TEST SERVER: Shae Vizla server feedback thread

[Del_Bergerac]

Thanks for setting up the Shae Vizla test server. I've played on that server daily from 4-9 April 2023, creating a new Republic Trooper and a new Sith Inquisitor, and going through the starter planets until I reached the faction fleets. In addition to answering the questions posed, I've included more comments below.

• Compared to an existing server, how is the performance? Gameplay itself was slightly better overall, but logging in, connecting, and loading performance seemed the same. (I'm normally on the Satele Shan server. I'm aware that SWTOR had many more servers in the past, including one in or near Australia.)
• Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened? No. Everything was the same or better.
• What region/country do you reside in? Australia (west coast).
• Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla. Satele Shan usually has a 280-360 ms latency for me, though it can vary from 260-480 ms, sometimes with serious lag spikes. Shae Vizla has typically been around 60 ms latency for me, though varying from 55-70 ms, and has been very stable and consistent. I have noticed a few lag spikes, but nowhere near as bad as with the Satele Shan server.
• Is grouped content working properly? Not tested. I'm primarily a solo PVE player.
• How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted? Not tested. I'm not a PVPer, and I only complete flashpoints rarely due to the amount of time commitment that they take.
• Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered? No. Everything was the same or better.
• Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality? I don't know if this is related to the test server or not, but all of my characters (on both servers) seem to have had their map filters reset. I may have missed some announcement, but otherwise I'm guessing there was some system change (whether intentional or inadvertent) made at the same time as the test server opened up. Apart from that, everything has seemed the same (on both servers).
• Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics? No.

Additional comments:

• On starting the two new characters on the test server, I immediately noticed that the Republic character was running at normal speed, but the Imperial character seemed to be running at a slower speed. (Still running, but perceptibly slower than the Republic character.) I asked if other players had experienced the same thing, and it looked like some had and some hadn't. To check on this, I created several more Imperial characters on the test server, and they all seemed to run at normal speed.
• There were basically three groups of people on the test server, that I noticed: (1) Australian and other Asia-Pacific players swooning over the vastly improved responsiveness of the game when played on the test server, and hoping that an Asia-Pacific server would be reinstated permanently; (2) non-Asia-Pacific players who had terrible responsiveness from the test server and mostly seemed appalled at the level of performance; and (3) non-Asia-Pacific players who, surprisingly (to me), were experiencing reasonable responsiveness from the test server. Even reading through all the feedback here, it seems clear that, overall, Australian players connecting to USA servers generally experience poorer responsiveness than USA players connecting to the Australian test server. I guess there must be some technical issue from the Australian side.
• If I were starting SWTOR as a brand new Australian player today, and if Shae Vizla were a permanent server, there's no doubt I would be choosing that server. Is the improved performance enough to make me switch if Shae Vizla became a permanent server? No. I'm very happily in a great Satele Shan guild and the times that I've joined in group content with my guild, it's been feasible, though not ideal (due to the lag). If I were an avid PVPer, on the other hand, that might have made a difference.

Thanks again for the work that's gone into the Shae Vizla test server and all of the community engagement involved. I never thought I would live to see the day SWTOR was available (again) on an Australian server, even if it is just a test server for a limited time.

[MNBullsEyeBen]

So far, no issues connection wise. I my game loads faster than on Satele Shan. 

My only issue is getting group content to pop. I have been waiting for about 20-30 minutes and still nothing for everything in group finder

[Lagunstar]

I logged into the Shea Vizla server on Friday, April 7.  Had no issue creating a character.  Had no real issues with the game play. It ran just fine.

 

• Compared to an existing server, how is the performance? I could see no difference between the servers. I received the same ping rates and FPS.
• Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened? No. Everything was the same or better.
• What region/country do you reside in? USA east coast
• Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla. I checked the rates while I was on the SV server and my wife was on the regular server.  We went to the same locations on Tython where we build my new character.  There were no real differences between the two servers.
• Is grouped content working properly? Yes. was grouped up the whole time playing.  Going into Quest instances was fine between my and the group.
• How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted? It took some time to get into both, but I am sure that was just a result of population of server at the times.  They went in flawlessly when the queue ended for both.
• Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered? No. Everything was the same or better.
• Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality? I saw no differences with the UI.  
• Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics? No.

Additional comments:

[ReformingSaint]

Compared to an existing server, how is the performance? I have gotten lag spikes here and there.

Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened? Haven’t explored any of the planets

What region/country do you reside in? Near Texas, USA

Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla. Ping 191-256

Is grouped content working properly? Getting to a flashpoint is a not happening.  I have gotten into a Arenas and Galactic starfighter quickly

How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted? Arenas and Galactic Starfighter was quick and easy.  No glitches

Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered? Flew to about 5 planets and there was no real issue besides the occasional lag

Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality? No ability to randomize pets or mounts

Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics? Nothing wrong with the cinematics

[Ajbone]

Compared to an existing server, how is the performance?

1. Far better than on the US servers as I am located in Australia and we have been missing our old ping rates from the AUS servers 10 years ago.
Getting 20-50ms is a dream that I didn't think would happen again. Thank you Bioware.

- Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened?
1. Upon loading screens in some Flash Points feel SLIGHTLY slower than on existing US servers. Again, may have been one of occurrence.
Everything else has pretty flawless other than existing issues on live servers.

What region/country do you reside in?
1. WA, Australia.

Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla.
1. I play on SS and I usually get 280-400ping in normal areas (leveling planets etc) that can spike when opening up certain pages (CS)
2. On Shae Vizla I had a stable 54ms most of the time, occasionally scaling up to 94ms down to 50ms. Regardless, A huge improvement.

Is grouped content working properly?
1. Yes, I queued for and completed a WZ, a GSF and a FP.

- How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted?
1. I have noticed many US players testing the servers so US time was still important to population size on the test server, so some queues did take some time, the longest was GSF (15min), WZ popped within a few minutes (3 min) and FP a little bit longer (10min). Overall longer than on the live servers. I expect that to change as the server goes live and people invest their legacy into in.

Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered?
1. I had no issue.

Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality?
1. I had no issue.

Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics?
1. I had no issue.

Note.
I just wanted to say this is overall a good move which I support and would likely become my main server as an Australian player,
I also expect any New Zealand or surrounding island players would join us and we might even see English speaking Indonesian and Singapore players get better performance on this server too.

I do worry about the queue times and the economy long term and a solution might
be to link this server with a US one so we can share population when in comes to FP, GSF, WZ/Arena and the GTN while also having
much better performance on the fleet and on the planets. Perhaps a priority system for server based players and then it expands
to the wider US pool might work best.

[Ajbone]

I notice many US players complaining about the ping, now you know what it's like for Aussie and Kiwi players connecting to SS and SF.

[SilverWolven]

Normally, My main Server is Star Forge and my Character name is SilverWolven. On the test server of Shae Visla, my character's name was Silver WarWolf here are my answers to my time on Shae Visla testing and I put the same answers on the forums for F2P/preferred. 

We want to see if there is anything that would keep a player from experiencing their regular routine and normal play. Examples of what we would like players to keep in mind:

• Compared to an existing server, how is the performance? : a lot more smooth, the last 2 times I tried to get onto the PTS when they opened testing I couldn't even login. this one I did with no issues. 
• Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened?: not that I could see 
• What region/country do you reside in?: USA/ East Coast, Virginia
• Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla. : there was no difference that I could tell. I could not find where to look to find it. 
• Is grouped content working properly? seemed to work fine for me. 
• How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted?: GSF, warzones, and flashpoints I got into quickly, Arenas took a bit longer.
• Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered?: It does not seem to be
• Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality? : does not seem to be 
• Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics?: does not seem to be. 

  On the subject of :  

We will also be granting an Opal Vultpilla Mount on the next patch release for players who complete the following: 

• Log into the new server : Done
• Complete an Arena or Warzone PvP match : I completed both a Warzone and an Arena PVP match 
• Complete a GSF match : I completed a GSF match
• Complete a Flashpoint : I completed a Flashpoint 

If need be, I can provide screenshots of me completing all required items to complete as listed above. Each time I completed one, I took a picture of the completion screenshot on my phone. 

         

[SRTViperGTS]

had a great time in this server and i cannot wait till it goes live permanently

i did notice that the character perks page in the legacy tab near achievements did not allow you to purchase anything at all

 yeah all in all great experience and love the connection to the server as i live in aus so having an asia pacific server is great thanks

[DragonkillerHSV]

it was really great to be getting pings like it used to be when i first started playing on the old Apac server.

from Melbourne Australia ping levels where great I had as low as 14 and for the most part didn't go over 45, so much better than the usual 230+ i am used to on  Satelle Shan server.

i started a new toon at first then realised i could bring one of my other toons over.

had a lot of fun with both as they were so responsive.

was able to go to other planets with no worries, did a FP a warzone and a GSF.

