Was taking upto 5 mins to zone, now when I try log it says, yep you guessed it "server locked" then it switches to open, but simply boots me if I click play...Rince and Repeat, each time... I know servers/games are dodgy after a expansion (been playing such games for over 12 years) but hell i'm actualy in the old EMPTY zones, not the new overcrowded ones <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Good luck all it's 00:46 here so i'm off to bed

<cite>Cirwen@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>Was taking upto 5 mins to zone, now when I try log it says, yep you guessed it "server locked" then it switches to open, but simply boots me if I click play...Rince and Repeat, each time... I know servers/games are dodgy after a expansion (been playing such games for over 12 years) but hell i'm actualy in the old EMPTY zones, not the new overcrowded ones <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" />Good luck all it's 00:46 here so i'm off to bed</blockquote>I tried as well and I have concluded it is down too.  I wanted to wait to post anything since I didn't know if it was just me.drago.

I finally got in but 5-10 mins to zone is really lame...any eta on a fix?Edit:Ive now been on since 430 pst and zoned fro QH to SQ and im still attempting to get to NQ...30 mins 2 zones...SOE how about a free month for the headaches...

<p>Receiving Zone Info.............................................. .................................................. .................................................. ....</p><p>Log Out</p><p>Receiving Zone Info.............................................. .................................................. .................................................. ....</p><p><img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/e78feac27fa924c4d0ad6cf5819f3554.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/e78feac27fa924c4d0ad6cf5819f3554.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/e78feac27fa924c4d0ad6cf5819f3554.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/e78feac27fa924c4d0ad6cf5819f3554.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/e78feac27fa924c4d0ad6cf5819f3554.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/e78feac27fa924c4d0ad6cf5819f3554.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/e78feac27fa924c4d0ad6cf5819f3554.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /><img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/e78feac27fa924c4d0ad6cf5819f3554.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p>

SSDDhappens every time we get an expansion <img src="/smilies/1cfd6e2a9a2c0cf8e74b49b35e2e46c7.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />come on these people should be ready for this sort of stuff by now.how about next beta you open it to everybody and really test your servers aye?

Again????? I want to play the game....

yep been sitting at "receiving zone information" screen for about 15 minutes now.  Dang I quit playing Vanguard because of the lag maybe it's time to go back and give it another try.

AB's new name ALWAYS BROKEN! It's really irksome that we can't log in or if we are in, we can't zone with  fear of getting the stuck at receiving zone info. I would like 2 things at the end of this. 1. Additional time added to my account for the consistent headache and interupted playtime from AB being down. 2. Free transfers off AB for those who want them.

Is it too late to roll a ranger named Antonia?

I just sat down to play after working all day too. My monk is 71.93 and I want to freaking level. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

Think SOE is a victim of their own success.  This Kunark expansion has too many returning players on this server now.Yesterday, I recall a message that all broker services would be offline for several minutes to reduce lag.  /boggleIs today broker down, round 2?

<p>In addition to free transfers off the server, they really should lock it so that people cannot transfer to the server and cannot create new characters there unless they already have one over a certain level (say, 20). Once things settle down, remove the lock. But right now, the last thing AB is more people creating toons there and/or coming to the server.</p>

<p>Great idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!</p><p>1. Additional time added to my account for the consistent headache and interupted playtime from AB being down. 2. Free transfers off AB for those who want them. </p><p>Plus</p><p>3. Triple XP</p>

<p>Yep, it sure is.  The producers know of it already (they've been paying very close attention to the status of AB over the past few days) and already they have the techs crawling over it to get it resolved.  </p><p><img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>~Gnobrin!</p>

Thanks Gnorbin and see who you have to beat with a stick to get us some happiness. Free time, Free transfers are looking to be the things many are asking about.

Help a brigand out.

Nah, I do not want freebies. I want them to correct the situation.

<p>My experiences with AB since last Thursday.</p><p>Zone.  Get the "Loading Zone Info" screen.  Nothing happens, game eventually freezes.  Game is bugged, if I ctrl-alt-del it's showing as nonresponsive and will NOT shut down.  Reboot whole computer.  Start game back up.  Every char on AB is MISSING.  If I play the silly reboot game and restart game for 10 min sometimes I can get the AB characters to show back up and actually play.  Sometimes I can't.</p>

<cite>Anasur@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>My experiences with AB since last Thursday.</p><p>Zone.  Get the "Loading Zone Info" screen.  Nothing happens, game eventually freezes.  Game is bugged, if I ctrl-alt-del it's showing as nonresponsive and will NOT shut down.  Reboot whole computer.  Start game back up.  Every char on AB is MISSING.  If I play the silly reboot game and restart game for 10 min sometimes I can get the AB characters to show back up and actually play.  Sometimes I can't.</p></blockquote>This is my wife's story, and many times mine as well. Been like this for about 10 days.

Time for SoE to update its hardware?drago.

