A question on slighly different topic. Is it possible to change one's forum handle? In everquest you could do it via the in game chat server. Is there anyway to do it here on the lithium boards?
I feel your pain today. I know you guys are trying to fix things outside your control. May G-d speed and bless your efforts.
regards
Scott Adams
Not Dilbert, Adventure!
www.msadams.com
Chilistra
Mave (Master Creature Handler/Novice BE )
Maven (Novice Doctore/Novice Combat Medic)
Maveni ( Up and coming rifleman)
M'Scott Adams (PA leader)
Close to 12 hours trying to get into the game today and when I finally do all the servers are down. I wonder who's swore more today, me or your network guys?
------------------------AlbinoWookie I can RP for free.
I can PvP for free.
For $15 a month I want content and adventure! (uber loot is not content.)
Holo, ive been in beta for a few months now and i can tell you that there *is* a problem with disconnections today that has never cropped up in beta. I figured that it was related to the DB problem but let me tell you my exact experiences today with the problem. This issue really stood out during a 45 minute period for me...I tried training someone in a skill and about 5 minutes later, we were both disconnected at the same time, the servers (client?) rolled back and he lost the skill and i lost the apprentice xp. I thought it was a glitch but this happened 2 more times for me within the 45 minute period. Aside from that, i have also had frequent disconnects that i never experienced in beta. This is a new issue and i just wanted you to be aware of it.
Linksys is a company that makes home networking equipment. In this case it would be refering to a router between your DSL modem and your computer. If you have one you might want to look into a firmware update, but chances are that if you don't know what linksys is you don't have one so there is nothing to worry about.
Holo, my router's firmware is up to date (I checked earlier). Today we experienced frequent disconnections that DID NOT occur during beta this past week.
I played beta for a very short time. But I played for long enough to find that I really enjoyed playing the game. I enjoyed it so much that I pre-ordered 4 copies of the special edition for myself, my wife, and two good friends. Thats a total of around $300. Add to that the cost of three, three month subscriptions (yes, mozilla got use all thorough) and we are starting to talk about real money here.
I expected problems. Perhaps I didn't expect quite as many as have occured, but I did expect problems. What I didn't expect was the rude and unprofessional attitude of the customer service personnel running the help desk. They seemed to feel that telling me to keep trying every 5 minutes and using 'yoda speak' was cute... but it was just aggrivating. And when they just disconnected while I was mid sentence... Well, I was just about ready to call my credit card company and decline the charges for the game.
I'm a developer of business software and I understand problems. There is just no way that developers or even beta testers can hit the servers with every possible problem, or with the intesnsity of a live launch. Thats where Customer service can be a life saver, and I feel in this instance they really dropped the ball, HARD!
After reading what Holo and Q have had to say I'm ready to stick it out a bit. They have done an admirable job of keeping us informed and soothing the rough edges that a release can generate... I'll go to bed and try again tommorow. I really do want to play, and I have faith that it will happen soon. But someone needs to light a fire under the CSR's you have answering the phone and chat screen... They are just adding kerosene to an already burning fire...
I was in beta and tried all the things they show in tech. I'm still getting 10-15min fullscans. Plus I won't hack my files to show 2004 like they say there since I won't get updates till 2004.
Holo, I don't have a Linksys router, and never had any problems staying connected in beta. But I, along with my half-dozen friends (who also had no problems staying connected in beta) have been getting booted every 15 minutes or so just like that guy you replied to above. When we restarted the game, often times we had to wait a bit for the server to load before we could log back on. That sounds to me like it could be related to the DB problem. Don't know if that information is useful to you, but I wanted to offer everybody hope that the disconnects will also go away once the database is fixed.
After reading pages and pages of rear end kissing, I find it funny that you only address the positive comments made. No attempt to even answer those that have put long posts up.
It completly baffles the mind on how you guys/gals can run EQ with no real problems. But SWG crashes hard on the first day. Sure, you guys are busy, and the servers are overloaded. But wasn't that the point to a limited release? I know some of the people are saying EQ was worse... I can tell you it wasn't. Atleast in EQ you could register and play the game within the first day.
This was by far the worst release of a MMO, IHMO. What irritates me the most is the way that SOE posts the messages for updates. With things like "due to unforseen traffic". You knew EXACTLY how many copies were out there. You knew how many people would be hitting the servers. Hell if you did the research you could have even known the time zones people would hit them. Lets face it, you know when UPS/Fed-ex drops.
Flame if you wish, I don't care. But, when it took me 7 hours to just MAKE the acct, then be able to play for about 20 mins. Only to log back in to a character (artisian) with no kits and surveys and back in the newbie area. Very disgusted.... Very Poor.
Thanks for the explanation Raph though I must say I'm dissapointed. To say your cursed is a cop-out. I had a 3rd grade teacher who pounded a saying into our heads. "Prior planning prevents poor performance". I find it hard to believe you didn't simulate hard traffic on your hardware and strain the DB enough to shake out severe glitches like these. I have some experience with Oracle and it is fundamentally a sound DB with a lot of tools to use. I have no experience launching a game of this caliber or handling the kind of traffic you guys did today but you can't possibly tell me you didn't have an idea as to what sort of response you were going to get with pre-order reports and shipments of games recorded and listed. You should have tested your hardware to fulfill it a long time ago.
I have been extremely impressed with the personalities of this development team throughout beta ( hard to believe it is going on a10 months since I first logged on to Bria !). You guys have been very enthusiastic, overly patient with the screaming masses who wanted you to shut down and change the game to their whims, and extremely pro-active in changing things that people suggested needed changing. I have to say though as a paying customer now I'm a bit miffed I went out and spent 85$ + 15$ then couldn't register to play and further couldn't play at all. I ran 20 retail stores a while ago and those stores did something like 30 million dollars in business a year. If I had taken all my customers money and provided them with nothing but a pretty box I would have quickly went out of business.
Now that I am done with the rant and have vented, I would like to thank you guys for my experiences from beta 1 till now and look forward to your continued improvement of what is sure to be a most excellent game!
Gotton a couple posts gobbled will try one more time
Thanks for some details, at least now we can a least have an inkling of what you guys are goin through.
And I still gotta laugh at the fanbois saying what a great launch this was, rofl. It has stunk for whatever reason or another, as bent as i was earlier though ...
In an odd way it comforts me more to know that you guys were ready to get hammered and that raw bogus bad luck screwed us, not that you guys underplanned and we pay for it.
Thanks again for taking the time to tell us whats up.
And I had actually made a smart alec comment about getting today free being a great way to smooth stuff over. Good to see you guys have a kind hearted psychic grandma workin in there. Straight answers like you have been getting us now that you have the time and the occasional cookie go a long ways with this crowd
and ooh boy are some spineflaps gonna pay biiiiiiiiiiig time when I fainaly get back in