FP popped very quickly as did PVP match, GSF took quite a long time to pop.

only glitches i found was one of the NPC on Ord Mantell a LT Xorem was not showing but the convo sign was still above him.

had to go in a group and then join convo.

was unable to unlock any of the legacy advancement which was a bit annoying.

overall absolutely loved the new server was a lot of fun

[TsunamiJuri]

I live in Australia and the ping was amazing, the server was really great, I made a new character and played though Korriban and some of the story on Dromund Kaas I also did all the content for the mount and had no issues, tho I got into the flashpoint just as they where finishing, does that still count? But as an Australian I loved the server and everyone in chat was saying how good it was too. I didn't use any quick travel as it cost money now which I'm not happy about, but every thing worked really well

[JackieKo]

On 4/6/2023 at 10:54 PM, TrixxieTriss said:

Hi Jackie,

Can you let the team know the latest patch didn’t fix the missing floor situation on the fleet. I still can’t go there on any character on the PTS or even normal servers 😞

Ok, I bit the bullet & did a clean reinstall. Fleet floor is now working. Must have been a corrupted file. 

Hi Trixxie, 

The team is working on a possible fix for this which would enable the repair button for not just yourself but all players. They are working to have this done this week. Thanks for your patience. 

[Tralyia]

Latency is the best I have seen in a long time currently 5.5 normally see 50.0 plus. Game is smooth with copied characters as well as new. Only thing I have found so far is in Legacy. Copied characters came over with a 50 legacy but when I try to buy the character perks for the new characters it wont let me buy them. Not a big problem now but it would be nice.

[JonDePlume]

Compared to an existing server, how is the performance? When logging into the server there is a period of about 30 seconds where movement keys will not work on keyboard, nor auto-run I have tied to mouse key.

 

What region/country do you reside in? West Coast United States.

 

Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla. Average 100 ms slower.

 

Is grouped content working properly? Bug still exists where conversation wheel will not remember entry and you have to spam click until all party members finish conversations, looking at you Black Talon.

[TrixxieTriss]

1 hour ago, Tralyia said:

Latency is the best I have seen in a long time currently 5.5 normally see 50.0 plus. Game is smooth with copied characters as well as new. Only thing I have found so far is in Legacy. Copied characters came over with a 50 legacy but when I try to buy the character perks for the new characters it wont let me buy them. Not a big problem now but it would be nice.

For the legacy issue, did you give your transferred character a legacy name after the transfer? If you don’t do that, you can’t access the legacy perks. 

[Esra]

Hi All - tested with multiple characters - but completed the 4 requested criteria with 2 (a level 40 & a level 80).

Compared to an existing server, how is the performance?
Performance was amazingly fast - much faster than connecting to the US and European servers.

Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened?
As it is a local server the performance in all areas was better.

What region/country do you reside in?
Australia (Melbourne)

Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla.  
Shae Vizla is 18ms.
Tulak Hord is 288ms.
The Leviathan is 282ms.
Satele Shan is 230ms.
Darth Malgus is 244ms.
Star Forge is 227ms.

Is grouped content working properly?
The aspects that I was able to get into were fine.

How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted?
Once the matches spawned it was no trouble getting into them.

Spawning of matches was somewhat haphazard.

My level 80 character had no trouble getting into GSF matches. These spawned within minutes and performance was great.
I was finaly able to spawn an Arena match after several play sessions - and it was over an hour wait from queuing to spawning.

My level 40 character had the opposite issue. A warzone spawned within 20 minutes of her first session.
After several sessions she was able to spawn & play GSF within 15 minutes of queueing.

The flashpoints spawned almost instantly and worked as expected.

Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered?
Not that I experienced.

Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality?
Not that I could tell.

Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics?
Not that I could tell.

Character features in combat worked as expected.
Conquest objectives worked as expected.
Crafting & Crew missions worked as expected.
Reputation gain and Crew Influence was normal.
Travel to Strongholds, ship travel, Map travel etc all fine.
I even managed to sell something on the Global Market successfully.

The only issues I had were getting into GSF with the lower level character - and into Warrzone/Arena's for the higher level character.

