Common Technical Issues and Solutions

Why is my “World” latency high even though my “Home” latency is normal?

While playing world of warcraft, you are connected to multiple different servers.

  • Your Home server is the realm that your character is hosted on. In example - Area 52. This connection sends chat data, auction house data, some addon data, and various other data. It is a pretty slim connection in terms of bandwidth requirements.
  • Your World server is whatever server you are actively playing in. For an example of this, it might be whatever server the dungeon you are playing through with your friends is on. This server sends a LOT more data, especially from the people around you. Your combat data, data from the people around you (specs, gear, enchants, etc.), NPCs, mobs, casting, professions, etc.

Your world latency will typically be higher for a few different reasons.

  1. If it only happens in an instance like a raid or battleground, check to see if you are in a group with a lot of players from overseas by checking the realms of players you are with. If you normally play on Americas servers and have joined a group with a lot of players from Oceania(or vice versa), you may be on a far away server.
  2. Certain types of zones (especially dungeons, raids, heavily populated areas like major cities, and PVP) will send a lot of addon data. If your addons or temporary character data have become corrupted, it will slow the flow of information to and from the server. Try resetting your UI.
  3. A corrupted network cache or bad driver setting can slow the flow of information to certain servers. Update your network drivers and power cycle your connection.

If these don’t help, check the connection troubleshooting resources at the top of this page.

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