I think a massively unanswered question on everyone’s mind, especially when playing competitive ARENA, is how did he survive or why didn’t he die? Like insert phrases like “X is eating”, and “Y is laggy etc.” but what is the whole science and theory behind latent shot registration? The bottom line is ping. You see, ping is the estimated duration of time (or latency) that approximates how long it takes for data to be sent from a players “node” to a designated server and then back from that server to them (ie Point A to Point B to Point A); so in theory, you would assume that a lower ping is better for competitive gaming and a player’s response/reaction time, as it would allow their commands to be registered faster than someone with a higher ping… or so I thought too?! General consensus and the rule of thumb with ping is, “the larger the displacement to the server from a node (player) the higher the travel time and thus latency/ping” so the above theory hypothetically would hold up warranting a viable solution to solving latent, or no shot registration, via player’s getting better ISP (Internet Service Providers) that offer minimal packet loss, higher download/upload speeds, optic cable networks for faster response times etc. for better performance… however I can surely say that something is awry with the science?!
Take for example players connecting to servers outside of their respective regions, how would one rectify fairness? Population or equality? The current algorithm for server selection uses the “population” philosophy where the lobby is “region-selective” and will use a majority rules prioritization to pick a server based off those parameters, where obviously one or more players would have a disadvantage if they weren’t in the same region as the server, as they would clearly be connecting to a server that is a far greater displacement than other players in the lobby, ultimately giving them a higher ping/latency rating and thus latent shot registration; this type of latency is to be expected (ie 2 EU/ANZ players and 6 NA players in a lobby, the server will be hosted in NA)… and so again the theory of “lower ping is better” holds up…but what happens when you get latent shot registration in localized servers or with players you know are from you region indefinitely?
Lets now discuss “balanced/focused” (or even custom) lobbies where most, if not all players are from your respective region? What dictates shot latency now, shouldn’t the connection be quite clean and have minimal issues as you are connecting to a localized server? I can vouch that players with higher pings actually somehow have the edge, as they seem to sustain more damage (ie eat additional shots) thus surviving longer and winning more fights, which is opposite to the rule, shouldn’t the consideration be the other way around where the lowest ping should win the fights as they basically would be commands ahead of the other latent players?!
Also another theory about latency is team or “carry-latency” where if a player from your region has occupants from another in their team, they gain a slight shot resistance? Where it almost seems as though the connections between players are peer2peer than transferred to dedicated, where each player in a team connects to each other and a “host” is selected who then subjugates the connection to the server?
Just a very interesting theorized view on what causes latency, ping and the ongoing debate and experience of shot registration in Halo 5: Guardians. Would appreciate if you shared this and hopefully 343 Industries could shed some light onto what exactly is causing the discrepancies in the laws of latency of “lower ping is better”.