<p>The funny thing is, only my AB chars are missing.  They ones are other server are just fine.</p><p>ADD:  Wee, after 10 minutes now I can see my AB chars and the server is showing as Locked.  I guess we're making progress!</p>

<cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Yep, it sure is.  The producers know of it already (they've been paying very close attention to the status of AB over the past few days) and already they have the techs crawling over it to get it resolved.  </p><p><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote><p>I'd like to be positive and I'm glad you actually posted in this thread.</p><p>We were warned in guild chat that people couldn't log in.. and a bit after that *boom* everyone went to character select etc etc</p><p>I don't personally believe any amount of techs is gonna resolve this.  The problem is plain and simple.. the server is way beyond capacity.</p><p>Now limiting login or some such isn't really an answer (all my toons are on that server).</p><p>We got a message the other day thanking us for being patient... with all the "returnees".</p><p>Well the masses of people I see.. are 70+ .. names I've never seen before... guilds I've never seen ...  Played AB since it went live...  Now nothing against anyone but.. when the server is one of the highest populated to begin with.. all those transfers err returnees are gonna cause issues.</p><p>Free transfers would be nice.. but its only going to work if anyone is willing.</p><p>I'll hope that somehow your techs find a way to fix this but just letting you know.. I don't honestly see this being fixed without some decrease in the servers population.</p>

Poor AB.. I personally think they should open a third RP server and give free character transfers to people on AB and LDL, might make AB a little less... Dead? lol

Right now I just wish I didn't have all my characters on ab.

<p>I'm getting impatient as well.  Every evening I try to log in to find the server locked, if I manage to get in game MUCH later...it is difficult to play due to the fact that zoning is a big production now...it takes so long and you may or may not get kicked to the log in screen.</p><p>I have all my chars on AB so I have no free slots to play on another server till this problem is fixed without destroying work that I might as well leave the game completely, if that is the only option.</p><p>COME ON SONY!</p>

Planetside FTW lol time to go blow people up again till ab gets up! weee

<p>Wewt!  Vanu for the win!</p><p>zap! zap!</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p>

<p>Sure, sure. But what about my free time? I want about 8hours, if you could stick it in somewhere between 3 and 4am PST that would be great. I can try to log in all night, and maybe even play some and not have to worry about being to tired for work the next day, since I'd have those extra hours from SoE to do it in <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>If you could arrange that it would be great. K?</p>

At this rate it will get better on AB. When the new people get frustrated with the down time and cancel.I can wait. /mutters Must Level.....

<p>~ casts buff - (Deploy Elite-Techno-Army Master VI) on Scott Hartsmans entire team for 5,083,947,947 points of Server Issue Resolution ~</p><p>~ Looks in spellbook ~</p><p>Now, where did I put that unlimited funds to pay the geeks spell?</p><p>Ahhhh... here it is!</p><p>~ casts buff - (Sell own children for medical experiments Master XI) on SOE for $999,999,999.00 dollars of Unlimited Financial Resources ~</p><p>There, that should do it.</p><p>/Smile</p><p>~ sits back, opens a cold beer and waits patiently ~</p>

<p>I pay to play...</p><p>If Sony dont lets me play....</p><p>Who will pay the missing play????</p><p>Not me... I want to play the game...</p><p>Come on Sony... If you cant lets the game runnig tell us... than we will find another game ....</p>

<p>Antonia Bayle: Deathwatch 2007!</p><p>Yep, still causing issues after all these years.  The techs are still on that zombie issue, and as soon as they get a bead on its putrified remains, you can be sure you'll be back ingame once again.  </p><p>~Gnobrin!</p>

<cite>Tarkadal wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Sure, sure. But what about my free time? I want about 8hours, if you could stick it in somewhere between 3 and 4am PST that would be great. I can try to log in all night, and maybe even play some and not have to worry about being to tired for work the next day, since I'd have those extra hours from SoE to do it in <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" width="15" height="15" /></p><p>If you could arrange that it would be great. K?</p></blockquote>Nice idea but if they could manage miracles the server would be up, perhaps we need to send all the sneaky LDL people who came over back again? J/K

The game is getting bigger in size, as with the populations.  They should probably upgrade to fit a high capacity if problems such as this occur.  Unless of course it is something else, but I made a new char earlier and Antonia Bayle was the only one at "High".  Usually it's about 3-4 servers at high so I'm assuming that the high population is why this is happening.drago.

<span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">Gnob.  Buddy.  Pal.  You should slide the whole "disallow transfers to AB/offer free transfers off" suggestion under a few office doors.   I hear Lucan D`Lere could use some extra bodies.</span>

<cite>Aiwo@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I pay to play...If Sony dont lets me play....</p><p>Who will pay the missing play????</p><p>Not me... I want to play the game...</p><p>Come on Sony... If you cant lets the game runnig tell us... than we will find another game ....</p></blockquote><p>Thankfully, you can still play.  It's simply not on the largest server out of all other servers.  If you want to play, simply log into another server and have at it.</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p>

<p>My guild, my friends, and all of my characters are on AB...</p><p>Give me another character slot and I'll go try another server...</p>

<p>You know, that's a pretty [Removed for Content] answer.  Are you going to copy our chars (along with all gear, money, and our guilds) to other servers so we can play there when AB is down?  And of course you'll transfer another copy back to AB when it's up so we don't lose anything, right?</p><p>Yeah I thought so.</p><p>Are you going to compensate us for the rollback you just did on AB?  Yeah, I thought so about that too.</p>

<p>Well, I know for a certainty that my entire guild would have no problems moving to another less populated server if it'd help the overall load issue.  Frankly, we've have done it already were the cost not so high.  We've been on AB since launch and still, we'd have no problems moving should they SOE offer a free move.</p><p>Faerless</p>

Gnobrin, sure I can make a character on another server, spend two years there, make friends and a guild. Sure. I can also loose the respect I had for you by reading your reply above.

