Discussion: Dbl XP Weekend and Server Performance
By
Agent_X,
Posted on: 2008-02-06 19:48 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
Lighthouse, Thanks for the heads up. I appreciate the fact that you are so communicative with us about these things.
As for 2xXP, Meh! As I've said before, I work 12-18 hour rotating shifts on weekends. I tweaked my schedule so I have from friday evening, through saturday morning 10am to play. If I get in...great. If not...It's juts a game* and I'm sure I'll find something else to do.
Have fun everyone!
(*Ok, seriously...I spend more time ingame than in real life. My official mailing address is 5050 N. War Witch Ln, Guardian-Paragon City, USA 32909.)
Comic and Hero/Villain Culture
Saturday January 29th, 2005 (12:37 PM) ~ Monday August 9th, 2010
Those Who Lived It Will Remember Long after your Ban Hammer Crumbles and the servers flicker dead.
We Will Remember This One Moment In Time! ~ Shadow Ravenwolf
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Uhhhhh.... yeah. Can't say what I want to say, the long and abusive string of obscene epithets would violate forum rules. So I'll just say that if I get locked out of Virtue this weekend, I will be deeply angry. I mean truly enraged. Locking me out of the only server I can stand to play on during double-XP weekend would tick me off more than any MMO company has ticked me off since a long-ago incident involving Funcom and Anarchy Online, more than what Sony did to SWG ticked me off. No, really; it had better not come to this.
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1. I sense anger in you.
2. What would you have them do... what they've done in the past? Which is to let the load degrade the performance until there was huge amount of server lag no matter where in the game you played? That doesn't make you angry? Or to let the load cause continual disconnects and mapserves and bring the server down completely (as what used to happen on Virtue every Sunday night)? That doesn't make you angry?
Yes, it would have been nice to have had better warning for this policy change in how unusually large server loads are handled, but it's a sane policy. If it had been around since the beginning, everyone would have had a secondary server home and not though twice about it.
In fact, I already created a secondary server home because of the frequency of the shut downs of the West Coast Servers. I chose a medium load East Coast Server, so, for me, if Virtue is locked down, I have a place to go.
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Wow, this is worse than getting "teh mad lag", turning customers AWAY?
REALLY?
This is what it's come down to now?
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So in other words Lighthouse your admitting that your server upgrades were not adequate.
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A restaurant can add a new wing, and be serving 100% more customers, but if 120% more show up, then there are simply no more seats for that extra 20%.
The servers are supposed to be able to handle *more* players, not infinitely more. No server upgrade will ever be adequate for infinite players. We're being warned that the new upgrades have not been stressed tested to their max yet. They may handle everything well without a hiccup. Or they may blow up. The new lock down policy is to keep them from blowing up.
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With that in mind, we want to let you know that it may become necessary for us to lock servers should they reach player counts that result in a degradation in performance.
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Honestly? I hope this happens ... because then, that event can be pointed at the next time someone complains about dead servers, and asks for server mergers.
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What will you point to if the two busiest servers get greyed out (which is to be expected), yet the servers people complain about being dead still only have one light?
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That you don't have access to their internal numbers and you can't go by the server load icons?
Last 2xXP weekend, every server had two yellow icons while F&V had three red. If many of them only have one green icon this weekend, that could just mean the new server load capacity has increased, not necessarily that there are less players.
True story: In the early days of CoH, when I saw three red icons, I thought that meant the server was unavailable (and not just under heavy load) and didn't log it. 
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Wow, this is worse than getting "teh mad lag", turning customers AWAY?
REALLY?
This is what it's come down to now?
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Ummmmmmmm.......
If you can't log onto Freedom or Virtue, then there will probably be six other servers available to play on. You are not being turned away, so cut the drama.
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I've been looking forward to this for quite some time now and all my toons are on virtue, so i hope everyone decides to spread the love to ALL the servers. it's time to hit 40 with my 38.3 brute then try to hit 30 with my lvl 20, 21, and 22. ah so much to do so little double xp weekend to do it in. maybe i should call in sick to work on friday.
Lord Raptor lvl 50 Thugs/traps MM Le Guerrier lvl 50 Broadsword/invuln scrapper
Lola the Chain lvl 50 electric/energy brute Kage Ryu lvl 50 ninja/dark MM
Billy. Bones lvl 50 zombie/trick arrow MM Jet Stream lvl 50 Super Strength/invuln tank
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Wow, this is worse than getting "teh mad lag", turning customers AWAY?
REALLY?
This is what it's come down to now?
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Ummmmmmmm.......
