First let me address the dirty Windows users since they will be the majority of people reading this, and then I will go on to address the Mac users like me on how they can take advantage of this quick fix.  Hopefully one day we will get everyone over to the light, but for right now Windows users are the masses and I feel obligated to cater to their needs first.

Windows People

I was over at our friends blog Zeak at www.zeaks.org, and caught a great tip off of his blog about lowering your ping in WoW.  Its called Leatrix Latency Fix and is basically the old TCPAck fix for Vista if any of you remember it, but it is completely automated with this clever script added to your computer.  Alot of people are nervous about digging into their machine for fear of messing something up, so taking advantage of this automatic process is ideal for them.  I have also seen posts around the web about their being some confusion with people trying to apply it in Windows 7, fortunately this script will automate the process for you if you are using either Windows XP, Vista, or Windows 7, and get you on the way to reducing your WoW latency with ease.

Leatrix has posted a complete faq about the fix over on WoW Interface with some very in depth instructions and useful links if you have any problems.  It appears he has all the bases covered, and I want to make sure if you have any questions that you refer to his post at WoW Interface instead of here in the future in case there are any updates to the log.  We dont want to have you guys looking here when there could be important updates on his post so we wont be posting the actual Faq here please refer to the link posted below.

Do take note that because it is a script that is going to alter some things on your computer some antivirus software will indentify Leatrix Latency Fix as a possibly or even a guaranteed malicious download.  I assure that it is not and the guys at WoW Interface wouldn’t support it if it were a malicious program.  The thing is any program that is going to change the registry files on your machine will be suspected of malicious activity.

Also note that this does not alter your game in any way.  What it does is alter how your computer sends out bits of information.  Basically it is easier and more efficient when surfing the internet for your machine to send out bits of info in pairs, or even in 3s. Well in MMO’s we want that info to go out as quickly as possible, So Leatrix Latency Fix simply goes into the register and commands your computer to send out packets immediately 1 by 1 so that you are sending information immediately instead of waiting that nano second for packets to bundle or pair.

So if your ready to lower your latency check out the links below.

• Leatrix Website
• Leatrix Latency Fix Download on WOW Interface

If you feel your ready to go ahead and try it you can also download it directly here.

• Leatrix Latency Fix Download

Mac Users

Ok guys so for all of Mac Users unfortunately Leatrix doesn’t have a script that will work for us, but he was kind enough to provide us with a few lines to add into the Terminal in order to achieve the same effect as the Windows users.  Since this is the first time I have heard of a Mac fix like this after much searching into dead ends I say that we should rejoice!  Here is quote of what he had to say about achieving decreasing latency on the Mac.  I will quote it just so I don’t get it wrong.

Is there a Macintosh version?
Leatrix Latency Fix isn’t supported on Macs. However, you can achieve lower latency in OSX by entering the following command in a terminal window. This will disable delayed acknowledgments until you restart your computer.

sudo sysctl -w net.inet.tcp.delayed_ack=0

To disable them permanently, create a text file under “/etc/” called “sysctl.conf” and copy/paste the following line then restart your computer.

net.inet.tcp.delayed_ack=0

To set things back to default, just delete the “sysctl.conf” file and restart your computer.

If you’re not familiar with /etc, it’s actually a symbolic link which goes to /private/etc. This is a hidden root folder which isn’t normally visible in the Finder.

To be able to see hidden folders in the Finder, open up a terminal window and type the following:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE

Then restart the Finder. To do that, hold down the option key then click and hold on the Finder icon in the dock. When the context menu appears, click Relaunch and the Finder will restart. You should now see all the hidden folders in the Finder, including /etc (either find the Symbolic Link or the actual folder which is inside /private).

When you’re done and you want to hide the hidden folders again, bring up a terminal window and enter the following:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles FALSE

Then restart the Finder in the same way as before. The hidden folders should now be hidden again.

Hidden folders contain critical system configuration files so be careful that you don’t delete or move anything by mistake while they are visible in the Finder.

I have already run it on my Mac and I seen some results immediately ultimately lowering my latency about 100 ms with only the Leatrix fix.  While when I first logged on it seemed my latency spiked, but after I waited about 2 minutes the latency evened out and I was able to decrease my lag from around 450 all the way down to a stable 350.  Which considering that I play all the way from Thailand, that is a drastic reduction in latency.

• Leatrix Official Webpage
• Leatrix Latency Fix Discussion on WoW Interface

Using Leatrix Fix With an SSH Tunneling Service

Leatrix does state that he doesn’t trust using SSH Tunneling services like many other people do, but I do happen to use one called WTFast.  When I use this fix along with WTFast I am running around 270 pretty stable, it isn’t much of a drastic change, but most people say that in PvP you are at a disadvantage after you reach the 290 mark.  I love PvP so I am very happy that after coupling these services together I am finally able to play the game at a reasonable level.  Many people may have different success rates depending on location connection or any other contributing factor.

There is alot of info out there claiming that SSH Tunneling will get you banned or that Blizzard sees SSH tunneling as a violation of the ToS.  The truth is no one has ever been able to show me a blue that states this, but many people have pointed me to blue posts which state the following.

• Blizzard does not provide support to you if a service turns out to be malicious and damages your system or game in some way.
• Blizzard has banned people for using services such as WTFast

Blizzard does not support the service obviously because it is not any part of their business.  The programs work completely independent of WoW and do not in any way alter the game files.  If you are interested in what it does do, simply do some research on VPN services which are similar but most often used to app pear like you are somewhere you are not so you can take advantage of things like Netflix.com which is not available to people outside of the US.

Basically the banning is not really a ban at all, but rather a security feature built in to protect people who may be getting hacked. In my research of this the problem comes in when players connect to many different SSH Tunneling servers in one day trying to figure out which one gives them the best ping. Blizz will lock you out because your account is being opened from whatever server you are connecting through ultimately providing a different IP address every time you change servers.  The reason they lock you out is maybe the first server you log in on is in say California while the next one is in New York.  The IP addresses are so far away it looks suspicious on the system and it will lock your account in order to protect you in case you are being hacked.  So in order to prevent this find a good server and just stick with it.

I have never had a problem with WTFast, and I support their service because I use it, and if you are someone like me who can benefit from using it I would like to see you take advantage of it as well.

• Double up on your latency Fix with WTFast (You get a free trial on the website)
• Read our Review of WTFast