strange that players don't know the difference between a good meter and a faulty one.
I have over 250 on friends list and have games with a good meter and others where it stutters on every other shot - i dont think the friends list is a problem...just my experience tho
I had 70 or 80 friends and cleaned it right out and try to just keep 15 or so friends on my list. I think it helped alot but i also stripped my computer to bare bones just to run this game as well. The things we do to play this game lol