A fair number of the players on Test are actually skilled programmers and very good testers. With the server down it is not possible to /bug any issues we find. generic server down/lock instances don't allow us to help you debug the system. Shutting down information channels and (though a lot of whining is not helpful) some of even those whines have useful information. Personally so far I have only seen server lag spikes that sometimes kick the players to character select, sometimes all the way out to where a new login is required. And I have noted that it seems to be fairly regular though I have not yet had a chance to time the lag spikes. We obviously do not have nor need access to the server logs but knowing what you are looking to resolve would be most helpful to all of us. We would know what to look for. I have heard people are login in with all their toons as defualt pallies at lvl 1... this is not particularly uncommon with massive lag spikes and reloging will often solve the problem and get a fully updated client list. however this has not always worked so I hear so there must be something more e.g. part of the accounts client list is populated (it knows how many characters you had) yet all are null (default) so the data was not updated and a save occured but can be rolled back for that specific account (server side not a big issue from a valid save point) only the account information is needed and a good starting point (date/time) when the last valid save point may have been. But bluntly hushing a forum thread helps no one... we like Test, we don't really have problems with server issues particularly when you are clearly trying to help the community through performance upgrades like reducing traffic overhead of useless chatter of stats that can be quickly calculated client side. (AA grouping, mod2 stat reduction) If we knew more about why the server needs to be down and what specifically needs to be tested we would be in a much better position to help each other. I have been a programmer in multiple languages and SQL server languages for 20+ years, myself and others probably know more about how these things run then many of your new programmer. Shutting us out only hurts your good will.
If you've been programming (professionally) in multiple languages for 20+ years, then you know why your idea is a bad one and will never be green lit in a million years. You'd also know why the server has to be locked and tested in a controlled environment.
Meh they have taken suggestions and more from players before. I myself submitted a file fix to either Prathun or Dzarn during TDS beta that let drogmors be visible while Luclin elementals were turned off. It was accepted and in-game for a good while until the starting framework for Dzarn's old-model-toggle was put in (which I still hope he is allowed to finish soon <3) which changed the files up a bit. They would never give access to databases or code to non-employees, but they can, and do/have, accepted direct help from the players in the past.
No if's, he has been programming in multiple languages for 20 plus years. Re-read the post, it basically asks for information as to what the Dev's are looking for and for the forums to be, you know, what they are.. a source of contact and information.
I read the post. My point is that the server is experiencing server-side issues and only server-side diagnostics will discover the issues. They've asked us to /bug report our character corruptions and to post on the message boards when test crashes. I'd say that is pretty good communication. Combine that with the patch notes they release (so we can target our testing on something), I'd say they are doing just fine in the communicating their needs to us as testers. I honestly think the fix will come by disabling /testcopy for a few days and wiping all /testcopy gear and toons from the server that were copied over since the stat consolidation patch was rolled out to the live servers.
Maybe I wasn't as clear as I thought I was or maybe all the whining about the server downtime has placed you into a specific mindset. My comment was toward a closed post, (not a down server) where there were many pages of data being exchanged and one admin chose to close the post because he didn't like the tone... that was my point...it has nothing to do with not being on the server
Yeah, that clears it up Oh and your mention of the "Server down and we can't submit /bug reports" had me thinking that you were offering help for that issue.
