Isn't Rebellion supposed to run on Imulse::Reactor thingy? That would mean death of ICO altogether if I get it right.

I agree with Howthe?.  This game's online multiplayer performance needs improvement.  Because Rebellion will be a stand-alone game that will (presumably) be on store shelves, it's like releasing a Sins-2, and it's a chance to do fresh marketing for the game.  It should be highly polished and near perfect upon release, and that includes the online multiplayer performance.

I'm more in the mindset that ICO needs to die entirely, and a new system put in place with proper matchmatching, ladder functionality, and an end to smurfing entirely (ie one account per person).  Simply putting new paint on the current ICO system will result in the same dead multiplayer very quickly.

We're currently investigating the lag issues with Sins multiplayer and have some good leads. If these pan out, the updates will be backported to Trinity/Diplomacy.  The Reactor system doesn't provide multiplayer code support, it merely provides additional features like matchmaking, achievements, logins, chat, etc.

Maybe Ironclad should sell the game since they are so reluctant to update the game properly. Yes, I'm bitter.

Yes, we're looking into it. 

It is fixed?!  The lag is gone!?  Today, I noticed that it is faster!  It logs on, and lists games much quicker for me.  Maybe the downtime was used for repairs?  At least, I can say with confidence, that I can get online, and into chat, and see who's there, and which games are available, all much, much quicker than I have been able to for months (ever since 1.2 came online). 

So that looks like progress... but as I type out chat, it appears erratically, like its still laggy.  So I don't know yet, if the lag is all gone?  

Ummm...I think we should give it at least a week before we conclude that the lag has been fixed or removed.

Wow!  Maybe the type of lag I was experiencing was specific to my type of system!? (I have Vista, Norton's IS, Charter hi-speed cable access, Core2Duo E6750 2.66Mhz, 4Gigs etc).

Maybe the server just needed to be reset (to help my situation)?  Because I've seen a remarkable change!  Log in is instantaneous now, whereas it used to take like a "minute", much as Howdidudothat describes here.

I hate to report it, but the ICO server is down.  You wouldn't be updating with the patch would you?

Good.  Because I don't know what happened after Sunday's (yesterday's) reboot, but the lag is terrible today!  All the improvement that I've seen in the past couple weeks is gone.  And it may currently be worse than before.

I just don't get it.  And I can't believe that no one else has chimed in with similar experiences?  If the lag was specific to my system, or even just a few others like me, I could see how we would slow down a whole game, or even the whole server.  Its that bad.

Edit:  I know I was complaining the day before a patch to potentially fix the problem, but I wanted them to be aware of what was happening.  I am happy to report that my first experiences with the new patch (1.21-5/24/11) are nothing but good.

So far, it is much improved.