I don’t believe the “ping 9999” is about actual ping.
Its about the server being unresponsive for some reason or another, which leads to the game client labeling the ping to basically infinite even though the issue is not about the connection. Its about the SERVER.

The reason why the server is unresponsive at first before the ping “normalizes” after few attempts should be researched. It cant be normal. There must be a reason. I have theorized the reason is that the server is in some kinda “sleep” or energy saving mode because there are no current players…