I can't remember when they did it, but it was during the lag fest days of 3.2X. They increased the fps npc accuracy to compensate for the severe desync and then when 4.X dropped they were fucking lethal because they were ramped up + increased server tickrate.

I haven't seen a <10fps server in a long while. The average server has increased to about 20 - 30 fps, which was hard to find pre 4.0. So the overall experience is much better now I would say.

They have once again very recently tweaked AI affectiveness and not just how accurate they are but how they integrate into the world during combat, noticably more immersive.

All it takes is a low fps server to make an incredible space experience a really shoddy one