If you can't log onto Freedom or Virtue, then there will probably be six other servers available to play on. You are not being turned away, so cut the drama.
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I'm being turned away from servers with characters that I wish to get double XP on. So yes, I am being turned away. Rolling up a level 1 on some craphole server I have no interest in playing on is not a substitute, they may as well ask me to go play a different game altogether.
OH WAIT, that's -exactly- what's happening when the server gets "locked".
And if you think my previous post is drama, you clearly need to watch more Dynasty, bud. But by all means, keep brown-nosing, I'm sure that custom forum title is just round the corner.
Oh wait, you already have one, NEVERMIND.
I don't play on Freedom or Virtue, so two of you can have my spots. 
(Sometimes, I wish there could be a Dev thumbs up button for quality posts, because you pretty much nailed it.) -- Ghost Falcon
With the posts already appearing urging players to park in active missions and never log out during the weekend, is there any plan to reset/reboot the servers at the 10am eastern maintenance time to force users to log out at least once daily and give everyone a slim chance to get on their server of choice during the double ex-pee weekend?
We don' need no stinkin' signatures!
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I don't play on Freedom or Virtue, so two of you can have my spots.
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You can have mine on every other server 
some people need to calm down, a server crash would drive far more customers away
Does not always detect CoH
10,000 seems kinda low for Freedom server not to be able to handle it. With total subscriptions between 120-150k, I would think there is close to 10,000 people on Freedom most the time. Maybe they should have added a few more hamsters to Freedom's and Virtue's wheel while updating.
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With that in mind, we want to let you know that it may become necessary for us to lock servers should they reach player counts that result in a degradation in performance.
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Honestly? I hope this happens ... because then, that event can be pointed at the next time someone complains about dead servers, and asks for server mergers.
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What will you point to if the two busiest servers get greyed out (which is to be expected), yet the servers people complain about being dead still only have one light?
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I've not seen this happen on previous 2XP weekends, so I doubt very seriously that it will happen this time either. And, personally, I believe server mergers would likely be the only thing that might cause me to quit this game - I LIKE my quiet-ish server - never have had a problem finding a team if I want one, and have met some of the nicest people there.
Every previous 2XP weekend has seen all the servers either yellow or red, so ... why would this one be different?
Storm
Serenity is not freedom from the storm, but peace amid the storm ...
Yay, no more lemming-induced Freedom crashes during double XP weekends. Sounds good to me, but I don't play on Virtue or Freedom, so I don't have to worry about getting locked out.
In the unlikely event of a lockout, players can still play on other servers, while people playing under a lock don't have to worry much about crashes. I think that's a good solution.
As for people who refuse to play on other servers, well, I'm afraid I don't have much sympathy if a lockout somehow manages to happen.
Man... it'll really REALLY suck if i get locked out...
*recalls he plays on Triumph*
Oh wait.... never mind. 
I hope for the sake of the freedom/venture people that this upgrades payoff. It'd really SUCK to be locked out of home server on double xp weekends. Ugh. Almost enough incentive to move to a less populated server... and no, this isn't an endorsment for Triumph, dispite the fact that server is constructed from pure awsome... 
@KingSnake - Triumph Server
@PrinceSnake
My common sense is tingling... ~ Deadpool
If you can't learn to do something well... learn to enjoy doing it poorly...
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we want to let you know that it may become necessary for us to lock servers should they reach player counts that result in a degradation in performance. We will be watching the servers closely throughout the weekend and if gameplay starts to suffer because of load, we will lock them from additional players logging onto them.
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Wow, that makes me sad. I have been on Freedom and other servers during the double xp weekends and while the lag has been very bad in areas like Atlas Park, other areas and instanced missions did not lag horribly for me.
Coming from that perspective, in conjunction with having recently heard that the sever hardware was upgraded, to read an announcement that servers will potentially be locked during this event is very disappointing. It's nice to have the heads-up in advance, but this is the complete opposite of what I was expecting.
Did upgrading the severs mean installing functionality that allowed them to be locked when busy? If so, that's as fine a bit of corporate double-speak as I have ever heard.
This really makes me feel like the great game I chose to play is much more similar to the big crappy game than I ever imagined. And to think that I used to laugh at the concept of server-lines and queuing up to wait in order to be able to play a game. Oh wait - we won't even be able to queue, will we? Just start at gray dots and wonder if they will turn red, yellow, or green.
Ironically I had no special plans for extended play. I just want to be able to log in for an hour or two in the evening like I usually do. I'd imagine that will be prime time. Hope there's a server for me to log on to....
