Why am I getting latency issues with Blizzard Games?

[0mirage]

Hello everyone, I've been having trouble with blizzard games for the better part of about 2 years and have been unable to play Overwatch properly. So between Puma 6 issues and what I believe to be Blizzard server issues Its been far too long and I'd like to be able to isolate the problem and figure out the source once and for all. 

A Summary of the problem: In overwatch I get double animations and ability delay. I stopped playing it for about 6 months only to discover the problem was still there, I also tested it with a Telus connection and it had the same ability delay. I more recently tried World of Warcraft and to my surprise it had identical problems, where using abilities had significant delay. I'm not sure this is exclusive to blizzard games but it seems to be, as I can pretty comfortably play other games without feeling hindered.

I've ran WinMTRs I'd like to show, as well as 'looking glass' tests from blizzard's end that I was hoping I could get a second opinion on.

Looking Glass Tests:

MTR:
Start: Fri Oct 5 00:32:22 2018 Blizzard 1.|-- Blizzard 0.0% 10 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.0
2.|-- 37.244.23.130 0.0% 10 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.6 0.0
3.|-- 24.105.62.146 0.0% 10 1.4 1.2 1.1 1.4 0.0
4.|-- 137.221.66.12 0.0% 10 2.4 2.4 2.2 2.5 0.0
5.|-- 137.221.69.72 0.0% 10 2.3 5.9 2.2 21.0 7.7
6.|-- 137.221.69.34 0.0% 10 11.4 4.2 1.6 11.4 3.5
7.|-- rt1ec-equinix.il.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 2.3 2.5 2.3 2.8 0.0
8.|-- rc3sc-be25-1.wp.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 17.3 17.2 17.0 17.5 0.0
9.|-- 66.163.70.78 0.0% 10 51.0 51.3 51.0 51.5 0.0
10.|-- dx6lo-lag0.ed.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 51.8 98.4 51.7 518.2 147.5
11.|-- ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

05/10/2018 00:32:22 UTC
--------------------

MTR:
Start: Fri Oct 5 00:32:22 2018 Blizzard 1.|-- Blizzard 0.0% 10 0.3 0.3 0.2 0.4 0.0
2.|-- 37.244.22.3 0.0% 10 0.5 0.5 0.5 0.6 0.0
3.|-- 24.105.30.148 0.0% 10 0.8 1.0 0.8 1.2 0.0
4.|-- 137.221.66.0 0.0% 10 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.6 0.0
5.|-- 137.221.68.70 0.0% 10 11.2 9.8 8.4 17.4 2.8
6.|-- 137.221.65.7 0.0% 10 8.4 11.2 8.3 36.0 8.7
7.|-- 137.221.70.32 0.0% 10 8.2 8.3 8.2 8.4 0.0
8.|-- rt0sj-equinix.cl.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 10.4 10.3 8.8 11.9 0.9
9.|-- rc4sj-tge0-0-0-0.cl.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 10.7 11.1 9.4 12.8 0.9
10.|-- rc2wt-be60.wa.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 28.1 27.9 27.0 29.3 0.3
11.|-- rc3no-be100.cg.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 42.3 42.3 41.9 43.5 0.0
12.|-- rc1we-be6.ed.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 46.0 46.5 45.8 49.2 0.9
13.|-- dx6lo-lag1.ed.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 46.3 65.6 46.3 238.6 60.8
14.|-- ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

05/10/2018 00:32:22 UTC
--------------------

MTR:
Start: Fri Oct 5 01:28:22 2018 Blizzard 1.|-- Blizzard 0.0% 10 0.4 0.3 0.3 0.4 0.0
2.|-- 37.244.23.2 0.0% 10 0.6 0.6 0.5 0.8 0.0
3.|-- 24.105.62.146 0.0% 10 2.2 1.4 0.8 2.2 0.0
4.|-- 137.221.66.8 0.0% 10 2.0 2.1 1.9 2.2 0.0
5.|-- 137.221.69.66 0.0% 10 2.0 3.0 1.9 12.2 3.2
6.|-- 137.221.69.32 0.0% 10 1.8 3.6 1.7 17.4 4.8
7.|-- rt1ec-equinix.il.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 1.9 2.0 1.8 2.2 0.0
8.|-- rc3sc-be25-1.wp.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 19.5 18.0 17.4 19.5 0.5
9.|-- 66.163.70.78 0.0% 10 50.5 50.7 50.5 50.8 0.0
10.|-- dx6lo-lag0.ed.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 51.4 92.9 51.1 468.1 131.8
11.|-- ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

