For Honor's "No Player Will Have an Advantage" Networking Disaster | Forums

[Firedr8ke]

"The way we designed our peer-to-peer online architecture will allow us to provide a smooth and reliable online experience to all players when the game launches."

Well, today I have officially had the most absurd, unbelievable, anti-consumerist middle finger directed at me by Ubisoft. During a little Dominion matchmaking, I ran into arguably my worst experience in my multiplayer career (and I've played on CoD servers). Here's what happened:

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AopHEXtqVPXedBXyN3zXjePc8c0

Let me preface this by saying that I'm not full of spite or bitter anger for Ubisoft. They've had some shaky releases over the years, but I've had nothing but massive respect and love for this new and unique IP. I've been hooked since I saw the very first teaser and I even actively participated in the closed and open beta. I absolutely adore this game; it's such a nice spin on generic multiplayer games as of late. The singular fact that it chooses its "unique P2P networking" instead of utilizing dedicated servers, however, is rapidly killing this franchise already.

The NUMBER ONE complaint that every critic and player of this game has involves something about connectivity issues. The gameplay is solid, the balance is relatively decent, the campaign was a pleasant addition (depending who you ask), but the servers alone practically ruin all of this. For Honor has been the most bittersweet gaming purchase I have ever made. The reason why the lack of dedicated servers bothers me so much is because I actually care about this game above most other multiplayer titles. If I felt that this could just be shrugged off, I wouldn't have bothered uploading a clip and posting a forum thread; I would've just accepted the fact that a company tried to save a couple dollars at the expense of stable servers and moved on with my life.

My point here is that I don't like how this game is on thin ice merely a month out of release. The first week alone had over 100k players on Xbox playing, but I've yet to see that number get anywhere near what it once was since then. Players simply hate getting disconnected match after match. Nobody revels at the prospect of in-game lag. Not a single gamer wants to be extra cautious in fights due to the fear of being cheated by the game's servers. For a massive company like Ubisoft, who was entirely willing to provide dedicated servers for R6 Seige, using peer-to-peer connectivity is simply unacceptable. Even if there was hesitation on how much success this new IP would face, it doesn't take a descendant of Einstein to realize that P2P connection in a game with a focus on competitive multiplayer is not only a terrible idea, but an idea capable of killing the new installment within a year. I hate that this is even a possibility that For Honor faces, but I fail to see how this game will sustain a fanbase, and a competitive one at that, if connectivity is still problematic given the technological capabilities as of 2017.

I desperately want this game to succeed. I haven't been as excited for a game like this in a long time, but I think the most heartbreaking aspect of this situation is that the key element for a sustainable game is available, it just hasn't been implemented. Peer-to-peer was acceptable for Halo 3 and Modern Warfare 2 when it was practically the only sound choice for multiplayer titles at the time. Now, we are in a new era of gaming; let's make the games actually feel that way, right?

[S7Heavens]

Good writing. I think Devs should read on this and this is how gamer feel about this game. They simply love what they love and you simply destroying them.

[Sinthaster]

Replying in this thread in hopes to boost the possibility that devs see it. You put a lot of time into that comment and video upload. You speak for EVERYBODY when we say we hate the connectivity issues.

I have wanted a game like this since I was 5. That's 2 decades of waiting. It's finally here and almost everything about it is all I could have wanted, but these servers...

I have now unsuccessfully attempted to play 3 dominion matches in a row. Due to rage quits or disconnects on either my team or the enemy team the match has ended every. single. time.

I want to play this game for years. I want to see this franchise get 30 sequels and play it so much I get PTSD, but with the inability to actually play I just don't know if that future is a reality. Here's to hoping, gentlemen.

[Xedrios]

"The way we designed our peer-to-peer online architecture will allow us to provide a smooth and reliable online experience to all players when the game launches."

Well, today I have officially had the most absurd, unbelievable, anti-consumerist middle finger directed at me by Ubisoft. During a little Dominion matchmaking, I ran into arguably my worst experience in my multiplayer career (and I've played on CoD servers). Here's what happened:

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AopHEXtqVPXedBXyN3zXjePc8c0

Let me preface this by saying that I'm not full of spite or bitter anger for Ubisoft. They've had some shaky releases over the years, but I've had nothing but massive respect and love for this new and unique IP. I've been hooked since I saw the very first teaser and I even actively participated in the closed and open beta. I absolutely adore this game; it's such a nice spin on generic multiplayer games as of late. The singular fact that it chooses its "unique P2P networking" instead of utilizing dedicated servers, however, is rapidly killing this franchise already.

