Blight freezes my screen where I can't do anything but die and lose.

PoE is built on top of, let's be realistic, an outdated engine. Couple that with tons of calculations that have to be made each second and you get freezing.

The best option is to improve your pc. Second best option is to kill the monsters with a ranged skill off-screen before they can be rendered and cause the freezing.

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

here's a quite apparent difference in game performance between the two, most notably with spammy builds. Blight causing FPS drops you are referring to is a completely separate issue. Builds that don't shoot out a ton of projectiles or don't apply a dozen debuffs or stacks of Poison will be fine.

Who would have seen this coming? A build that basically farts out particles, hitting enemies repeatedly, spawning spam loads of projectiles, and triggering visual effects, puts far more demand on the engine than a simpler build. More hits, more explosions, more particle vomit only means higher performance cost.
The result? the engine hits its limits faster.

As example this is exactly why Spark builds often use the Void Spark MTX, fewer particles and effects mean your FPS stays higher, even with the same hits per second. What you’re seeing isn’t a bug, it’s just the engine reaching its ceiling. On consoles, as OP demonstrates, this happens even faster than on most PCs. Obvious with the rather low specs on console.

Now, about network hiccups, higher latency causes micro-stutter in lockstep because the server isn’t receiving your inputs in time, or vice versa. This happens regardless of how many particles or hits you’re spamming. Predictive mode doesn’t change this, it just displays it differently. With predictive on, you still get micro-stutters, plus rubberbanding where you might be sent back to a place you’ve already cleared because the client and server disagree on what’s alive.

In short, whether it’s engine limitations or connection issues, the problems aren’t caused by lockstep or predictive mode, those just change how the issue looks. Predictive won’t magically reduce particle effects, nor will it fix ping spikes. Its main effect is to add rubberbanding whenever your latency is too high for the server to reliably track your client. Ironically, it’s one of the settings most responsible for the desyncs and rollbacks people complain about, so much so that GGG has even acknowledged that some issues are not fully unavoidable with predictive mode.

Instead of giving users false advice to switch to an objectively worse-performing and more problematic networking mode, a far more useful approach is to think about how Blight could be reworked to retain its core concept while reducing engine stress. Look at the new Breach design, the old Breach was amazing, but opening multiple breaches at the same time could completely tank performance due to a bazillion particles. The new Breach shows that GGG can keep the core concept, standing in a circle, killing mods, enjoying the chaos while keeping the theme alive and massively improving performance. That’s the kind of thinking that would actually help Blight, retaining the fun and core mechanics while reducing particle and effect load so the game runs smoother.

Submitting suggestions like this through the feedback system is far more useful than spreading misleading advice about predictive mode or other workarounds that don’t address or fix the real problem.

The bottom line out of all of this , particle vomit kills FPS and engine limitations, network hiccups aren’t magically fixed by predictive mode. As someone who’s been around for a while, you should know this.

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

You keep reciting the difference of the technical definition between the two, yet never acknowledge the actual problem and disregard it as impossible because you don't actually know the difference of the in-game behavior.

Oh, I acknowledge the problem. PoE’s engine, while generally stable, wasn’t built for total projectile mayhem, no engine is. Any system starts to crumble once players are handed the keys to endless possibilities, whether it’s entity spam, projectile spam, or just plain chaos. Kind of obvious, really.
I also acknowledge that a lot of connection issues come from bad routing, especially in the EU, and I genuinely feel for you guys, after all these years, network providers still haven’t figured this sort of basic stuff out despite countless customer complaints. But the bottom line is this, you, me, GGG, and most others have known about these issues for years. Switching networking modes doesn’t magically fix either problem, it won’t make your connection more stable, nor will it push the engine or your PC past its limits.

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

Even funnier to me that you just insist on this, because particle effects have actually very limited impact overall, except on frame rate.

Well, nice job using your own video as a showcase of exactly what I described. Thanks for confirming it, even if you were trying to deny reality, or maybe just couldn’t resist a little YouTube self-promo.

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

Wanna know something even crazier? The only thing here that the upgrade to the 9800X3D improved upon is the lowest frame rate.

If I recall correctly, you initially upgraded from a rather underwhelming CPU, opting for a cheaper alternative because the 7800X3D was too expensive. That choice, however, didn’t quite meet expectations, prompting a subsequent move to the 9800X3D, which ironically, performs similarly to the 7800X3D in 4K, albeit at a higher price. Considering your previous CPU didn’t even come close to the performance of a 7800X3D, let alone a 9800X3D, I’m not quite sure what numbers you were looking at.

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BaumisMagicalWorld#0673 wrote:

Literally take your own advice and stop spreading misinformation. Have a good one.

I think your first link, along with all the additional information you provided, already shows that your assumption, that changing the networking mode affects client-side performance or improves routing/connection issues, is incorrect. Yet here we are, continuing the discussion for the sake of arguing, even after the evidence has been presented.

If you’re unsure about something, it’s better not to spread misinformation, especially when a quick search would clarify it immediately. For fun, I did the quick google search myself, and surprise, someone already explained this 8 years ago. But not exactly a groundbreaking discovery for someone with multiple years of IT experience, this is a fairly basic topic. But for you seeing the same explanation appear across multiple discussions, and even outside the context of PoE, this should be a hint that the original assumption is mistaken, even if it’s hard to admit.

Also, I haven’t clicked your new link, so if you were hoping for more traffic.

That said, I hope you have a great day!