Latest patch (server merge day) rendered my hit registration to about 50%

As per topic title, the very latest patch that came with the server merges, has messed up hit registration something terrible for me.

I am a shotgun user - I use the "Nova" shotgun as a Vanu. I have around 13,000 (thirteen thousand) kills with it. I'm very, VERY used to it. I know how it works. I know what it takes to kill somebody. I know how to aim. I'm as familiar with the way it works and how it "feels" as anyone can be.

Since this latest patch though, roughly half of my shots are doing no damage. Where I am used to a perfect 2-3 shot combo killing somebody, I can now spend 8-9 shots and be lucky to get a kill before they kill me - with the red "hit marker" cursor only appearing for perhaps half of the shots I fire (even if I'm within 10 metres range aiming into somebody stood still).

I notice in the patch notes, two lines;
- Client stability improvements
- Server optimizations

I suspect the "Server optimizations" has done something to the netcode/hit registration/packets that send hit data and ROYALLY screwed them up.

I've never had this problem before in three months of very active play. But this is now unplayable for me.

I tried last night - and perservered for a few hours. I tried today for about an hour.

But I just feel like I've been rendered useless. It's not fun.

Also note: I'm on "Cobalt" server (which LithCorp merged into).

Hey Azzer, you are absolutely right, i noticed it Two.

I'm having this same issue as well. I've had multiple fights this morning where either A, zero hits register (sometimes standing on top of the person shooting them with a shotgun...impossible to miss) and B, I've had a few instances where I get the jump on someone, kill them, get the pop up for the kill, then suddenly end up taking a barrage of fire from that person as if there is some SERIOUS delay.

Just seems the more people they put on a server the more hit registration and lag issues pop up lol..............who cares about a busy server if you have constant hit registry issues............

we have had this hit reg issues on Briggs for weeks, ive heard that they are working on the netcode and have a fix planned to help some of these issues

The reply's kind of to both of you - do you think it's the problem people have always been having anyway, and it's related to the OVERALL server population (rather than just how busy the local area your character is in)?

Cobalt server was always fairly low pop. I'd been able to play in horribly busy area with hundreds and hundreds (you know, the sort of zergs you get at TI Alloys, Crossroads, Crown - central areas of Indar), and quieter times on Esamir, and never had the hit registration issues before.

Cobalt server population has now effectively doubled, BUT this happened at the same time as a patch which specifically mentioned "server optimizations".

So I can't tell if this hit-registration problem I am now suddenly encountering (and never had before), is simply because the server has so many peopl eonline that it can't handle all the incoming packets of data from clients telling it they hit an enemy (and it's just ignoring/dropping packets it receives from clients)... or if it's because of these new "server optimizations" (which may be related to the handling of incoming net-data from clients).

I do know that hit DETECTION is done CLIENT side - but hit REGISTRATION (actually doing something with that hit and applying damage to the necessary target) is done SERVER side.

I give in. I tried playing for a couple more hours this afternoon. I tried playing both on Esamir, and on Amerish.

The hit detection, the being shot after running around corners, the dying to somebody you killed 4 seconds ago, it's just unplayable.

I tried to play the day of the merge, I tried yesterday (daytime, nighttime, and even at about 4-5 AM), and a few times today. I've made sure my connection has absolutely nothing running, my ping is 19 to the server with no packetloss, nothing fixes it.

I'm now not going to be logging onto the game until I see a fix for this, which is a shame, I'm BR 68 and was looking forward to hitting the lovely #69.

These things have been happening since GU02, but it does seem worse since the merger. Yesterday, I put a full Orion mag into a stationary, uncloaked infiltrator ~5 meters away, ran out of ammo and when he finally got his SMG reloaded as I was switching to pistol, he killed me and had only lost a few bars off his shield. He was kinda napping at a control point (like one does, lol), and I literally could not miss.

I have no idea what the patch has done! Besides vehicles bouncing 10 meters in the air, players warping all over the map, hit detection has gone to hell. Grenades do not explode etc.

Azzer you aint alone man!

Interesting about the "over all" server population increase contributing to the problem. I played on Jaeger up until they merged us with Waterson, I never saw this on Jaeger at all. Now it is unplayable, I get in at WG, deploy somewhere or drive / fly in and get a few kills then it goes to craap.

Since the issue as stated by some has been around on other servers since GU2, are those heavier populated servers? So the bugs been around but not all of us had the joy of seeing it cuz we played on med/low pop servers?

I'm just spinning my wheels here....

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/index.php?threads/happened-to-the-old-semi-auto-shotguns.99970/

Seems relevant. They have seemingly altered the way the shotguns spread/fire occurs. Presumably to sell the pump shotguns. Might be a question of getting used to it again perhaps or might be a question of a blatant nerf. I expect the latter.

Certainly does affect me as a shotgun user - but I can handle recoil etc. just fine, used the Nova for a couple of months - so seen it with all sorts of recoil settings applied.

But no, what I am posting about really is hit registration. I can stand behind an enemy running away from me, be mere feet away, and unload shot after shot into his back, with only a handful actually hitting.

I tested with a pistol, and with a basic assault rifle gun (don't know the name, I'm not really an AR user) and found the same.

Earlier on I placed two C4 on a base turret somebody was in, detonated - no explosion, nothing. The guy got out of the turret, I shotgunned him full to the face several times - nothing. I then got killed by him, and as the death screen appeared, the turret he was in blew up and I got a base turret kill notification.

The game just feels awful now

It's more than hit registration. It's affecting movement and other aspects as well. I was killed by a guy who was in front of me shooting the opposite direction from me. I was talking over proximity chat with two allies at a control point, one of them I could hit with my SMG the other one I couldn't hit at all, even though my bullets were showing the splash damage animation(VS). It's a de-sync of your character with the server issue, not a pure hit registration issue.

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps2/...-recoil-post-server-merge.99639/#post-1324093

It's not the recoil. Jesus christ if anyone could confuse whether their bullets were doing any damage or not, with how much recoil their gun had, then they'd have to be blind I can see where the bullets are going!

(also note what I said in a followup post about other things - it is definitely hit registration, and sync issues in general)

There are customer service people on the board at the moment but they're staying away from the synch issue threads - what gives??

Seen a couple of replies here or there now, but they seem to be asking for patience and "more information".

So I think they are struggling to find the cause.

*sigh*

I've now had to give up playing Planetside 2, after playing almost addictively for 3 months, because it's just unplayable/no-fun at all now since the last patch & server merges Maybe I should take it as a good thing

Agreed Azzer.

I'm not running off just yet but....

After reading about the issue and then experiencing it myself just after the March 1st patch. It appears they may be unable to address it since some players have had the issue since the early february patch.

Bumping this up again - I have just tried to play tonight, after the latest game update and hotfixes, and this is STILL HAPPENING.

I shoot three times at somebody, the first two shots do NOTHING even at point blank range directly on them, the third hits, they kill me in that time.

I don't understand. I NEVER had this problem for months of play - the game was flawless.

Server merge day hit with a patch mentioning "server optimizations", and from then on right up until this day - hit detection is out of the window for me - the instant the patch hit.

I've noticed this when using my LMG for my NC heavy assault its so annoying because the person should be dead but they kill you instead.