The NUMBER ONE complaint that every critic and player of this game has involves something about connectivity issues. The gameplay is solid, the balance is relatively decent, the campaign was a pleasant addition (depending who you ask), but the servers alone practically ruin all of this. For Honor has been the most bittersweet gaming purchase I have ever made. The reason why the lack of dedicated servers bothers me so much is because I actually care about this game above most other multiplayer titles. If I felt that this could just be shrugged off, I wouldn't have bothered uploading a clip and posting a forum thread; I would've just accepted the fact that a company tried to save a couple dollars at the expense of stable servers and moved on with my life.

My point here is that I don't like how this game is on thin ice merely a month out of release. The first week alone had over 100k players on Xbox playing, but I've yet to see that number get anywhere near what it once was since then. Players simply hate getting disconnected match after match. Nobody revels at the prospect of in-game lag. Not a single gamer wants to be extra cautious in fights due to the fear of being cheated by the game's servers. For a massive company like Ubisoft, who was entirely willing to provide dedicated servers for R6 Seige, using peer-to-peer connectivity is simply unacceptable. Even if there was hesitation on how much success this new IP would face, it doesn't take a descendant of Einstein to realize that P2P connection in a game with a focus on competitive multiplayer is not only a terrible idea, but an idea capable of killing the new installment within a year. I hate that this is even a possibility that For Honor faces, but I fail to see how this game will sustain a fanbase, and a competitive one at that, if connectivity is still problematic given the technological capabilities as of 2017.

I desperately want this game to succeed. I haven't been as excited for a game like this in a long time, but I think the most heartbreaking aspect of this situation is that the key element for a sustainable game is available, it just hasn't been implemented. Peer-to-peer was acceptable for Halo 3 and Modern Warfare 2 when it was practically the only sound choice for multiplayer titles at the time. Now, we are in a new era of gaming; let's make the games actually feel that way, right?

I Watched that video and all i gotta say is,yup! That happens a lot for me and a couple of my buddies. Yes i really do hope they read this forum post or at least acknowledge it. But i have my doubts.

[SethUnleashed]

its interesting how some players seem to have those sorts of things happen often (IF they arent just over-reacting) while others (like me) hardly ever see stuff like that.

i had ONE teleporting player in a 2v2 brawl since launch (i still won as he wasnt lag-switching, he just had a bad connection or a download running in the background).

i have been dropped out of maybe 3-5 dominion matches since release, and i have spent most of my time playing dominion (and those matches were actually PvAI).

i hope that they still improve their system to make it more stable in general but im not sure switching to ded.servers would be so much better in terms of responsiveness etc.

[Ezcendant]

its interesting how some players seem to have those sorts of things happen often (IF they arent just over-reacting) while others (like me) hardly ever see stuff like that.

i had ONE teleporting player in a 2v2 brawl since launch (i still won as he wasnt lag-switching, he just had a bad connection or a download running in the background).

i have been dropped out of maybe 3-5 dominion matches since release, and i have spent most of my time playing dominion (and those matches were actually PvAI).

i hope that they still improve their system to make it more stable in general but im not sure switching to ded.servers would be so much better in terms of responsiveness etc.

I've had one teleporter in the last week or two, was really bad the first week but it seems to have cleared up. I get booted from one in 6 or so dominion games, almost never in brawls or duel though, and I think that's where the community friction is coming from. It's largely a 4v4 issue.

That "execute NOPE NM!" bug is frequent though. Maybe one in 4 games I'll see it. Rarely as bad as in the OP though, usually it just flashes and I don't even get time to click.

[SethUnleashed]

I've had one teleporter in the last week or two, was really bad the first week but it seems to have cleared up. I get booted from one in 6 or so dominion games, almost never in brawls or duel though, and I think that's where the community friction is coming from. It's largely a 4v4 issue.

That "execute NOPE NM!" bug is frequent though. Maybe one in 4 games I'll see it. Rarely as bad as in the OP though, usually it just flashes and I don't even get time to click.

that execution thing i only had once but due to the executed player rage-quitting, so the resync set us back a few seconds and i had to do the last hit again against the bot that replaced him. (so not the same scenario either)

[GREW50ME]

I don't care what the MCSE and other network nerds say on paper. In practice, host advantage is real....

[Xakonero]

I agree in all the points. I didnt bought the game, even though i reaaaally like the game: I just played the Closed and Open Beta. In the same way my friends.

Great game, but the conections problems kill it, just see the steam reviews, or just the dropped in the player base in steam, half in less than a month. The worst part is, the game is pretty good, but expensive (The game inclusive have in-game sell of steel, in a 60€ game thats not acceptable), and of course, the lack of dedicated servers. Ubisoft doesnt seem to be trying too much for save the game...

[Winneh]

Its these little wtf moments most of the time, not just as massive as the clip shows.
* Like beeing guard broken mid shield bash,
* dodging a top heavy visual successfully but eating full dmg,
* beeing guard briken a split second before a heavy hits (not during startup)
etc

Its the little things that makes the gameplay feel very weird.
The less players you have in a game, the less problems or wtf moments you get.