 

[Furagumento_o]

Hi Everybody!!

This is my first time posting on the forum posting and such so bear with me.

Q: Compared to an existing server, how is the performance?

A: I have to say that the server performed really well, honestly a lot better than I expected.

Q: Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened?

A: Not that I could tell.

Q: What region/country do you reside in?

A: I live in Australia (Melbourne).

Q: Is grouped content working properly?

A: I joined a GSF match and that worked really well as did the Warzone match.

Q: How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted?

A: For matches it took about 5 minutes to get into a match but there was no other problems with that. As for Flashpoints I found it to be lightning quick.

Q: Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered?

A: Travel wasn't hindered at all, it was fast to load.

Q: Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality?

A: I did find that some of the icons such as the divider for the utility bars up in the top right and bottom left of the screen would vanish as did the icon for switching from PVE to PVP.

Q: Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics?

A: There was no problem at all with the cinematics.

Just briefly I did notice that when I was previewing an item my character got a bit glitchy like pixelated only in small spots so no huge drama or anything just wanted to let you know. It only happened once though so maybe it's just me IDK 🤔

BTW I couldn't believe how good the ping was for the Shae Vizla Server!!! 😲

I'm really used to dealing with pings between 260ms to 30,800ms so I can't describe how happy I was to have the server playing so smoothly! Thank you so much, you guy's made my day!! 🥲😭🥳

I hope everyone has an awesome rest of the day/night!! 👋

[eabevella]

12 hours ago, JackieKo said:

Hi Trixxie, 

The team is working on a possible fix for this which would enable the repair button for not just yourself but all players. They are working to have this done this week. Thanks for your patience. 

How about the invisible rocks/floor in Eternal Vault?

Why is this not even on the known issue list?

Regarding the test server:

• Compared to an existing server, how is the performance?
  Shae: 150-190ms
  SF and SS: 230-280ms
  EU servers (Malgus and the French one): 280-300ms and occasionally ~500ms lag spike
• Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened?
  no
• What region/country do you reside in?
  Taiwan
• Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla.
  listed above
• Is grouped content working properly?
  yes
• How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted?
  20sec or so, pretty much the same as on SF and SS
• Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered?
  no
• Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality?
  no
• Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics?
  didn't notice

[LIGHTNINGJAMMER]

So, due to total fault of my own, I am almost a week late starting the test server as I was trying to line up the daily rewards with the days of the week.  I could had been playing someplace.  Anyways.  with the test server, there has been lots of time the game seems to lag compared to regular servers.  I have not been playing any of the regular servers at this time because I want to maximize my test server time and it is really the first time I have played on it.  I am going to try and go through your questions but may not really have answers for them all because I don't play with surveys in mind.

 

• Compared to an existing server, how is the performance?  As stated before, the performance at times will lag.  I really notice this when transitioning into new areas.  Sometimes when starting a fight (PVE) there is a great deal of lag, in which I keep clicking as though everything is fine, so I do manage to live through but I can tell not knowing my status makes a difference.
• Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened?  I started a character on Hutta and just heading to Empire's Space Station to do the first flashpoint and then on to the Capitol World.  
• What region/country do you reside in?  I am located in the US in the Center.
• Is grouped content working properly?  I have gotten where I avoid group play.  Please do not send an assassin or shadow after me.  LOL
• How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted?  The transition within the Flashpoint takes great pauses, between different scenes and play.
• Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered?  So far travel from place to place is fine.  I have bought and traveled to a Stronghold with no issues.
• Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality?  I noticed that the order of play has changed, but the biggest change I have seen is that skills seems to be adding automatically.  I am not sure if this is due to it being the test server or not, but first time on a test server so...
• Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics?  Visuals and Sounds appear to be normal.

[Lord_Janosch]

I played on the PTS two times, did PVP, GSF and Black Talon, everythings two times on two different days.

• Compared to an existing server, how is the performance? Performance is generally similar to live servers but the ping is much higher, so have have some lags
• Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened? No
• What region/country do you reside in? Germany
• Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla. Tulak Hord around 32 ms, PTS around 320 ms
• Is grouped content working properly? Yes, everything seems fine. In GSF there was some lag so enemy ships "jumping a bit around". But I guess this was due to high ping numbers.
• How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted? Once I accepted loading into the game mode was similar to live servers, around 20 secs.
• Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered? Didn't travel away from fleet so can't say something about this. Fleet taxi worked normal.
• Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality? None that I recognised
• Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics? None. Cinematics in Black Talon worked normally for me.