<p>People - Gnobrin was just stating a fact.  I don't think he really meant any disrespect.  </p><p>Gnobrin - That 'was' a little harshly stated though man.  In this time of 'customer' frustration, I should think a touch more tact is called for.</p><p>Faerless</p>

eh bad reply by Gnorbin... no comment on rolling a new toon elsewhere

It's obviously our fault for being on the most populated server.  Although I don't remember seeing a disclaimer at character selection to the effect of "Choose a populated server at your own risk.  You may or may not be able to actually play there."

<p>Oh, c'mon folks.  Can't a guy have some humor in these dark and forboding times?  Shame on me for trying to make a point.</p><p>::slaps his own hand::</p><p>shaaaame.</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p>

<p>Ok it says AB is up..yet I can't log in. </p><p>I'm getting stuck on the: Entering game as Lemissa screen...and then it times out.</p><p>Anyone else having the same issue?</p><p>I hope they fix it soon <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I was just about to kill a mob I needed for a quest.  (for a legendary piece that I've been trying to get for a few days.)</p><p>Now I won't have a group when I finally do get back in and I"m at 98.3% ...sigh </p><p>Any idea how long its gonna be?</p>

quote:"I know servers/games are dodgy after a expansion (been playing such games for over 12 years)"One would expect they have learned from former disasters,but probably they need another decade to  get  this right.  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />I dunno,maybe the MMOG industry likes to stay as a niche product,cant find another explanation why thereis absolutly no progress in overall stability in the last years.Although the solution is simple,just be less ambitious and patch only what is thoroughly tested.

<p>That's right!  Don't MAKE me take away your Blue Otterpops again!</p><p>Faerless</p>

<p>Sorry but I don't see anything humorous about telling us we're playing on the wrong server.  And my sense of humor went out the window days ago when all these problems started.  What little tiny crumb of humor left inside of me shriveled up and blew away after watching SOE piddle around for a week conducting exercises in futility (otherwise known as trying to fix AB).</p><p>My apologies, I have no sense of humor left.  I'm so glad you find this situation humorous.</p>

I am sorry, but while most modern MMOs offer many more "ALT" slots than EQ2, I still find this a very satisfying experience.  Unfortunately after 3 years, 24 classes, and 19 races, 7 slots does not give us many choices to play elsewhere.  That was uncalled for from a TSR or Dev.

<p>I, for one can't do that, as I don't have any more slots.</p><p>Maybe now is the time to finally ask the AB community embrace the notion that AB is a Roleplaying server, and offer a new server for those individuals and guilds to transfer off to, who aren't interested in Roleplaying.</p><p>If you ever release an EQ3 it might be a good idea to start with more than one RP server, and maintain some level of expectation about public ooc communication.  So that half the population doesn't flock to a single server.  </p>

<p>~gong!~ </p><p>Bring out your dead!</p><p>~gong!~</p><p>Bring out your dead!</p>

<p>I didn't say you were on the wrong server.  I stated that the comment that you were not getting what you were paying for was incorrect since you pay to have access to the servers, and all but one of them are fully operational and without issue.</p><p>::shrug::</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p>

Lemissa, just be glad you hadn't killed that mob yet.  They did a significant rollback on AB - large enough to completely negate the quest I'd just done from start to finish in Tombs of Night.

<cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I didn't say you were on the wrong server.  I stated that the comment that you were not getting what you were paying for was incorrect since you pay to have access to the servers, and all but one of them are fully operational and without issue.</p><p>::shrug::</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote>So your recommendation is that we delete one of the characters that we have spent hour after hour developing, to pick and play on a server where we know no one?  Man, there is insensitivity for you.......<img src="/eq2/images/smilies/2786c5c8e1a8be796fb2f726cca5a0fe.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" />

<cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Oh, c'mon folks.  Can't a guy have some humor in these dark and forboding times?  Shame on me for trying to make a point.</p><p>::slaps his own hand::</p><p>shaaaame.</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote><p>I laughed <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /></p>

free character slot would make me happy <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

<cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I didn't say you were on the wrong server.  I stated that the comment that you were not getting what you were paying for was incorrect since you pay to have access to the servers, and all but one of them are fully operational and without issue.</p><p>::shrug::</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote>No biggie, Gnobrin...Not all of us are oblivious to...well...the obvious... I've always maintained alts on multiple servers in every game I play because of this accepted norm in the industry. I never could understand why some don't, and then have a tizz-fit when their preferred server went down. By the look of this thread, I thought I was on the WoW forums...

<span style="font-size: medium;font-family: comic sans ms,sand;color: #990000;">All the time, it was...we finally really did it!! You maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, </span><span style="font-size: medium;font-family: comic sans ms,sand;color: #006600;">[Charlton Heston is unable to control his language]</span><span style="font-size: medium;font-family: comic sans ms,sand;color: #990000;"> you! God...</span><span style="font-size: medium;font-family: comic sans ms,sand;color: #006600;">[Charlton Heston is unable to control his language]</span><span style="font-size: medium;font-family: comic sans ms,sand;color: #990000;"> you all to </span><span style="font-size: medium;font-family: comic sans ms,sand;color: #006600;">[Charlton Heston is unable to control his language]</span><span style="font-size: medium;font-family: comic sans ms,sand;color: #990000;">!</span>

