World of Warships packet loss issues: How to fix them

World of Warships is a popular free-to-play naval warfare multiplayer game published by Wargaming. You might know them from other great releases such as World of Tanks, which took the world by storm a few years back.

The concept is quite simple: you can build a crew and use it to commandeer one of the many warships that the game has to offer. Of course, you’ll get to battle other commanders, considering that this is a war game, after all.

The game is worth playing and can be a nice place to hang your hat for a few hours every now and then. Although it’s free-to-play, you’ll have to grind a lot to unlock the higher-tier ships.

That’s maybe why many consider the game is a bit unfair, as it gets harder the more you progress through the higher tiers. Some would even argue that it’s rigged.

However (and this is a big however), like any other multiplayer game, World of Warships may face connectivity issues. More specifically, we’re talking about packet loss, which is by far one of the worst connection problems.

What is packet loss in World of Warships?

While you’re connected to the Internet, whether you’re playing World of Warships or not, you’re transmitting packets through your connection. The purpose of these packets is to reach their destination intact and as quickly as possible.

Whenever some of the packets simply vanish on the way, we call it packet loss. It’s quite self-explanatory, come to think of it. Due to some malfunction, data packets can’t reach their destination, which can create stability issues within the connection.

Some symptoms of packet loss you may notice in World of Warships include, but are not limited to:

• Sluggish movement of your units
• Unresponsive menus
• Delayed text chat messages
• Rubberbanding (freezing and suddenly teleporting to another place on the map)
• Missing your opponents when firing
• De-synchronization
• Sudden disconnections
• Game crashes

These are also why people mistake packet loss for high latency. The two are somewhat similar, but they’re in fact very different. High latency means that the packets take a little longer to reach their destination.

Packet loss means they never make it, which makes it way worse than high latency.

What can cause packet loss in World of Warships?

The reasons why packet loss occurs are numerous and varied, ranging from improperly configured networks to server-side issues and ISP throttling. This makes it difficult to find a silver bullet fix for our issue.

Check out our list of common causes of packet loss:

• Network congestion is without a doubt the most common cause of packet loss
• Subpar network equipment, including but not limited to modems, routers, cables, adapters
• Slow Internet connection (cheap subscription)
• ISP throttling or improper traffic routing
• Choosing WiFi connections over Ethernet
• World of Warships server-side issues
• Using ISP-assigned DNS which might be slower than Google’s public DNS (for instance)
• Running several background apps on your PC that might consume a lot of bandwidth
• Setting the quality settings too high (the connection probably can’t handle them)

As you can see, not only the reasons are many and varied, they can also happen at any point throughout the entire connection, whether it’s on your side, on the ISP’s infrastructure, or even on the game server’s side.

How to detect packet loss in World of Warships?

1. Head over to this Wargaming support page 
2. Scroll down to the Target Addresses section
3. Note the IP address of the World of Warships server
4. Launch a CMD instance on your PC
5. Type pathping x.x.x.x (replace x.x.x.x with game server)
6. Check if there’s any packet loss and where it occurs

Based on your findings, the packet loss could occur on your end of the connection, on your ISP’s infrastructure, or on the game server. Of course, it can happen anywhere in between, so make sure to pay attention.

Locating a node that leaks packets can also help you choose the right course of action in fixing the problem.

How to fix World of Warships packet loss?

1. Use a VPN

1. Buy a premium VPN plan (we recommend Private Internet Access)
2. Download and install the VPN on your PC
3. Launch it and connect to your account
4. Connect to a VPN server of your choice (nearby servers are generally faster)
5. Launch World of Warships
6. See if you’re still leaking packets

Note that this fix can only work if the packet loss occurs on your ISP’s side, or if your Internet provider limits your connection by means of throttling bandwidth or routing traffic improperly.

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Kape Technologies’ PIA has an outstanding network of servers (over 11,000), so even if a server doesn’t seem to be working great, just select another one and try again.

2. Flush your DNS

1. Launch CMD as administrator
2. Type the following commands, one by one:

ipconfig /flushdns
ipconfig /registerdns
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
netsh winsock reset
exit

Restart your PC, then launch World of Warships and check if you’re still leaking packets. Often times flushing your DNS can have a great effect on improving the quality of your connection.

3. Troubleshoot the connection

• Inspect your home network closely and check for any malfunctioning component
• Replace any component that’s old, worn-out, broken, or otherwise in a bad shape
• Make sure you’re using appropriate Cat Ethernet cables (for instance, Cat 6 is better than Cat 5)
• Use Ethernet instead of WiFi whenever possible (WiFi packet loss occurs frequently)
• Contact your ISP and ask them if they can take a look at your issue and probably even fix it
• Reach out to Wargaming’s customer support and tell them if you notice something odd on their side
• Try to avoid peak hours if you want to steer away from network congestion (or use a VPN, it’s easier)
• Upgrade your Internet plan if possible
• Try not to run many bandwidth-heavy programs such as torrenting clients, VoIP apps, and such
• Lower the quality settings of the game and try again (your connection might not support high-quality settings)
• Update the firmware on your router
• Check if your system drivers are up-to-date, especially network adapter drivers

Keep in mind that these suggested troubleshooting fixes may not eliminate packet loss from World of Warships altogether. However, they will definitely help you increase the quality of your connection.

It’s worth mentioning that having a good, well-maintained connection can help you curb a lot of issues, and packet loss is just one of them.

Final thoughts on World of Warships packet loss

All things considered, if you notice packet loss in World of Warships, it’s probably not a big deal. Most of the time it fixes itself and all it needs is just a bit of patience.

However, if you notice a pattern starting to develop, it may be time to set your foot down and take action.

You can use a VPN if you’re sure that your ISP causes packet loss issues or if you want to avoid network congestion. It’s also great if you can perform regular maintenance on your connection, to curb packet loss and other connectivity issues on your side.