So - long story short, I started playing Spiral Knights months ago - I love the game; but every now and then I get terrible lag. Not just a little rubberbanding - I mean "everyone runs off the screen, chat takes minutes to post, can't see my HP update in realtime" lag. This has been an ongoing thing, but for a long time it was rare - when it'd happen I'd just not play for that night and not worry about it.
Lately (roughly the last two weeks) this happens pretty much every time I'm on. It ONLY happens in the Clockworks, Haven, for whatever reason, is a lag-free zone.
So here's the thing:
I don't know where the problem is - is this Spiral Knights' server just not being able to handle the load?* Is it my connection? (Cable, through Comcast), Something else I haven't thought of?
Freely admit I am not particularly network savvy, which is why I'm here; since well... I'd really like to play the game again and of late haven't been able to. Any help would be immensely appreciated.
*I'm guessing not, none of my friends have this issue. Still maybe there's something weird going on there.
I would start by doing a speed test. Its best to run from 2 different sites, one recommended by your ISP to help check the line, and another one to check the ISP network for congestion during different times of day. Generally as long as your within 10% of your Bandwidth it should be working right, otherwise we'll have to investigate whats wrong.
These are the best resources for finding external speed test servers.
http://www.internet2.edu/performance/ndt/ndt-server-list.html
http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest?more=1