<p>Otter Pops to the rescue!!!  </p><p>Hey!  Someone had to <a href="http://www.otterpops.com/musvid.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">'Save the day</a>!"</p><p>Faerless</p>

<cite>Khanon wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I didn't say you were on the wrong server.  I stated that the comment that you were not getting what you were paying for was incorrect since you pay to have access to the servers, and all but one of them are fully operational and without issue.</p><p>::shrug::</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote>No biggie, Gnobrin...Not all of us are oblivious to...well...the obvious... I've always maintained alts on multiple servers in every game I play because of this accepted norm in the industry. I never could understand why some don't, and then have a tizz-fit when their preferred server went down. By the look of this thread, I thought I was on the WoW forums...</blockquote>i must agree , you think people would know this is going to happen with each new expansion. it seems we have a set of people that don't see things take time to get right but i see them as  the girl in the new willy wonka film I WANT IT NOW!!  like you i think we have new WoW players finding they want more like eq2 but still think they can act like WoW players

<cite>Khanon wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I didn't say you were on the wrong server.  I stated that the comment that you were not getting what you were paying for was incorrect since you pay to have access to the servers, and all but one of them are fully operational and without issue.</p><p>::shrug::</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote>No biggie, Gnobrin...Not all of us are oblivious to...well...the obvious... I've always maintained alts on multiple servers in every game I play because of this accepted norm in the industry. I never could understand why some don't, and then have a tizz-fit when their preferred server went down. By the look of this thread, I thought I was on the WoW forums...</blockquote>Some of us do have ones on other servers but we also would like to play the one that we have on this server. I want to play my level 71 wizard that I worked hard at for 2 and half years. I am sure others would love to play their characters too.

<span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">The kicker of this for me is that when me and my pals packed our bags and headed over from EQ1 when this shindig started, we picked AB because we assumed that the "RP preferred" servers would be the lower popularity servers of the bunch.  o_0</span>

<cite>Badtimes wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Khanon wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I didn't say you were on the wrong server.  I stated that the comment that you were not getting what you were paying for was incorrect since you pay to have access to the servers, and all but one of them are fully operational and without issue.</p><p>::shrug::</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote>No biggie, Gnobrin...Not all of us are oblivious to...well...the obvious... I've always maintained alts on multiple servers in every game I play because of this accepted norm in the industry. I never could understand why some don't, and then have a tizz-fit when their preferred server went down. By the look of this thread, I thought I was on the WoW forums...</blockquote>i must agree , you think people would know this is going to happen with each new expansion. it seems we have a set of people that don't see things take time to get right but i see them as  the girl in the new willy wonka film I WANT IT NOW!!  like you i think we have new WoW players finding they want more like eq2 but still think they can act like WoW players</blockquote><p>Please stop making presumptions.  I for one would be MUCH more understanding if this was affecting ALL servers and not just AB.</p><p>Incidentally, some of us have been playing SOE mmorpgs since 1999, before they were SOE, and certainly don't qualify to be called a "new WoW player" by any stretch of the imagination.</p>

<cite>Anasur@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Badtimes wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Khanon wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I didn't say you were on the wrong server.  I stated that the comment that you were not getting what you were paying for was incorrect since you pay to have access to the servers, and all but one of them are fully operational and without issue.</p><p>::shrug::</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote>No biggie, Gnobrin...Not all of us are oblivious to...well...the obvious... I've always maintained alts on multiple servers in every game I play because of this accepted norm in the industry. I never could understand why some don't, and then have a tizz-fit when their preferred server went down. By the look of this thread, I thought I was on the WoW forums...</blockquote>i must agree , you think people would know this is going to happen with each new expansion. it seems we have a set of people that don't see things take time to get right but i see them as  the girl in the new willy wonka film I WANT IT NOW!!  like you i think we have new WoW players finding they want more like eq2 but still think they can act like WoW players</blockquote><p>Please stop making presumptions.  I for one would be MUCH more understanding if this was affecting ALL servers and not just AB.</p><p>Incidentally, some of us have been playing SOE mmorpgs since 1999, before they were SOE, and certainly don't qualify to be called a "new WoW player" by any stretch of the imagination.</p></blockquote>Exactly if it was happening with all the servers we would understand. This happens with every expansion by now they should have some of the kinks worked out were it would run a bit smoother. Not asking for much just be able to play the game and not be stuck zoning for 10 minutes.

The same problem everyday at about the same time :/

<cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Yep, it sure is.  The producers know of it already (they've been paying very close attention to the status of AB over the past few days) and already they have the techs crawling over it to get it resolved.  </p><p><img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" /></p><p>~Gnobrin!</p><p>To pass on all the complaining, I only have one question. </p><p>As you posted Gnobrin, if those in power know about the issue, and have been watching it for several days, why is it every time the server drops the first post by those in the know is "the gnomes are looking into it".</p><p>Almost a week now this has been happening, shouldn't they know by now the cause and have a solid fix in place, rather than disabling brokers and the such as a quick work around.</p><p>Why cant the powers in the know tell us what the cause is, and actually fix it, rather than keep putting band aids on it every night, just to get by till the server hard crashes again.</p><p>But I do thank you for atleast posting something Gnobrin, and putting something out there, how ever limited it is.  Something is better than nothing at times   <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p></blockquote>

