I’ve met a couple of players in the Dark Zone that use a VPN and I’ve never really understood the point
Lately though, I’ve been thinking about trying it out for myself because I run into lots of latency issues in the Dark Zone. My connection is solid and my ping sits around 20-30ms, but when lots of players are together, my character keeps getting ‘stuck’ while running. Also in gunfights, sometimes I’ll move out of the way of shots when I’m nearly dead and continue to receive damage anyway as if the other player can still see me for a moment. Literally I’ll be behind a full wall of cover starting to pop an armor kit, and the other player will still kill me as if I’m still in their line of sight (no bleed or Plague of the Outcasts, just straight bullet damage)
Would a VPN connecting me closer to the game server actually help with these issues?
Thanks,
People will manipulate the connection to use it to their advantage. It’s been happening on PC for a long time. You ever wonder why all the really good players you play against are all laggy as fuck?
Some use it to create a lagswitch.
A lagswitch allows them project their movement erratically and it benefits certain builds, and with all the chicken dancing, it will usually work because it messes up with hitreg.
It’s used a lot in Conflict. There’s a player in Xbox that’s fucking garbage who uses it with a regen build and his only goal is to annoy your team and distract you while his actual non bot teammates get the job done.
Well… the second time and last time I went I to the dark zone I was booted offline so I guess there’s the protective aspect of a VPN, unfortunately I cannot afford one nor do I know how to set it up so I just have to deal with it.
A VPN always means more work and more work always means that it takes longer. No matter what.
VPNs CANNOT give you quicker or faster connections to the gameserver. There are a few REALLY RARE edge cases where this COULD be the case, but they are REALLY RARE.
Maybe they are from other region?
VPNs are misleading with improving latency.
It will lower your ping number that the game shows. However, your latency is actually increased.
Two reasons - easily getting into servers for other regions, and protecting your IP. Turning the VOIP off is one way to protect yourself and this is another. If you rub people up the wrong way as often as I did then that can get you some retaliation outside of the game.
Man I wish I knew what y’all were talking about
So it’s not as simple as being virtually closer to the game’s server? I can’t be the only one in the DZ having the stuttery running when it’s crowded, but I never understood why that happens on a strong connection. I’m in the UK and as far as I know a lot of the game’s servers are in other European countries. I wondered if that’s the reason for my issues as a lot of the players I meet are from other European countries
I haven’t ever heard of anyone “lag switching” in any game in over 10 years until people accusing me of lag switching in division. I really don’t think it’s something people are actually doing, or at the very least in much smaller numbers than people will claim.
What actually is going on is the games natural lag even when both players have solid connections in the best possible conditions is very poor. As someone who’s done a fair amount of speedruns with people, you will often come up to a door or switch, etc, and on your screen your well ahead of them, but their pov has them well clear of you.
The reality is in pvp the community is small enough that there is no regional matchmaking, and the game will pair you with people from all over the world. If you in the US are paired with someone in Asia or Germany and both of you have the best possible internet connections, you will see a large amount of lag regardless of your connections. It becomes the same thing as coming to a door at the same time I spoke about above. If you see them start shooting you the exact time your shooting them from your pov, the reality is they likely got the drop on you, and vice versa.
Totally different game, but this is a very good example of what I’m talking about happening in division. The same principle applies.
Think I know who you’re taking about. Didn’t know he was on a vpn. No wonder he’s so hard to kill
That’s my thinking. I can’t visualize how a VPN closer to the game’s server makes any difference because the connection to your local network still has to make those hops. So many people talk about ‘Gaming VPNs’ that I wondered if I’m missing something or if it’s just another overly marketed scam
So it’s not as simple as being virtually closer to the game’s server?
No. your latency is the amount of time from you to the server. VPN will make that longer since it’s routing through the VPN server to the game server rather than directly to the game server.
VPN is normally used to get in to servers you normally wouldn’t be able to based on your location.
I have the same issue. I’m pushing 160 FPS, but get a lot of stuttering when really laggy players come in to the server. It’s mostly players VPNing from other regions. I’ll have a ping of 20-30ms and they’ll have 100+.
Same issues with them. They’ll take magazines of bullets with minimal damage. I’ll die 3 feet around the corner of a building. The netcode in this game is hot garbage.
I’ve played thousands of hours of Dark Zone PVP. Someone in my clan downloaded some kind of software which allowed him to throttle connections of anyone using VOIP. I’m pretty trash at PVP but I knew a lot of the PVP community on PC a while back. Don’t really play any more. It’s definitely a thing, but as you said not as widespread and people claim.
Of course he is, you can clearly see how often he stutters and how he has huge movement spikes.
That’s why he plays those shitbuilds, so he can annoy the fuck out of you. I once DM’d him “Copycat are you so shit at the game that you need to lagswitch or do you use a VPN because you play in a diff region?” And he sent me a monkey emoji and blocked me.
Make of that what you will.
Yeah it’s a scam. Don’t worry, you’re not missing out on something. The thing with these VPNs is that you cannot circumvent physics and that’s what they’re selling to people.
