I think it must be more than any changes at WGT and changes in Flash versions. I have tried several different browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Maxthon) and play at varying times of the day and night. I can not pin it down to any specific issue and cannot replicate problems!
For example, I played with Chrome for months without issue (except me!), and then when problems started recently, people said it was the Chrome version of Flash that was the issue, so I tried Maxthon. I still had some of the same issues, but it seemed not quite as bad. I played in Chrome again - no problems. Played in Chrome again - big problems with meter stutter - then changed to Edge yesterday on advice of borntobesting and play was fine. Immediately after that, I inadvertently played in Chrome (because it was already open and I did not think about changing back to Edge, and play was fine!
I know this is an international audience for this game, so time periods don't matter as much to WGT servers, but most of my play is in very off-hours in the US (much between midnight and 5 am CT) and there are never any significant apps running on my fairly fast computer and nothing else going on over my network with gigabit service. So, I don't think it is anything local (like someone else streaming movies, etc., over my network)!
I am happy with everyone that has a combination that works well and I commiserate with those that are having problems. What troubles me (as an engineer and oft-time software developer) is that I cannot replicate the issues!
Cliff's notes : I don't know if there is a one-size-fits-all answer, so all we can do is try the various awesome suggestions offered by others until we find a combo that seems to work for us. As such, I will try to confine my whining to other topics (J/K).