But what about players like me who just recently joined and are having free time on the game taken away from them?  i just made my friends on AB, joined a guild, got decent spells and equip and some decent money for the future of my char.....i'm still on my 30 days free trial from purchasing the all in one expansion pack....i also claimed all my vet rewards that came with the expansion on my AB toon....free char transfer?  or should i just go down to the pet store and buy some hamster food?-Mags

<span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">Gnobrin - Can you confirm that it is indeed a volume/population issue as opposed to something else like a hardware problem specific to AB?  The answer might be obvious, but it'd be nice to know for certain.</span>

<cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I didn't say you were on the wrong server.  I stated that the comment that you were not getting what you were paying for was incorrect since you pay to have access to the servers, and all but one of them are fully operational and without issue.</p><p>::shrug::</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote><p>You also said to make a character on another server. Humour is not what's needed here. If eq2 didn't offer a paltry, pathetic and very stifling low amount of character slots that I've not seen so low on any other mmo [and I've played a double handful] that option then goes out the window and is no option at all. Some people delete their time and effort I do not. Nor would any sane person. When you fill your slots up in your first six months of being in eq2 and it's been years and another expansion just came out with no more slots suggestions like yours just serve to fuel the fire and baiting frustrated customers. Im surprised your surprised. </p><p>If we had unlimited character slots or even "more" [lots more] then I'd already be doing as you suggested and I wouldn't be in a situation where my entire list of characters are held hostage by a server problem that, with a little attention, could have been avoided to begin with and in the least have been resolved by now. The old toss your hands up in the air and say my oh my are we  ever taken off guard and ten years of running several mporgs doesn't mean were any smarter is just lame.</p>

<cite>Stugein@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">The kicker of this for me is that when me and my pals packed our bags and headed over from EQ1 when this shindig started, we picked AB because we assumed that the "RP preferred" servers would be the lower popularity servers of the bunch.  o_0</span></blockquote>My MMORPG experience is that the RP servers are always the most populated.

<cite>Igu wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Stugein@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">The kicker of this for me is that when me and my pals packed our bags and headed over from EQ1 when this shindig started, we picked AB because we assumed that the "RP preferred" servers would be the lower popularity servers of the bunch.  o_0</span></blockquote>My MMORPG experience is that the RP servers are always the most populated.</blockquote><span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">My only MMO experience prior to EQ2 was EQ1.  I was on Fennin Ro and we had a pretty healthy population, being one of the older servers.  I couldn't tell you why, but for whatever reason we always assumed the RP servers would be the slimmest, population-wise.  Maybe we were foolish enough to think that they were <i>actually </i>used by mostly RP'ers.</span>

<cite>Stugein@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Igu wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Stugein@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote><span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">The kicker of this for me is that when me and my pals packed our bags and headed over from EQ1 when this shindig started, we picked AB because we assumed that the "RP preferred" servers would be the lower popularity servers of the bunch.  o_0</span></blockquote>My MMORPG experience is that the RP servers are always the most populated.</blockquote><span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">My only MMO experience prior to EQ2 was EQ1.  I was on Fennin Ro and we had a pretty healthy population, being one of the older servers.  I couldn't tell you why, but for whatever reason we always assumed the RP servers would be the slimmest, population-wise.  Maybe we were foolish enough to think that they were <i>actually </i>used by mostly RP'ers.</span></blockquote>My guess is that people would consider the RP servers to have the most mature community. If the RP server had been there day-one of EQ1, it would likely have been very populated. Most players were invested in their servers by the time it did come out.

<p>I came to ab because my eq1 guild had a branch here. The fact it was a high population rp server was a bonus, or so I thought. That was before seeing that pretty much every server accept ab is having a grand 'ol time. 10-20 minute zone times are no fun and to be honest I dont care how many techs stare at compute rhardware the obvious problem to me is server load which can only be fixed by lessenin the load with smart simple population incentives or by doublingthe server capacity, neither of which I see being done. </p><p>The humour of how ab is the running lag joke or funny old ab is wonky again don't amuse me. If it's such a joke or a known thing that even the board moderators chuckle about it then you would think a responsible company that understood how their lively hood is generated and kept would have addressed and fixed this issue before an expansion release. Not sit there afterward saying OMG OMG HAHA CHECK OUT AB then stand around doing a seance to the server while praying people quit to lessen load so they can take credit for it. Soe's business model is so tiny and short sighted it's laughable. They are happy with so little.</p>

<span style="font-family: courier new,courier;">Hmm...they must have all gone back to sleep.  Sleepy sleepy employees.  A nap will do them good.</span>

They're waiting for everyone to give up and go to sleep to lessen the server load.

<cite>Gnobrin wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>I didn't say you were on the wrong server.  I stated that the comment that you were not getting what you were paying for was incorrect since you pay to have access to the servers, and all but one of them are fully operational and without issue.</p><p>::shrug::</p><p>~Gnobrin!</p></blockquote>That's great when you don't have all of your extremely small amount of character slots filled with characters on your one server that is down. I'd delete a low level alt I don't care about (but mine I care about), but when the server is down I can't delete characters.  I suppose there is always the test server. <img src="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" width="15" height="15" /> Just saying!

