How am I connecting to call of duty?

[demonchine]

I've been an R1 user since black ops 3 & now I'm an XR500 user primarily playing WW2. I play on both ps4 (cause my friends only play on ps4) & Xbox one (cause it's a better system & I much prefer the controller) and I really don't understand how I connect to the multiplayer matches. So the geo filter indicates I first connect to a player in the lobby, by showing my ping to a peer and an icon of torso within my radius flashing first, but then when the game starts it shows my ping to a dedicated server with a square enlarged.

 

I'm sorry to sound dumb. But I just don't get it. Is COD played on a dedicated server or is it really hosted by a randomly chosen player? Because I just don't understand the consistency in gameplay.... not just in one cod game but all of them. Anyone know?

[BIG__DOG]

it is a mixture of both. When a game such as COD is 1st launched it is mainly all dedicated servers but eventually as new COD's are released the servers for that game are removed to make way for new ones and more and more games become hosted by other players or yourself. That is why it is a good idea to keep your geo filter radius fairly small and ping assist not above 30 if you have a low ping!

 

 

 

B.D

[iAmMoDBoX]

The lobby is player hosted and the game is on a server... At least that's how it was last time I played COD

[RL317]

Yeah there's a lobby host when populating the lobby, before transferring to a server. This is why you'll get booted from lobbies instantly a lot if you have your home in the ocean and use a low ping assist value, or it'll take you a long time to find a game even if you get far lower than your ping assist cap to several different servers.

[demonchine]

Thanks guys, that makes perfect sense. Also explains why sometimes I kicked from a lobby after a match... must be because a different player was selected as lobby host that was outside my geo filter.

[RL317]

Yeah that's it. You might see a lot of "lost connection to host" or "failed to migrate". I get this one a lot more than anyone else I've seen play CoD in the last couple of years because the game refuses to give me host with my perfectly stable internet and far more than enough bandwidth lol. I've actually seen Africans and Saudis get lobby host in west EU lobbies before...

 

Struggling to find a game despite a sufficient ping assist value will be because of lobby hosts and their generally higher/less stable latency, even if you get far lower to the server you should end up on anyway. Joining a lobby and getting kicked instantly will be because the host fits into your matchmaking criteria but then they're being transferred on to a server that is outside of those limits.

 

Even if you've got say five server banks within 300 miles of you that you get <25ms to, I'd never suggest going below 40ms ping assist if you put your home in the ocean because you'll need to wait five minutes for a game... and it won't even guarantee a great connection LOL