Discussion: Dbl XP Weekend and Server Performance
By
Agent_X,
Posted on: 2008-02-06 19:48 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
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It IS however, their fault if they selectively choose who gets in. I still do not believe the EULA covers that.
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They don't selectively choose who gets in. They only selectively choose which servers you can't get access to. You can still get in and play on other servers, like everybody else. Only you are restricting your play to one server.
I still wonder about the indicators on login... so I'm currently testing that. When I logged in about 4 minutes ago, Virtue was green, Freedom was yellow... Let's see where it is now... still the same.
I will leave it like this until 6, then check back and report.
August 31, 2012. A Day that will Live in Infamy. Or Information. Possibly Influence. Well, Inf, anyway. Thank you, Paragon Studios, for what you did, and the enjoyment and camaraderie you brought.
This is houtex, aka Mike, signing off the forums. G'night all. - 10/26/2012
Well... perhaps I was premature about that whole 'signing off' thing... - 11-9-2012
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Yes, I can make an alt on another sever. But my main would NOT get the benefit of the double XP. Why should another player, or worse yet a RMTer, get the benefit of double XP on their Chosen character but I can not.
I know it may not happen... but it could... and I like to be prepared.
if a bunch of people are paying the same monthly fees they should all have the same opportunities to take advantage of double xp. No, the arguement that I can go to another sever holds no water. If someone else has the opportunity to play their chosen character on their chosen server but I do not... then that is unfair practice.
Yes, we agree when we sign up for a the game that sometimes we may not be able to connect. Sometimes the sever(s) may be down. But that affects everyone trying to connect. This situation, however, specifically says, "We are going to let you, you and you log onto your character of choice... but not YOU".
If I am told I can not log onto my character of choice while other people can... I want compensation. I demand the same opportunity and benefits that every other paying player gets.
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Fine, I vote that NCNC shut down any server completely that becomes full, disconnecting everyone. This will put everyone in the same boat and force everyone who was playing on that server to start logging into other servers. No favoritism there! If some other server becomes full, they can turn the server they "shut off" back "on" before shutting the now-full server down, repeating the process as necessary.
That's fair to everyone, right?
And no, I'm not being sarcastic. You can't have it both ways.* You either have to accept gated servers when the load gets too high, or accept poor performance and outright crashes as the load continues to increase. The later option is what we had to deal with in past 2x weekends. For this one, I for one am glad that they're choosing to gate the server instead.
If you can't handle the idea that someone else is playing on the server that you can't play on, then the only remaining alternative is to shut down the server completely and prevent everyone from playing on it. That last option would at least have the virtue of forcing folks to try the less-populated servers, and maybe get some more balance in server loads.
(Edit: * Meaning, the choice isn't between everyone being able to log onto whatever server they want no matter how busy the desired server happens to be, it's between gating a server that's too busy, or allowing it to crash/become unplayable. Those are the options. That's the choice. Anything else is a delusion.)
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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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Ah nuts, I forgot that's what the load icons are for. Honest mistake though. Those load icons are a pretty good indicator that the server has a higher, active population. It only makes sense. Anyway, maybe I should rephras...
What if the player population on the oft-cited "dead servers" is still low during the dbl xp weekend? Even when two of the top servers are locked out?
All I'm saying is that a couple of locked servers isn't any more of an indication that allserver populations are "fine" than someone playing CoV on Pinnacle at 2am on a Tuesday is an indicator that some servers are dead.
Seeing how none of us have access to "internal numbers," nobody can make any definitive statement about the position. All we have to go on is anecdotal evidence on both sides.
Personally, I'd like to see a completely serverless configuration. That way, all of these arguments can go away and everyone can have an easier time of landing a team.
My testing is complete. Took until 7P my time to see it. Virtue was green until then 
Unless you bounce about in and out of the server selection window, the server load indicators DO NOT change dynamically. They will stay at whatever their last known state was.
Simply picking any green server, then going back to the server list, will update them.
I figured this was important to note for the Virtuosos and Freedomites that might be wondering when they could see if they could get in. You can't unless you bounce between screens. Hope that saves a little bit of frustration for some!
/bounce with me, bounce with me...
August 31, 2012. A Day that will Live in Infamy. Or Information. Possibly Influence. Well, Inf, anyway. Thank you, Paragon Studios, for what you did, and the enjoyment and camaraderie you brought.
This is houtex, aka Mike, signing off the forums. G'night all. - 10/26/2012
Well... perhaps I was premature about that whole 'signing off' thing... - 11-9-2012
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So because you choose to play on a high population server you would rather they did what exactly, have them lock all servers if they need to lock Freedom and Virtue so it would be fair to you?
