This is interesting. A question based on page behavior related to this- How would this function (or dysfunction) relate to - When I click a hyperlink and its going to freeze up, it does so immediately, not like a typical laggy page where you can "see the wheels turning" so to speak, and with perfmon open, communication STOPS at the click instantly and always at the same 2 points in the page load. blank white, solid teal with no additional data, then a complete page at each successive stop/reload. there doesn't seem to be any tieout or time for a timeout to have occured. This might suggest an overfull queue or something. It's not like it's still trying. It stops abruptly at the link click.
I can also say, the likelihood of a FORUM page doing this seems unrelated to volume of traffic. 4AM Pacific US time is just as likely as peak hours to do this. I can't say the same for the similar occurrance of blank pagelaod on [My Account] page, but reloading there did fix the error the same way.
Interesting is if you see those numbers being shown on the bottom of the forum when you are logged in but we don't. Have you looked at the forum while not logged in? The only thing I see on https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php that is related is: Forum Statistics Discussions:125,802Messages:1,793,323Latest Member:Bobthebard13
Now I will say, based on the Discussions: 125,802 Messages: 1,793,323 that people running searches must use a lot of server resources having to search all those messages. If it is older forum software they might not have search optimized. However, when I do a search, I don't get hundreds of thousands of results, but a maximum of 60. I'm not sure how search works, though, so I'm just guessing at this point. But it is a lot of messages for a forum to handle.
I know what we could do... We could upgrade to the forum software SOE used to use before we upgraded to this!
Next time it happens I can get some timestamps. I can also run to my computer and run some network traces and dns queries (I usually check the forums from my tablet in the evenings nowadays). Maybe the browser devtools can shed some light, too. Now that I've said this, I expect to have appeased the gods and we will never see this problem again. You're welcome!
I too notice the forums.. lurching at times. Its generally the cause of 99% of my double posts. (hit post, it times out, hit it again, both go through) I've noticed it both from work and at home. Out of curiosity I ran my old DKP site through that, looks like I have a couple things to fix too if I ever start playing again, and land in a guild that wants to use it. (if your curious https://gtmetrix.com/reports/dimentionx.com/hWYDBVLE (Hosted in my house on a DL360 G7, 100mbps cable connection)) As for the search, it returns the top 60, but on the 3rd page you can load another 60, etc. I believe its just a limit on the query results as most people are searching for more recent posts.
eh, I fixed the image caching since that was just turning on the module ;P https://gtmetrix.com/reports/dimentionx.com/nde9xrZ6 I hope they can tweak their setup a bit too, should reduce the server load which I'm guessing is the heart of the issue (forums get busy, VM their running on hits its resource limits, forums lag)
I see it more often when entering a thread (either the main link or a page number), not the forum index or individual forums. The thread does not have to be big, even a new empty one does it. I think people get used to the issue and just accept it so you don't hear as much complaining.
They're especially hot garbage today. Like unregulated, free for all, landfill in the muggy south during the middle of July hot garbage.
Forget the website, just fix the actual game. Long zoning times and lag are starting to become the norm instead of a rare occasion. I understand this is an old game with a low population and not much money can be spent on it, but it's getting ridiculous. You basically have an extremely loyal population of players that have been playing this game for a decade or two that will continue forking over money for years, and the only thing I see that could possibly drive a lot of them away is constant poorly functioning servers.
I just had an epiphany. DPG is, in reality, just looking out for an aging player base. Let me explain. As many people age the need to make more frequent trips to a bathroom becomes apparent. I think, and this now seems obvious to me, that DPG is inducing excess lag to give players more time for trips to take care of a basic human need. Thus it is, in fact, a feature, not a bug. On the other hand, it could be a plot to help study just how far on-line game players can be pushed before they feel compelled to start melting tar and plucking feathers. As always, YMMV.
A hidden expansion feature!! Very nice! That is excellent customer service. Now please induce more lag so I can have time to shower, shave, and brush my teeth while zoning. Oh wait, I already do.