The lag has been down right horrific.
I'm in the southern US, have great Internet (TV rated DSL, average of 45 mbs/sec ) an outstanding gaming rig that before the switch could run PtoM on highest settings including shiny water. The last week it has been up to 15 second delay between click and action/conversation start. I have seen things jump back, then jump forward again. Earlier tonight, before the reset, Creatures in the caves near vallaki just sat there, didn't fight back or do anything. After the reset, in a group in the thoul cave, the lag was so bad that every other creature, and toon actually disapeared from the screen, and only logging out and back in cleared that.
a few things that could be causing it:
#1 Tonight there were 62 players on during the worst of the lag. Last night 66 when it was acting bad to. I know it is spring break here, so maybe once it is over things will get back to normal.
#2 There were 3 AMPC/MPCs on doing their thing in the outskirts- bringing more players into the same areas. (high number of players in 1 area has always = lag)
#3 There have been repeated script error messages on player log-in something about player update- when this message is sent there is usually 5-30 of the messages sent in a row.
#4 There has been several instance of double placeable spawns at the same location. Last night in the crypts under the outskirts- 2 sarcophagus were in each spot they spawn in, and both could be interacted with. Also several herb plants on the same spot, a woundwart, 2 wolftail, and a hawkfeatherfern.
#5 several dungeons do not re-spawn after clearing- the ant mound in particular had only one ant in the entire thing 5 real hours later. The crypts also do not clean up previous kills.
#6, the lag was way worse 2 nights ago during a DM event in Kroftburg. It tends to during most events that have anything spawned in, or loads of people at.
As much as I hate to say it, as I realize how unpopular the topic has been in the past- but if 60+ players on at peak times is the new normal for Ptom- then maybe it is time to start thinking about splitting the server into 2, server vault connected servers, where Barovia is one, and the rest of the countries of Ravenloft is the other. The only reason i suggest this is if there is a port 30 player dm event going on, then why do the 30 players in Barovia need to get lagged out while it is happening? The answer is they don't. There are several other servers up now that have split servers with loads of players. It can be done and still maintain the popularity, and usual running excellence that PtoM always has maintained.