Just played two tourneys. One free and one cost $20.00.
I am on Dial-up(I know, I'm living in the DarkAges of internet connections)
What I learned:
I will not ever pay to enter a tournament that is timed again, in fact I asked to be refunded and they gave me the money back. There are way too many variables regarding internet connections, processor speed, graphic memory, and so on. I watched the wheels spin and spin and spin and then when I got the bonus round it was moving really slow, and every time I changed the number of lines or coins, the response slowed down.
The tournaments with a set amount of play money are definately better, at least for me and my computer and my dial-up connection.
MG's botched attempt to level the playing field last weekend (which they have claimed were "connection issues"*) meant we ALL got to experience what you went through, with spins taking around 7 seconds EACH to complete & resolve payouts. Free spins are even worse, as not only do they run just as slowly, but every time you hit a win it cycles through each winning line in turn before moving on to the next. This can mean free spins taking nearly 10 seconds each to fully execute, and with only 3 to 5 minures on the clock for tournaments leaves the experience unfulfiling.
WHY are the games not as fast as in "normal" play, even with dial-up, a better experience would be had.
* Connection issues my a$$!!!!!
I am well versed in constant issues with bad connection to the Kawanake compound with MG, and last weekend was NOTHING LIKE IT!
In short, connection issues are chaotic, the connection delays during the tournaments were 100% of spins, and predictable like clockwork.
The formula I derived was sneaky, but sinister in it's simplicity.
Taking the time of execution of the PREVIOUS spin (not the one just requested), the "connection lag" was exactly 5 SECONDS each and every time.
I deliberately waited 10 seconds between requesting spins as an experiment, and, guess what, absolutely ZERO "connection delay" EVERY TIME. I span quicker, and as soon as the interval hit between 4 and 5 seconds I noticed the delay back again. It is particularly noticeable on Tomb Raider, as it runs a little faster than Thunderstruck. Thunderstruck has an error in the Viper display module that causes the reels to "stick" occasionally, but also causes the last reel to hang for a short while before settling, and CAN on occasion cause the game to crash altogether with the first two reels stopped and the last three forever spinning, and sometimes with "garbage" in the free spins left field (usually indicating "0" or "-1" spins left).
Casinos are now apologising for these errors, and I have retested in Riverbelle (all clear). Interestingly, the lobby did an "update" and appears to have completely flushed and reinstalled the two multiplayer slots. Interestingly, it was a "super re-install". I know this as I had turned off background sounds and game sounds, leaving only win sounds on, but found these settings were restored and needed to be set all over again. MG updates do NOT usually overwrite user settings like this.
Now what "connection issues" are fixed by updating the local copy of the game graphical display module? I would have thought something on the lines of tweaking or rebooting the server would help, as well as tracing the routing through the individual casino lobbies.
Given that these delays occured while fewer than 50 players were actually playing a tournament, the capacity of these servers must be pretty abysmal compared to the capacity of the general casino server.
The individual casinos may not know the full story, but MG do, and it didn't work. Far from attracting players with "slow" kit, many players were put off ever playing again. Including some who tried for the first time this weekend.
Fewer players than usual took part in the weekender, over 500, instead of the usual 800 to 900.