Couple of questions...

[geskava]

I'm a new player, and on the whole I'd say this game's one of the most interesting and fun I've ever played. However, I have some questions.

First, does anyone else successfully play SoR on dialup? I don't expect completely lag-free gameplay, but my experiences have been pretty pathetic. I can rarely kill a monster without the connection trouble icon popping up and disappearing three or four times a second. I can't count the number of times I've died because a Gingo or Ragus walked up and chomped on me while I was lagged beyond all reason. I know dialup's a bad connection, but I've played many other MMOs with it and never had this kind of problem. The only other option in this area is satellite, and it's not worth the 100$ a month and spotty reception (believe me, I used it for over a year). I could deal with somewhat laggy gameplay, but SoR often freezes up completely, leaving that connection lost image sitting there until I force the application to quit. I then have to sit through another five minute load just to get back into the game...it's tiresome.

Also, is there any way to re-distribute skill points? When I got my Fighting skill to 20 and branched off to concentrate on melee, I saw that I'd spent points on skills that turned out to be nearly useless. Sure, I can forgive a few wasted points (at least I get something out of it -- more stanzas I may use for entirely new actions later), but it would be nice if there were some way to undo this. Is there? In a way the system seems very flexible, allowing the player to specialize in whatever he sees fit...but in a way it's incredibly inflexible, leading uninformed players into a Diablo II-esque maze of wasted stat points and skills he'll never use. Is the solution simply to read guides and talk to other players to find out what's good and what isn't so good?

Any help is much appreciated.

[akicks]

Originally Posted by geskava

I'm a new player, and on the whole I'd say this game's one of the most interesting and fun I've ever played. However, I have some questions.

First, does anyone else successfully play SoR on dialup? I don't expect completely lag-free gameplay, but my experiences have been pretty pathetic. I can rarely kill a monster without the connection trouble icon popping up and disappearing three or four times a second. I can't count the number of times I've died because a Gingo or Ragus walked up and chomped on me while I was lagged beyond all reason. I know dialup's a bad connection, but I've played many other MMOs with it and never had this kind of problem. The only other option in this area is satellite, and it's not worth the 100$ a month and spotty reception (believe me, I used it for over a year). I could deal with somewhat laggy gameplay, but SoR often freezes up completely, leaving that connection lost image sitting there until I force the application to quit. I then have to sit through another five minute load just to get back into the game...it's tiresome.

Also, is there any way to re-distribute skill points? When I got my Fighting skill to 20 and branched off to concentrate on melee, I saw that I'd spent points on skills that turned out to be nearly useless. Sure, I can forgive a few wasted points (at least I get something out of it -- more stanzas I may use for entirely new actions later), but it would be nice if there were some way to undo this. Is there? In a way the system seems very flexible, allowing the player to specialize in whatever he sees fit...but in a way it's incredibly inflexible, leading uninformed players into a Diablo II-esque maze of wasted stat points and skills he'll never use. Is the solution simply to read guides and talk to other players to find out what's good and what isn't so good?

Any help is much appreciated.

About the lag: There are a lot of things that can cause it. Although I'm not on dial-up and havn't been for years so I don't know the exact issues that could be affecting your connection.

About skill points: A few mistakes early on doesn't matter. As you play the game you will get to a point where you have too many skill points and nothing to buy. Hopefully when your lag problems are sorted out you'll enjoy this game and be able to get to this point

[d29565]

Actually, I play the game on dial-up and the lag isn't that bad. I recommend not surfing the net while playing or running any major programs in the background. It is also helpful to turn down you landscape graphics (U) because they are not necessary. Most lag I recieve when teleporting or in a big city like Yrkanis, Fairhaven, Zora, or Pyr. But, normally when playing -normally- a lot of lag is something I do not experience. Only when there are a lot of people gathered in one spot do I really have to be wary. Hope this helps some.

[rushin]

yeps turning down landscape and character far clip should really help with lowering ur bandwidth needs, and avoid Zora like the plague

[katriell]

I know someone who's on 56k and always outruns me (I have cable).

Anyway, welcome.

[acridiel]

Originally Posted by katriell

I know someone who's on 56k and always outruns me (I have cable).

Anyway, welcome.

Same here. But I may have a sollution. Cable (DSL) depends hugely on your distance to the next distribution point. And the Ping you get from it.
If you´re nearer to that Points location your Ping-time will be excellent, like 10-40ms, if you´re like me about a kilometer away (I think thats about half a mile), than you get Pings from 100 - 200.
A Dial-up Connection hasn´t normaly got these problems, but still distance can make a great difference to you connetion stability. And so does the makeup of the Telephonecable used.
If you´re in a big City, you can accurately belive that the Phone-Cables are in good repair and modern.
If you´re in a more rural area, then you can almost bet the Cables aren´t that good anymore...
You may have played other MMO´s sucessfully but, have you considered that the "US" Server actually is somewhere in Paris, if I´m not mistaken?

Acridiel of Leanon