Slow computers and MMO-Etiquette

SlavidZee

SlavidZee

New Member
Hey all,
Last night, I joined a PUG bound fro Sunken Temple with a 60 Mage in command. We all started out from IF and took her portal to SW to fly out from there. However, with the slide-show like framerates I experienced once I got to SW, and lag spikes at Blasted Lands, I showed up probably 30-45 minutes behind everyone, and my party leader was none-too pleased, threatening to replace me.
Now, I felt bad that I was taking so long, but I was trying my darnedest to get there, not stopping to "take care of" anything else. The problem is that I think I have 256Megs of RAM, and when the cities are crowded, my computer spends a while cacheing all the myriad textures and whatnot around me. So... Would you advise that if I find myself in a similar situation again in terms of lag and poor performance, that I voluntarily boot myself off the team?

PS: I know, the solution is to buy more RAM. It's cheap and all that, but I'm just that poor. maybe I should un-subscribe for 2 months to invest in RAM...
 
Do you have all video settings set to minimum?

Certainly investing money to fix the problem would work, but WoW can be tweaked to some extent that it should never take you 30 minutes to get out of Stormwind.

MMO Etiqutte? Not sure if there really is a truly such a beast. The inheirent anonymity allows people to behave as they wish.

If I was the group leader what happened would not have bothered me, as I personally have an understanding of how some peoples computers may not run WoW well, and I would have waited patiently, perhaps even starting to pre-clear.

With a pug, it is a gamble, you will encounter a wide range of personalities, or even alter-egos of players hiding behind their characters.

In this guild there are many, many people with extensive computer knowledge, so if you want help on that end I would start by running this program -

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

to profile your computer and post it, if you don't know the details yourself. Once that is done, there are probably many free avenues to help improve your WoW experience. Also posting a copy of your config.wtf file in the WoW WTF folder would help to see what your settings are for WoW.

As for people in WoW, it is one of the main reasons I sought out a guild such as the Forgiven after I disbanded my own guild. I have a bias of only grouping with people I know. I know that finding guild groups can take longer than finding a pug to go (as strnage as that is) but I have always waited patiently until the opportunity availed itself. :)

-Connor
 
In my (totally personal) opinion, you should warn the group before y'all get started that you have lag issues. If they're OK w/ it, then fine, go have a ball. Also, perhaps you should be outside the city before joining up w/ pugs. Leave before they do so you can meet them at the instance.

Just my 2 cents. Keep the change.
 
The only problem with that, Samage, is if you use the LFG and General channels to find groups. Very few people are going to advertise in Swamp of Sorrows for a ST PUG.
 
Connor's advice is very sound:)

Tweak your settings as Connor has suggested to maximize your WoW experience to the best of your computer's ability.

Stop grouping with pugs and post events in Gem for us in the guild to sign up for and help you out with. If you are not able to download Gem because of your computer's performance, then post stuff on the boards here you want to do, with date/time/place, and we can post it in Gem for you:)

Tinie/Angie
 
Thanks for the helpful comments, guys. I definitely feel blessed to have this community. I regards to my settings, they're pretty low rez-low texture and low-effects. I do think that I will let people know if I'm having lag problems on that particular day before joining PuGs.
In regards to posting on 7F, I had originally tried a couple of times to get ST done via GEM and these forums last month, but I was never on early enough. On Saturday, there really weren't people on who were my level, so I thought I'd be opportunistic. The group was actually pretty good except for the cranky party leader, and I got Morphaz and Jammal'An done.
However, I, like you, would love to do more things just with guildies, with Teamspeak on. It definitely makes questing in WoW infinately more enjoyable. Hopefully, this summer, I'll be able to play at times when more of you are on.
 
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