05/10/2018 01:28:22 UTC
--------------------

MTR:
Start: Fri Oct 5 01:28:22 2018 Blizzard 1.|-- Blizzard 0.0% 10 0.2 0.3 0.2 0.5 0.0
2.|-- 37.244.22.3 0.0% 10 0.5 0.6 0.5 0.7 0.0
3.|-- 24.105.30.148 0.0% 10 1.2 1.1 1.0 1.3 0.0
4.|-- 137.221.66.0 0.0% 10 1.5 1.6 1.4 1.7 0.0
5.|-- 137.221.68.70 0.0% 10 8.5 14.0 8.4 63.1 17.2
6.|-- 137.221.65.7 0.0% 10 21.2 9.8 8.4 21.2 4.0
7.|-- 137.221.70.32 0.0% 10 8.3 8.4 8.2 9.1 0.0
8.|-- rt0sj-equinix.cl.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 11.1 10.1 8.8 12.1 1.2
9.|-- rc4sj-tge0-0-0-0.cl.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 13.0 10.6 9.0 13.0 1.2
10.|-- rc2wt-be60.wa.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 27.1 27.1 26.9 27.3 0.0
11.|-- rc3no-be100.cg.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 43.7 42.8 41.9 44.3 0.5
12.|-- rc1we-be6.ed.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 46.0 46.1 45.8 46.4 0.0
13.|-- dx6lo-lag1.ed.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 46.3 58.0 46.3 162.4 36.7
14.|-- ??? 100.0 10 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

05/10/2018 01:28:21 UTC
--------------------

Shows 468ms on a shaw server:

10.|-- dx6lo-lag0.ed.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 51.4 92.9 51.1 468.1 131.8

Shows 162.4ms on a shaw server:

13.|-- dx6lo-lag1.ed.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 46.3 58.0 46.3 162.4 36.7

Shows 238.6 ping on a shaw server:

13.|-- dx6lo-lag1.ed.shawcable.net 0.0% 10 46.3 65.6 46.3 238.6 60.8

Now here's what I don't understand...through the looking glass testing it points to shaw servers having high ping, but I don't seem to have issues with other games. And what doesn't make sense is if I run a regular WinMTR test on my end to blizzard servers I get very different results:

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| WinMTR statistics |
| Host - % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
| 192.168.1.1 - 0 | 178 | 178 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 2 |
| 96.52.128.1 - 0 | 178 | 178 | 9 | 27 | 657 | 14 |
| 64.59.186.165 - 0 | 178 | 178 | 11 | 19 | 46 | 17 |
| rc3no-be6.cg.shawcable.net - 0 | 178 | 178 | 14 | 23 | 52 | 18 |
| rc2wt-be100.wa.shawcable.net - 0 | 178 | 178 | 29 | 38 | 60 | 35 |
| rc1wt-be18-1.wa.shawcable.net - 0 | 178 | 178 | 30 | 40 | 68 | 36 |
| eqix-se2.blizzardentertainment.com - 0 | 178 | 178 | 30 | 38 | 57 | 32 |
| ae1-br01-eqse2.as57976.net - 0 | 178 | 178 | 55 | 64 | 97 | 62 |
| xe-0-0-0-1-br01-eqsv5.as57976.net - 0 | 178 | 178 | 55 | 64 | 99 | 65 |
| xe-0-0-1-1-br02-eqla1.as57976.net - 0 | 178 | 178 | 54 | 66 | 186 | 60 |
| be2-pe01-eqla1.as57976.net - 0 | 178 | 178 | 54 | 64 | 91 | 63 |
| lax-eqla1-ia-bons-01.as57976.net - 0 | 178 | 178 | 55 | 62 | 84 | 65 |
| 37.244.22.3 - 0 | 178 | 178 | 53 | 81 | 865 | 59 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

And for a baseline a comparable to google.ca:

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| WinMTR statistics |
| Host - % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
| 192.168.1.1 - 0 | 30 | 30 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 2 |
| 96.52.128.1 - 0 | 30 | 30 | 10 | 27 | 333 | 16 |
| 64.59.186.165 - 0 | 30 | 30 | 15 | 20 | 41 | 17 |
| rc3no-be6.cg.shawcable.net - 0 | 30 | 30 | 18 | 24 | 42 | 21 |
| rc2wt-be100.wa.shawcable.net - 0 | 30 | 30 | 30 | 39 | 56 | 36 |
| 72.14.242.90 - 0 | 30 | 30 | 33 | 39 | 49 | 36 |
| No response from host - 100 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 74.125.253.66 - 0 | 30 | 30 | 29 | 37 | 43 | 32 |
| 108.170.245.123 - 0 | 30 | 30 | 36 | 40 | 59 | 37 |
| 209.85.248.159 - 0 | 30 | 30 | 33 | 45 | 67 | 33 |
| 209.85.241.42 - 0 | 30 | 30 | 57 | 64 | 71 | 66 |
| 209.85.250.145 - 0 | 30 | 30 | 59 | 65 | 76 | 64 |
| 108.170.243.174 - 0 | 30 | 30 | 58 | 67 | 78 | 63 |
| 216.239.47.87 - 0 | 30 | 30 | 60 | 66 | 76 | 63 |
| ord38s18-in-f3.1e100.net - 0 | 30 | 30 | 55 | 62 | 70 | 58 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

Is there anything that sticks out in the testing? I'm looking for any suggestions at this point. Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Forgot to mention I'm on the 300 plan with an XB6.