I don't mind the low number of alt slots (I played SWG with 1 character per server, and EVE with 3 characters only and a 12 hour delete time).  However, I do mind the disconnect between the character select screen and the servers.IE:  Instead of caching the information about your characters on a central login server database, the character select screen apparently polls each server for your characters.  This means when a server is down, those characters don't show up as even existing.  Big deal?Well, yes.  It's rather annoying when you create a character on another server because the login process allows you to do so, and suddenly find your oldest (least recently logged in) character has disappeared and won't show up until you delete someone.You don't even need to cache the full character data... just name/race/class/level and put a dummy 3D model up if the server in question is down.  At least you'd know you still existed.Until that gets fixed, rolling an alt on another server when your main server is down is.... dangerous.

ALL OF YOU NEED TO SHUT THE HECK UP... RIGHT NOW, YOU PANSY REAR-ENDS!!! ITS NOT SOE'S FAULT THE SERVER WENT DOWN.. OK? IT'S MY FAULT, AND MINE ALONE, I CRASHED THE SERVER!!! so there i was, a dark and unlit cave, with 5 new pals i have never herded with before... when this krikbar came out of nowhere with his posse' of banditos, and wham, next thing i knew we had cleared the entire cave of would be kobold attackers now, steak on a stick! But what is that? its... its... a door? ... in a cave, hmmmm i wonder where it leads...? ...... ....... .... bio break.. finish getting ready for work..... ...... ...... ... puts on military boots and straps, and is now completely ready.... ....... ...... ...... <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> wonder where i will log into now? P>S> for all of you bashing grobin, ( shhhh!!! he holds the key to your ability to complain on here.... don't awaken his evil side!!!)

Quick questions, in reply to play another server.. 1. can I post my gold to a new cha on a diferent server ? 2. Can I get a free transfer, don't see why I have to pay transfer to fix sonys load problem (i'm trying to help by moving) 3, If 1 is true, can I please have my new troub boosted too 28, hey it may not seem high, but this class is bloody painfull to solo, when your new and own nothing so can't twink.... Stupidly it seems, I listened to my mates when I was happily playing Lotro, in a nice RP guild, when I heard "Mate come EQ2 its great and they have a RP server" Well I took a look and saw it was true (being in UK, I had no idea of server size as it said Low, all the yanks were asleep) Got settled, met a nice guild, strugled my [I cannot control my vocabulary] off to 20 as a Troub (not a good choice as new player class) now i'm 28 and honestly see no real choice but to try get moved or restart, blowing my first 2 months of gaming <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" /> Hope you guys get this sorted, but don't think the population is going to wait for the reternees, to get bored and leave again.. Many games have offered free transfers off overcrowded servers, though same companys have also locked transfer too said servers too (at your prices I can see why you wont lock transfers too AB and I guess this cost is also why we can't leave either)

<cite>Cirwen@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>Quick questions, in reply to play another server..1. can I post my gold to a new cha on a diferent server ?2. Can I get a free transfer, don't see why I have to pay transfer to fix sonys load problem (i'm trying to help by moving)3, If 1 is true, can I please have my new troub boosted too 28, hey it may not seem high, but this class is bloody painfull to solo, when your new and own nothing so can't twink....<p>Stupidly it seems, I listened to my mates when I was happily playing Lotro, in a nice RP guild, when I heard "Mate come EQ2 its great and they have a RP server"Well I took a look and saw it was true (being in UK, I had no idea of server size as it said Low, all the yanks were asleep)Got settled, met a nice guild, strugled my [I cannot control my vocabulary] off to 20 as a Troub (not a good choice as new player class) now i'm 28 and honestly see no real choice but to try get moved or restart, blowing my first 2 months of gaming <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />">Hope you guys get this sorted, but don't think the population is going to wait for the reternees, to get bored and leave again..Many games have offered free transfers off overcrowded servers, though same companys have also locked transfer too said servers too (at your prices I can see why you wont lock transfers too AB and I guess this cost is also why we can't leave either) </p></blockquote><p>Right now, SoE has said that they're aware of the request players are making for free transfers off of AB, but no decision has been made and if/when there is one, it'll be announced. If you really want to move off the server, then you'll have to pay for it. You keep everything in the transfer, with the possible exception of your name (if it's already taken on your new server) and your guild association, of course.</p><p>Just as a side-note. If you're saying that it has actually taken you two months to level to 28, then unless you're level-locking and playing very casually (a few hours a week, at most), you're doing something really, really wrong. Bards aren't the fastest soloers, but something else is going on in your situation. Either you're not geared properly, you're not running through the quest timelines for the appropriate zones... something. You might want to post in the Troub forum and ask for soloing advice from experienced players who may be able to help you in that regard.</p>

<p>Hark!</p><p>Here is what I would like to happen. I would like Gnorbin to answer the question someone asked earlier in this forum. Can he confirm the problems with AB is due to overpopulation? or give us a real explanation so people knowledgeable about computers or wikipedia or google can know what is really going on? Whenever the server goes down, I check the forums, I see a red name post! yay some answers. I read post. " I can't get no satisfacation", feel just as out of the loop as before. </p><p>Second, if he says we pay to play on all the servers. Well I don't, I pay to play the characters I created and used all my seven spots on. I totally agree and call for more character slots, seven per server I say. Or at least a couple more for when the server goes down, <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />. Most of us have an "affliction", and it is called alt-itis. Anyone notice the bug, when the server is down and not all the characters show up on character select, you can create new character. Didn't try though, didn't want to lose or not see my other characters.</p><p> I think they should offer free transfers off, since a lot of people want that, but I don't think they should forbid access to new players. If I have a friend who joins the game, I would like them to be able to play with me on the server I love. I'll never transfer, I can put up with this business in hopes that it will work it self out soon. </p><p>I understand this is frustrating on both sides, but I don't think Gnorbin is handling it that well. </p>

