Peer-to-peer gameplay and latency kills this game.

[Matiati]

When I look at the game's system requirements it only tells that the game requires a broadband internet connection. This is misleading. And there is no indication about the quality or the technology of that broadband connection.

Since this is a peer-to-peer game, the game also must specify a geographical region (or a sweet spot) at which you can have a good gameplay experience.

The problem is latency and it is everything in this game. And independent of player experience latency is the main factor which decides who wins duels or who wins matches. There is no meaning in playing ranked matches or joining tournaments if you cannot guarantee a below 50 ms (or similar) latency.

After a few months of playing and testing I can confirm this.

The peer-to-peer multiplayer matches are unfair to those people who live in geographical regions where the game has a small player base. That is because the game most likely picks the player computer which minimizes the peer-to-peer latency between all connecting players. This is actually an unfair selection.

Let me give an example. Consider that in a match 3 players connect from England and 1 player from France. The game will always pick a machine in England as the server since it minimizes the peer-to-peer latency of 3 players.

So if 10000 players actively play from England (at some hour of the day) and at the same time only 1000 players connect from France. Also let us assume that only English and the French play this game at that time... then in majority of the matches the French guys will be disadvantaged.

This is quite significant. And you'll observe that you can almost never parry light attacks. The gap on your side between the attack indicator (the red marker) and the attack it self will be too short. And your timely response will be delayed due to latency. To give an example:

Lets assume a 4 player dominion match with 3 player from England and 1 from French. English Player 2's machine is selected as the server and the English Player 1 initiates a light attack the French player's character. The following will most probably occur.

1. English Player 1 initiates light attack.
2. English Player 1 has 50 ms latency and it takes 50 ms for the light attack message to travel to the English Player 2's computer (who is the server).
3. English Player 2's computer forwards this message to the French Player's computer and initiates the light attack.
4. French player has 150 ms latency as he is the furthest away. It takes 150 ms for the light attack message to be received by the French player's client.
5. French player receives the message and hence the red indicator appears on his screen.
6. Lets assume that the French player realizes the incoming light attack and reacts to it in 150 ms time. Anything below 150 ms is super human and average human reaction time is around 270 ms btw. The French player realizes and reacts to the incoming light attack with a parry in this time.
7. It takes another 150 ms latency for the parry message to travel to the English Player 2's computer.
8. A total of 450 ms time had passed since the initiation of the light attack (from the server's perspective). But the light attack of the English Player 1's hero had an attack time of 400 ms. So the server decides that the French player could not parry the attack (although the French player responded to it at almost super human response time).

Hence the french player gets punished because of his latency and no matter what he does he cannot parry lights.

The issue of course does not effect only light attacks but almost any attack.

This issue also makes some classes unplayable. For instance Highlander's crushing counters will no longer work. Orochi's deflect combo's will no longer work. Highlander's offsensive mode switches will be delayed and his chains will be unusable.

Also heavy attacks that you feint will not be feinted due to latency. Any attack cancels will not work.

And many many other issues.

[BigJ]

Let's see how you deal with pk lights on a server lolololo (For real)

[UbiJurassic]

Dedicated servers are being implemented, as well as a lag compensation to deal with potential latency issues. There's no final release date just yet, but we'll likely be sharing more information on them soon with players.