[0mirage]

Here's another test to blizzard servers showing extreme latency on their server. When I brought it up with them they made two excuses:

1) Its DDOS protection

2) Its a routing issue from your ISP (shaw in this case)

|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| WinMTR statistics |
| Host - % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------|------|------|------|------|------|------|
| 192.168.1.1 - 0 | 123 | 123 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 2 |
| 96.52.128.1 - 0 | 123 | 123 | 10 | 21 | 395 | 17 |
| 64.59.186.165 - 0 | 123 | 123 | 10 | 18 | 40 | 17 |
| rc3no-be6.cg.shawcable.net - 0 | 123 | 123 | 14 | 24 | 58 | 15 |
| rc2wt-be100.wa.shawcable.net - 0 | 123 | 123 | 29 | 35 | 83 | 32 |
| rc1wt-be18-1.wa.shawcable.net - 0 | 123 | 123 | 30 | 37 | 57 | 32 |
| eqix-se2.blizzardentertainment.com - 0 | 123 | 123 | 28 | 38 | 67 | 37 |
| ae1-br01-eqse2.as57976.net - 0 | 123 | 123 | 59 | 70 | 192 | 72 |
| xe-0-0-1-1-br02-eqch2.as57976.net - 7 | 93 | 87 | 0 | 208 | 4398 | 68 |
| be2-pe02-eqch2.as57976.net - 0 | 123 | 123 | 59 | 66 | 105 | 67 |
| chi-eqch2-ia-bons-04.as57976.net - 0 | 123 | 123 | 59 | 67 | 84 | 73 |
| 24.105.62.129 - 0 | 123 | 123 | 58 | 63 | 89 | 59 |
|________________________________________________|______|______|______|______|______|______|
WinMTR v0.92 GPL V2 by Appnor MSP - Fully Managed Hosting & Cloud Provider

I've highlighted the three lines showing any form of latency but I've been informed the 96.52.128.1 is false latency as it doesn't carry through the other hops. But feel free to correct me if that's incorrect.

[almeidex]

I'm having severe latency issues while playing Overwatch as well, but on my PS5. It's almost impossible to play like this...

[mdk]

@0mirage wrote:

| Host - % | Sent | Recv | Best | Avrg | Wrst | Last |
|------------------------------------------------
| 192.168.1.1 - 0 | 123 | 123 |   1 |   2 |   13 |    2 |
| 96.52.128.1 - 0 | 123 | 123 | 10 | 21 | 395 | 17 |

By agreement, any "192.168.xxx.yyy" is a "private" network (not routable over the Internet). Similarly, any IP-address like "10.xx.yy.zz" also is reserved for a private network.

That "96.52.181.1" is a Shaw router, which usually is not assigned a node-name.

Compare to very-similar IP-addresses that do have node-names:

Name: S0106889e68459ca4.ed.shawcable.net
Address: 96.52.128.2

and:

Name: S0106206a9499f703.ed.shawcable.net
Address: 96.52.128.3

that are assigned to other Shaw cable-modems in Edmonton.

The "middle" 12 characters are the unique MAC-address for each router's network-adapter.  The first 6 characters identify the manufacturer of the network-adapter. The last 6 characters are unique, within each manufacturer.

So, your packet, on its way to Blizzard, is routed to 96.52.128.1 -- compare to turning your vehicle off your street onto the next street, on your drive to the nearest TimHortons.  You need to "route" your vehicle on the roads, not driving through other residents' yards. Note that your packets to Blizzard go to Calgary (CG) and to Vancouver (WA) before crossing into the USA. So, some "latency" can be attributed to the Shaw "network-hubs" in Calgary & Vancouver. Compare to driving your vehicle to Calgary, onto Highway 1 through AB & BC to Vancouver, and then Highway 99 to the USA border -- there is no direct road from Edmonton to Blaine (Washington State). You need to have a "route" to get to Blaine.

Every Shaw name starts with "S0106".

Every Shaw name in the "EDmonton" area ends with ".ed.shawcable.net".

That "192.168.1.1" is the LAN side of the router -- any IP (Internet Protocol) packet you want to send out to the Internet (not to another device (printer?) inside your LAN, must be routed to this IP-address, and then the WAN port on your router (the coaxial-cable) forwards the packet.  Inside your home, you can shout at your teenager, if they are somewhere inside your home. Similarly, you can send a print-job directly to the printer on your LAN. If the teenager is not home, you must "route" your voice (cell-phone, text-message, WhatsApp, Skype, et cetera) over some "carrier", to reach the teenager.

Note that the special packets that "traceroute" and WINMTR use are traffic that can be prioritized as "noise" going through a router -- the router can be configured to give highest-priority to your "game" traffic to Blizzard, and a lower priority to those special packets. 

While "395" milliseconds is a "worst" result, WINMTR shows "123" packets that were sent, and all "123" packets were returned.  So, no "packet-loss".

Finally, note that Shaw's network in Edmonton is a "regional hub" for Internet traffic for:

• Alberta, north of Edmonton, and maybe into Yukon
• Alberta, east of Edmonton, and into Saskatoon (SK)
• Alberta, south to "halfway" to Calgary
• Alberta, west to the BC border.

So, Shaw's networking-equipment has a very-large area to service. I presume that Shaw monitors the "load" in Edmonton, and spends "big bucks" when necessary, to get bigger/faster routers.