AB dead again

[zixtent]

Khanon wrote:

Gnobrin wrote:

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.

::shrug::

~Gnobrin!

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...

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.

[Stuge]

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

[Jehanne]

Badtimes wrote:

Khanon wrote:

Gnobrin wrote:

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.

::shrug::

~Gnobrin!

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...

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

Please stop making presumptions.  I for one would be MUCH more understanding if this was affecting ALL servers and not just AB.

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.

[zixtent]

Anasur@Antonia Bayle wrote:

Badtimes wrote:

Khanon wrote:

Gnobrin wrote:

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.

::shrug::

~Gnobrin!

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...

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

Please stop making presumptions.  I for one would be MUCH more understanding if this was affecting ALL servers and not just AB.

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.

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.

[Computerz]

The same problem everyday at about the same time :/

[fltengineer]

Gnobrin wrote:

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. 

" />

~Gnobrin!

To pass on all the complaining, I only have one question.

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".

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.

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.

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  

[Magsys]

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

[Stuge]

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.

[Freddy101]

Gnobrin wrote:

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.

::shrug::

~Gnobrin!

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.

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.

[Igu]

Stugein@Antonia Bayle wrote:

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

My MMORPG experience is that the RP servers are always the most populated.

[Stuge]

Igu wrote:

Stugein@Antonia Bayle wrote:

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

My MMORPG experience is that the RP servers are always the most populated.

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 actually used by mostly RP'ers.

[Igu]

Stugein@Antonia Bayle wrote:

Igu wrote:

Stugein@Antonia Bayle wrote:

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

My MMORPG experience is that the RP servers are always the most populated.

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 actually used by mostly RP'ers.

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.

[Freddy101]

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.

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.

[Stuge]

Hmm...they must have all gone back to sleep.  Sleepy sleepy employees.  A nap will do them good.

[Androsinth]

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

[Jennive]

Gnobrin wrote:

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.

::shrug::

~Gnobrin!

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. Just saying!

[Dread Quixadhal]

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.

[NANEEJE]

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.... ....... ...... ...... 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!!!)

[Suelothvar]

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 " /> 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)

[Kordran]

Cirwen@Antonia Bayle wrote:

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 ">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)

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.

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.

[Irelia]

Hark!

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.

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, . 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.

 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. 

I understand this is frustrating on both sides, but I don't think Gnorbin is handling it that well.

[Iggyvyn]

Irelia wrote:

   Most of us have an "affliction", and it is called alt-itis.

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.

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.

[Kordran]

Irelia wrote:

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?

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.

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.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

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.

[Irelia]

Iggyvyn wrote:

Irelia wrote:

   Most of us have an "affliction", and it is called alt-itis.

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.

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.

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.

[Suelothvar]

Kordran wrote:

Cirwen@Antonia Bayle wrote:

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 ">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)

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.

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.

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..

[Iggyvyn]

Irelia wrote:

Iggyvyn wrote: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.

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.

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.

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.

I appreciate your response Irelia, but it is in no way personal.  Please don't feel bad.

[Gnobrin]

Gallenite, the Senior Producer for EQII, has posted here in regards to this issue as well as laid out battle plans for correcting the situation causing you to have such unstable connections. 

~Gnobrin!

[UlteriorModem]

Maybe Im just lucky or just happen to play at the right times but seriously.

I havent really noticed that much down time untill last night. Even then it was only a few hours.

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.

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.

So I just went and did something else for a couple of hours.

I havent seen this tremdous amount of "loss of play time" and or "extreme inconvience".

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.

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.

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.

[Iggyvyn]

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.

There comes a point though where the database is just too big.  I hope that we haven't reached that point.

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?

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.

[roshton]

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.

If Life Hands You A Lemon, Make Lemonade.