I ran this same command from your advice, with my server name, it came up with 16 lines, each line with 3 columns of numbers (xx or xxx ms). What is the combination I am adding up here for a total ?
The average of the numbers on the last (3) numbers on the last line in the trace route is the average time it takes for your computer to reach the game server. If you get xxx in some of the lines it either means that that particular server denies trace route calls (ping calls) and will not respond. Or the connection is so poor it times out. But you should see that from the last line in the trace route anyway. If the last line contains 3 close to equal numbers that are not much above 300 ms, your connection is fine.
Here is the result from the 4 last lines from 2 of my trace routes:
[druzzilro.everquest.com]
17 192 ms 197 ms 188 ms vl861.sdtermswitch-1.sonyonline.net [63.215.251.130]
18 189 ms 193 ms 191 ms vl23.sdtermbr-2.sonyonline.net [64.37.144.146]
19 185 ms 185 ms 185 ms vl832.sdkollsw-2.sonyonline.net [64.37.144.90]
20 187 ms 184 ms 181 ms eqworld-128.everquest.com [199.108.3.133]
[tunare.everquest.com]
17 174 ms 173 ms 173 ms vl861.sdtermswitch-1.sonyonline.net [63.215.251.130]
18 174 ms 175 ms 173 ms vl23.sdtermbr-2.sonyonline.net [64.37.144.146]
19 308 ms 329 ms 230 ms vl832.sdkollsw-2.sonyonline.net [64.37.144.90]
20 174 ms 173 ms 172 ms eqworld-126.everquest.com [199.108.3.101]
The 4 last connections should most likely be Sony Online servers for you as well, and they should look closely the same as this for an ok connection. The very last line (in my example, 20) is the current game server you are playing on/tracing.
The total number of lines shows how many connections you need to go through to reach the game server. The lower the better normally, but that is not a general rule.
As others have tried, using compatibility mode for playing EQ. I have never had to do that on my computer running Vista 64 bit and several accounts on the same computer.
Aside from running this test, up in the left corner when you play EQ there should be number in xxx ms as well, if not try pressing F11 (default key). That should show about the same number as will show up when you run trace route. If the number is high you have a poor connection, if the number is below 200 your connection is good. If you experience lag with a low and steady number here you most likely have a hardware/game issue. Most common is to low RAM or an old graphics card. On Vista you need more than 2GB ram to run 1 instance of EQ with no lag. 1 Instance use about 1 GB and Vista use way to much RAM alone, not the most memory friendly OS (unless you are able to strip it from all crap you do not really need).
G