Blocks are really lagging recently

[ranochigo]

So this 'lagging blocks' problem is partially responsible for a huge delay I observed on my transaction confirmation? Because there was really like 4 hours lagging confirmation last night... What is going on with the network?

I was waiting for a confirmation last night on Poloniex, and had to go to sleep before the coins arrived.

Maybe try to increase the miner fees  to get the transactions confirming faster ? Depends on if you need the coins ASAP or you wait until the next day, and I think ploniex credits coins after 6 confirmations. That's why it took so long .

The first confirmation is the most crucial one. If you get the first confirmation, you will get all the confirmations after each block is mined. The waiting time can't be decreased by adding huge fees if the network is experiencing badluck and blocks aren't being mined.

[jbrnt]

Blocks used to be found much quicker. Hour blocks are not frequent. I noticed blocks are solved slower than before and transactions are sometimes not included in the first block. I think network hashrate hasn't dropped, it is increasing at a much slower rate than say 6 months ago. Difficulty hasn't dropped. When miners are out of luck, it really affects the block time.