How to reduce lag in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 multiplayer

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Search Preferences

I haven't experienced any ping-related dysfunction in Black Ops 2 multiplayer yet, but to stay safe, here's a quick tip which may improve your matchmaking connections.

In the Online > Public Match > Find Match screen, there's a sneaky little "Search Preferences" option camping in the lower-right corner. It defaults to "Normal," which finds a balance between connection quality and matchmaking speed, but I've found that switching it to "Best" doesn't affect how quickly I can join matches. It also doesn't affect how quickly I can join the dirt, where I often curl up for naps under a blanket of bullets kindly provided by whoever just bunny hopped around a corner and surprised me.

Want to know what we thought of the game? Head to our Black Ops 2 review and join the divisive comment argusation.

Tyler Wilde
Editor-in-Chief, US

Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League.

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