<cite>Irelia wrote:</cite><blockquote><p> <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />  Most of us have an "affliction", and it is called alt-itis.</p></blockquote><p>This here is part of the problem.  Everytime someone who plays multiple characters is mentioned, this little joke is made.  Calling it a disease implies that there is something wrong with the desire to play more than one character.  I resent this mentality.  I have 12 characters and none of them are "alts."  Alts would imply that I value one more than the others.  It is time to stop belittleing people because their interest is not in racing for the finish line, but instead in playing characters.</p><p>I don't mean to single you out.  In fact it is quite the opposite.  It seems to me that everytime "alts" are mentioned, this is the characterization of the player.  It is a tired joke, and it does a disservice to those who enjoy this style of play.</p>

<cite>Irelia wrote:</cite><blockquote>Here is what I would like to happen. I would like Gnorbin to answer the question someone asked earlier in this forum. Can he confirm the problems with AB is due to overpopulation? </blockquote><p>I don't think it's any mystery that it's the result of their code not being able to handle the sheer number of users that coming online at once; virtually everything you do in the game is a database transaction. Search the broker, split a stack of items into two, loot something, trade with another player, check your mail, place something in your house, zone... the list goes on. I would doubt it's specifically a hardware problem; if it was, that would be fairly straight-forward to address. In the grand scheme of things, there are fault-tolerant server clusters that handle a heck of a lot more traffic than SoE's game here.</p><p>There's plenty of anecdotal evidence that it's strictly population related. The server starts to fall over during prime-time (from around 5pm to 11pm EST); the first indication is when it starts taking 5-10 minutes to zone. They disable the broker, the throttle the login server, they lock the server ... all in attempts to keep the proverbial hamsters running on their wheel. Sooner rather than later, the inevitable happens and the server implodes. Many people just give up and logout for the night. The server comes back up, many fewer players log back in, and things move along (slowly) for the remainder of the night. The server is given a therapeutic reboot at 3AM PST.</p><p>Wash. Rinse. Repeat.</p><p>Given that's been the same scenario for the past week, it's pretty clear that population is at least aggravating the situation, regardless of what the underlying problem is. I doubt that we'll ever here an actual technical response from them; they're pretty cagey when it comes to issues with their technology, server populations and other "state secrets", so to speak.</p>

<cite>Iggyvyn wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Irelia wrote:</cite><blockquote><p> <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" />  Most of us have an "affliction", and it is called alt-itis.</p></blockquote><p>This here is part of the problem.  Everytime someone who plays multiple characters is mentioned, this little joke is made.  Calling it a disease implies that there is something wrong with the desire to play more than one character.  I resent this mentality.  I have 12 characters and none of them are "alts."  Alts would imply that I value one more than the others.  It is time to stop belittleing people because their interest is not in racing for the finish line, but instead in playing characters.</p><p>I don't mean to single you out.  In fact it is quite the opposite.  It seems to me that everytime "alts" are mentioned, this is the characterization of the player.  It is a tired joke, and it does a disservice to those who enjoy this style of play.</p></blockquote>I'm very sorry if I offended you. I wasn't trying to say it was a disease or a bad thing. I have 7 characters and I only use the term alts because I don't know what else to call them. The "main" is the first one created or most played, and the others are "alts". "alt-itis" may have been the wrong term. I only meant to say that there are people who enjoy creating lots of characters and like variety of play. I in no way mean to offend anyone using this terminology, it is the only terminology I know. I only stated the above quote to say that most people can't just go play other characters on another server b/c they already used their character slots on this one.

<cite>Kordran wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Cirwen@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite><blockquote>Quick questions, in reply to play another server..1. can I post my gold to a new cha on a diferent server ?2. Can I get a free transfer, don't see why I have to pay transfer to fix sonys load problem (i'm trying to help by moving)3, If 1 is true, can I please have my new troub boosted too 28, hey it may not seem high, but this class is bloody painfull to solo, when your new and own nothing so can't twink....<p>Stupidly it seems, I listened to my mates when I was happily playing Lotro, in a nice RP guild, when I heard "Mate come EQ2 its great and they have a RP server"Well I took a look and saw it was true (being in UK, I had no idea of server size as it said Low, all the yanks were asleep)Got settled, met a nice guild, strugled my [I cannot control my vocabulary] off to 20 as a Troub (not a good choice as new player class) now i'm 28 and honestly see no real choice but to try get moved or restart, blowing my first 2 months of gaming <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" width="15" height="15" />">Hope you guys get this sorted, but don't think the population is going to wait for the reternees, to get bored and leave again..Many games have offered free transfers off overcrowded servers, though same companys have also locked transfer too said servers too (at your prices I can see why you wont lock transfers too AB and I guess this cost is also why we can't leave either) </p></blockquote><p>Right now, SoE has said that they're aware of the request players are making for free transfers off of AB, but no decision has been made and if/when there is one, it'll be announced. If you really want to move off the server, then you'll have to pay for it. You keep everything in the transfer, with the possible exception of your name (if it's already taken on your new server) and your guild association, of course.</p><p>Just as a side-note. If you're saying that it has actually taken you two months to level to 28, then unless you're level-locking and playing very casually (a few hours a week, at most), you're doing something really, really wrong. Bards aren't the fastest soloers, but something else is going on in your situation. Either you're not geared properly, you're not running through the quest timelines for the appropriate zones... something. You might want to post in the Troub forum and ask for soloing advice from experienced players who may be able to help you in that regard.</p></blockquote>Has taken me this long for few simple reasons, tried few alts, got to know game abit and the bigest reason, that i'm sure most people on AB would never understand, I was to busy doing Role playing, to just zoom off in levels...Sure I could just group lots, fly though quests, dungions and have no time to read any of the info or plot of why i'm killing mr X in said cave again, but then I would just be another sheep runing about lost wondering where things are..I spend way too much time, geting lost, just to see whats around the next bend, to get high lev fast..