Please, believe it or not the world revolves around the sun, not you.
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neither does it revolve around the chosen who get to log in and play, but they are getting all the benefits while I (hypothetically) get none. Your suggestion that I think the world revolves around me is uncalled for. I simply asking for the same privledges and benefits that other paying player get. If I can't, due to system limitations, get the same benefits through playing, then I should be awarded them in some other way.
I intentionally left out (c) and (d) because they were irrelevant. The basic point of Section 10 is this:
"it's not our fault if you can't get in".
It IS however, their fault if they selectively choose who gets in. I still do not believe the EULA covers that.
If I pay $15 per month and you pay $15 per month and they give you a gold star, then I damn well better get a gold star, too.
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But you do have the same options every other paying customer has. You can log in and play... you just have to do it before it fills up.
Seriously now, this isn't rocket science. Servers have finite limitations. You need to recognize this fact. If you don't like the possibility of being locked out of the game's busiest servers, then may I recommend transferring to a different server altogether?
You have have been provided the same options and "rights" as every other player.
As someone else mentioned, can you put this in the game for people to read? Most people don't visit the forums, and it'd good to let them know about this, as well.
Thanks for the work you guys do!
The Paladin
Steel Canyon, Virtue
Exalted
@Paladin
I'm a little curious as to WHY Virtue and Freedom are so popular. My chars are all on Virtue, but that was a totally random selection. So, quit whining. YOU chose to put your chars on the heaviest used servers, so YOU suffer from it. I am too, but to be honest I'm pretty sure NC can handle it. With Guild Wars, and the huge number of players that turn up to special events, and Lineage I & II going strong with far more players that CoH, I'm not really worried about it.
Freedom's popular because it was Prime back in beta, Glyde. Virtue's popular because back in beta it was decided by a large percentage of roleplayers to be their home when beta ended. People headed to the populated servers after that.
I certainly didn't expect Virtue to become the heavyweight it is today when I put my characters there; RPing was never all that popular in the other MMORPGs I've tried. But with the roleplaying, you've got people even more heavily invested in their characters than they sometimes should be. 
So folks are going to get upset.
For what it's worth, I enjoyed starting up my RPing alt on Triumph the other day. The other servers aren't all that bad, Virtue-ites!
The Paladin
Steel Canyon, Virtue
Exalted
@Paladin
I don't understand why so people only play on one server. Maybe it's because I started playing during a busy holiday event, but I have toons on eight servers. There is almost always a server for me to play on; anyone who chooses to limit their playing to one server can only blame themself if that one server is down (etc.) and they "can't" play.
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I don't understand why so people only play on one server. Maybe it's because I started playing during a busy holiday event, but I have toons on eight servers. There is almost always a server for me to play on; anyone who chooses to limit their playing to one server can only blame themself if that one server is down (etc.) and they "can't" play.
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Back in the day, it was all about the money. Once i got one hero to 50, he had the cash to support my Alts. Money, before IO's/Salvage and WW's was harder to come by in the lower levels. So i consolidated. Villians came out... and the same thing happened. Got a foothold in a server, the same one, since i had 2 accounts. (got one for my kid bro, he got board with the game, and instead of canceling it, i keep it as my own... since it was...)
Now a days, it'd be easy to branch out, but I have... a total of 20-22 different charaters all on Triumph... which is plenty ATM... and as such, i have no intrested in starting up any new alts on different servers. And since it's Triumph i play one... last night i checked... it's about the 3rd lightest sever as far al load goes... (at the time anyway.) I don't forsee a problem this weekend.... now... i just need to get through my shift... grrr... I WAS going to take a long weekend this weekend, but i ended it getting REALLY sick a few weeks back, and missed some work, so, here i am. 
Come ON 3:30!
@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...
Its 9:23AM where I am and I can't seem to log in at all.
Wow. Feelings of entitlement abound here. All these sounds of unfairness and discrimination revolve around one, simple premise, no matter what euphemisms you use to disguise it:
"You mean I may not get what I want?"
Yup. You may not. Life is funny that way.
Sure, the world of Paragon is a reality construct where there seems to be more fairness, but the in-game situation is not going to bleed into the real-life one. I can understand why you'd be upset if you can't engage in your preferred means of CoH escapism, but these complaints and demands are simply silly.
Servers have finite resources, and this has always been true. The analogy of a recently remodeled restaurant is a good one. You can make improvements and plan on improved service, but that doesn't mean that everything you plan for will come to pass. There are always variables that you miss or cannot plan for.
