent feature of POE.

This is kind of like saying diseases will always exist. Desync is a problem all online games have to deal with, and eradicating it completely is indeed a pipe dream; that doesn't mean there aren't very real measures we can take to minimize the effects of desync, ensure a more "healthy" populace, and in general marginalize it to such an extent that the average person doesn't really need to worry about it anymore.

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Temper wrote:

I'm pretty sure GGG made it clear that desync will be a permanent feature of POE.

I don't think GGG ever called it a "feature." At the very least, I doubt it's something they see as a good thing -- instead, as a price for added security.

GGG will never fix this shit, they dont care

I can desync for hours in poe, its disgusting

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mvm199 wrote:

I can desync for hours in poe, its disgusting

Are you sure you didn't fall asleep at your keyboard? =D

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syrioforel wrote:

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mvm199 wrote:

I can desync for hours in poe, its disgusting

Are you sure you didn't fall asleep at your keyboard? =D

hahahahahaha stop it you are too funny

Yes im sure, desync in poe sucks more than in any other game

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mvm199 wrote:

Yes im sure, desync in poe sucks more than in any other game

Unlikely.

More than any other game with a Metacritic score above 80? Yeah, that sounds a lot more believable.

It's not that the level of desync in PoE is beyond anything we've seen before, it's that it's just so odd to see it juxtaposed with a game which is so great in other aspects.

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

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mvm199 wrote:

Yes im sure, desync in poe sucks more than in any other game

Unlikely.

More than any other game with a Metacritic score above 80? Yeah, that sounds a lot more believable.

It's not that the level of desync in PoE is beyond anything we've seen before, it's that it's just so odd to see it juxtaposed with a game which is so great in other aspects.

Hmmm ... let me think about that ....

No man, you got it wrong

its just much much worse than any other game I played.

Now please repeat what you just said again, while I look for my carecup :P

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ScrotieMcB wrote:

It's not that the level of desync in PoE is beyond anything we've seen before, it's that it's just so odd to see it juxtaposed with a game which is so great in other aspects.

Hah! I'm sure people wouldn't care about desync nearly as much if PoE wasn't such a great game otherwise.

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mvm199 wrote:

Hmmm ... let me think about that ....

No man, you got it wrong

its just much much worse than any other game I played.

Now please repeat what you just said again, while I look for my carecup :P

You can't prove him wrong, because you can't prove he's played any other games.

Checkmate.