I wouldn't be able to contribute in the near future (things are going as expected with my business, but I can't spare anything for entertainment at the moment). So if it comes down to pay for play I'd end up sitting it out for awhile until things pick up.
But on to the server issue...
I didn't realize noaxark's server was in Europe! We're talking about 160mS latencies here, which is significant in internet terms. Notably the multiplay game server company Dave linked to above is, at least for their web server, located in europe as well.
I don't mean any disrespect to our European friends, but given that the bulk of us are in the US, it would seem to make sense to bring up a US server if we're going to switch.
It may well be, depending on how poorly notch coded the network API, that the extra 70mS each way across the atlantic is the major source of our problems.
If I have some time, I'll set up my computer today to host a server (quad core i7 which is currently lightly loaded) and let's see if we can do some testing to find out whether the issue is the computer or the internet connection. I'd hate to move to a paid server if all we needed to do was get a different network connection or beefier computer.
Actually, I test drove several of the servers on multiplay (like Cruel City and a couple others) and found it to be virtually latency free.
Much of what I've observed on Ragnar is clearly processing backlog, though there is some obvious latency issues as well. It's been a constant given that as I dig out a row of stone, the stones reappear behind me one by one as I go... and then about the time I hit the end of the row, they all suddenly vanish and drop the cobblestone items for pickup. Then everything behaves well for a few seconds... and then the cycle repeats.
The blocks "reappearing" is the client assuming that since it hasn't heard back from the server about the item drop from the destroyed block, it assumes the block was not destroyed and draws it back in on your client. Then, the server finally gets around to processing the broken block requests, and they all arrive in a rush.
That the "lag" goes away for a few hours after a reboot and then steadily and progressively gets worse is another indication that the problem here is processing, not network latency.
---------- Post added at 12:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:10 PM ----------
Here, take these guys for a test drive and see what you think:
Server Name IP
ort Last Activity
Cruel City (AKA Crueldog's Place) 69.65.40.13:26765 -16 second ago
City of New Haven 85.236.101.5:26465 12 seconds ago
---------- Post added at 12:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:12 PM ----------
I'm all for testing a beefier machine for free, though.