*As I write this I have been in queue for approximately 167 minutes (and counting) on a stated 73 minute queue that I entered at roughly 9:00 PT* Even though Aradune is still in classic, we need to bring in the Kunark-era Cleric rez stick to fix the multitude of issues that players have been faced with since the server launch on May 27 (*May 28 if you want to count when anyone could actually log in to play). In the two and a half weeks of Aradune's existence we have gone from experiencing long but reasonable queues, to no queues but extremely long zone times and chat delay, back to queues that are now approaching five+ hours. All while dealing with random crashes to desktop (which you have addressed and stated is a known issue that will be fixed next week) and no grace period to get back in the game after such a crash. Through all of this, we have had some DPG employees attempt to engage on the Discord forums (thank you Dreamweaver and Pip!!) and we have had one post from JChan which essentially says nothing beyond her own TLDR: "I apologize for the unprecedented issues that we've been experiencing. We’ve fixed some of them. We need more time to work on fixing the rest. Please be patient. Things will get better. We're giving you a 25% XP bonus. Never give up!" While the point of this post is to look forward and think about solutions as opposed to the failures over the last few weeks, I do have to ask one glaring question: Who thought it was a good idea to give an experience bonus during this time? Despite the criticism DPG has received recently (to be clear, the performance issues apparently started in early 2020, well before this batch of TLPs was released), I like to believe that DPG has employees who are capable of critical thinking and can look forward to see the impact of their decisions. If the issue was discussed for even five minutes someone had to say "Hold on a second please. Is it a good idea to give an experience bonus and draw more players in at this time given that we are already having server issues and we already cannot deal with the current population?" Spoiler: No, it was not a good idea. Now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about some potential fixes moving forward. The way I see it, there are three options: 1) Increase server capacity/performance; 2) look into the number of people who are afk at char select or using auto clickers; or 3) release an overflow server that can be merged later. Each is discussed briefly below. As I have stated in prior posts, I admittedly know very little about server performance and what goes into it. What I do know, however, is that many other game companies (both larger and smaller than DPG) are capable of running servers with far more players than Aradune is currently handling. Even privately run free-to-play wow servers can handle more than Aradune's current load. I find it hard to believe that DPG cannot find a way to increase capacity on the back-end. The in-game world is no longer an issue thanks to pick zones. This would be the best case scenario for the players as it allows the player base to stay together, builds the community and allows relationships to form during the critical start of the server that will promote server longevity a year down the road. This is also the best case scenario for DPG as it would attact even more players, which leads to more krono purchases, bag pack purchases, and DBC spent in-game on potions and similar items (since people could actually log in to spend it). Next, DPG could spend some time looking into the number of people who are afk using a clicker every 10 minutes or sitting at the character select screen. To me, this is easier said than done but it is certainly a topic that comes up quite frequently in the EQ Discord. While nothing is wrong with being afk, and I certainly have made sure to come back to my computer to move the mouse or cast a few spells while cooking dinner, doing something with my family, etc., it's a different story when people are going to bed with an autoclicker active at the character select screen. This seems like more effort than it's worth but I did want to raise the topic as it is a popular one. Last but not least, DPG could release a second server with the thought that it gets merged later on. The more time that passes the less viable this option becomes, and we may already be to the point where the ship has sailed. I believe P99 took immediate action and released a second server (due to in-world space, not server issues) almost immediately, which looked to be like a success as the two are now merged. There are two immediately apparent benefits to launching a second server: access and time. A new server would obviously allow more players access to the game, hence more money for DPG. But the real benefit is that it buys DPG time to fix the server issues without alienating their players and losing out on long-term gains in the form of subscriptions/krono/DBC. There would need to be a clear merger plan to inform players when they would be put into one server. If that is communicated in advance, and it is a reasonable duration that allows for people to plan accordingly and does completely disrupt the game(i.e. before Kunark), the benefits seem to far outweigh any harm. In conclusion, please devote adequate time to look into the server issues and communicate to us what the fix is going to be.
I appreciate the time and reflection that went into the post. I just wish it was ported to another platform that wouldn't easily be skimmed thru and ignored (or if you are DPG ignored entirely).
The XP bonus was not really directed just at Aradune. All the other servers has issues this past month from 24hr+ downtimes to crashes as well. We have been told increasing capacity is a much bigger project than just spin up more VM's. A lot of those other games are newer or have been updated to allow for scaling advantages. EQ has not been and my understand it is more of an architecture issue they would need to change than just throwing more resources at it. Kicking AFK people should be very easy and doable. Especially character select. In game is much harder and those people who are leaving it at char select would probably just start doing it in game instead. It's also a symptom of the queue. Fix the queue, people won't need to go AFK in game or at char select to avoid the queue. Another server with a merge plan is probably their best option. No idea how much work it would be or if they are even capable of spinning up a new server. They seemed to indicate they had to do the server merges before the launch of the new TLP's. To me this means they had to free up hardware for the new TLP's. We also have no idea how easy or hard it is for them to do a merge like this (would probably bring down all servers again for 8hrs+ as well. Or if they can set up free character transfers after a certain amount of time. It's a bad situation all the way around for everyone involved.
didnt read this giant post but i bet whoever did it has the latest phone, no money in the bank and is waiting in que see you in crushbone !