<cite>Irelia wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Iggyvyn wrote:</cite>I'm very sorry if I offended you. I wasn't trying to say it was a disease or a bad thing. I have 7 characters and I only use the term alts because I don't know what else to call them. The "main" is the first one created or most played, and the others are "alts". "alt-itis" may have been the wrong term. I only meant to say that there are people who enjoy creating lots of characters and like variety of play. <span style="color: #ff3300;">I in no way mean to offend anyone using this terminology, it is the only terminology I know</span>. I only stated the above quote to say that most people can't just go play other characters on another server b/c they already used their character slots on this one. </blockquote><p>I am not offended, and like I said it isn't anything personal at all.  I think this highlight is a good example of what I see as a problem.  You don't have the language to express this in any other way.  Everyone calls them alts, and the inevitible alt-itis tongue in cheek comment goes along with it.  I don't feel like you personally are doing anything wrong by using the terms that everyone uses.</p><p>My complaint is that we as a community don't take the time to come up with better language.  I very much feel like the style of play you and I both enjoy is marginalized because it is characterized as deviant.  If you don't have a main, you aren't playing the "right" way.   And therefore your desires aren't important.</p><p>I believe that humans are not capable of having certain thoughts when they lack the language to express those thoughts.  The word needs to come first, before the more complex idea can be formed.  We as a community should examine the short hand words we use in order to express complicated ideas quickly.  Sometimes they limit our thinking.</p><p>I appreciate your response Irelia, but it is in no way personal.  Please don't feel bad.</p>

<p>Gallenite, the Senior Producer for EQII, <a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=394767" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">has posted here </a>in regards to this issue as well as laid out battle plans for correcting the situation causing you to have such unstable connections.  </p><p><img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>~Gnobrin!</p>

<p>Maybe Im just lucky or just happen to play at the right times but seriously.</p><p>I havent really noticed that much down time untill last night. Even then it was only a few hours.</p><p>Ive been playing pretty steady too before RoK and after. I played nearly all day saturday (what a slouch), several hours on Sunday with little to no problems.</p><p>Last night everything was going fine till I tried to meet some friends whom were complaining about zoning and then I foze up. A quick check of server status showed it locked.</p><p>So I just went and did something else for a couple of hours.</p><p>I havent seen this tremdous amount of "loss of play time" and or "extreme inconvience".</p><p>Obviously the problems can be solved by throwing money at the situation and that is exactly what they seem to be doing. Much larger servers with on the order of 10's of thousands more 'clients' exist and are able to handle the load.</p><p>Im always amused by folks perception of the 'server' as a single entity when in fact it is an ungainly assembly of hardware and software. Anytime you have something on that scale and is that complicated issues are surely to arise.</p><p>I hope that they throw enough money at the problem to make AB as stable as the other servers. After all its where a large majority of players... play.</p>

<p>In terms of sheer numbers, sure there are servers handling more clients out there.  They seem to be throwing hardware at the problem, and if it is just an issue of access to resources, then that should solve it.</p><p>There comes a point though where the database is just too big.  I hope that we haven't reached that point.</p><p>I can't think of any apps that are handling larger volumes of data (albiet for fewer clients,) maybe those number crunchers that the NSA uses to break encryption (and those aren't database transactions,) but I can't think of anything else on this scale.  Can you?</p><p>I'm glad you haven't experienced it, Ulterior.  What the rest of us are seeing, is long zone times (5-10 minutes.)  Things seem to be fairly good with in most zones.  I played all afternoon on Sunday, while the majority of players were locked out or became locked out when they attempted to zone.  My party was in Nektropos the whole time though, and we never had to zone.  So, we were fine.</p>

<p>Unlike some who think server down time is the end of the world, last nights issue led to an amussing situation. I was wandering around JW and "dinged" 76. A few minutes later the server crashed. When I got back in there was a slight rollback, I was 75 again, but still had the quest I recieved after dinging.  I looked in the Guild Event Log and it listed me as dinging 76. So I killed a few MOBs and "dinged" again.  So I'm the only one in my guild that "dinged" 76 twice, and had both displayed in the guild log.</p><p><span style="color: #ccff00;font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">If Life Hands You A Lemon, Make Lemonade.</span> </p>

<cite>Iggyvyn wrote:</cite> <blockquote><p>I can't think of any apps that are handling larger volumes of data (albiet for fewer clients,) <b>maybe those number crunchers that the NSA uses to break encryption</b> (and those aren't database transactions,) but I can't think of anything else on this scale.  Can you?</p></blockquote>Though they arent computers but the captured aliens from area 51.