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Wow, this is worse than getting "teh mad lag", turning customers AWAY?
REALLY?
This is what it's come down to now?
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Ummmmmmmm.......
If you can't log onto Freedom or Virtue, then there will probably be six other servers available to play on. You are not being turned away, so cut the drama.
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I'm being turned away from servers with characters that I wish to get double XP on. So yes, I am being turned away. Rolling up a level 1 on some craphole server I have no interest in playing on is not a substitute, they may as well ask me to go play a different game altogether.
OH WAIT, that's -exactly- what's happening when the server gets "locked".
And if you think my previous post is drama, you clearly need to watch more Dynasty, bud. But by all means, keep brown-nosing, I'm sure that custom forum title is just round the corner.
Oh wait, you already have one, NEVERMIND.
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lol. I'm a brown-noser!
You missed the part above where I criticized them for a late notice of a policy change. And you're not familiar with all the other critical posts I've made of the game or the Dev's policies.
I criticize the Devs when they're being unreasonable and I criticize players when they're being unreasonable, like the way you are right now. So apparently, everything in your world is black and white or all-or-nothing. If you can't play on one particular server you are BEING TURNED AWAY!!! If someone criticizes your complaint, THEY ARE A BROWN NOSER!!! If you can't get a booth in a restaurant but only a table, THEY ARE TRYING TO STARVE YOU TO DEATH!!!
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situations like this are why i have alts on just about every server.
most recent 50 - psy/mm blaster
Yeah....this won't end well. I forsee about half the population of Virtue logging on Friday morning after maintenence, and AFKing in bases and missions when not active so they won't have to worry about being locked out. Truthfully, I'll probably do the same...
As a long time Freedom Fighter I am a little worried.
I wish you had prevented server transfers to Freedom before this kind of thing became necessary. So while I hope your double-xp weekend is a big success I hope its not too successful
*fingers crossed*
This is a song about a super hero named Tony. Its called Tony's theme.
Jagged Reged: 23/01/04
<QR>
Lighthouse is only warning us of the possibility. With the server upgrade, they just don't know what it's going to be like.
Forewarned is forearmed, drop the doom.
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situations like this are why i have alts on just about every server.
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I've got alts on different servers, but my current two projects that I'm enthused about are:
1) getting a Elec/Nrg blaster high enough to have Short Circuit & Power Boost so I can see what it's like to drain mobs of endurance and,
2) getting a AR/Ice blaster high enough so I can see what it's like to use Ignite in conjunction with Ice Patch.
Both blasters need about 4 more levels each to get there. That's not a special plan in light of 2x exp, it's what I have been doing for the last two weeks and would like to continue with this weekend. Both blasters are on Freedom.
It's hard to muster enthusiasm for playing an alt on Triumph or Justice - alts that I haven't focused on in years, old 50's or powersets that don't peak my interest at the moment - simply because I can't log on to the server which hosts my two blasters.
If I was told I couldn't play those blasters, and if I was going to let what I played be dictated by the double xp then my next focus would be:
a) Earn prestige for my SG on Freedom
b) Earn prestige for my SG on Virtue
c) Get my level 49 tank (on Freedom) to level 50
Hmm, not going to have much luck there. And of course, my SG bases on Freedom and Virtue are the ones with all the zone teleporters and amenities; the bases on Triumph and Justice are shells. And I don't think it's terribly fun to put a weekend into developing a base on Triumph or Justice that I will never use. Can I have 6 million bonus prestige for them to get started? Or a free server transfer off of Freedom for the weekend (and one back afterwards, natch)?
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situations like this are why i have alts on just about every server.
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Wise words.
Some more for folks to ponder: Never put all your eggs in a single basket.
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I'm usually a big supporter of the Devs but I have to say this kind of blows. All my main characters on Freedom. So if I get locked out... what does that mean? That the money of the people who didn't get locked out is better than my money? Someone else has more rights than me?
If I'm paying... I should be playing... end
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Well it just goes to show that trying to be proactive will just bring out the torch and pitchfork folks. IF they have to lock a server, then let's all go crazy but honestly the hardware is new and I don't recall server lockouts last time 2X XP weekends happened, so everyone just breathe.
And the money of someone who does not play on Freedom or Virtue is the same as yours except they don't play on the highest load servers, seems like common sense to me. Would you have them automatically move half the players off Freedom and Virtue for the weekend to avoid this POSSIBILITY? But then you would get the screamers "but now my friends are over there and I'm stuck on ***** server" Really people hardware has limitations and getting a heads up on a remote possibility is not any reason to go nuts.