 

Looking forward to my Mount

[Henyk]

• What region/country do you reside in?     Ukraine
• Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla. Darth Malgus around 47 ms, Shae Vizla in range 340 ms solo content to 480 group content

[Myshais]

Hi I've been playing on the test server since the 4th or 5th wanting to see the difference with the cloud use.  I log in with STEAM an am in eastern canada, the server ping is over 200 usually.  biggest hassle I'm having  there is a lag as I'm running that's causing a pause, then, there is the elevators not running,  considering they are usually vital to the story line it's a biggy!  I have to back out and close steam and restart. A couple times I've been jerked back 100 feet or so to fight the npc's  gsf went smooth, it was hard to report on the pvp as 1 guy logged in on the other side and we 3 just killed him and got the points.  did the black talon a few times for the flashpoint  it was normal.

[tehvoh]

• Compared to an existing server, how is the performance? I normally play on Star Forge, most things worked about the same as the normal server. it did take galactic starfighting like 2 1/2 hours to pop, but that was likely due to low population.
• Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened? all of the tasks i did seemed to be fine
• What region/country do you reside in? USA star forge normally
• Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla. ping on shae vizla 200ish ping on star forge is normally 40-50
• Is grouped content working properly? flashpoint seemed fine, arena seemed fine and starfighter seemed fine
• How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted? all 3 of these activities took like 30-60 mins to pop, but once got the pop the events started fast
• Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered? After i downloaded the PTS client the game didn't launch and gave me an error 5. restarted downloader and it downloaded a few more GB of data then told me I had the wrong client version.  another subsequent restart did however work fine.  it took 30-60 mins to get a pop for flashpoint arena and starfighter but that was probably due to low population
• Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality?this all seemed fine to me
• Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics?this all seemed fine to me

[Zorion]

I havent tested all aspects of the game yes, nor do I think I will with the current ping being the issue.

I play from Norway, my lowest recorded ping is 320.
I will often have it get close to 400, but just shy of it at 397.

is the game playable in the storymode, yes, is it enjoyable - No, not at all.
The lack of snappiness isnt really fun.

To put it this way if this is a way for you to cut down on cost etc, I can get that from your perspective, but on the other would I keep a subscription if this is the service I would get  - No.

Would I stop playing the game - Yes.

I cant imagine testing out pvp and spacecombat with this ping, as you got to have "snappiness" in pvp to react etc etc.

[Palmerton]

Today I completed a PVP arena, flashpoint and space PVP. The space was just as responsive or faster than regular servers. The PVP Arena was no change from normal. But, the flashpoint had issues during the dialogue making the skip function clunky with arbitrary delays between dialogues. One of the group simply quit during the flashpoint because of the delays in the dialogues. I play through a VPN.

[Jaeydyn]

Compared to an existing server, how is the performance?  In general, performance was good.  There was a higher than normal server ping.  On SS and SF I get 25-50 ms, here I was getting 200-400 ms.

Any specific areas or planets where you feel the performance has lessened?  The only drop in performance I noticed was in GSF, although it may have happened in PvP too, but I don't do it often enough to notice.  This was due to a slight lag which I assume was the higher ping.

What region/country do you reside in? Northeastern USA

Provide a comparison of ping from existing servers to Shae Vizla.  Normally, 25-50 ms, on the test server 200-400 ms

Is grouped content working properly?  The content and objectives appear to be working.  Obviously, I can't observe all of them at one time.

How quickly can you get into a match or Flashpoint you’ve accepted?  Queued with a 4 person group and it accepted us right away (as it should), PvP had a little wait.  GSF we had to encourage others to queue in order to get the match in.  Low population I'm sure was the reason for that.

Is travel to any location (planet, Stronghold, Fleet, etc…) hindered? Nothing I noticed.

Are there any issues with the UI such as missing assets or loss of functionality? No.  I started a new character and copied one over.  Copied character appeared to have everything where it should be.

Are there any issues with visuals or sounds with the cinematics? No.  All the ones I had viewed seemed to run as expected.

I did have an issue that I could not duplicate.  When grouped up with a friend, her screen displayed a different level on my portrait.  Not sure if it was a glitch or bug.

Edited April 13, 2023 by Jaeydyn