None of this ones to be honest... they are very specific, I have concerns about the store but not that it's p2w, the main concern is that they end up cutting to much content to put it in the store, also I have concerns about some mechanics not making it to the game... and not added later. As a personal note, regional servers will be positive for me, I'm used to play with a latency of 20-60 ms, I don't think I'm going to enjoy playing with 150 ms...
Spare a thought for those who will have (at minimum) 200ping and that is the best case scenario (east coast australian on a west coast US server) for someone in Aus trying to play on a US server. It's more or less the primary reason why I haven't grabbed a founders pack yet, I'm unsure as to how enjoyable the game will be if I'm not being defeated by skill but because I happen to not live in the states. Latency is a very big factor in any online shooter and it may result in whether or not people will pick up the game up and stick with it. I'd rather 3 semi-giant servers; US, EU and Aus/SEA and deal with slightly smaller populations than run the risk of hemorrhaging players because they feel the game is unfair due to bias towards those with lower pings.
number 3 is actually incorrect, as multiple people have just drove up there for whatever reason and been given a grand tour of the place and been allowed to play the game simply "because". So I'm sure a couple people on this board have played the game.
How though? It is still going to take time for my data to get from Aus to the US and then on to whatever player im currently fighting. The only way I can imagine it working is that everyone works with a lag compensation delay, which is going to be rather large if it is 1 universal server.
This all day. I enjoy Space Marine's versus and co-op modes significantly more on the rare occasions I'm playing with people from the same continent I'm on. Getting wrecked in pvp because of latency shenanigans gets irritating, and even the AOE stuns short of the overhead hammer stun fail to land in co-op mode with latency differences. I'd rather harbor distrust and cynicism for a new/experimental technology like that than set foot on the road called disappointment. The way it works sounds good on paper but the true test is retail launch day and the following thirty days as the bulk of the free to play folks hop in for a look. There will be problems even on tried and true typical server structure, so who knows what's going to happen with something this new. Hopefully the intervening time between now and retail release will allow the Pikko technology to prove itself in other games that will be released in the meantime.
Thats actually exactly how they plan to do it, with lag compensation. Basically they will mask the lag under packages that get sent being more tightly packed. Patrick went in great detail about this, browsing his posting history will yield you the explanation as to how he plans to tackle the issue.
Technically the entire system will have a certain amount of latency. Still you won't have more than anyone else because a "Pikkoserver" is multiple server clusters communicating with one another and nothing stops one of these from being in Australia. That said I, too, am skeptical about the plan to have these servers compensate it and the game itself to simulate latency. Hence why I also want regional servers.
Ok fair enough, I found the post and subsequent discussion. As long as they keep the compensation around 250ms I can see it being workable for those not in the states, I am however afraid of the 'I was shot around the corner' threads that'l come after release because of it, though that is another problem and one I'm willing to tolerate if it means I can have a fair fight. For those wondering and for reference, it starts about here \/ EDIT: Check out the above quote and the following discussion. It explains a little on how the pikko server is set up. I would prefer regional servers as well but if they are intent on 1 universal I'm glad they are giving the nonUS players a chance.