Are you entitled to many things? Sure. But being guaranteed the ability to play on the server of your choice during an optional event? No. Heck, you aren't guaranteed that at any point.
The sooner some of you lose the overdeveloped sense of entitlement, the better off you and everyone else around you will be.
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Its 9:23AM where I am and I can't seem to log in at all.
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Its called daily maintenence. Happens almost every weekday. Afterwards the double-XP fest begins.
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Its 9:23AM where I am and I can't seem to log in at all.
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Server Maintanance: 9-11 AM EST
(servers went down about half an hour ago)
Heh got two toons ready to go to 50! Then gotta figure out what to do next lol.
*runs in as a happy thought*
Happy happy Love love!
Happy happy love love!
*spreads the love* *squashes the dooooom*
@MrsAlphaOne
Member of the [url="http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?GuildID=171543&TabID=1451954"]RIMC[/url]
[url="http://www.freewebs.com/mrsalphaone"]DA![/url]
[color=red]Official Beer Wench of PWNZ[/color] Arc 452196 When Madness Reigns over Reason. Play it and PM me your constructive criticism on what I can tweak before Oct 20th. <3 U all
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Its 9:23AM where I am and I can't seem to log in at all.
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Server Maintanance: 9-11 AM EST
(servers went down about half an hour ago)
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True, but based on prior statements (from Lighthouse, I think) I was expecting the maintanence window to be very short today. I didn't think it would last even a half-hour and I'd still be surprised if it actually took till 11.
Pinnacle
Glowworm * Brrr * Lilinoe
Protector
Kid Trance * Ms. Impala * Red Helen
Virtue
Pooka Pete
oh ha ha, silly me. I thought they had one yesterday.
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oh ha ha, silly me. I thought they had one yesterday.
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They did. This happens frequently every week as a part of regular maintenance, as well as when they have a special prep to do for things such as new issues or Double-XP.
<QR>
I'm still interested if we're able to do character transfers even if our home server is "locked out".
Have we had an answer on that yet?
I'm almost tempted to get ALL my Virtue characters and pay the $120 to transfer them to a lesser populated server... just so I don't have to deal with any potential future lockouts.
Satan trembles when he sees...
the weakest saint on his knees.
<----- Click there to learn how you can help!
If there is no way to access the server, there's no way to transfer. If the devs haven't addressed it by now, they probably won't until the next double xp weekend. Anyone that had concerns about being able to transfer had the opportunity to do so ever since the announcement came about potential lockdown of the servers. (and yes, it was short notice, but it was still a couple days ago).
As stated previously, and probably buried by now, the smoothing of the XP curve will start next week, which will make leveling faster for everyone at any time. It's not double inf and prestige, but inf is easier to come by now than before inventions anyway, and anyone with a large SG base doesn't have anything to spend prestige on but rent.
Loose --> not tight.
Lose --> Did not win, misplace, cannot find, subtract.
One extra 'o' makes a big difference.
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Its 9:23AM where I am and I can't seem to log in at all.
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Server Maintanance: 9-11 AM EST
(servers went down about half an hour ago)
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True, but based on prior statements (from Lighthouse, I think) I was expecting the maintanence window to be very short today. I didn't think it would last even a half-hour and I'd still be surprised if it actually took till 11.
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Things took 50 minutes today (as opposed to the hour and 50 they usually take). Servers were down at 6 AM Pacific and cycled back up by 6:50 AM Pacific.
Thanks for your patience and have fun with double xp!
Lighthouse
Community Relations Manager
If you have a specific in game, account, tech or billing problem please contact our Customer Support team via The Knowledge Base "Ask A Question" page.
Well considering that at approx 1:50pm ET both Freedom and Virtue were already YELLOW, I fully expect by the time I log on at 10pm ET that I it will be red and if not locked out will be laggy as in past double XP events. Good thing I have toons on other servers not that that will make up for not being able to work in the TF my friends and I started last Friday night.
Wonders how many people were sent reinvites for double XP weekend? [doesn't expect to get answer]
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Wonders how many people were sent reinvites for double P weekend? [doesn't expect to get answer]
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Already answered.
In this thread.
I already missed every other double XP weekend for different reasons, so if I happen to get locked out of this one, it's no big deal. The XP curve smoothing that's going online next week is likely to make double XP weekends obsolete anyway.
www.SaveCOH.com: Calls to Action and Events Calendar
This is what 3700 heroes in a single zone looks like.
Thanks to @EnsonsDeath for the GVE code that made me VIP again!