So my server’s been down for over 12 hours now due to the latest (huge) bug that I got to experience first hand this morning. You can read about the servers going up here
if you’re curious when yours is next on the list. Since it’s 11pm EST here now I suppose I’ll just call it a night.
For those curious what the bug actually was, no it was not LoN related. When servers came up at 11am EST characters were experiencing what I like to term as the “oh-gawd-nothing-is-saving-bug”. It was not numerous bugs, it was just one bug. It was not LoN related at all, they even said they were working on a separate bug that involved a few characters, and as they worked on it they made a bigger boo-boo. It happens. What the actual bug did:
When you zoned, your character basically wiped (minus coin gain and experience gain and aa gain) to how it was the last time you logged into the game (pre-patch). So that meant if you completed a quest, then zoned, the quest magically appeared back in your journal. If you added new buffs, and zoned, each of those buffs dropped. If you bought a spell at the broker, scribed it, and zoned, you instantly lost the spell (and did not get that coin you spent back). I discovered and re-discovered the same entrance to loping plains 5x in a row. Also completed the same quest in Mistmoore Catacombs 3x in a row, gaining aa each time, then zoned out only to find it entered into my quest journal again. When you completed an instance and then zoned out the timers on that zone were wiped, allowing you to enter again right away.
So of course drastic measures had to be taken. Servers came down approx. 2 hours after this bug was running ramped. Roll backs were of course incoming since there’s no way they could just leave characters as they were. Now Antonia Bayle is a huge server, so I can understand the lengthly down time it’s experienced thus far. I’m really hoping it comes back up tomorrow at least since I’ve got that Emerald Halls raid, but I’m not going to hold my breath just in case.
Am I overly upset? Not really. These games are huge, and things happen. One hour after browsing forums though is more then enough to realize that not everyone understands that, and that there are some VERY angry people out there, demanding money back, and other extra compensation for their missed play time. Me? I’ll just wait for the game to come back up. Unfortunate that it happened, but I know it’s being worked on and my ranting and raving about it won’t make it go any faster.
I was a little bit dissappointed that the servers were down all night. But asking for a free day or other rewards, well…. I still think 30 minus 1 days of entertainment for $15 is a very good deal.
And about flaming SOE… I work as a database administrator myself, and I can assure everyone that the team at SOE had a long long very stressfull day at work, and it was most likely not the fault of the guys that need to fix it. We could thank them for doing a great job ;-)
My only annoyance was the hour and a half of harvesting that I lost, but it had to go (I can’t imagine how long it would take to fix those that lost out/gained and those who were like me). Still as always I found the harvesting calming so the overall aim was met (except node stealers).
Well thank you Tori, I used to play on LDL actually, and moved to AB heh. How long have you been there, maybe we knew each other. Or maybe I’d heard of you.. I’ve been on AB since the free server transfers. It’s always a pleasure hearing from readers!
This was an irritation. And there isn’t really any purpose in bitching about it to hell and back. On the other hand, it would be nice if they gave us a free day’s play, or something like that, just to say, “Well, these things happen. we didn’t want it to happen, but it did, so here’s a little something to make it up to you”.
It is embarrassing though, that when these glitches occur, the forum posts end up making the community look much more like a bunch of @#$5heads than the devs…
I’m very happy to have found your blog. :) I’ve been reading back entries most of the day, (What can I say? There’s nothing to do here at work, it’s a holiday weekend. :s) and I like your writing style and the screenshots you post. Soo, I just want to thank you and tell you that I will be an avid reader from now on.
I don’t play on the AB server, but I do play on the LDL server, and I just happened to be on my newbie-alt Arasai at the time of the downtime. Quite a few ABers had started a character to play there while the server was down. I had the pleasure of meeting many kind people, and it was nice. If I ever had to pick another server it would definately be AB, and not just because it’s the only other RP server. :)
I like down times some time, i got to play some old games i haven’t played in some time (Sim city 4)
Well… it was painful for me to have the servers go down just as the Mrs and me where ready to start playing for the night (CET). But as you point out the same problem seemed to hit all servers. And without a doubt it was not intentional. So there is little use in ranting and raving.
We had Crazy Monkey Sex (TM) instead so it turned out pretty well. And this morning they claim the servers are fixed. Woot!
I agree with Lysari about finally reading some sane thoughts on this. The forums are filled with annoying threads with titles in all caps and about a dozen exclamation marks. One thread writer (titling his thread THE GAME IS BROKEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! — I’m not kidding, sadly) said, “Yes i know there are tons of posts on it. But maybe if there is enough of them you will fix it or at a minimum let us know through a broadcast message that you are on it.” The ignorance and entitlement-minded attitude of some people astound me. Yes, we all pay SOE for the game, but it’s not like they can fix everything with a snap of their fingers.
It’s so nice to read someone sane about this problem. Yes the downtime is not fun, yes I had things I wanted to do in game tonight. No the world is not actually crashing down around my ears right now. No I’m not cancelling my account.